Editing Moonshine (section)

==History==
[[File:The Moonshine Man of Kentucky Harper's Weekly 1877.jpg|thumb|''The Moonshine Man of Kentucky,'' an illustration from ''[[Harper's Weekly]],'' 1877, showing five scenes from the life of a Kentucky moonshiner]]
[[File:B Lindholm Lönnbränneri Scène från Lovisa skärgård.jpg|thumb|''Moonshining, a scene from the archipelago of [[Loviisa]] in the 19th century'', by [[Berndt Lindholm]]]]
[[File:Moonshine apparatus Estes-Winn Antique Car Museum.JPG|thumb|A historical moonshine distilling-apparatus in a museum]]

Traditionally, moonshine usually is a clear, unaged whiskey,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/17/world/moonshine-legal-golden-age/index.html|title=Exploding moonshine: The new golden age of outlaw liquor|website=[[CNN]] |date=17 June 2015 |access-date=2 July 2017}}</ref> made with barley [[mashing|mash]] in Scotland and in Ireland, and made with [[maize|maize corn]] mash in the United States.<ref name="okstatencyclo">{{Cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/m/mo013.html|title=Moonshine|website=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture|publisher=[[Oklahoma State University]]|access-date=21 March 2014|author=Guy Logsdon, [[Oklahoma Historical Society]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009061541/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/M/MO013.html|archive-date=9 October 2008}} [https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=MO013 Alt URL]</ref> The word ''moonshine'' originated in the 18th century, in the British Isles, as a result of [[excise tax]] laws, and became an American English usage in the post–Independence U.S. after the [[Tariff of 1791]] (Excise Whiskey Tax of 1791) outlawed un-registered distilleries, which provoked the [[Whiskey Rebellion]] (1791–1794), wherein for four years the Excise Whiskey Tax went unpaid by the tax rebels by way of violent protest. The Excise Whiskey Tax was law until 1802, upon repeal of the Tariff of 1791.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TTBGov - Whiskey Rebellion |url=https://www.ttb.gov/public-information/whiskey-rebellion |access-date=2023-03-31 |website=www.ttb.gov}}</ref> 

In the 19th century, the [[Revenue Act of 1861]] and the [[Revenue Act of 1862]] levied heavy taxes upon the distilleries producing vinous spirits, which taxation increased the number of illegal distilleries, which then increased police actions by the IRS agents despatched to collect taxes from distilleries; the agents were known as ''Revenuers''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |author=Joyce, Jaime |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1242988394 |title=Moonshine: A Cultural History of America's Infamous Liquor |date=10 June 2014 |publisher=MBI Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-7603-4584-9 |oclc=1242988394}}</ref> Illegal distilling accelerated during the Prohibition era (1920–1933), which mandated a total ban on alcohol production under the [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighteenth Amendment of the Constitution]]. Since the amendment was repealed in 1933, laws focus on evasion of taxation on any type of spirits or intoxicating liquors. Applicable laws were historically enforced by the [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]] of the [[US Department of Justice]], but are now usually handled by state agencies. 

===Etymology===
The earliest known instance of the term "moonshine" being used to refer to illicit alcohol dates to the 1785 edition of ''Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue'', which was published in England. Prior to that, "moonshine" referred to anything "illusory" or to literally the light of the moon.<ref name="KosarBook" /> The U.S. Government considers the word a "fanciful term" and does not regulate its use on the labels of commercial products; as such, legal moonshines may be any type of spirit, which must be indicated elsewhere on the label.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Kings County Distillery Guide to Urban Moonshining : How to Make and Drink Whiskey|last1=Spoelman|first1=Colin|last2=Haskell|first2=David|date=22 October 2013 |isbn=978-1-4197-0990-6|publisher=Abrams Books|location=New York|oclc=843332480}}</ref>

===Prohibition in the United States===
{{Main|Prohibition in the United States}}
In Prohibition-era United States, moonshine distillation was done at night to deter discovery.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://anthro.appstate.edu/field-schools/papers/2007/sumich | title=It's All Legal Until You Get Caught: Moonshining in the Southern Appalachians | publisher=Appalachian State University | access-date=21 March 2014 | first=Jason| last=Sumich}}</ref> While moonshiners were present in urban and rural areas around the United States after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], moonshine production concentrated in [[Appalachia]] because the limited road network made it easy to evade revenue officers and because it was difficult and expensive to transport corn crops. As a study of farmers in [[Cocke County, Tennessee]], observes: "One could transport much more value in corn if it was first converted to whiskey. One horse could haul ten times more value on its back in whiskey than in corn."{{sfn|Peine|Schafft|2012|pp=98–99}} Moonshiners such as Maggie Bailey of [[Harlan County, Kentucky]], [[Amos Owens]] of [[Rutherford County, North Carolina]], and [[Popcorn Sutton|Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton]] of [[Maggie Valley, North Carolina]], became legendary.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Block|first1=Melissa|title='Queen of the Mountain Bootleggers' Maggie Bailey|date=8 December 2005|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5044685|website=[[National Public Radio]]|access-date=4 May 2015}}</ref><ref name=Motsinger>{{cite news |first=Carol |last=Motsinger |url=http://www.citizen-times.com/story/carol-motsinger/2014/11/10/maggie-valley-popcorn-sutton/18814929/ |title=New Movie Focuses on WNC Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton |newspaper=[[Asheville Citizen-Times]] |date=November 10, 2014 |access-date=May 16, 2016}}</ref>

Once the liquor was distilled, drivers called "runners" or "bootleggers" smuggled moonshine liquor across the region in cars specially modified for speed and load-carrying capacity.{{r|Cooper}} The cars were ordinary on the outside but modified with souped-up engines, extra interior room, and heavy-duty [[shock absorber]]s to support the weight of the illicit alcohol. After Prohibition ended, the out-of-work drivers kept their skills sharp through organized races, which led to the formation of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing ([[NASCAR]]).<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-moonshine-bootlegging-gave-rise-nascar-180962014/ | title=How Moonshine Bootlegging Gave Rise to NASCAR | magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] | access-date=4 April 2019 | first=Jennifer| last=Billock}}</ref> Several former "runners," such as [[Junior Johnson]], became noted drivers in the sport.<ref name="Cooper">{{cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=William J. |last2=Terrill |first2=Thomas E. |title=The American South: A History, Volume II |date=2009 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Lanham, Md. |isbn=978-0-7425-6097-0 |page=625 |edition=4th |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foGTgJkUOTEC&q=bootleg+moonshine}}</ref>

Some varieties of maize corn grown in the United States were once prized for their use in moonshine production. One such variety used in moonshine, Jimmy Red corn, a "blood-red, flint-hard 'dent' corn with a rich and oily germ," almost became extinct when the last grower died in 2000. Two ears of Jimmy Red were passed on to "seed saver" Ted Chewning, who saved the variety from extinction and began to produce it on a wider scale.<ref>{{cite web |last=Neimark |first=Jill |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/01/02/574367086/from-hooch-to-haute-cuisine-a-nearly-extinct-bootleggers-corn-gets-a-second-shot |title=From Hooch To Haute Cuisine: A Nearly Extinct Bootlegger's Corn Gets A Second Shot |website=npr.org |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=2 January 2018 |access-date=23 June 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623103109/https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/01/02/574367086/from-hooch-to-haute-cuisine-a-nearly-extinct-bootleggers-corn-gets-a-second-shot |archive-date=23 June 2022 }}</ref>

There have been modern-day attempts on the state level to legalize home distillation of alcohol, similar to how some states have been treating [[Legalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States|cannabis]], despite there being federal laws prohibiting the practice. For example, the [[New Hampshire]] state legislature has tried repeatedly to pass laws allowing unlicensed home distillation of small batches.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nhpr.org/politics/2018-01-02/should-home-distilling-be-legal-in-n-h-lawmakers-to-vote-wednesday| title=Should Home Distilling Be Legal In N.H.? Lawmakers To Vote Wednesday | date=January 2, 2018}}</ref> In 2023, [[Ohio]] introduced legislation to do the same, with other states likely to follow.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/solarapi/v1/general_assembly_135/bills/sb13/IN/00/sb13_00_IN?format=pdf| title=S.B. No. 13 | access-date=January 30, 2023}}</ref>