Moonshine Travels: Where to find it and how to test it
If you have heard about the Scottish whiskey distillery tours or the Micro Brewery tour guides written for those who want to travel the world in search of better beer, you already know that many travelers design their itineraries around drinks. One popular drink in the southern USA is homemade, illegal corn liquor. But because it is against the law to make and sell it, those who want to take a moonshine tour of the southern states will find that it requires underground research and lots of word of mouth directions. For instance, near the town of Johnson City, TN, there is a famous moonshine maker, but his name is kept a secret. Near Newport TN, there is a bar inside a private home, where moonshine is sold alongside other drinks, and the various kinds of moonshine are listed on the menu and on big boards behind the bar. But it is also kept a secret, to keep from being exposed to the authorities. A reporter for the Boston Globe newspaper attempted to learn more about the moonshine of the southern Appalachian mountains, but he had to be introduced to the “mountain dew” by local friends who connected him to their private sources.
If you travel through the region of Appalachia, and attend fiddle festivals and other country music gatherings, you will eventually find what you’re looking for. Moonshine is passed around campfires in jelly jars, and when you are offered it, you can test how good it is by shaking the jar to see if it produces little champagne bubbles – the more bubbles, the better. Be sure to ask where you can get more, if you want to take a jar home with you. But watch out for the law, because this is one kind of cocktail that you can’t order in your local watering hole.