We know you want the good stuff right away, so here's the recipe!
Ingredients
4 oz Moonshine
2 oz Simple Syrup
2 drops Super Lemon Haze Terps
4 Lemon Wedges
1 sprig Mint
Method
Add Super Lemon Haze terpenes to Moonshine, set aside
Muddle Lemon and Mint
Add Simple Syrup
Add Super Lemon Haze Moonshine
Add Ice
Shake like you mean it
Strain and pour over ice
The Mystique of Moonshine
Say the word 'Moonshine' at your local speakeasy and certain images invariably come to mind. Grain stills and mills steaming discreetly in the Old South, no doubt. High speed chases down desolate southern roads under the cover of night, as bootleggers drive like mad to beat the devil and distribute their illicit liquid to a thirsty public. "Drink that and you'll go blind!"
Perhaps you envision bad batches being cooked up in the radiators of souped-up Ford V-8s a la John Dillinger, and we begin to get a picture of a rebellious, unregulated beverage being brewed in a rebellious, unregulated time, inherently tied to the history of the American South. History connoisseurs may invoke the Whiskey Rebellion at the turn of the century, 1791 into 1801. All these things are accurate (and fiendishly romantic), but altogether incomplete. There's much more to Moonshine than antebellum antiquity would have us believe.
What's In a Name?
Most of us consider Moonshine it's own unique brand of hooch - a very specific, high-alcohol, colorless booze with a colorful past. Something akin to Whiskey perhaps.
Such is not the case, common (mis)conceptions aside.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines moonshine as : noun [U] : alcoholic drink made illegally.
Dictionary.com, with only slightly more specificity declares moonshine : noun [informal] : smuggled or illicitly distilled liquor, especially corn liquor as illicitly distilled chiefly in rural areas of the Southern U.S.
Merriam-Webster brings us home with : intoxicating liquor, especially : illegally distilled corn whiskey.
Here the defining components are not Southern appellation or whiskey varietals, but functions of legality and distribution. Moonshine is any booze made illegally, then smuggled…
What's In Your Glass ?
…fair enough.
If you're so inclined you can read up on the code of federal regulations but take it from us, Moonshine can be made from anything fermentable (grains, fruit, potatoes, milk even), with no upper limit on its alcohol content, distilled anywhere, and in any medium (oak barrels, take 'em or leave 'em).
Thank you internet, for the clarifications.
We still (choose) to see Moonshine as a Southern phenomena, and in this recipe we've used a 90 proof spirit distilled from corn, rye and barley malt.
Celebrating Moonshine
Today we celebrate the gall of the early famers-turned-moonshiners who brewed the hooch in rusty, jerry-rigged stills in an effort to turn their excess crop into a profit. So to do we celebrate the bootleggers who smuggled under cover of darkness - be it in the trunks of their modified Fords or in the coffins of fabricated funeral parades (out of respect for the 'deceased', even coppers wouldn't stop a funeral procession).
We celebrate the way moonshine's colorful history has trickled down throughout the ages and found its way into our common vernacular and cultural heritage.
We use "bootleg" to denote anything made illegally, but it can be traced back to smugglers hiding flasks in the upper part of their boots around the 1880s.
With the advent of cars, bootleggers found a new way to smuggle their product, and in the process acquired some outrageous driving skills. What's another primarily Southern phenomenon that involves high-speed pursuit? NASCAR. That's right, even NASCAR can trace its roots back to the reckless pursuits over unpaved, back country roads on humid, Southern summer nights.
Furthermore, today, we celebrate the beverage itself.
Super Lemon Hazy Days
What better way to do that than with Moonshine's marriage to yet another celebrated Imbibe-able American Institution : Lemonade.
Although this isn't the Lemonade you remember from your youth. Be warned, this one packs a punch.
Here we've used our Super Lemon Haze Terpene Blend to effectively make a quick Lemon Moonshine. This isn't simply a spiked Lemonade, this cocktail is primarily Moonshine, with our terps lending the lemon flavor, and the muddled lemon and mint bringing a degree of brightness and freshness. Simple syrup rounds it out to make the overall concoction a little more palatable, and a little more reminiscent of classic Lemonade.
This one is quick and easy : Mix, Muddle and Shake.
Pour this over ice, garnish with lemon peel for a little class, and enjoy.
Rebel responsibly, friends.
