the.com/moonshine

Homemade whiskey made by moonlight so the taxman stays blind.

means Illegally distilled liquor, usually strong, homemade, and never stamped by a tax collector.

from The term rides on an older, centuries-old use of 'moonshine' to mean foolish talk or empty nonsense — moonlight being insubstantial, tricky to pin down. That sense got borrowed by English and later American smugglers and backwoods distillers who worked their stills at night, under moonlight, precisely to dodge excise officers and the law. By the 1700s–1800s 'moonshine' had narrowed from 'nonsense' to 'illicit liquor made under cover of dark,' and the American association with Prohibition-era and Appalachian stills cemented the meaning we use today.

origin
named for distilling at night to dodge excise agents
proof
often over 100, unaged, straight off the still
legal cousin
same recipe, now sold legally as white whiskey
danger
bad batches caused lead and methanol poisoning
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