All you need are simple sugars and yeast. with grain, the yeast cultures convert starches into sugars and then alcohol. If you have sugar then you’re cutting out a step. Case in point: i live in sugar beet country. People will sometimes make a kind of beet moonshine. It’s clear and mostly tasteless from what I hear (i haven’t found anyone willing to give me any yet). potatoes are a popular choice for hooch as well.
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Yep. People always enjoy NOT paying the exorbitant taxes on liquor...which can be avoided by making it oneself.
The booze we made was 180 proof and so it was cut in half with "sweet water," that is, plain water. I tried it once. That was enough.
The Brits said that it left you "legless" and indeed it did: my THIGHS ached the following morning. That was enough for me.
ONE way that it wasn't disgusting was with coffee flavoring a la "Kalua," added with real cream and some sugar--it wasn't so bad.
Oh well. That was then.
THIS is where I belong, in the good ole U.S.A., home sweet home.