Editing Moonshine (section)

===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>