Do Not Be Fooled By Liquor-Store Moonshine

This whole haute-hillbilly moonshine trend has been going on for a while now, with people like celebrity barbecue chef Adam Perry Lang and New York's King's County Distillery producing the stuff. It's all kind of a head-scratcher. Isn't moonshine supposed to be made illegally in the woods somewhere by people straight out of Deliverance, not sold at the liquor store in your local strip mall? Is it a little weird for me to be getting e-mails from tittering publicists about the hottest new moonshine cocktail? Also, isn't moonshine supposed to be terrible-tasting and potentially lethal, the drink of last resort for people who are actually too down and out to get their hands on things like Everclear? The answer to all of these questions is "yes," according to Clay Risen at the The Atlantic. "If it's sold on liquor-store shelves, it's not moonshine. If it has a fancy website, chances are it's not moonshine. If its owners were ever arrested by the ATF, it might be moonshine," he writes. To boot, moonshine isn't even traditionally made from corn (it's made from fruit), and anything that says "clear whiskey" on the bottle is seriously suspect to begin with. So the next time you see a shiny new Stillhouse Moonshine display at your liquor store, keep walking. [The Atlantic]

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