White Dog Rising: Moonshine’s Moment
by Josh Ozersky
“They call it that old mountain dew, and them that refuse it are few.”
So goes the old song, and it gets truer every month. Yes, the distilled spirit known as moonshine, white lightning, white dog or simply white whiskey is the liquor of the moment, bringing together whiskey geeks, home distillers and high-end mixologists, all of whom find in the formerly clandestine rotgut a new means of expression, both for their palates and their politics.
Why is moonshine making a comeback? For the same reason absinthe did a few years ago. Because it’s delicious. Because it’s illegal. And because it’s cool. Moonshine, both then and now, is whiskey as it comes out of the still: no oak barrels, no caramel color, no aging. It’s just straight liquor from fermented corn or wheat mash. None of the luxury-tinged language that surrounds its grown-up siblings, like bourbon or scotch, applies to the dog. There are no 12 years of “mellowing,” no “complex vanilla notes.” If you get one flavor out of a white whiskey, you’re doing well. Historically, you’re doing well if you don’t die or go blind after drinking it…