The term moonshine describes any kind of alcoholic beverage that is made in secret to avoid taxes or legal bans on alcoholic drinks. Moonshine whiskey is made from grain, like corn or rye, but alcohol can be produced from white sugar instead of corn to make a cheaper product that is actually rum instead of whiskey. In Titus County, corn whiskey has traditionally been manufactured.
Moonshine gets its name because the stills used to make it were wood-fired before LP gas was readily available. Because the illegal still operators had to conduct their business out of the sight of authorities, working at night (by moonlight) made smoke from the wood-fired still harder to see and gave the moonshiner a better chance to escape capture if the still was raided. Liquor agents have used aerial surveillance and other methods to spot stills for years, and billowing smoke could give the still's location away. As bottled LP gas became available, bootleggers switched to LP-fired stills because LP gas provides a higher BTU flame and doesn't emit smoke that might divulge the still's location.
Moonshine is also known as "white lightning", "wildcat whiskey", "corn liquor", or "mountain dew". Though illegal, moonshine is simple to produce by using yeast and sugar to ferment a grain (usually corn) or sometimes a mixture of grains. Fermentation, the chemical reaction that occurs when the yeast breaks down the sugar, produces alcohol among other byproducts. The grain, sugar, and water mixture, called mash, is allowed to sit and ferment for several days until the natural fermentation reaction stops bubbling.
The mash is then "cooked off" or distilled to remove the alcohol. Distillation is accomplished by stirring and heating the mash in an enclosed vessel (the still or "pot") at a precise temperature, which causes the alcohol to evaporate into steam. Alcohol boils at 175 degrees Fahrenheit, considerably lower than the 212 degrees required to boil water in the mash. The mash mixture is heated to just below the boiling point to evaporate the alcohol. As pressure builds inside the still, the alcohol steam produced rises and is forced through the cap arm, a pipe located at the top of the still, leaving the smelly yeast water mash behind.
Though seldom seen in Titus County, copper or stainless steel are the best metals for making stills because they conduct heat well and don't alter the moonshine's taste. Most local stills that we are aware of used 55 gallon steel drums or other steel vessels as steam vessels.
Unless the mash is maintained at a perfect temperature throughout the run, the moonshine produced will likely be weaker. Rather than running the moonshine through the still a second time like legal distillers do, moonshiners traditionally insert a second distillation vessel, called the "thump keg", between the still and the condensing coil. The thump keg, heated only by steam coming into it from the still's cap pipe, is not required to produce moonshine but serves two purposes.
The alcohol steam, which is under pressure, forces some solid mash material through the cap pipe. The thump keg, which gets its name from the thumping sound it makes as bits of solid mash drop into it from the cap pipe, acts as a second still to create "double run" whiskey. As the steam heats the thump keg, the alcohol re-evaporates and leaves most of the solid mash particles behind in the thump keg, which serves as a filter to remove them from the finished product. Additionally, if a moonshiner wants to make the finished product extra potent, they may add undistilled mash or a few gallons of alcohol to the thump keg so the steam will pick up extra alcohol before final distillation.
The final step in making moonshine is distillation, which is accomplished by connecting a long section of pipe formed into a coil, called the worm, to the pipe that exits the thump keg. The coiled portion of the worm is placed in the worm box, which is usually just a 55-gallon steel barrel. A hole is cut in the side of the barrel near the bottom and the last part of the worm pipe is slid through the hole so that it extends outside the barrel. A spout or hose used to fill jars is connected to the exposed end of the worm. The worm box (barrel) is filled with cold water, and the distillation process is completed as alcohol steam is forced under pressure from the thump keg through the coiled worm. As the steam passes through the worm, the cold water in the worm box quickly cools it and causes the steam to condense into liquid ethanol that is as clear as water, which is the moonshine or "white lightning".
Since home-brew whiskey is illegal, moonshine is not usually aged in wooden barrels like legally-produced whiskey. Unlike bourbon and bonded whiskey which absorb their color from charred oak barrels used to age them, moonshine is clear unless the moonshiner uses an additive that gives it some color. Various fruits, wood chips, and even Dr. Pepper were sometimes added to alter the flavor. The resulting alcohol is strained through a cloth to remove the largest impurities and bottled, often in quart and half-gallon Mason-type canning jars, right from the still. The finished moonshine may still contain small visible impurities because of the crude filters used, if any.
When shaken, bubbles (known as the "bead") form on the surface of the moonshine relative to the alcohol strength (the proof). Bubbles that last longer and have a smaller or finer size indicate a higher proof (alcohol content).
The original batch of mash can be re-used to make several more batches of brew by adding some fresh grain, sugar and water to it before each successive run to start the fermentation process again.
Moonshining is not without its dangers. The most obvious is the risk of arrest and a stiff fine or prison time. Making moonshine not only violates state and local laws, but is a violation of Federal law because moonshiners don't pay Federal liquor taxes. Therefore, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms take an interest in moonshine in addition to local authorities. Possession of an unlicensed still, with or without alcohol being present, is a violation of federal law. A major distinction from the bootlegger's standpoint is that a bootlegger of bonded whiskey simply pays a fine for selling alcoholic beverages in a dry area. A moonshiner or bootlegger running moonshine is subject to having their vehicle and other assets seized by authorities, plus having to pay a fine or serve prison time.
Another danger to the moonshiner is the still itself. Alcohol over 100 proof (50%) is flammable and easily ignited, particularly when vaporized in the presence of oxygen. The still, in order to operate, must be a pressure vessel so the steam will flow through the cap pipe and worm. If excessive heat generates more steam than can escape through the worm, the still will explode violently.
The moonshine consumer also faces several risks by drinking the finished product. A good moonshiner can make whiskey that is as safe as bonded whiskey, but if the moonshiner is inexperienced, takes shortcuts, or uses vessels that contain lead solder, drinking the moonshine can cause brain damage, blindness, paralysis, or even death. During 1930's Prohibition, thousands of people died from drinking bad moonshine sold in "speakeasies" across the nation.
Moonshine contains a high alcohol content (the proof), between 100 proof (50% alcohol) and 150 proof (75% alcohol) and a strong taste or "kick" that results from the lack of aging to mellow the flavor. The illegal nature of moonshining means that no FDA inspectors check the health and safety standards of the process to be sure that sanitary methods are used or that the ingredients and processes are suitable to prevent creating poison alcohol. Moonshine can contain off-flavors, impurities, and toxins -- some of which are visible and others that aren't. Without laboratory analysis, there's no way to know if the moonshine is safe or what it may contain. A consumer never knows what they are drinking until it is too late.
You only have to look at the photos of the Titus County still raid elsewhere on our site to see that the process isn't sanitary. Notice that a sheet of galvanized metal is propped up over the top of the mash barrels in one photo. This sheet was used to cover the barrels while the mash fermented, but it is not unheard of to find dead insects or small animals floating in the mash. The barrels themselves are rusty. While drinking liquids (as long as it isn't poisonous) from rusted barrels, even with a few dead bugs, won't necessarily harm you, it doesn't exactly make for an appetizing brew.
Unreliable moonshiners have been known to use automobile radiators as condensing coils in the distillation process. Lead leached from the solder and antifreeze residue (if the radiator was used on a vehicle) are both toxic.
The very first liquid produced, called the heads, contains poisonous spirits that are lighter and distill before the alcohol. The heads contains methanol, formaldehyde, and other toxic alcohols. The tails, or the last of the run, contains nasty yeast water which isn't good to drink, either. A good moonshiner discards both of these parts of the run. Additionally, it usually takes two or three passes through the still to remove all the impurities from the alcohol, and one pass may not be enough to remove all of them. If the still is too hot (and doesn't explode), more alcohol can boil off and into the finished product and make a poisonous drink. The moonshine consumer has no way to know where within the batch that the bottle they bought was produced. The only way to have any certainty at all was to personally know the moonshiner and know if they drank their own brew.
The area from White Oak Creek to Sulphur River has been known for many years as one of the moonshine making capitals of the state. That area of the county was less populated and the White Oak Creek and Sulphur River bottoms provided vast areas of thickly wooded land and large cane breaks where stills could be easily hidden. Wilkinson, Texas, once had a reputation far and wide for the moonshine produced in the community. A few years ago the community changed its name to Sugarhill, originally a nickname coined in its whiskey-making hey-day. The Monticello area of southwestern Titus county was also know for moonshine, and several large stills were seized in that area.
Many Titus County families emigrated here from Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama where moonshining had been practiced for decades. Making good moonshine became a matter of tradition and family pride for some families and recipes and distillation methods were handed down from generation to generation and probably made their way to Titus County as people moved here from areas where it was popular. Some people made moonshine whiskey or bootlegged simply as a way to make fast money, much like illegal drug dealers do today. Others made moonshine because it was the only way they could provide for their families when jobs were scarce during the Depression era. Others made it simply because they preferred the unique "kick" of moonshine's taste over the smoother taste of bonded bourbon or whiskey.
In a September 30, 1928 Dallas Morning News article, J. M. Keith, who was raised in Titus County, was in business here, and later served 16 years as the Titus County Tax Collector, related the following story regarding Titus County moonshining: "Yes, Titus County has acquired some notoriety as a moonshine region. Some men who had inherited from a long line of ancestors the tricks of the distiller's art, finding it expedient to loose the mountains of Tennessee and Alabama made their way into the entangled labyrinths of Titus County and taught our boys not only how to make whiskey, but how to slip it to the consumer. And believe me, they have first and last put out some rattling good stuff. I am not informed as to their publicity system, but certain it is that thirsty tourists from all over found them out. A few years ago, it was nothing to see an airplane suddenly seized with motor or some other kind of trouble as it was passing over Titus County, come down for repairs."
Another article written years later in another publication stated that Titus County accounted for 10% of the stills seized in Texas during Prohibition. After considerable efforts to do so, we have been unable to document this statement in official records. At any rate, the area had a nation-wide reputation for its moonshine. We interviewed Jerry Clark, Chief of the Sugarhill Volunteer Fire Department, about his department for our Fire Departments section. While we were talking, he told us that he wore his Sugarhill Fire Department t-shirt when he took his grandchildren to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. A man came up to him and asked if the Sugarhill on his shirt was in Texas. When he replied yes, the man said that he used to run moonshine from Sugarhill to New Orleans.
Moonshining is a dying art throughout the nation for several reasons. In 1970 the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms reported seizing 5,228 stills, 86,416 gallons of distilled spirits, and destroying 1,956,170 gallons of mash. By 1975 still seizures fell to 889 stills, 16,046 gallons of spirits, and 283,043 gallons of mash. Ten years later, in 1985, only 8 stills were seized with 218 gallons of spirits and 6,065 gallons of mash. No stills were seized from 1990-1992, only one in 1993 and one in 1994, and none in 1995.
An original attraction of moonshine was that it cost much less to buy than legal whiskey, where over half of the sale price consists of taxes. However, cheaper imported whiskey and increased buying power of legal distillers, who purchase sugar in large quantities, combined with the rising cost of sugar bought in small quantities slowly eroded the price difference.
Moonshining has also declined due to the increased ease with which legally-produced alcoholic beverages can be purchased due to the expansion of areas where legal liquor can be sold. For many years, people who chose to drink had to drive many miles to buy alcohol. Due to local option elections, in recent years a number of private clubs have been opened in Mt. Pleasant and liquor stores are as close as Winfield and Miller's Cove. That means that former moonshine consumers are much closer to legal alcohol sales outlets than they were before.
Another factor is the increase in population which is rapidly shrinking large unpopulated wooded areas that once covered much of the county. A still emits odors that can be smelled much further than it can be seen. There are far fewer places in the county where a person could hide a still than was the case as recently as the 1960's and 1970's.
Moonshine making, while certainly less common than it was several decades ago, continues in Titus County today. A few moonshiners still carry on the tradition of making home-brew, and some customers still prefer moonshine's strong "kick" to the taste of bonded spirits.
A LOOK AT A MOONSHINE STILL
