Methonal in Illicit spirits...

The long and storied history of distilled spirits.

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ranger_ric
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Methonal in Illicit spirits...

Post by ranger_ric »

I came across this in a previous post from almost 2 years ago. I had NO idea how much our govt was involved in the poisonings during prohibition. These poisonings are what everyone brings up now when voicing opposition to our hobby/craft. Take the time and read this article that I copied from a post Tater did a year ago. I was SHOCKED that it wasn't the people who made the whiskey but the govt putting poison in it... Wow. This is worth a read.
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Re: Methonal in Illicit spirits...

Post by DAD300 »

Oh ranger...the government would never allow such a thing. Allow a deadly poison to come across the public in the name of public good, commercial lobbying, political meandering,...but they would willingly participate if it fit their cause!

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Re: Methonal in Illicit spirits...

Post by S-Cackalacky »

Great article. I knew that this had happened, but never knew many of the details until reading the article. It's like a collection of bureaucrats develops is own irreversible mindset.
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Re: Methonal in Illicit spirits...

Post by mixxer »

This situation hasn't really changed. Well the poisoning part anyway. Alcohol in the UK is still denatured by the addition of methyl alcohol. If its not then you have to pay tax as though it was for drinking and that tax is high. Currently we pay £28 ($42) per litre.
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Re: Methonal in Illicit spirits...

Post by gungatim »

that article is a little confusing and misleading and a little hard to follow. gov didn't poison whiskey, they required de-naturing of industrial alcohol. article states that started in 1906, well before prohibition. article also states that stolen, re-distilled industrial alcohol was the primary source of liquor during prohibition. If that was true, then the moonshiners weren't responsibile for any of this, which begs the question, where did the perception of unsafe moonshine come from in the first place...and isn't denaturing still required today?
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Re: Methonal in Illicit spirits...

Post by dstaines »

Gungatim that depends on your definition of Moonshiner I guess. The illegal distillers of grain and fruit spirits (moonshiners) during prohibition are clearly not culpable in this. But as we all well know making quality spirits is can be complicated and expensive, and there was plenty of industrial alcohol to be had for the taking. Those that stole denatured industrial alcohol, attempted (and failed) to remove all of the poisonous additives, and sold it on the black market for beverage use are clearly at fault for the deaths and poisonings of their customers, legally speaking. The author makes the claim that the US Government is morally responsible as well. They knew that denatured alcohol was being stolen and redistilled, so they implemented a policy that increased the amount of poisonous additives. The goal was that any redistilled industrial spirits would retain enough toxins to dissuade anyone from drinking them.

A clear argument can be made for the obvious and immediate failure of this plan. No cash-seeking criminal rectifier is going to TELL his ignorant customer base to avoid drinking his alcohol because it is now newly more poisonous. Despite the obvious flaws and public health danger, those who supported the move threatened the political careers of those who dissented - classic move there. The implication of the article is also that the government did not sufficiently warn the public about the new chemical additives. Through (implied deliberate) inaction they allowed the public, disproportionately the poorer public, to poison themselves resulting in thousands of preventable deaths.

The reputation of dangerous moonshine came about because of these methanol poisonings, likely because of the bootleggers who sold it. Nobody would have wanted to admit that their liquor was poisoned industrial solvent, so they would have deliberately misled those they sold to. Their customers drank it and shared it or sold it in their speakeasies, thinking it was real moonshine whiskey, telling people it was real moonshine whiskey, people got sick, moonshine was blamed. The government went along with it because slandering the reputation of illegal liquor served their goal of reducing the traffic of illegal liquor, and because correcting the misconception would have meant exposing their role in the poisonings and deaths.

Denaturing is still required today but not at the level that was employed between 1926 and the end of prohibition. Since beverage ethanol is legal again, there is little or no money to be made by redistilling denatured alcohol. The continued use of denaturing agents allows industrial producers to make a clear tax-bracket distinction between ethanol intended for beverage use and ethanol intended for solvent use.
Last edited by dstaines on Thu Mar 12, 2015 2:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Methonal in Illicit spirits...

Post by yakattack »

Dstaines- well said my friend.

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Re: Methonal in Illicit spirits...

Post by gungatim »

Dstaines, thanks that was a good post. better than the article I think. wasn't clear that the level from '26 to end of prohibititon was different, or that today's levels of denaturing went back down. Frankly, I'm surprised denatured alcohold is available at all anymore. considering you can't buy good cough syrup, allergy meds, lye, or darn near any chemical to make anything anymore...can't even buy decent strike anywhere matches...when I worked for a pharmaceutical company, we used to get pure alcohol in 55 gallon drums that went into cough syrup, and denatured alcohol in drums for cleaning the lines...yes it got stolen and had to be kept locked up...some idiots didn't know the difference.
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Re: Methonal in Illicit spirits...

Post by ranger_ric »

DStaines... Thank you for the excellent commentary.. That was very good. This message has to be screamed from the mountain.. Thank goodness for this interweb thingy. Thanks again.
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