# Hammacher Schlemmer and the moonshiners **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hammacher-schlemmer-and-the-moonshiners/811044 "2018-03-22T21:19:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hammacher-schlemmer-and-the-moonshiners/811044/21 "2018-03-23T20:42:16Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Who the hell is paying $20-$30 a quart for moonshine when you can get pretty good vodka for that price? Good question. [20 years ago, the real good stuff was selling for $20 per half gallon and the dirt cheap crap at $30 per gallon.](https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/13012863/still-cookin) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hammacher-schlemmer-and-the-moonshiners/811044/22 "2018-03-23T20:43:18Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > He doesn’t seem wrong–when I googled for _buy moonshine_, [this](https://www.reservebar.com/moonshine/ole-smoky) is the top site for me. That’s [legalized moonshine](https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/17/world/moonshine-legal-golden-age/index.html), not quite the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hammacher-schlemmer-and-the-moonshiners/811044/23 "2018-03-23T21:22:36Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Who the hell is paying $20-$30 a quart for moonshine when you can get pretty good vodka for that price? > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Why would anyone pay twenty or thirty dollars for a quart of homemade booze? You can go to any liquor store and get a bottle of vodka or whiskey for half that price. > > I can understand why moonshining was a profitable business during prohibition. But I don’t understand why anyone has done it since 1933. > > ninja’d by zoid. Why would anyone pay $160 for a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label? Because they like it, I suppose. Check out prices for Everclear, or any other 150+ proof legal liquor. $20-30 per quart is not out of line. You can’t compare moonshine prices to vodka any more that you can cider to champagne. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hammacher-schlemmer-and-the-moonshiners/811044/24 "2018-03-23T21:33:08Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Why would anyone pay $160 for a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label? Because they like it, I suppose. Check out prices for Everclear, or any other 150+ proof legal liquor. $20-30 per quart is not out of line. You can’t compare moonshine prices to vodka any more that you can cider to champagne. The point is that we’re not talking Johnny Walker Blue. We’re talking something a guy made in his garage. It’s going to taste worse that the ten dollar quart of generic vodka you buy at a liquor store. And the reason I compared homemade moonshine to vodka and whiskey is because those are the mainstream alcohols that are the closest equivalent to authentic moonshine (as opposed to the stuff that gets marketed as moonshine, which is about as authentic as Mountain Dew). ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hammacher-schlemmer-and-the-moonshiners/811044/25 "2018-03-23T21:57:05Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Why would anyone pay $160 for a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label? Because it’s a blend made of whisky that are aged for many years in wooden casks. It’s the aging that gives it flavor. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hammacher-schlemmer-and-the-moonshiners/811044/26 "2018-03-23T21:59:23Z")
…also, the reason people pay premium price for premium vodka (which is not aged) is [marketing](https://www.npr.org/2018/03/01/590022606/is-there-really-a-difference-between-expensive-vodka-and-cheap-vodka). ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hammacher-schlemmer-and-the-moonshiners/811044/27 "2018-03-26T15:14:19Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The point is that we’re not talking Johnny Walker Blue. We’re talking something a guy made in his garage. It’s going to taste worse that the ten dollar quart of generic vodka you buy at a liquor store. > > And the reason I compared homemade moonshine to vodka and whiskey is because those are the mainstream alcohols that are the closest equivalent to authentic moonshine (as opposed to the stuff that gets marketed as moonshine, which is about as authentic as Mountain Dew). The point is that we are talking high proof whiskey. Check out any legal whiskey in the 150 proof range and you will see that the prices are generally higher than $30 quart, and often much higher. That’s because of the taxes - anywhere from .60 to about $10.00 per quart depending on the state. Some states add an additional tax on high proof whiskey. In a low tax state the price for moonshine may be similar to ‘store bought’ high proof whiskey, but in a high tax state it’s going to be considerably less. And you can assume it tastes bad if you like, but history shows it to be palatable enough to sustain a market since virtually the dawn of distillation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hammacher-schlemmer-and-the-moonshiners/811044.md?page=1)