From the vineyard

In most countries “moonshine” is illegal, and for good reason. Leaving aside excise considerations, its alcoholic strength is uncontrolled and its toxic by-products are potentially lethal. The term “blind drunk” aptly describes the perilous, if not life threatening, consequences of home produced spirits. Nevertheless, practically every proprietary alcoholic spirit started life in a secret still, only to graduate, having gained governmental approval, usually for the same excise considerations and thus evolving from ugly duckling to swan. Grappa, the ne plus ultra of Italian digestivi, is a good example. In living memory, it has gone from harsh peasant firewater to prestige postprandial, produced in more than 140 Italian distilleries and accounting for 20 per cent of the Italian spirits market.

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