This weekend I was able to get up into the mountains and distill myself a batch of corn whiskey.  For this recipe I decided to cheat a little and add a little bit of sugar to my mash and go all out and make moonshine rather than try to age my whiskey into a bourbon.  After watching the show “Moonshiners” I was inspired to try out a recipe for apple pie moonshine.  The recipe was okay after I made it but a few days later the recipe tastes great, just like apple pie.  The cinnamon is much deeper and spicy and the apple slice that is placed in the jar gives it a fresh apple taste.   

WhiskeyPro’s Apple Pie Delight

·         6 oz Moonshine (Corn Whiskey)

·         6 oz Apple Cider

·         1 tbsp sugar

·         1 stick of cinnamon

·         ¼ apple slice

Put all the ingredients in a 16 oz mason jar and shake until sugar is dissolved.  The longer this liquor sits the better the flavor, it will allow the cinnamon stick and apple slice to infuse its freshness into the liquor.  Make sure to drink the moonshine directly out of the jar as that enhances your inner hillbilly.

If you have drank enough whiskey to notice the all the unique flavors, you might wonder why does most aged bourbon taste so much like vanilla?

It all starts with White American Oak barrels and the char that each distillery uses to make their distinct bourbon taste.  For bourbon to be legally called bourbon, it needs to be aged in new charred oak barrels for at least 3 years.  The wood, American white oak has a large amount of wood sugar within the wood.  When the bourbon barrel is charred on the inside it creates a few organic compounds and one of these flavor enhancing compounds is called vanillin. 

“Vanillin”, C8H8O3, is found in nature not only in wood but also in vanilla beans, maple syrup, banans and even butter.  The highest concentration of vanillin found in nature is in vanilla beans where 2% of their body weight is the organic compound vanillin.  You will notice that vanilla extract consists of a large percentage of alcohol in the extract.  The reason for this is that vanillin has a high solubility in alcohol.  While bourbon is sitting in barrels (at least 3 years legally) it has a long time to dissolve all the available charred vanillin in the wood.  By charring the bourbon barrels at different degrees of char it will create a different tasting vanillin compound ranging from a light flowery vanilla to a deep toffee flavor.  Other spirits can contain some amounts of vanillin and if you can taste a flavor of vanilla in the flavor profile there is a good chance there is vanillin in the spirit.

Back during prohibition moonshiners were making a hefty profit selling their illegal alcohol to thirsty speakeasy patrons. The demand for moonshine increased drastically during prohibition and tripled in price. Before prohibition the standard price of moonshine was $1.50/gallon but after prohibition the illegal moonshiners were able to fetch $4.50/gallon. Suddenly moonshining turned into a lucrative business opportunity for hobby distillers in the Appalachian region of the country.

Naturally, moonshiners needed to get their product to the market. If they were caught, not only would they lose their large profit, they would likely have their still operation raided and their operation shut down. So out of necessity moonshiners modified their cars to better transport their moonshine. They needed their cars to be outfitted to run fast and haul heavy loads. Heavy duty springs for suspension were added to make cars full of booze or 50 pound bags of sugar look normal. Engines were tweaked to get the most power possible, extra fuel tanks were added to go longer distances, anything the moonshiners could modify to give them an edge over standardized police cars was done.

Not only did moonshiners need a well built car, but it was also necessary to have a skilled driver that was able to outdrive and outsmart the law. Bragging rights began to flood towns and moonshiners felt the need to have an informal race to determine which moonshiners were best. By the end of the 40s, the races became well organized and in 1948 standardized rules were put in place and the association of NASCAR was born.

A wonder for some and an upturned nose for others.  Bathtub Gin appears to be a mythological legend but the idea of gin made in a bathtub doesn’t seem too far fetched for the swinging times during prohibition.  There are definitely disgusting things that can be done in your bathtub but making gin is not one of them.

People believe that the legend started because of the viability of being able to ferment a very large mash in a bathtub, usually around 100 gallons!  In actuality a bathtub would be a pretty good fermentor and since gin is basically a neutral spirit that is  flavored with herbs and botanicals its one of the more easy spirits to make.  All these signs point to a very plausible bootleg spirit but to make gin it has to be distilled with still.  So while someone could maybe make a mash for gin in the bathtub it still needs to be distilled with a still.  The bad reputation of bathtub gin wasn’t really spread by the idea of a bathtub but the idea of ridiculous shortcuts bootleggers would take.

(Fun Fact: bootleggers are called that because women used to smuggle illegal booze during prohibition in flasks that fit snugly into their knee high boots!)

But why not a bathtub gin recipe! 

Tub Thumper Bathtub Gin

   -1 Pint Everclear

   -1 Pint Purified Water

   -10 Crushed Juniper Berries

   -1 Tbsp Coriander

   -1 Tbsp Lemon Peel

Simmer Juniper Berries, Coriander and Lemon Peel for 15 minutes to extract the flavor.  Strain your extract and mix with alcohol and water.  Then grab your Tommy Gun and take it to your local speakeasy for a quick buck. 

The interaction between whiskey barrels and unaged whiskey is one of the most important parts in the whiskey making process.  It turns the whiskey from a clear liquid to an brownish amber color, it smooths out the strong rough taste of the spirit and gives it the majority of the flavor to the whiskey such as notes of caramel and vanilla. 

Whiskey barrels started out as toasted wooden barrels mainly for the purpose of transporting the spirit.  The shape of barrel makes it easy to roll and also has a special shape so that when its on its side its easy to rock it up so its standing tall.  The story goes that one day a wooden cart caught on fire and was full of unused barrels.  Not wanting to waste the barrels, they decided to go ahead and use the heavily charred barrels and found that the whiskey was a much better flavor than just a toasted barrel.

First off american bourbon barrels specifically use white american oak staves to make their barrels.  They cut the staves into strips that are a few inches wide and typically 2.5 inches thick. The barrel maker will then position these wooden staves in a steel hoop and then wire the staves together somewhat loosely.  The partially formed barrel will then take a trip through a steamer so that it will make the wood easier to work with.  The barrels will then pass through gas burners where they char the inside of the barrel.  After a few seconds of very intense charring they splash the barrel with water to stop the barrel from burning.  They then put the permanent thin steel hoops over the barrel.  They will then wedge in a circular peace of wood as the top, coated on the edge with bees wax to help keep the barrel leak proof.  You will notice that this process does not use any type of glue and the pressure created by the wooden staves makes the barrel leak proof as long as the staves are positioned correctly.

As our European ancestors started immigrating to America, they moved on from the eastern coast into the Appalachian Mountains into states such as: The Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and The Virginas.  As the settlers moved out into the backwoods of America, it was first necessary to clear enough land for their new home and a spot for a cash crop, usually corn, which was easy to produce with only a hoe.  These crops weren’t necessarily food for themselves but at that time, farming was a very profitable business as the population of America was booming from massive immigration. 

Since the settler were a long way away from their consumer market, it was necessary to transport their goods over rough terrain to get their goods to the coast.  Although they could produce from forty to sixty bushels of corn per acre from their super rich top soil, it was nearly impossible for them to get ground cornmeal or flour to markets on the eastern seaboard.  In comes the whiskey still!  By distilling down their crop to a potent liquid they could convert their bulky corn, rye or wheat into spirits.  Before a horse could carry about eight bushels of grain, which would bring in about $2, not nearly enough money to justify the journey and effort.  However with whiskey, a horse could carry two 10 gallons kegs of whiskey which could bring in around $20.  Therefore, distilling just made sense to almost all farmers in this area and most of them did make whiskey for that purpose.  An entreprenuerial spirit is what made american whiskey what it is today.

Here is a new whisky from Mystic Mountain Distillery called Blackjack Whisky.  I got a chance to snag a sample and decided to write a review on it.  It is a unique tasting whisky that is produced right here in Colorado. 

Nose: Fruit, Flowers, very light smelling

Palate: Granny Smith Apples, some Vanilla

Finish: Most flavor is in the finish, blueberries, vanilla, mint, bit of a bite

Comments: Very different tasting whiskey, not a lot of flavor on palate but finishes with a big bang of unique flavors, has a very delicate taste

Price: $23

Rating: B-