How is moonshine illegal and making wine or beer not?!
How is moonshine illegal and making wine or beer not?
What is the difference? i know the difference between the 3 items. But its all alcohol, why is moonshine different.
Answers:
It's basically about taxes. The tax rates are insanely higher for spirits than it is for beer and wine. As a result, the feds can't collect if people are doing it at home...much less tax money is lost by letting people brew than by letting them distill.
The irony is that no alcohol is MADE during distillation...it's only concentrated. The alcohol is made during fermentation (in the wine and beer making step). Spirits are simply the alcohol made from fermented brews (legal) which are then concentrated in a still (illegal). I agree...it makes no sense.
During prohibition, when ALL alcohol was illegal, people got the most profit off of spirits than with beer or wine, so that was what the product of choice was. Combined with the great depression, people were desperate to make money. What happened was that the distilled spirits were cut with nasty stuff like industrial methanol, anti-freeze, etc. to increase the profit and reduce the cost...these things were the cause of the blindness and neurological maladies, NOT improper distilling as is commonly taught. The problem is that this misinformation persists (as you can see in the other answers).
You're right...it's all alcohol. On top of that, 'shine is made by distilling what is essentially beer and wine. Therefore it's easy to figure out that there are no additional ingredients that makes it potentially hazardous. Bottom line...it's about the tax money.