Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Bad Stuff

Discovery just launched their series Moonshine. Looks to be an interesting piece showing both sides of the illegal liquor debate. The series will follow several moonshiners and an Alcohol Beverage Control agent. From my perspective it shines a favorable light on shiners.
This article highlights the extreme danger of moonshine. done wrong, the stuff can kill. Reading the article, and knowing what I know about shine, I cannot help but wonder if it was methanol add to the brew, or that they failed to drain off the methanol that occurs naturally in the mix. Shiners throw away the first few gallons of the run because it is nearly pure methanol.
Keep in mind, if you ever get a sample of hooch, it lacks quality control measures that store bought liquor has. We haven't had any bad accidents in recent years, but it only takes one bad batch to murder a lot of folks.
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2 comments:

Spartacus said...

I'm going to go out on a limb here and offer that here we reap the benefits of capitalism in that even back woods moonshiners are driven to somewhat strict quality control procedures WITHOUT federal mandate simply because the most rudimentary of economic principles indicate it's not profitable to poison your customer base, it's not likely dead customers will be repeat customers. It doesn't appear that they've yet grasped that aspect of capitalism in India yet. Not to mention their marketing campaign, which relies upon word of mouth advertising takes a big hit.

December 20, 2011 at 12:37 PM
JeremyR said...

Good point Sparticus. Here though, the shiners sell it to transporters, and by the time it reaches a sip joint, no one knows who made it.
I feel that there should be a tax paid on every bit of shine, but I also think a lot of the regulatory stuff we have in place is purest crap. If shiners could market their wares at a road side stand just like bee keepers do or the guys selling boiled penuts, the system would be greatly improved.
The tax shold not be a burdonsome deal. The government has done nothing to entitle them to 50% of the profit. hell, anything over 10% is stealing in my book.

December 21, 2011 at 7:19 AM

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