Moonshine: A Global History(Edible)

No matter where you go on earth, there is moonshine. An eternal changeling, moonshine has been made from just about every imaginable foodstuff: grapes, grains, raw sugar, tree bark, horse milk, and more. First-world college students drink it; so do day labourers in the world's poorest slums and villages. Despite its diversity, all moonshine has two characteristics: it is highly alcoholic, and it is illegal. Indeed, the more that governments crack down on illicit distilling, the more moonshine gets made and drunk, which, as spirits expert Kevin R. Kosar relates, helps explain its universal allure. Kosar tells the colourful history of moonshine with characters that range from crusading lawmen, earnest farmers and clever tinkerers, to vicious smugglers and ruthless gangsters; and from pontificating poets, sneaky swamp-rats and mountain-dwellers, to adolescents looking for a thrill. Moonshine is a story of human ingenuity; individuals have invented remarkable contraptions for making moonshine and often under incredibly difficult circumstances. But all that shines is not fine: much of the moonshine that is trafficked is toxic – blindness and death are constant dangers for the moonshine drinker. Spanning the centuries and the globe, the richly illustrated and entertainingly written Moonshine will appeal to food and drink lovers, as well as anyone who enjoys tales of mischief and misbehaviour.

About the Author :
Kevin R. Kosar is the founder of AlcoholReviews.com. His writings on alcoholic beverages have appeared in American.com, the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (2004) and the New York Press and New York Hangover newspapers. He lives in Washington, DC.

Review :
For spirits aficionados, history buffs, cooks, and fans of great writing, Moonshine is a must buy. It should be on everyone’s Father’s Day gift list. As Kevin Kosar documents in his excellent book, Moonshine: A Global History, governments from Ancient China to Ancient Mesopotamia have been defining which types of alcoholic drinks are legal, and therefore acceptable for people to drink, and which types of alcoholic drinks are illegal, and therefore unacceptable for people to drink . . . Kosar's book has much to offer to spirit enthusiasts. And, while I can't imagine enjoying spirits made from carrots or horse milk, Kosar's documentation of all sorts of exotic spirits is certainly interesting . . . an understanding of the history of moonshine has a great deal to teach modern political leaders. [a] vibrant and entertaining new study of the drink's 600-year history . . . Kosar, an authority on booze and a director of alcohol policy at the R Street Institute in Washington, DC, discusses this aspect of his subject with pace, learning, insight and good sense. He is convincing when he argues that "the more a government's policies reduce access to affordable, safe, licit alcoholic drinks, the more it encourages the production of cheap, dangerous, illicit booze". And he is arresting when he links the production of moonshine to moments of political resistance . . . But the book is at its most grimly arresting when Koshar describes the pernicious effects of the drink, and the extremes to which people will go to create and consume it. a gem of a book covering an oft-joked about but little understood topic . . . The book covers the history of moonshine, the problems that arise with an illicit distilled spirit, the effect of cinema on the popularity and perception of the industry and even, in what most would consider an excellent bonus section, some moonshine cocktail recipes. an informative study . . . As the author of this succinct little chronicle insists, “If nobody demanded it, it would not exist.”