CLEVELAND (AP) – Last October more illegal liquor stills were confiscated in Ohio than in West Virginia which long has been a butt of jokes and cartoons on the bottling of “mountain dew.” Ohio liquor law enforcement agents this year have uncovered 38 stills, exceeding by three, a record that stood for 10 years.
Five stills were turned up In October In Ohio, and only four in West Virginia, although neighboring Pennsylvania had six. The national total for that month was with more than half of the three states – North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama.
Until the law moves in moonshine manufacturing, [it] is a profitable business. There is no $10.50 a gallon federal tax on homemade corn liquor and no $1.50 State Tax.
Moonshiners need not pay any attention to building codes or to supervision, which costs licensed distillers a tidy sum. Good homemade hootch can fetch $5 a pint in a Sunday or after-hours sale and through the week brings as much as $3.75 per pint and up.
“The point is that the stuff is pretty high proof and is usually intended to be cut by addition of distilled water,” explains Michael T. Corsaro, Cleveland district liquor enforcement agent in charge. “While you do pay top price for it, you get your money’s worth by cutting it and increasing the liquid volume.
Some of this stuff is exceptionally good. We confiscated some corn in Portsmouth, and, by golly, it tasted every bit as good as the legal whisky. In Cleveland and environs stills have been found in basements, attics, upstairs apartments, garages, barns, wooden lots, barns, nearly every conceivable place.”
The old Copper stills with coils are a rare find today. Usually, operators employ 50-gallon oil drums and any kind of metal tubing they find. It has been many months since any 200 and 300-gallon stills have been uncovered. A 50-gallon oil drum still found here recently, operated on a cycle that produced 20 gallons of proof moonshine every five days from the 50 gallons of mash.
The mash – a mixture of corn, sugar, and water is heated and then permitted to work for about a month before it is poured into the still and heated to boiling. Alcoholic spirits vaporize and condense in the tubes and filter into containers. “About the best filter for liquor is a felt hat,” Corsaro said. “It is amazing, but the felt does about as good a job as can be done.”
Keeping this kind of operation a secret from the law is no mean problem. The souring mash smells so strongly, alerting neighbors and inquisitive peace officers.
“Sometimes the operators sprinkle sugar on the top of the mash to hold the odor in, but it doesn’t work too well,” Corsaro said. Chillicothe Gazette, 3 Jan. 1959, page 4
Ironton, Ohio (AP) – Sheriff’s deputies and state and federal agents have confiscated a 165-gallon still and arrested three men on moonshining charges at nearby Adkins Ridge. Arrested Monday were Clovis Adkins, 33, and his brother Everett, 52, both of Rt. 1, Chesapeake, and Marvin Singer 28, of Greasy Ridge. All have previous moonshining records, officers said. The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio 11 Nov. 1958
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