The History of Moonshine

There has to be a good reason to go to all the trouble of makingmoonshine. Actually, there have been several reasons, but they all boildown to one thing: government control of the alcohol trade.

Moonshining began very early in American history. Shortly after the Revolution, the United States found itself struggling to pay for the expense of fighting a long war. The solution was to place a federal tax on liquors and spirits.The American people, who had just fought a war to get out from underoppressive British taxes (among other purposes), were not particularlypleased. So they decided to just keep on making their own whisky,completely ignoring the federal tax.

Photo courtesy National Parks Service The Blue Blazes whiskey still at Catoctin Mountain,Maryland, was a large commercial operation. More than 25,000 gallons ofmash were found in 13 2,000-gallon vats when the operation was raidedin July 1929.

For these early moonshiners, making and selling alcohol wasn’t a hobbyor a way to make extra cash — it was how they survived. Farmers couldsurvive a bad year by turning their corn into profitable whisky, andthe extra income made a harsh frontier existence almost bearable. Tothem, paying the tax meant they wouldn’t be able to feed theirfamilies. Federal agents (called “Revenuers“) were attacked when they came around to collect the tax, and several were tarred and feathered.

All this resentment finally exploded in 1794, when several hundred angry citizens took over the city Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. President George Washingtoncalled for a gathering of militiamen under federal authority.Thirteen-thousand troops dispersed the mob and captured its leaders.This Whisky Rebellion was the first major test of federal authority for the young government.

Despite the failure of the rebellion, moonshining continued throughoutthe United States, especially in Kentucky, Virginia, the Carolinas andother southern states. Excise taxes on alcohol didn’t go away, somoonshiners always had incentive to avoid the law. Gun fights betweenmoonshiners and revenuers became the stuff of legend.

These battles escalated in the 1860s as the government tried to collect on the excise tax to fund the Civil War.Moonshiners and Ku Klux Klansmen joined forces, and many pitchedbattles were fought. The tactics of the moonshiners grew more desperateand brutal, intimidating locals who might give away the locations ofstills and attacking IRS officials and their families. The tide ofpublic sentiment began to turn against the moonshiners. The temperance movement, which sought to ban alcohol, gathered steam as the United States headed into the 20th century.

In the early 1900s, states began passing laws that banned alcohol sales and consumption. In 1920, nationwide Prohibition went into effect. It was the greatest thing the moonshiners could have asked for.

Suddenly, there was no legal alcohol available. Thedemand for moonshine shot up like a rocket. Moonshiners couldn’t keepup with the demand, which led to cheaper, sugar-based moonshine, aswell as watered-down moonshine. The distillers would do anything toincrease their profit. Organized crime blossomed as speakeasiesopened in every city — these secret saloons had hidden doors,passwords and escape routes in case the “Feds” ever showed up toconduct a raid.

When Prohibition was repealed in 1933…..

HRead the rest at “How Moonshine Works”

I thought this was approppriate.~KM