Deadly Distilleries
Crafting moonshine was an art fraught with danger, given the absence of regulatory oversight. Moonshiners aimed for a potent 170 proof (85% alcohol) spirit, yet this ambition came with perilous risks. The unscrupulous or inattentive among them might neglect to properly distill out the methanol, a form of wood alcohol that’s cheaper and more potent than its safer counterpart, ethanol—the alcohol in legally produced drinks.
Initially, methanol’s effects might simply seem like an unusually strong buzz, deceivingly benign. However, as hours tick by and the body begins to process the methanol, the consequences turn dire: blindness, seizures, the debilitating Jake Leg Syndrome with its paralyzing grip on the lower limbs, or, in the gravest scenarios, death. Moonshine’s legacy is thus shadowed by the specter of methanol poisoning.