I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

[dooley]

Growing up in Western KY, I was occasionally lucky enough to enjoy moonshine that was made in the Golden Pond area (now in Land Between the Lakes). It was unlike any whiskey or vodka I've ever tasted. it was more than 100 proof (would burn blue), but smooth and slightly sweet with almost a hint of anise. It was pure, clear, cool and thoroughly satisfying - 100% courting whiskey ('cept you'd rather stick around and sip from the jar than chase those troublesome girls!) Basically, it was to store bought whiskey what champagne is to Boone's Farm. OK, maybe my memory is making it better than it was, but man, it was truly something special.

I've now gotten a friend hooked on distilling. I help by making the mash - I've spent many enjoyable hours here on the forum learning about grain recipes, and have used expensive beer store flaked corn, feed store cracked corn, combinations of each with flaked rye, and most recently a 60/40 mix of grain and sugar ('cause it is a hell of a lot easier than an all-grain mash!). Always used malted barley, and tried various whiskey yeasts I could find (staying away from plain turbo yeasts). He has a pot still, and is double distilling (stripping run and a spirit run). Haven't yet had problems with fermentation, and usually end up with a wash that is around 12 - 15%. We're not perfect on the cuts, but we're getting better.

You all know how much work goes into running a small still - we usually start with five gal of mash for each strip run, and combine the low wines from four striping runs with the feints from the last spirit run for a 4 to 5 gal spirit run, and end up with about 7 quarts at around 96 proof. At the end of of lot of work, we get a nice almost-vodka white dog (it has an slight sweet taste). My pal thinks its the greatest thing ever. I'm remembering what I drank years ago, and I know the shiner back in Golden Pond wouldn't be impressed (though I'm guessing he or she is long gone by now).

I'm trying to recreate that incredible moonshine I had years ago- and have no idea how to get there. Hopefully there are some old hands reading this who know the type of spirit I am trying to describe, and can point me in the right direction to learning how to make it. We're enjoying the journey, but we are missing something, and just need a bit more guidance.

Thanks for giving this a read!