There’s a lot of alcohol options out there these days. However, if there’s one drink that’s been making a resurgence, it’s been moonshine. Perhaps you’ve even seen some on TV or in stores and been curious about it. Still, it’s important to know the moonshine dangers that are out there. That way, you can make the right choices with your drinking…
Moonshine Dangers: Knowing The Risks
Legal vs. illegal
Most people associate moonshine with being illegal. Shows on TV tend to follow those who run illegal stills, and as a result it can be surprising to see moonshine for sale in liquor stores. However, this kind of moonshine is indeed legal, but it comes with a key distinction.
Legal moonshine isn’t “true” moonshine per say. In fact, it’s white corn whiskey which hasn’t been aged yet. It’s also made in proper facilities, and held to the same standard other alcohol is. Illegal moonshine, on the other hand, is where you’ll run into the actual moonshine dangers.
Impurities
The most apparent moonshine dangers are the many impurities which might appear in a drink. Illegal moonshine is made in homemade stills, which aren’t held to any kind of federal cleanliness standard. As a result, there could be a lot of fouling and residue from previous batches which could make their way into your drink.
Plus, the materials which go into making moonshine also can be dirty. The water, for example, tends to come from nearby streams or rivers and isn’t properly filtered. The fruit or corn which goes into making the mash also isn’t held to the same standard as in legal alcohol-making facilities. All this means that your homemade moonshine might not leave you feeling so great after drinking it.
Methanol risks
Perhaps the most risky of the moonshine dangers is the methanol content. Methanol is the much more dangerous counterpart to ethanol, the actual alcohol component of your drinks. Methanol can be virtually undetectable when drank, until your body starts to metabolize it. Then, the real dangers can begin.
Drink over 10 ml, and you can permanently damage your optic nerve. Drinking over 30 ml is fatal, and is like a very severe alcohol poisoning. While legal distillers will remove methanol, there’s no way to know if illegal moonshine is filtered. This makes every drink a risk that you’ll not want to take.
