I started making moonshine to make extra cash about a 2 months ago. Seemed like a good idea...

lol this, it's too heavy and risky to ship moonshine for small profits

A shit ton. Post prohibition lobbying meant that startup costs are ridicoulous. As a result where i live there are only 12 legal distillers and taxes/red tape sorrounding getting it to market means most small distillers go bankrupt within a few years.
Which is too bad because it means there ian't alot of diversity in the market and product availability sucks.

that's a shame
if op is set on staying in illegal markets I'd recommend growing and selling mushrooms
I would guess it's easier to get into craft brewing if you wanted to distribute alcohol

So no selling or advertising online. I had one buddy say hed sell it in the city but only if he could do it on credit and keep 2/3rds of the sales. I'd still make about 6.50$ a bottle but at that point it is barely worth doing and for the expected volume it is still just a dent. I used to know alot of local weed dealers too but half of them don't dont do it anymore and of the half remaining about 50% have a thing against liquer. The rest might do it but don't have a big customer base.

Like this OP. You or someone hosts a party. There is an entry fee. Then once inside, the patrons get X amount of "free" drinks. That way, they never paid for the drink. They only paid to get into the party and no laws were broken.

t. Genius

Am op Keeps re setting id.

Well, mushrooms are the same schedule as heroin in my country (for some fucked up reason) so jail time is much higher and cops target much more aggressively.

As for brewing it is alot more work. I home brew already (which is why my mash and likker is so good).

Making good liquer from start to finish takes about a week. With one day to make 100 gallons of mash and two days to distill it and yeilding 10 gallons of pure ethanol. Brewing good beer takes about 3 months.
>make mash takes a day of work
> make and chill wort. A day of work
>fermenting 10 days.
> clearing and bottleing 2 days of work
> carbonating and finishing, 10 weeks.
> only ger 5 gallons of pure ethanol content.
> alot more can go wrong.
>750ml of moonshine sells for 20$ easy and costs about 1.40$ to make.
>6 liters of beer sells for about 20$ and costs 6$ to make.
And that is pale ale. Anything better than that ramps up time and cost quite a bit.

Haha. Start a social club and run it as a speak easy. Haha. Sorry but those laws dont work in my country. Trust me i looked it up. Plus our inspectors actually come by frequently to make sure everything is on the up and up. One look at a box of milk jugs behind the bar and he will start asking questions.

>750ml of moonshine sells for 20$ easy and costs about 1.40$ to make.
wow i didn't know liquor had those margins!
The government is really a scam with the taxes and licensing.
No wonder there was a whisky rebellion.

Ah I see. I assumed you were an American

No kidding! Where i am at they wont let you sell it for less than 24$ at the store and of that 14.95 goes to the government.

Nope. Sorry freind. Canukistan.

Though we are pretty much the same here in terms of legality and market.

Though the parties idea has crossed my mind. Just selling to people i don't know sketches me out a bit. Not too worried about a sting in my area cause i know nearly everyone but you can never be too careful. Problem is bringing it up to people. But i figure if you'll drink it you probably aren't the kind of person to call the police.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion
this happened in my hometown
That dick george washington drafted a militia to fight american's who didn't want to pay the whisky tax

Worst part about it was that it took place in a state that didnt have representation yet.

No tax without rep my ass. Those founding fathers of yours were real grifters. Even if it was a pretty small tax tbf.

Best part is good old gw became americas largest distiller

>making poison
>poisoning people
Kys.

Why the hell would anyone buy moonshine when you can get a handle of bottom self liquor for like $12, that honestly is the same quality if not better than what you're distilling?

and the profits from alcohol distribution enriched other political families for years to come

Moonshine is nasty

Well sir. Op here. That may be true where you live but not where i do. Here minimum price set by the government is 24$. And as for quality, compared to bottom shelf vodka what i make is much better. I won't bore you with the chemistry but what i make contains less of the "stuff" that causes hangovers and "unpleasent flavours and armoas" than even vodka. Every fermented beverage contains methanol at about 0.7-2% and varying amounts of fusel alchohols depending on the manner in which it is fermented and the type of base used. These impurities evaporate with different required energies. Methanol (bad alcohol) has a lower boiling point than ethanol (good) and requires less energy to change to a gas state. With accurate temperature controls a pot still can seperate these impurities. Methanol has a distinct flavour and is safe in small concentrations( 2-3% of abv ) so many distillers leave it in for several reasons including increasing production efficiency , giving distinct flavour and aroma, and the type of still that can be used. Reflux stills are popular in single distillation of cheaper spirits but it doesn't work well at seperating impurities. A reflux still will give much higher purity and is used in gin and vodka production. But good vodka and gin goes through at least two stages. First using a pot still remove impurites then in a reflux to increase purity and remove grain flavours, then good ones will infuse with a pot still again to add flavours that come from a specific water profile.

Long story short the stuff i make contains very low levels of impurities while still keeping grain characteristics which is highly saught after in traditional corn whiskey. I also make my own maple smoked malt... basically it is a very good product that can not be currently found in the market and would easilly comand a higher price on the white market than most "bottom shelf brands" which can still be very good if a little uninspired or uninteresting.

Moonshine is not nasty. It is simply unaged whisky. And does not contain the flavours imparted by charred wood. In fact traditionally made aged whisky was developed accidentally and takes less steps to remove impurities such as fusels because it is made with techniques developed in the 18th century. It is still good and has qualities you wont find in moonshine (i am a fan of 10 yo isla malt myself) but it is not better or worse, just different. Its like comparing dark rum to white, or gin to absinthe.

Anyway. Any ideas guys? Do i just have to wait for word of mouth to spread? I'd really like to do something about it if i had a choice. I guess this is why most people run 30 gallons at a time and not a hundred. Maybe i should just scale back. I have enough for 2 years but You can't take too long off otherwise your ingrediants start to change flavours and you get rusty.

kek

who cares, warehouse raves do it all the time.
What about asking for (((donations))), I know some Artist Run Initiatives that did that

>One look at a box of milk jugs behind the bar and he will start asking questions.
Put more effort into your camouflage

Anyway, not to criticize you OP but just as a kind of "lesson learned" thing for any other Veeky Forumsrealis who care: this is a great example of why you should have your market and customer well researched and mapped out before you invest in inventory. Now OP probably hasn't wasted a lot of money, he's lucky, but there are thousands of wantrapeneurs every year who do way stupider stuff, buying crap in bulk thinking they can move it and then realizing that they couldn't give it away.

Due Diligence. Do eeet!

Badass

Good point man. Guess ill just sell the big still. Make a small one for myself and let the stuff i have sell at the current pace.

Unless someone comes up with a better suggestion, but in reality i think i would have thought of it already if there was a good solution... shitty thing is i know the market is there i just have no idea how to access it safely.

you're a respectable artisan, op