WEBVTT - How Moonshine Works 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:16.400 from house Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:21.640 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Chuck Bryant right there. Okay, 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:23.880 this is stuff you should know. Chuck, put your cool 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.680 guy hat back. Chuck is wearing one of those Newsy caps. 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:29.960 It's his newest thing, the flat cap. They're in style 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:33.640 and he's he's coming on up. Up next is Floral 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:39.680 Link Mink Coke. I could totally thank you. Um yeah, 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.479 because who wants red pain or blood thrown all over 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:46.120 when they walk down straight? Um? Chucker, have an anecdote 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.800 for you? I don't, I don't want to know. All right, 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:50.839 well I need to come up with another segway then 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:55.000 go ahead. Okay, So, back before we knew each other, uh, 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.560 years and years ago, my I had a whole group 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:01.880 of friends, good friends. My dad was there, both my 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:05.039 brothers in law were there. Um and one of my 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.720 great all time friends, Tom Shechef, who actually writes for 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:13.039 the site. Yeah yes, yeah, oh yeah, good friends. Uh. 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:15.920 He came down from Tennessee. He was living in Johnson City, 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:18.319 Tennessee at the time. And Tom brought with him to 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:25.200 the party a pint of moonshine, just perfectly crystal clear moonshine. 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:28.640 And there was no no no, believe me, whoever made 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.320 this knew exactly what they were doing. Um, there was 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:35.000 a peach in the bottom even and um, one of 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.559 my friends, who was probably the youngest one at the party, 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:42.200 kind of a little punk at the time, Um, just jokingly, 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:44.480 you know, grabbed the moonshine and walked over to my dad, 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:48.440 who was in his sixties at the time, uh, and said, hey, maw, 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.960 you want to do some shots? And my dad grabbed 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:55.560 the pint and it just went from there. Those two 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.000 drank the whole thing and my dad matched the twenty 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:02.000 one year old kids shot for shot of moonshine. And 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.560 it gets better. And then after they were finished, my 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:09.800 dad ate the peach. My dad ate the peach and 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.320 imagine that thing, uh really had soaked up quite a 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:15.880 bit of a booze. It really. My dad has no 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:19.120 recollection of this event, um, but it's kind of become 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:22.400 around my family. Uh. This uh, this kind of badge 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:24.400 of honor. He hit the peach, you know, that kind 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.120 of thing. So anytime somebody does something like really cool 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:31.120 or tough or unexpecting, you know that he ate the peach. 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:36.359 So that was my segue into how moonshine were. That's 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:39.120 good like that? Yeah, yeah, have you have you ever 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.320 tasted moonshine? Yeah? Yeah, I'm drinking before. I actually lived 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:44.800 in Johnson City for a little while. I knew some people, 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.000 and I gotta tell you, man, it is Appalachia like around. 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:51.840 I actually lived outside kind of up on a mountain 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.480 um around the corner from people who lived in school 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:59.200 buses with chimneys coming. I'm not kidding on Roan Mountain 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:03.160 and there are tons of still still around. Like you 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:06.320 can get moonshine from anybody up there. And the people 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:08.040 they all know what they're doing. They're not doing it 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:10.560 for you know, profit or anything like that. These are 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.200 people who, you know, guys who are like into homebrewing. 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:15.920 But imagine if like you're in a homebrewing and your 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:18.359 grandfather taught you how to do it, you know that 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:20.440 kind of thing, Like they know exactly what they're going to, 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.080 take a bunch of pride in it, and then you know, 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.000 you just kind of get it from a friend or something, 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.280 and it's actually really cheap. It's like tim Bucks for 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:28.480 a cord or something like that. I've never paid for. 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:30.639 I've had it quite a few times too, at various parties. 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:32.320 You know, someone like you said, we'll just show up 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.400 out of nowhere with a jar and mason jar. And 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.160 I always kind of befriend that person because I'd love 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:41.760 to taste of moonshine. It's really uh tough to to stomach, 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.360 but there's something about the corn whiskey. Yeah, But I 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.160 think right now is when the point where that we 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:50.160 should say that it's illegal and in any form. Yeah, 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:52.040 we do not encourage anyone to go out and build 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.000 our own still, even though we're going to tell you 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.200 how to. And this is also based on an article 0:03:57.400 --> 0:03:59.560 you can find out how stuff works dot com in 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.920 the A P section. That doesn't tell you something, right, 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:04.800 I don't know what that says about us, but yeah, well, 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:06.960 we have recipes for moonshine on our site. That's what 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.640 it says, all right, So Chuck, let's let's let's talk 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:11.720 about moonshine a little bit. Where should we Where should 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:13.800 we start? Well, I think we should travel back in 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.039 time a bit to great Britain to the UK. Oh yeah, 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.560 English words come from great thinking. Right. The word moonshine 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:23.479 actually comes from England. Originally, the term started from a 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.800 verb moonshining, which was referred to any job that you 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.120 did late at night, like the midnight shift was moonshining, 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.920 and it eventually just kind of morphed into uh making 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.159 illegal booze because they did it at night, you know, 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:37.960 under cover of the night. Well not only did they 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:40.080 make it, they also ran it, which is a different 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:44.200 word bootlegging, right, It was it was smuggled at night, right, 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:47.039 and that if you want to know the do from 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:49.960 the word there is from they would stick it in 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:52.640 their high boots, the bottles and the writing boots, right, 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:54.440 yeah they're writing. But yeah, that's how they smuggle it. 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:56.919 So bootleggers, I really choked that out there. This is 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.440 this is this is during colonial time. Yeah, okay, so 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:05.279 uh these are distinct words, like a moonshiner and a 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.279 bootlegger maybe one and the same, but it depends on 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.920 the activity they're engaged in at any given time. Right, 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:15.200 So the moonshiner actually makes the stuff, the bootlegger smuggles it. 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.040 And there's a third one actually to a rum runner, 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:21.160 which is by sea. It's a bootlegger who who smuggles 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:25.000 by sea? Yeah, it's all very like it's yes, this wonderful, 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:30.040 hazy past of smuggling ships and riding horses with phil 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.560 you know, with boots filled with whiskey. Yeah, let's try 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.640 not to romanticize it. Yeah, you're right. Um, I think though, 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:38.279 I'm gonna set you up here because I know this 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:41.159 is your favorite part of this whole podcast. Uh. In 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.599 the nineteen forties and fifties, Uh, in the United States 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:46.880 who started doing this by car, started filling up their 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.400 trunk full of moonshine and bootlegging high speed chases and 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:55.280 go and actually this this these people were tinker with 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:58.560 their cars. Um. They You've got these kind of backwoods 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.360 mechanics who learned to take like a Ford V eight 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:06.640 and turned it into this supercharged, turbo boosted, wonderfully suspended 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:10.200 car that could outrun any cop in the Georgia Mountains. 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.040 Think of the Dukes of Hazzard that kind of time, 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:16.039 and that these guys actually kind of became gearheads and 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.200 they started challenging one another to races, and out of 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:26.320 that came NASCAR. NASCAR is directly descended from bootlegging. Yep so, 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:29.080 and actually the first guy I love this, I love 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:34.000 this fact. The first guy to win an official NASCAR race. 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.960 His name was Glenn Dunaway and he won the first 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:43.920 official race on December twelve in Daytona, Florida. UM. He 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.080 won the race, but was disqualified because the it's a 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:50.080 stock car racing, you're not supposed to have a modified 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:54.520 UM and he had an illegal wedge uh too for 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:58.680 for handling right, So he was disqualified, But he actually 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:00.159 won the first race. Of the reason he had the 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.000 wedge was because he used that car to smuggle a 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.960 bunch of whiskey the week earlier in North Carolina, the 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:08.720 same car. I know that you're fat. You should just 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:10.720 end it right now. It doesn't get me better than that. 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:12.680 You're gonna go to sleep. Can you take the rest? 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.800 I'll take it from you. Uh so, Yeah, you talked 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:21.440 about UM run running, which is by sea and uh bootlegging, 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:26.200 I'm sorry. Moonshine is made of corn. Generally in the US, 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.440 it's almost exclusively made of corn, but it can be 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.560 made of any grain right, correct, But for fruit true, 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.520 anything that has starches in it, right, But it's generally 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:38.240 in the US made you can hear it referred to 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.720 as corn whiskey. So you need corn meal, sugar, yeast, 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:44.360 and water. Every alcoholic beverage I think needs yeast? Is 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:46.880 that true? I don't, I don't I know beer? Does 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:48.480 you really put me on the spot here? I know 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.760 someone's going, I've got something for you. Part of the 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.240 process of making whiskey involves the same process as you 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:59.560 used to make beer. Right. Um, it's that's fermentation exactly, 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:04.320 and tech thinically apparently among the distilleries, the word that 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:08.200 they use for the fermented alcohol before it's distilled is beer. 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.080 So apparently any alcohol it goes through a fermentation process 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:17.000 is technically called beer. So wine would technically be beer, right. 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.520 Isn't that weird? Okay? But that's just step one in 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:23.960 the and the fermentation process basically just adding um, yeast 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:27.360 to whatever grain there is, and the yeast goes to 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:30.880 town on it. They're very simple plants actually, Um. They 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:33.640 ingest this stuff and as a byproduct they put out 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:38.480 carbon dioxide and alcohol, and what that stuff is called 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:44.280 is mash. So this fermented stuff is called mash. And um, 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.400 you take the mash. And now we get into the 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:50.080 distilling process, right, Well, then you heat it up, yes, 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:54.160 to about a hundred and seventy two degrees fahrenheiten and 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:57.720 uh would coal? You can use anything basically you want 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:00.480 that you can easy steam to heat a up. Sure, 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:03.480 Now they use propane and I understand sure because you 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:07.000 know you figure uh. And what happens is from there, 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:11.120 the alcohol evaporates, pressure builds up, and the alcohol steam 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:14.080 is forced through an arm which is a caparm, which 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:15.880 is the pipe that leads out of the top of 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.120 the still. So you have this evaporation going on, and 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.640 then it goes into a what they call a thump keg, right, 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:25.840 And it's so named because it catches sometimes some of 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:29.920 this mash comes along with the alcohol vapor and when 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.240 it comes into this hollow cag and hits the bottom 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.920 and makes a thumping sound exactly. So this thump keg 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:38.680 is is intended to further separate the mash from the 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.280 alcohol vapor. Right. Can you imagine, like inhaling alcohol vapor? 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:44.240 What would that do to you? I don't know, It's 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.280 probably not very good. Okay, So so we're in the 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:50.880 thump cake. Now, can you hear us, right, we are 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:55.200 sour mash mash nice nice, So okay, chuck, what's going 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:58.680 on in here? Well? And the thump keg, like you said, 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.520 the bits of mash drop into inside of here where 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.920 we are, and then it re evaporates the alcohol and 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:07.200 filters out the mash because you don't want the mash. 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:09.400 Which you want is a clear liquid, all right, So 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.760 up we go out of the thumb cake and where 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:14.200 are we? Up? And out of the thumb keg and 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.839 now we travel into the worm um as steam. Yes, no, 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.559 this is the the most fun part of the ride 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:23.680 because the worm is actually basically just a pipe that 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.480 coils around, right, So if we were actually able to 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:28.200 go through, it would probably be kind of like a 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.959 fun water slide. Yeah. And this worm actually, this this 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:37.800 coil pipe actually just going through cold water which cools 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:41.559 the alcohol from its gaseous state back into its liquid state. 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.280 And guess where that arm comes out. Well, it comes 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.599 out eventually into a little jar yep or whatever you 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:50.559 want to put it, a pigot, and then bottle is 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:53.280 right from there, right, And that said mason jar because 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:55.240 many times it's it's I don't know if it's tradition 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:56.720 or not. But they put it in mason. I've never 0:10:56.760 --> 0:10:59.439 seen in anything but a mason. Yeah, maybe a ball jar. 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:02.160 That's about it, right. And what happens is now you've 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:05.679 got a clear liquid. And that brings us to the 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.760 the difference between moonshine and regular whiskey that you would 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.920 get that's brown or you know, light colored, is the 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.200 aging process. Moonshine is not aged, and that's why it 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:19.480 remains clear. You're Jack Daniels that you love, Uh, that 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.760 is the same thing for a little while, but then 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.959 it's aged for years in oak barrels, charred oak barrels. Yeah, 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.760 and I looked into the charring part. The reason they 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.359 char the inside of the oak barrels. They're actually caramelizing 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:38.160 the starches, which makes it sweeter. So the the the 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.240 the bourbon. This is the part of the bourbon making process. 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.760 The bourbon actually absorbs the sugars more, which make gives 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:48.640 it a sweeter taste and mellows it even further because 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.560 it also gives it its brown color. Because moonshine is 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:55.360 known for the they called the kick, and both of 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.640 us can attest it is a very harsh tasting whiskey. Yeah, 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:01.880 it really is. It definitely has a kick, and it 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:04.880 tastes like nothing else that you've had. No, it's it 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:09.040 tastes like God pulling your throat out. You kind of 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.720 see a white light and there's just like a sudden, 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:16.120 blinding flash of pain and that's the kick. That's that's 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.199 a great it's a great way to describe it. I 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:20.800 wouldn't have thought of that. It's good. Um. It's also 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:25.000 very potent. Um. I think moonshine usually is uh in 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:28.959 the neighborhood of a hundred fifty proof, which is a lot. Yeah, 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.160 that's a lot, because what is it eighty proof for 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:35.040 ninety proof? Is on fifty proof would be alcohol? Right, 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:37.400 but your average like bottle of bourbon is is ninety 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.360 proof correct? Yeah? Eight nine? Yeah, yeah, because I mean 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:45.120 wild turkeys they have a special one d Yeah true, yeah, 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:47.720 probably eight Josh. If I didn't know any better, I'd 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:51.280 say that you imbibe with an alcoholic beverage from time. Okay, 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:55.400 that's a good um. So, uh, they make the moonshine. 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:57.199 And one of the problems with moonshine, I guess we 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.880 need to talk about the downside is that it can 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:03.000 be dangerous if someone doesn't know what they're doing. Yeah, 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:04.760 here's the big problem. This is why all of you 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.600 shouldn't run out and make your own still, as Chuck 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:11.480 said earlier, because because it's illegal. That's that's number one, 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:14.680 it is illegal. One of the reasons it's illegal is 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:17.360 because it's so thoroughly unsafe. So I mean like when 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:19.520 you make beer wine at home, which you can legally 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:21.680 because you're making it in small batches. But number two, 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.719 it's not nearly as dangerous. Whenever you make any kind 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.880 of alcohol, you have a risk of um of their 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.520 being impurities in your batch, right, um, and these impurities 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:34.640 can be dangerous and beer wine, but it's much less 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:38.560 likely when compared to spirits like whiskey. Um. And these 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:42.839 these impurities are called congeners, right, And what those are, 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.479 it's it's just to catch all name for any impurity 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:50.240 that's a complex compound, like a polyphenol um or histamine, 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:53.120 you know, those things that give you allergic reactions. These 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:56.120 can easily end up in your batch. And this is 0:13:56.160 --> 0:14:00.600 why people often die from drinking moonshine. It's not just 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.600 from alcohol poison or anything like that. It's it's these 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.520 impurities get in there and re havoc on your body. 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:08.559 And yeah, I would say not as much anymore. I mean, 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:12.000 not that it's a huge business or anything. But during Prohibition, 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:13.280 I know there were a lot of people that were 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:16.280 dying because they were it was in such demand because 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.520 it was alcohol was illegal that they were mixing it 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.480 too fast, and the operations sped up and and they 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:25.480 actually sometimes purposely put impurities in there give it that 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:29.200 kick like bleach was. It was often found in in 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:32.600 moonshine during Prohibition, right. It's always it's funny we mentioned 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.040 it's called Mash. It always reminds me of the TV 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.320 show Mash, one of my favorite shows growing up, because 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:41.360 you know, they had they're still in the what was 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.800 the name of their the swamp in their tent and 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.400 then distillery didn't they well they called it gin. But 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:49.880 it's looking back now, this is before I ever had 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.360 moonshine when I watched Mash, but it was probably just 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:54.160 corn whiskey. I doubt if they were able to make 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.880 like nice gin. I always took it as gin. No, 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.200 I bet it. I bet it was moonshine. I don't know, man, 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.720 they were sipping like it was gin all right, Alan 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:04.200 Alda needs to get in touch with us or the 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.080 guy who played b J or Trapper or any of them. 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:10.240 Really just no radar, no radar. I was about to 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:15.600 say this, so Chuck. You know, moonshine um has actually 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.320 a really long history with the U S. And it's 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:22.560 so much so, it's so ingrained that it has it's 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:27.160 had this kind of symbiotic effect on our cultural legacy. Um. 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.520 When you start looking into moonshine, like NASCAR being you know, 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.320 coming out of moonshine, or the term bootlegger that's used 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.240 world brown came from the United States and are are 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.840 smuggling right, Um. But when you really start to look 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:44.560 into the history of moonshine and how it helps shape America, 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:49.960 we used to be a nation of crazy, gun slinging 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.400 nut jobs. I mean we used to be wild, especially 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:58.760 like in the nineteenth century. Um, bootleggers used to the 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.760 whole the whole reason boot egging was ever around in 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:07.120 the US was because basically right after we formed our nation, 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:09.600 our second government that the one we have now the 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:15.480 constitutional government. Um, they started imposing taxes on on liquor, 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.480 and everybody had just said, well wait, a minute. We 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:22.120 just got out from under the thumb of a king 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.960 who used to taxes. We're not paying any taxes and 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.800 they didn't. They know they didn't. And actually, um, they 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:31.960 would attack revenuers, tax collectors. They would tar and feather them, 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:33.920 which sounds kind of funny now because we're sort of 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:37.960 moved from it. That was actually apparently an extremely excruciating process. 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:41.200 You like hot tar port on you and then you know, 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:43.960 the feathers were probably nothing but a relief, but you're 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.160 walking around and imagine trying to get cool tar off 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.560 of your skin. Yeah, so I imagine being tart and 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:54.000 feather wasn't that much fun. But even beyond that, they 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:59.400 actually formed an armed uprising called the Whiskey Rebellion. Yeah, 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:04.920 and that was the Washington's first big wow as president. 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:08.080 Holy crap, I'm president. And they just took over Pittsburgh 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:09.960 and it was like people from a lot of states. 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:11.919 There were thousands of them. They were armed, and they 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:14.680 were mad. They did not want to pay money or 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:18.520 taxes on the liquor they were producing. Um. And it 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:22.159 was actually the first use of a presidential pardon to 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.840 overturn conviction was from the Whiskey rebellion did not know 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.480 that it is, So what g W did, uh, which 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:32.560 is George Washington. Of course he got together um a 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:37.560 militia of about thirteen thousand dudes, and he basically quelled 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:41.480 and dispersed the mob, captured as leaders and it was, 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:43.600 like you said, forever known as a Whiskey rebellion. But 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.960 there was nothing, nothing was actually resolved. Well, that's that's 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:51.639 the the government and bootleggers. They go side by side, 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:54.440 and every once in a while, usually when war funding 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:58.480 is needed, the government attacks bootlegging to try to increase 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:02.719 its its tax revenues. Um. So the basically the federal 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.480 government went its way, the bootleggers went their way, and 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:09.240 they maintained the status quo. Basically we kept having bootlegging. 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.200 No one really had a problem with it until the 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:15.800 clan got involved. And any American knows that in the 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:18.719 United States you can do whatever you want as long 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:21.439 as you're not hurting anybody and you're not affiliated with 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:25.040 the clan. Everybody hates the clan here. Think it's something 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:27.560 that yeah, the ku Klux Klan. I think that's something 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:30.280 that people, you know, maybe some of our Norwegian or 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:34.720 or Dutch listeners might not understand Americans hate the clan. 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:38.960 We do. And this actually UM kind of led to uh, 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:42.720 this outlaw view of bootleggers that we have now. So 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.800 they were getting into shootouts and killing I R s 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:50.199 auditors and collectors and um, intimidating families and you know, 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.640 locals even who knew like where it still was. Well, 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:57.119 bootleggers joined forces and made the mistake, the big mistake 0:18:57.160 --> 0:18:59.160 of joining up with the clan, right, that's what I mean. 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.320 So that turned the tied to public opinion all of 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.480 a sudden. Bootleggers aren't just you know, so harmless anymore. 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:08.600 They're in with the clan. So um that actually gave 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:13.000 the temperance movement even more of a foothold. The Temperance 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:17.240 movement is my worst nightmare. It is UM. Basically no, 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:22.040 there's no alcohol produced or imported into the United States. 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.560 Imagine the entire country dry. This is the point of 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:28.480 the Temperance movement. And they weren't just you know, crackpots. 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:32.040 They were actually they had identified alcohol as an agent 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:36.000 of moral decay, social decay. It was a problem. So 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:40.280 rather than and this is before rehab to rather than 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:45.199 UM having alcoholics go dry out or take care of 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:48.919 their their problem, their addiction. They said, we have a 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:53.320 social responsibility to not tempt our alcoholics. We have to 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:55.840 put them above the rest of us because the rest 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:57.919 of us are an alcoholics, so we don't need a drink. 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.040 So let's just get rid of alcohol together, or alcoholics 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:05.479 can be good people. Yeah, Well, it actually happened. They 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:09.680 finally got prohibition pushed through in the day the earth 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:13.680 stood still. Uh, and it lasted, um from nineteen twenty 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:16.199 and nineteen thirty four, and it actually turned out to 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.919 be the greatest thing that ever happened to bootlegging because 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:22.320 all of a sudden, people there's one thing that they 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.440 learned from prohibition is you can try and take away 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:28.000 the alcohol, but the people want it and they're gonna 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:29.960 get it. And I would liken it to the War 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:33.440 on drugs. Yeah, it's just it's the exact same thing. 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:38.240 Anytime you prohibit anything, Number one, it makes it, um, 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:41.320 It gives it kind of a forbidden feel, which makes 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.440 it all the more desirable. Um. But I mean, think 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:47.480 about how many people wouldn't or don't drink now be 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.200 just because it's there. How many more would if you 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:53.880 simply couldn't. And yeah, if prohibition proved anything, it's that 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:57.120 if when there's a will, organized crime finds a way. 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:01.520 So we've got speakeasies, we've got gang land murders, we've 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:05.960 got moonshine that's being put out, it's being overproduced and 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:09.879 watered down and with bleach added, and then all of 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:14.439 a sudden, prohibition goes away, and almost almost at the 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:18.520 same time, so does moonshining, almost entirely well drastically reduced. 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:20.720 And but it came made a big well I know 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:22.840 about a big comeback, but it made a comeback as 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:26.040 we talked about later on with the whole NASCAR thing. 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:31.320 And then in um the nineteen seventies, uh, sixties and seventies, 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:34.080 they thought it was sort of a problem again, but 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:36.480 they didn't really do a lot about it. Like there's 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:39.119 very few court cases about it unless it has to 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:42.879 do with I think they'll tie like money laundering using 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:46.480 money laundering laws which are way way worse than than 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:52.240 you know, moonshining being convicted of moonshining, UM and with that, 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:56.640 moonshining is becoming a dying art, right, but they still 0:21:56.680 --> 0:21:58.680 do it. And then in the nineteen seventies, they made 0:21:58.680 --> 0:22:00.679 it legal to make your own and and beer with 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:07.440 homebrew enthusiasts. I mean you can, but it's illegal. Yeah, 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:09.879