This morning about 9 o’clock over in the Smithtown section of Stokes, officers P.L. Flinchum and C.R. Lawson came upon a still being operated at full capacity with three men in attendance, but as the officers approached, the attendants at the still dashed into the bushes and though they were chased for some distance the officers were unable to take any of them.
The still was of copper and probably had a capacity of 65 gallons. Only about four gallons of whiskey was taken as the owners apparently had not been at work very long, though they would have soon had plenty of the ardent, as about a thousand gallons of beer or slop was found.
From the front page of The Danbury Reporter, Wednesday, April 28, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn91068291/1926-04-28/ed-1/seq-1/
So were they making beer or whiskey? I couldn’t tell, so I asked AI. Here’s what Copilot said:
“Beer” in moonshining meant fermented mash, not Budweiser
When the article says 18 barrels of beer, it doesn’t mean finished beer. It means cracked corn, water, sugar (often), yeast, and sometimes malt or enzymes, fermented into a low alcohol slurry. Moonshiners called this “beer” or “mash beer.”
This is exactly the same stage that legal distillers call wash or distiller’s beer. It’s usually 6–10% alcohol — just like real beer — but it’s not filtered, carbonated, or drinkable.
Whiskey always starts as this sort of beer. To make whiskey:
1. Make a grain mash.
2. Ferment it into “beer.”
3. Distill that beer into low wines.
4. Distill again (sometimes) into high-proof spirit.
5. Age it (if you’re legal).
Moonshiners skipped step 5. They sold it clear, unaged, and harsh.
If the still made corn liquor, they’d call it “corn whiskey.” If they added caramel coloring or spices, they might call it “rum.”
Thanks, Copilot!
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