Underground Whisky: Moonshine & Poitín
By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, whisky was popular across both Scotland and Ireland. As a result licensing, taxation and regulations were introduced, in 1608 the old Bushmills distillery became the first licensed producer of whisky in the world.
Whilst some distilleries played ball, many didn’t. Particularly in the Highlands of Scotland and beyond the Pale in Ireland, many distillers didn’t consider their business to fall within the scope of the taxman, just in case the taxman didn’t see it this way, many operated in secret.
This gave rise to two types of whiskey in Ireland, the legal spirit was known as Parliament whiskey, but the illicit stuff was known as the infamous Poitín. In Scotland, particularly the Highlands, fires burning at night were often evidence of an illicit still at work, this gave rise to the name Moonshine, a term later used during the American Prohibition.
At first, these DIY whiskies were often made with questionable practices, sometimes with fatal consequences. It was often drunk soon after distillation, which was probably like drinking high-proof alcoholic diesel fuel. But practice makes perfect, soon Scottish moonshine, made purely from malt, was of a far better quality than its legal counterpart. Many years later, King George IV was converted to the “highland malt” of the illicit stills, drinking whisky only if it was from the Glenlivet area.
