Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

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HuckFinn
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Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by HuckFinn »

Totally random topic, but I crossed paths with these two brands recently. Nobody thinks that these brands actually taste good do they? I feel like they are the worst beverages I've tasted in my life - and I wonder if this is a representation of what good outcomes are supposed to taste like? Dear lord, all marketing and a horrible product. I can't believe something that bad is in a bottle.

If someone has had them before, how should this compare to a regular sugar wash and then a Turbo yeast?
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by still_stirrin »

Sometimes you have to sample the "competition".

There is a lesson to be learned from all you try....what you can do better. Off the shelf "benchmarks" give you a point of reference from which you can leverage. Do it...and learn.
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by NZChris »

HuckFinn wrote: Thu Dec 31, 2020 8:46 pm If someone has had them before, how should this compare to a regular sugar wash and then a Turbo yeast?
There should be little in common except for alcohol. Those two brands are both corn likker.
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by Twisted Brick »

I think I've tried Ole Smokey Apple Pie and White Lightning. Both expressions I have tried to forget.

What I got out of the, uh, unfortunate experience was that there are individuals out there who will distill and market the most vile product knowing that they can profit from those out there who will buy it. Take comfort in knowing you are among drinkers and makers of spirits who have standards.
Last edited by Twisted Brick on Fri Jan 01, 2021 12:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by SassyFrass »

I've tried both of those, plus other "legal" moonshine made/marketed in Gatlinburg. None of it was any good. Honestly, all of the so called distilleries in Gatlinburg are just making sugar likker/vodka, not real Appalachian style likker. But they are selling it by the truckload to folks that dont know any better. They are selling a great idea and a story, not a great product. But, I could be wrong and maybe my tastebuds are off...but I dont think so. Just my $.02
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Plenty of it going on, I was recently gifted a bottle of whiskey made by a small Aussie boutique distillery.
Small bottle was about $80 Im told.
Had a sip and spat it out.....all i tasted was heads.
If it where mine id be to embarrassed to say I made it.....let alone try to sell it.
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by dieselduo »

They were nasty but the popcorn sutton was even worse. Mostly tails
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by still_stirrin »

Tails heavy and nasty, is how I'd describe the "Moonshine" I bought from a roadside convenience store a couple of years ago when I rode my motorcycle through east Tennessee and North Carolina on the "Tail of the Dragon". You woulda' thought that the "moonshine" industry would have produced some good tasting stuff seeing how it was "in the neighborhood"...

I was surprised how "crappy" the product was...perhaps "tourist trap" crap is more like what I'd call it.
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by Jstroke »

Doesnt matter what they call it. Same old story. Volume and Profit. In all honesty look at the target audience for “moonshine”. Sure they could make better product with conservative cuts. But it would probably make it prohibitive to the audience.
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by NZChris »

Those brands sound like they are probably closer to much of what was sold during prohibition than what members here make. They probably kept the finest hearts for the themselves, their mates and the local cop, and put everything else in the jars for sale.
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by SassyFrass »

NZChris wrote:Those brands sound like they are probably closer to much of what was sold during prohibition than what members here make. They probably kept the finest hearts for the themselves, their mates and the local cop, and put everything else in the jars for sale.
Nope, but that's what I thought it would be when i first heard about the "legal moonshine distilleries" going into Gatlinburg years ago.
Me and the wife went to check it out. None of the distilleries were running a pot still. They were either running a flute with multiple plates (8+, if I remember right) or a reflux column ( looked to be over 10 ft tall). Watched them "mash in" and all they built was a UJSSM style sugar wash, then when ready they stripped the flavor out and made vodka. Nothing wrong with vodka, if that's what you like.
But that ain't the shine I learned to make back in the 70' and 80's, before i headed off working for Uncle Sam. Folks I worked for all ran simple pot stills, usually with a thumper and they either double distilled or triple distilled their product. We cooked on wood. Heard about guys using some kind of gasoline burners but never seen it done. But all that is ancient history and just my personal experience. Other folks and places may have done things differently.
I cant speak to prohibition, just got stories from my family and the wifes family from that time. And I learned same way them old timers did.
Folks in Gatlinburg are selling a story and an old time feeling. Not a good product.
Just my $.02
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by Twisted Brick »

Great first-hand account, SassyFrass. Looks like you been doin' this awhile. Cookin' on wood must have taken a whole 'nuther skill to get right.

Can you describe the process used back then when a thumper was employed? Clear in the boiler and slops in the thumper perhaps?

I would love to make a go at an authentic moonshine, the kind that the old-timers remember and loved.

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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by SassyFrass »

Process and cooking were pretty much the same as we do now. Pot still is a pretty simple item to run.
How the run was set up depended on what the mash/wash was, grain, sugar, fruit etc... mostly fruit must was put into thump with clear must in boiler to not scorch. But I seen folks put thick fruit heavy must in boiler too, we usually buttered the pot for that and someone had to stir the pot until it started boiling. Big heavy diffuser plates were used too, to help prevent scorching.

Most selling likker was a wash made with grains. Everyone I worked for had their own "secret" family recipe. 99% of the time it was just a slight variation of UJSSM. Old saying was " the sugar makes the likker, the grain just gives it flavor" and there is some really fine likker made back in those hollers and hills. Yep sometimes dirty wash in thumper, clear in boiler. Mostly though both were clear, because it's easier and faster. And the grains were used to make the next batch too.

Them old boys did AG too. Usually for themselves and not for selling and usually in smaller batches. Sugar heads were piggybacked on the AG run. Them old boys didnt waste anything, if they could help it.

Wood fired stills were IMO a PITA. Yep, its traditional, yep I can do it, yep it took me awhile to switch over to propane. My takeaway, I should a switched years before. Control of the heat to the boiler and being able to control your output stream is so much easier with propane.

Them folks back then used a thumper same way we do today. Thick must or mash in the thumper could blow the cap off, seen that happen.

Twisted, simplistic answer is that using a thumper ain't changed much from when I was younger. The equipment has just gotten better.

Hope you get to do that traditional thing someday if you want. And I hope you enjoy it.
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by Twisted Brick »

SassyFrass wrote: Sat Jan 02, 2021 4:49 pm
Twisted, simplistic answer is that using a thumper ain't changed much from when I was younger. The equipment has just gotten better.

Hope you get to do that traditional thing someday if you want. And I hope you enjoy it.
I'm not surprised to hear you say that thumper performance hasn't changed. Conversely, I have always believed that the classic barrel thumper served the clandestine mountain-distiller well because he could distill more liquor in a finite amount of time, upping his odds of a successful run.

I am envious of the time when everybody and their brother had their own "secret family recipe" that no doubt got handed down generations. So many of us newer distillers are drawn to this hobby because of lore like this.

I believe the more committed distiller back then tested and re-worked recipes/processes until he could repeat that full-bodied, sweet-corn elixer that hits the spot. A while back I tasted a commercial corn likker that was very different than my UJSSM, loaded with saturated flavor, distinctly sweet and 'corny'. Those few sips told me there has to be a legion and lineage of distillers that could make fine "moonshine' that many of us could fall in love with. I believe that when you say "there was some really fine likker made back in those hollers and hills" it was what this drink was modeled after.

I am about to embark on an all-grain (I think) corn likker project for my neighbor, who has done a number of machining jobs for my evolving still(s). I will definitely try out my new thumper on this.

Thank you SassyFrass. Your flair for telling what it was like when you was a youngin' is priceless.

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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by SassyFrass »

Thanks Twisted, I dont know about flair...just the slightly drunken ramblings from my youth.
All them fellers were extremely proud of what they made. And would tweak their family recipes to make it better or to fill a customer's tastes. The stuff made in Gatlinburg would have not been sold by the guys I knew. They would have been ashamed to put their word and name on that stuff. And if your likker didnt taste good, why would folks buy it?
I seen guys do all kinds of stuff with fruit in thumpers trying to get flavor to carry over. Cutting peaches and apples in half and nailing them to thumper lid with apple or peach juice in thumper. Sometimes it worked a bit, sometimes not so much. Seen guys shoot the thumper with different things, usually fruit juices, but beets and pickles and peppers too. Sometimes good results, sometimes not.
Them old boys experimented just like we do today. They just did it with stuff they grew on the farm, instead of flavorings they bought.
Back then if you wanted to find the local guy that made likker, you looked for who had the fattest hogs, goats, and chickens. Nothing got wasted.
Enough of me being off topic...let's get back to finding out what folks think of the vodka that they in Gatlinburg...although I think midnight moon is a product of SC, but i ain't sure.
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Re: Anybody taste Midnight Moon or Ole Smoky brands? Worst thing I've tasted in my life.

Post by dukethebeagle120 »

I don't find midnight moon that bad
The straight stuff is vodka,but as a vodka it would be ok
Ole smokey on the other hand
Thats just terible
Up here in the great white north you need to motgage your house to afford ole smokey
I agree with sassafrass
Your paying for nostalgia
its better to think like a fool but keep your mouth shut,then to open ur mouth and have it confirmed
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