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Moonshine Tasting at the Standard Hotel

Filed under: Spirits

This week at The Standard Hotel in NYC's Meatpacking District, Moonshine, an eight-week-old brand of clear corn whiskey from a new company called Stillhouse, hosted a tasting for a select group of spirits journalists, led by CEO and co-founder of Stillhouse Brad Beckerman.

Moonshine is an interesting liquor. It's made in small batches in Virginia in a Prohibition-era copper pot still from 100% corn, the traditional ingredient used by both the Native Americans and by bootleggers during Prohibition, and unlike most whiskeys, it isn't aged. Frankly, to the Moonshine folks, the shorter the time between the still and the shelf, the better.

The flavor is highly unusual. Far from the eye-watering "moonshines" you may have tasted in the past (or that vodka your college friend made in the bathtub), the flavor is smooth and well-rounded, and you can definitely taste the corn. The closest thing I can compare it to is the flavor of fresh rum right out of the still -- perhaps because corn has natural sugar -- but it's far, far more palatable. In fact, for an 80 proof unaged liquor, I would say it's an exceptionally well-developed spirit.

Gallery: Moonshine Tasting at the Standard Hotel, NYC