Do people still make illegal corn whiskey, as depicted in Snuffy Smith and the Beverly Hillbillies? For that matter, since Prohibition went south, is making whiskey for your own consumption still illegal? And [blatantly sneaking an IMHO into a GQ thread], has anybody ever drunk any and how’d it taste?
I do believe some still run illegal stills, though I wouldn’t know where.
It is legal to ferment your own alcohol, but not to distill it or concentrate it in any way (such as by ‘jacking’). Too many things can go wrong, and badly distilled alcohol is poison.
[tangent] ‘Jacking’ is the process of freezing an alcoholic beverage and siphoning off the liquid. The water ices up at a much higher temp, so the liquid part is much higher alcohol. It also has a much higher concentration of impurities. The most popular ‘jack’ was applejack. You make up some hard cider, leave the barrel in the barn during the winter, and drill into the center for the jack. [/tangent]
Once, a couple of my friends who homebrew made a very small amount of homemade vodka with a pressure cooker. I drank about a half ounce of the stuff, and it tasted way too much like lighter fluid. I’ve often wondered if it would be better if done by a more experienced moonshiner.
Oh yeah they do.
Franklin Co., VA, which is not too far from where I’m from, is often referred to as the moonshine capital of the world. I can’t give any statistics, but there’s quite a bit out there. It seems that once or twice a year, on average, you’ll hear of a major bust there. (Yeah, it’s still illegal, what with taxation and all that).
The best moonshine I’ve ever had was from there, a big mason jar full of whiskey with plums floating in it. That was some good shit.
They do indeed. Whilst I was growing up in rural Western Pennsylvania it was, if not everywhere, certainly easy to get.
More recently, a family member who worked at a rehab hospital was offered a large mason jar of moonshine from a man because of his gratitude for the wonderful work the hospital did for his grand-daughter. Unfortunately, the general consensus of the staff was that it was improper for them to accept the gift.
I nearly cried.
Well, back in 1981-82, my college roommate and I made a still in our dorm room using glassware bought from the chem department. We fermented sugar water, using standard baking yeast and sugar packets liberated from the dorm cafeteria.
The stuff we made was rather like Everclear, but with a slight rubber taste from the surgical tubing used to connect the glassware bits. What we didn’t drink, we’d pour under the closed doors of our neighbors and light on fire. Of course, that’s only practical with tile or concrete floors 
More to the point, this article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution describes the career of an ostensibly-retired moonshiner.
Great stuff!!
Around here, you could get White Lighting that looked like crystal clear spring water, came in a mason jar, was virtually odorless but one sip would send you grabbing for the bottle of Coca - cola. YEEEEEHAW!!
Lip smacking, thigh slapping good! Once your eyes stopped watering and your stomach recovered from the shock, you might realize that the first sip tasted like a well worn old army boot. After a few more, you didn’t care what it tasted like.
Sometimes it was a beautiful, golden amber, if the 'shiner poured it in a wooden barrel to age for a day to a week to take the ‘sting’ out a might. It also tasted better.
To make sure you got reasonably good and safe hooch, you pour out a capful, light it and turn the lights out. If it burns with a pure blue flame, it’s safe. If the flame changes color, then you’re taking a risk drinking it. Some shiners like to run the stuff through car radiators as a condenser, which promptly adds lead or antifreeze residue to it. (Not many do anymore because it’s one thing to get caught for moonshine, another to get hauled in for attempted manslaughter.)
In 1982, I attended the Knoxville World’s Fair. There was an exhibit put on by the host state of Tennessee which among other things featured a working corn whiskey still. The resulting liquid was clear as water and freshly made (which is not generally a desirable trait in whiskey). The man operating the still offered my brother and me a sip which we accepted. I can’t describe what resulted as a taste; it was more like a physical sensation of having your throat grabbed from the inside.
A uh, friend of a friend mine had some absolutely wonderful peach moonshine just a few weeks ago at a relative’s house. It was clear and smooth and just delicious–after the burning sensation left! Apparently, my, I mean her, relatives make their own shine once or twice a year. I hear they’re trying blackberry next.
Surprisingly, home distilling is perfectly legal in many countries, including (IIRC) New Zealand, Sweden, and Canada. Practicioners of the art claim that all the stories about moonshine being potentially poisonous is just scare tactics by the government who are afraid of losing out on their tax revenue. They say that as long as you are careful to distill the beverage two or three times, it is perfectly safe.
There is a company in Sweden that will sell you flavoring packets that claim to make the almost pure alcohol taste like bourbon, brandy, scotch, etc. This I find hard to believe. I once had that company’s website bookmarked, but I can’t find it now.
Cabbage: Plum whiskey?! That might put some flavor in it.
I imagine if you were to keg up your corn liquor in barrels, like Skribbler says, and let it age a long time, it would be comparable in quality to any of the more conventional whiskies. I suppose the stuff they distill in Scotland and Ireland is, right out of the still, just as colorless and flavorless as new corn whiskey.
Then again, corn whiskey probably doesn’t cost $25 and up a liter, either.