The World Is Turning To Moonshine In A (Post) Lockdown World

Moonshine–illegally produced alcohol–is on the rise around the world, and the real opportunity is that it sometimes finds a way of becoming legitimate and being legally sold.

Moonshine refers to illicit brews of high-proof alcoholic drinks in a variety of forms but crucially, not controlled by the government. Across the world, whether alcohol bans have been put in place during lockdown or if it’s just been harder to find, there’s been a huge surge in moonshine being made and consumed.

Moonshine is illegal, so it can be hard to track, but anecdotal evidence through blogs–and the shift from groups of people making moonshine to creating new draft breweries–suggest it is on the rise.

Moonshine is everywhere in lockdown

Across Eastern Europe, farms have a rich tradition of creating brandy by distilling apples and have long fought E.U. regulations to change the amount they are legally allowed to brew at home.

In Poland, the government recently confiscated 430,000 litres of moonshine, or “bimber” made from grain or potatoes. Instead of destroying it, as it might usually do, it has been donated to disinfect transport and public buildings and handed out to police and border guards to stay safe in the pandemic.

In Sri Lanka, with a blanket ban on the manufacture and sale of alcohol, The Swaddle reported a huge increase in the rise in illicit moonshine distilleries. Apparently, when lockdown was announced, people headed straight for liquor shops and then continued to order through home delivery until that was banned.

Supermarkets are reporting a spike in sugar sales and cooking gas canisters, both vital ingredients to making moonshine. Kapila Kumarasinghe, Deputy Commissioner of Excise in Sri Lanka, told The Economist that people “are using Grade Six science knowledge to manufacture alcohol at home. We can’t very well go house to house, raiding kitchens.”

In South Africa, an alcohol ban during lockdown, according to The Daily Maverick, seems to be uniting people in home brewing, whilst also reporting on the dangers if done incorrectly. It says, “videos and recipes for pineapple beer and the more traditional corn and sorghum known as umqombothi, are now being widely touted on social media.”

But moonshine often becomes legitimate

The trend has been moving towards small-scale distilleries becoming legitimate. In the U.K. the penalty for making moonshine is a fine of £1,000 ($1,223) and the confiscation of equipment used. But many have now made the leap, such as O’Donnell Moonshine from Manchester, which uses American moonshine recipes with German distillery methods and sells in old-fashioned mason jars.

In the U.S. there are many companies who took their moonshine legitimate, such as Ole Smokey (currently making hand sanitizer to fight the pandemic) and Popcorn Sutton (as reported in the New York Times).

All it needs is supportive regulation

As reported in Bloomberg, in 2010, many southern U.S. states relaxed distillery regulations, which after the Financial Crash of 2008, allowed many moonshiners to go legit. They reported on the ten best craft moonshines across the U.S. some with wonderful names–such as Milk Can or Devil’s Share Moonshine.