Moonshine

Moonshine (meaning illicit distillation, also called white lightning, mountain dew, hooch, "Tennessee white whiskey", and many other names) is a very high proof, often 190 proof (95% alcohol), distilled spirit. The word is believed to derive from early English smugglers and illegal Appalachian distillers who clandestinely (i.e., by the light of the moon) produced and distributed whiskey.

Famous quotes containing the word moonshine:

“Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves,
And ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him
When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites; and you whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms,”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

“O ruddier than the cherry,
O sweeter than the berry,
O Nymph more bright
Than moonshine night,
Like kidlings blithe and merry.
Ripe as the melting cluster,
No lily has such lustre,
Yet hard to tame,
As raging flame,
And fierce as storms that bluster.”
—John Gay (1685–1732)