Moonshine: Finally Legal!

MADISON, N.C. -- Joe Mahalek had mixed feelings the first time someone brought out the moonshine and offered him a glass at a Winston-Salem blues festival. The New York transplant was intrigued, yes, but also nervous. He'd heard that moonshine, also known as rotgut, white lightning and panther's breath, can blind or kill you.
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Mahalek, then a marketing executive for R.J. Reynolds, accepted the glass but didn't immediately sip, watching warily as others drank. When after a few minutes everyone looked fine -- happy, even -- he tasted the clear liquor. It was strong but smooth, with a hint of peach. Mahalek hadn't expected moonshine to taste like that. Nor did he think for a moment that making moonshine would one day be his full-time job.

The word "moonshine" conjures bootleggers and fast cars, mobsters and flappers. If Mahalek has his way, drinkers instead will associate it with concepts such as premium, smooth and $14 cocktail. His company, Piedmont Distillers, has launched two brands: Catdaddy is a flavored product redolent of nutmeg and vanilla (though Mahalek denies that either is on the secret list of ingredients); Junior Johnson's Midnight Moon -- named for the bootlegger, granddaddy of NASCAR and Last American Hero -- is more traditional, with a brisk, clean flavor. "When you say the word 'moonshine' and every head turns, you know you've got a powerful story," Mahalek says. "You've got their attention."

There's just one question: If it's legal, is it really moonshine?

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