Moonshine by country


By contaminated moonshine

from various countries that have been known to be contaminated:
This is an alphabetic list of moonshine produced in various countries. Some moonshine types are produced in more than one country. The term bathtub gin refers to any style of homemade spirit made in amateur conditions. Some distilled drinks on the list below are flavored, and some also national liquors.

By country

Afghanistan

Zarbali is a distilled alcoholic beverage supposedly made from fermented raisins.

Albania

In Albania, moonshine is the primary alcoholic beverage consumed on daily basis. It is made from different fruits, usually grapes, but also plums, apples, blackberries, cornelian cherry, strawberry tree, mulberry, persimmons, figs, juniperus and walnuts.

Armenia

The Armenian name for moonshine is Oghi. The production of oghi is widespread in Armenia. White mulberry, grape, cornelian cherry, plum, and apricot moonshine are especially popular, particularly in the countryside.

Australia

Distillation of alcohol requires an excise license in Australia. The sale of stills and other distilling equipment, including yeasts, flavourings, and other ingredients specific to distillation, is legal.

Benin

A typical West African spirit, sodabi is a palm liquor obtained from distilling palm wine. The word sodabi comes from the name of its Beninese inventor, who learned distillation techniques from Europeans in the early twentieth century.

Brazil

Brazil has a long tradition of home distilling, especially in rural areas. Artisanal liquors tend to be of good quality and are prized by collectors.
One form that can be qualified as moonshine is known as "Maria Louca". This is aguardente, made in jails by inmates. It can be made from many cereals, ranging from beans to rice or whatever can be converted into alcohol, be it fruit peels or candy, using improvised and illegal equipment.

Bulgaria

The national spirit in Bulgaria is called "rakia". It is usually made from grapes, but other fruits are used as well, such as plum, apricot, apple, pear, raspberry, or peach. Rakia is the most popular drink in Bulgaria along with wine. Like wine, it is often produced by villagers, either in a community owned still, or in simpler devices at home. Homemade rakia is considered of better quality and "safer" than rakia made in factories, since there were, especially during the 1990s, many counterfeit products on sale. By tradition, distilling a certain amount of rakia for home use has been free of taxes.

Canada

The common names in Canada for home-made alcohol are shine or screech in Newfoundland; in Manitoba, the term home-brew is also common. Two legal products that are marketed as shine or screech are Myriad View Artisan Distillery Strait Shine and Newfoundland Screech.

Colombia

In Colombia moonshine is called "Tapetusa" or "Chirrinchi" and is illegal. However, it is quite popular in some regions and has been traditional for hundreds of years. The cost of tapetusa is a fraction of the heavily taxed legal alcoholic beverages. The aborigines used to make their own version of alcoholic drink called "Chicha" before the arrival of Europeans. Chicha is usually made of corn, which is chewed and spat in an earthen container that was then buried for some time. The latter is a special kind of alcoholic beverage, and similar to that made by Chilean Indians, but in Chile a legal version of Chicha, made of fermented apples, is sold in September. In the Caribbean coast there is a moonshine called "Cococho", an Aguardiente infamous for the number of blindness cases due to the addition of methanol.
On the Caribbean coast of Colombia, the Wayuu tribe produces chirrinche for local consumption and trade with tourists. Chirrinche is very strong, and often produces a severe hangover.

Croatia

The tradition in Croatia is similar to Bosnia, and it is also called "rakija" and it is made of various fruits. Each fruit has its own quality. Most common fruit for producing "rakija" is plum, because of its high percent of fruit sugar which should be better than industrial sugar, since the final product should contain no methanol. It can also be made from wine and grapes, when it is called "Lozovača". In some parts of Croatia herbs are put into "Lozovača", which they call "Travarica" and it is said that it could heal stomach pains and various diseases. This kind of brandy production is very common in the Croatian culture and was largely unregulated before Croatia's accession to the EU on 1 July 2013, when registration and certain taxes were imposed even on distilling for personal use. However, following the EU directive change, in 2021, small scale production for personal use from fruit one grows oneself was exempt from taxation, fully if annual production is up to 50L.

Cyprus

In Cyprus, a traditional drink is made from distilling grapes known as zivania.

Czechia

The staple Czech liquor is traditionally made from distilling plums and is known as 'slivovice', or 'meruňkovice', made from apricots. Traditionally produced in garages and cellars, nowadays it is also produced by specialist distillers. It is found especially in the region of Moravia and is popular at celebrations, including weddings. Czech distillers also offer a service to distill your own fruit mash for you, but they charge heavily on top of taxes. The Czech term for this type of alcohol is "pálenka."

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Home-made corn or cassava-based whiskey is known as lotoko in the DRC.
Lotoko is usually made from maize, but sometimes made from cassava, or plantain. Heads of corn are cut up and boiled into a mash which is then fermented and distilled using improvised stills made from cut-down oil drums. Because of the woody core of the cobs of corn, the alcohol produced contains high levels of methanol which is toxic.
Although it is officially banned, because of its high alcohol content, its production is widespread in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Lotoko made from cassava or plantain lacks the same methanol risk.

Denmark

In Denmark, moonshine is referred to as hjemmebrændt. In Denmark an excise license is required to manufacture spirits above 14%. The penalty for illegal manufacture of spirits is a large fine or prison and confiscation of the spirit-making equipment. Even the possession or manufacturing of moonshine equipment is a criminal act. Importing any equipment that can be used for spirit distillation is supposed to be reported to the authorities.

Finland

Finnish moonshine, pontikka, is home-made vodka, usually made from any fermentable carbohydrates, most commonly grain, sugar or potato, made into kilju and distilled ideally three times. It is said that the name pontikka came about due to the poor quality French wine from Pontacq. Other names are ponu, ponantsa, kotipolttoinen, tuliliemi, korpiroju, or korpikuusen kyyneleet as stills often are located in remote locations. In Finland Swedish, the most common term is moscha, deriving from English "moonshine", as the term was first used by emigrants who had returned home from America. Home distillation was forbidden in 1866, but it was nevertheless widely practiced. Moonshining was boosted by prohibition in Finland in 1919–32, but even though alcohol was legalized, high excise taxes were still levied on it and various restrictions were in place. However, in recent years, the structural change of the rural Finland, the changes in Finnish alcohol politics due to EU membership, the rise of living standards and the availability of cheaper legal liquors, caused by lowering the excise taxes and abolishment of specific import restrictions from Estonia, have made making pontikka a rarity, and it is no longer considered a serious policy issue.
Unlicensed moonshining is technically illegal in Finland, but it is often considered a challenge or hobby. In practice prosecution follows only if the authorities become aware that the product is being sold. Most Finnish moonshiners use simple pot stills and flash distillation. Some have constructed sophisticated reflux or rock stills for fractional distillation, containing plate columns or packed columns, with reflux filling components of Raschig rings, crushed glass, nuts, glass pellets or steel wool. The city of Kitee is the most famous Finnish "moonshine-city". Although by definition illegal, drinks produced by the same process are legally available: a brand of vodka called "Kiteen kirkas" is available commercially and Helsinki Distilling Company also produces "sea-buckthorn pontikka".

France

Eau de vie, gnôle, goutte, lambic, fine, or more generically the simple name of the fruit they were distilled from – poire, prune, mirabelle – there is a wide variety of terms in French to speak of strong alcohols, which also reflects the wide variety of recipes and ingredients available to make them. There are strong local traditions depending on the provinces: lambic or calvados is distillated from cider in Brittany and Normandy, mirabelle, prune, and kirsch are mainly produced in the East, and every wine-producing region has, to some extent, a tradition of making brandy, the most famous being Cognac and Armagnac.
Unlicensed moonshining was tolerated in France up to the late 1950s. Since 1959 the right can no longer be transferred to descendants, and only a few are still exercising their right. Owning a registered fruit orchard or a vineyard still gives the right to have the production distilled, but is no longer free, and a licensed distillery must be utilized. The excise amounts to €7.50 per litre of pure alcohol for the first 10 litres, and €14.50 per litre above that limit.