# White Lightning...



## The Gabba Goul (Feb 11, 2005)

One of the Nursing admins at the hospital where I work and I have recently both embarked on a quest...

I remember...oh...about two, two and a half years ago, somebody from Alabama gifted me a jelly jar full of something that I'm not entirely sure I was supposed to drink...it smelled like rubbing alcohol mixed with paint thinner, and tasted like scalding hot dirt...going down it gave me the sensation of having firecrackers lowered into my belly with a chain that had been heated up over a campfire...it really wasnt good...I'm quite sure that anybody who's ever drank an entire jar of that stuff in one sitting did not live to tell about it...

any-who...fastforward to present day...my buddy the nursing admin and I are on our way to his buddy's Indian restaurant, so we stop at BevMo (a kind of big-ish chain of liquor stores out this way)...to pick up a bottle (this guy doesnt serve booze)...walking down the whiskey isle, we both spy this stuff in a jelly jar called Georgia moon...eh...it was pretty good...but at 100 proof, I highly doubt that it was as strong as the Alabama stuff I had some years ago (I could still see straight after drinking half the thing)...so now the quest...Short of hopping on a plane then driving out to cousin marrying country (where I'm pretty sure they wouldnt appreciate a half ***** and a Punjabi walking around asking about "party liquors")...is there any way for a person to get their hands on some authentic backwoods liver varnish???


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## paper clip (May 15, 2006)

I think the civilized version is called "Grain Alcohol".

190 proof (95% pure alcohol)

I believe Everclear is a popular maker.

Tried a sip once in college and immediately hurled. Have had it in a punch. IIRC, they also made a wine cooler type drink with it.

Be very careful - like you say - the stuff is deadly.

from beerliquors.com:

Grain Alcohol is a spirit derived from the fermentation of grain. It is distilled twice.
At 190 proof or 95-percent pure alcohol, Everclear is 95% pure grain alcohol, odorless, tasteless, and very potent. 
Grain alcohol is used by cooks, distillers of other alcoholic beverages, and for medicinal purposes. *Caution:* Because Grain Alcohol is clear, tasteless and very potent it could be very dangerous. Use it carefully for legitimate purposes only.


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## Andy (Aug 25, 2002)

paper clip said:


> I think the civilized version is called "Grain Alcohol".
> 
> 190 proof (95% pure alcohol)
> 
> ...


paperclip is right on here. Growing up in Kansas we used grain alcohol at K-State to mix a drink called "Purple Passion" (mostly grain alcohol and grape juice) usually in a large tub!

Years after moving to California and becoming more sophisticated in taste :icon_smile_big: I was planning a trip back to Kansas and a good friend (from Oklahoma) asked me to get a bottle of Everclear. My wife and I drove to Wichita, away from my parents home where we were visiting to avoid the embarrassment of being seen buying alcohol!!

We went into a liquor store and ask for some Cabernet and the Everclear. The clerk said "I think there might be some red wine back over in the corner*, but all the grain alcohol brands are here". Pointing to a wide wall holding a vast selection!

*turned out to be two bottles of Gallo.


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## The Gabba Goul (Feb 11, 2005)

Andy said:


> *turned out to be two bottles of Gallo.


LoL...fancy...


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

Andy said:


> Growing up in Kansas we used grain alcohol at K-State to mix a drink called "Purple Passion" (mostly grain alcohol and grape juice) usually in a large tub!


Bad memories returning here. What is it with us Midwesterners and grain alcohol?! We mixed up the same thing in college in Iowa, but for some strange reason, we chose the VERY un-PC term of "Purple Jesus." Awful, awful stuff...but when you're underage (or occasionally broke), it did the trick.:icon_smile_big:


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

TMMKC said:


> Bad memories returning here. What is it with us Midwesterners and grain alcohol?! We mixed up the same thing in college in Iowa, but for some strange reason, we chose the VERY un-PC term of "Purple Jesus." Awful, awful stuff...but when you're underage (or occasionally broke), it did the trick.:icon_smile_big:


We used to mix Everclear into a drink we called Jungle Juice. Once the word got out that there was a Jungle Juice party, the stuff never lasted very long. Sometimes someone would cut a hole into the side of a watermelon and pour in Everclear or vodka, and put the melon on ice. Dangerous stuff that grain alcohol. :drunken_smilie:


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## Mark from Plano (Jan 29, 2007)

Ughhh. Everclear. Bad memories. Must...try...to forget.:icon_headagainstwal 


Went to a small Christian college in Oklahoma that did not permit drinking of any kind at any time and expelled several students a year who tested their resolve in this regard. Upon graduation a friend and I decided to throw a graduation party and rented out an apartment building clubhouse for that purpose. 

As I was innocent and ignorant of such matters, he prepared a libation concocted of fruit punch and Everclear whose name, unknown to me at the time, was the very enticing "Trash Can Punch." Prior to arrival of the guests I decided to sample a bit of said concoction and let him know that he had failed to properly mix the beverage as I could taste very little of the active ingredient. He looked me seriously in the eyes and said, "Mark, SLOW DOWN with that stuff." "But Darren...", I replied. "MARK! SLOW DOWN."

I remember most of what happened up until about 10:30 that evening (none of which do I care to relate at this time). My next memories are of waking up in a bedroom I'd never seen before (I had benevolent friends).**

No grain alcohol for me, thanks.

**The widely held belief (totally a rumor, I assure you) among those who had seen me in my sorry state was that I had spent the night in a dumpster.


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## The Gabba Goul (Feb 11, 2005)

Laxplayer said:


> We used to mix Everclear into a drink we called Jungle Juice. Once the word got out that there was a Jungle Juice party, the stuff never lasted very long. Sometimes someone would cut a hole into the side of a watermelon and pour in Everclear or vodka, and put the melon on ice. Dangerous stuff that grain alcohol. :drunken_smilie:


Damn...I was just talking to somebody about jungle juice yesterday...I guess I went to a boring college, because sotgunning tall boys and boilermakers were pretty much the order of business at Hayward...


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

Mark from Plano said:


> I remember most of what happened up until about 10:30 that evening. My next memories are of waking up in a bedroom I'd never seen before (I had benevolent friends).


It could have been worse! Thank God you had good friends...mine were not always so gracious to me (nor me to them from time to time) when such things happened!


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## jcusey (Apr 19, 2003)

Georgia Moon is straight corn whiskey produced by Heaven Hill. The biggest difference between it and bourbon is that it is bottled as diluted white dog (that's what American distillers call new-make spirit) where bourbon is aged in charred new oak barrels. By law, the mashbill for straight corn whiskey must be 81% corn, so it probably has a bit more corn than HH's bourbon, but it will be close.

There are a couple of big differences between it and your run-of-the-mill moonshine. First is the mashbill: as I wrote, Georgia Moon is at least 81% corn. Moonshiners will use whatever yields alcohol most easily, and this typically means lots and lots of sugar. The second is the type of distillation. I would imagine that Georgia Moon is made just like HH's bourbons: distilled through a column still, then distilled again in a doubler to no more than 160 proof. These stills have plenty of copper in them, and contact between the vapor and the copper in the stills tends to remove congeners from the spirit that can make it harsh. In addition, the distiller will leave out the heads and the tails, which contain lots of congeners and non-ethanol alcohols. A moonshiner will typically use a makeshift pot still. There will be very little copper in it (that costs money, you know), and he will probably be less rigorous in discarding the heads and tails (wouldn't want to lower his yield). It's also unlikely that he would distill twice, and the proof of the liquor coming off the still would probably be pretty low. In other words, I don't think that it was the alcoholic strength that made your moonshine experience, uh, interesting. It was all the junk that the moonshiner's primitive distillation technique left in there.

You just have to know somebody who knows somebody to be able to get moonshine. Remember that it's illegal.


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

The Gabba Goul said:


> Damn...I was just talking to somebody about jungle juice yesterday...I guess I went to a boring college, because sotgunning tall boys and boilermakers were pretty much the order of business at Hayward...


I wouldn't call shotgunning beers or boilermakers boring, Gab. Beer bongs and keg stands were always fun too.


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## The Gabba Goul (Feb 11, 2005)

Laxplayer said:


> I wouldn't call shotgunning beers or boilermakers boring, Gab. Beer bongs and keg stands were always fun too.


LoL...yes...but I remember keg stands being a bit more of a High School tradition...aaah memories...


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

The Gabba Goul said:


> LoL...yes...but I remember keg stands being a bit more of a High School tradition...aaah memories...


Yep, HS and freshman year of college. I'll still have a boiler every once in a while, when I go out with some of my rowdier friends.


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## Spence (Feb 28, 2006)

jcusey said:


> In other words, I don't think that it was the alcoholic strength that made your moonshine experience, uh, interesting. It was all the junk that the moonshiner's primitive distillation technique left in there.


I've had some commercial products that meant to approximate moonshine and they were, um, pretty bad. Nothing like Everclear to say the least which was as mentioned above, an Iowa staple 

-spence


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

Laxplayer said:


> Yep, HS and freshman year of college. I'll still have a boiler every once in a while, when I go out with some of my rowdier friends.


Atta boy, Lax. For a few years out of school and into my mid-20s, I would have aboiler on my birthday.


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

What more diversion can a man desire? 
Than to sit him down by an alehouse fire 
Upon his knee a pretty wench 
And upon the table a jug of punch.

Too ra loo ra loo, too ra loo ra lay, 
too ra loo ra loo, too ra loo ra lay 
Upon his knee a pretty wench 
And on the table a jug of punch.


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## Mark from Plano (Jan 29, 2007)

Laxplayer said:


> What more diversion can a man desire?
> Than to sit him down by an alehouse fire
> Upon his knee a pretty wench
> And upon the table a jug of punch.
> ...


[Raising a glass] Here's to pretty wenches!


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

Mark from Plano said:


> [Raising a glass] Here's to pretty wenches!


Here, here!


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## Mr. H (Aug 27, 2007)

The Gabba Goul said:


> LoL...fancy...


Hell, Gallo ain't fancy. Lancers -- *there's* some fancy for ya!


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

Mr. H said:


> Hell, Gallo ain't fancy. Lancers -- *there's* some fancy for ya!


...or Night Train, or MD 20/20 or Boone's Farm. You had to love Lancer's "clay" looking bottle. When I was a kid, I remember my parents drinking gallons of that swill when they'd entertain. Thankfully everyone's tastes have evolved over the years (though, and I am serious, Boone's Farm Sangira is still not too bad if you have a thristy crowd over for a summer BBQ...Sangria is crap anyway!)


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## Acct2000 (Sep 24, 2005)

I wish I could share your enthusiasm. I sipped some once and I thought it tasted simply awful.


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

forsbergacct2000 said:


> I wish I could share your enthusiasm. I sipped some once and I thought it tasted simply awful.


Mind you, I never drink that stuff anymore, but the BF Sangria is a good base when mixed with a little club soda, a lot of fresh fruit and a bottle of decent red wine.

ALL of those fortified wines are really awful, primarily because they contain a lot of grain alcohol...which brings us back to the thread....


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## agnash (Jul 24, 2006)

*Honest to God Tennessee Moonshine*

I was the best man at my college roommate's wedding. The two families were very much a clash of cultures. The bride's family are a little rough around the edges, and the grooms family are socially prominet urban sophisticates. So, the grandfather of the bride brings an extra special gift to the wedding: and unmarked gallon milk jug of Tennessee Lightning. Then, the grooms 80+ year-old grandmother mistook the jug for bottled water. :icon_smile_big:

I love weddings. the joinging of two families, two traditions, and much hilarity, unless you are the one getting hooked.


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