Aussie drinkers take a liking to locally brewed moonshine
Forget the hush-hush hooch of backwoods America – moonshine is enjoying a renaissance in Australia.
Local producers such as Melbourne Moonshine and WA’S Whipper Snapper Distillery have led the charge by creating premium versions of the corn-based liquor traditionally home-brewed in secret and nicknamed white lightning, bathtub gin, mountain dew, and more.
Whipper Snapper’s Crazy Uncle is billed as the first legal moonshine in Australia, dating back eight years, while Melbourne Moonshine holds the title as Victoria’s capital.
The latter is now served in bars across Australia, will be showcased at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival’s drinks party New Crush tomorrow, and will soon be sold at First Choice Liquor, co-creator Andrew Fitzgerald says.
Fitzgerald says he and business partner Ben Bowles, from South Carolina, had to quash stereotypes when they launched their South Melbourne distillery.
“I’d get constant jokes like, ‘is it made in a bathtub? Does it make you go blind?’” he recalls.
They now have two primary products: the “approachable” Apple Pie Shine that’s best served as a shot or mulled, and the Single Cask Moonshine, which Fitzgerald describes as “the closest Australia could get to producing a bourbon-style whiskey”. The arrival of Mildura’s Methanol Moonshine in 2020 was a “happy accident”, co-creator Wade Aunger says.
When Covid halted his work as a motor racing announcer, Aunger partnered with Fossey’s Distillery owner Steve Timmis to create a “motor racing drink”, complete with custom motorsport labels.
“Moonshine has a heritage with NASCAR … and methanol is the fuel we race with,” he says. “Plus, people love moonshine because it’s naughty.”
Augur says while Americans “pull the cork off the jug and chug some down”, Aussies are enjoying it with mixers.