Homemade Hootch ? theFlesherton.ca

Making our own hootch is a country tradition. And while in the past, moonshine might have been cooked up in a still in the woods, today?s home hootchers are more likely to take over the garage, shed or basement.

The tradition of moonshining goes back to prohibition but was also popular in non-prohibition years in rural areas when things were dry for miles around and making your own was a cheaper ? and closer ? ?option.

Let me be clear: moonshining ? that is distilling your own alcohol ? was, and remains, illegal in Canada. On the other hand, home brewing (fermenting) is legal and for many an enjoyable hobby.

Increasingly popular is home cider brewing. Call it hard cider when it?s alcoholic. Apple or pear fruit make two of the local favourites. I recall one of my country neighbours inviting me over to enjoy some ?apple cider? one sunny fall afternoon. I arrived late in the afternoon to find half the neighbours staggering around the garage. He brewed it strong! This year, the disastrous tree fruit season in our region will no doubt have a negative impact on home cider making, but expect it to continue to grow as a home brew favourite.

Beer is a frequent starting place for many home brewers and, for ease and taste, bottle-brewed beer tops the list. Another neighbour, now departed, was fond of making his own basement beer. Bill was a high school chemistry teacher, so he may have had a particular fondness for the chemical play of it all. At the end of the day, I think he just liked a nice cold beer. After he passed, his wife brought several of his home-brewed beers to a Chamber of Commerce meeting (he was a steadfast member). At the end of the night, we toasted him with his own home brew.

Other home brewers often look to the big boys for ingredients and directions; Mister Beer ? ?the world?s easiest beer making kit? ? being one bottle brewing kit.

And sometimes, home brewers turn their hobby into a business, like Charles MacLean, owner and brew master of MacLean?s Ales.

Charles started as a basement beer maker in his 20s. Says Charles,?In those days if you wanted something ?different? you had to make it yourself.? Different being other than Labatts or Molson. (Some may remember those dark days in Ontario, when alcohol was sold in grey buildings by men in grey clothes and the actual product was hidden from the public eye).

Charles went on to a career as a brew master for commercial breweries in Toronto and Guelph, and now captains his own microbrewery from his farm in Grey County. His craft beer, MacLean?s Pale Ale, is available at the LCBO in Owen Sound, Durham and Mildmay and on tap at some local restaurants, Barrhead Pub & Grill, Rocky Raccoon, Rowan Moon Bistro and the Queen?s Bush.

Producing a commercial beer, even on a micro scale, is not like home brewing. ?It?s the difference between cooking in your own kitchen and for customers in a restaurant,? MacLean says. He is monitored by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, for one and his ingredients have changed. When he was a hobbyist, for instance, ?I used malt extract in a tin, where they?ve already done half the work for you. Now I do grain brewing using malted barley. And, I try to source my ingredients locally when possible. Ten years ago, there were no hops grown in Ontario, now there are maybe 20 acres in the whole province.?

MacLean?s Ales is likely the smallest microbrewery in Canada ? but maybe not for long. When reached by telephone recently, Charles was working on a business plan for expansion. His farm-based brewing business will likely be moved off the farm to a more commercial location ? something with a loading dock perhaps, but definitely municipal sewers and available natural gas.

But what of whisky? Whiskey which for some odd reasons loses an ?e? in Canadian but gains one in American, eh?

Whisky requires distillation and that is illegal to do at home ? even if you are not selling the product. Fermenting fruit or grains is one thing. But distillation, even, for instance, distilling your apple ferment into apple brandy ? that is illegal.

Those who seek to flout the law and distill are served by two reputable online sources of information: Artisan-distiller.org and Homedistiller.org . One Grey County home distiller (GCD) says, ?The online chat and community have been very helpful. Some guys are bull-shitters, of course, and some really know what they?re talking about and are happy to share their knowledge.?

GCD distills at his home; making his vat, column and other distillation equipment from online guides and easily sourced materials. He enjoys the science involved in distilling and the money saving, ?It?s a hobby for me and I feel it makes me more self-sufficient and I like that. Also, I can make for $2 what I would pay $25, and up, for at the LCBO. ?

Grey County Distiller (GCD) says he?s tried making a variety of home alcohol ? from beer brewing in college to column-stilled vodka to pot still whisky. ?In college we were making our own beer, mostly to save money. But it was a lot of work and it took 2-3 weeks to batch the beer and then we?d drink it all in one weekend. And we?d still end up buying beer in between batches.?

And sometimes home brewing can be volatile. GCD says, ?I only had one incident and it was with cider. A near explosion really, I was prying the lid off ? it was one of those Grolsch beer caps ? and the cider just exploded out the top. It was a geyser of cider right to the ceiling!?

Most often GCD makes vodka, also know to distillers as neutral alcohol. ?It takes time, about 12-14 hours, but it?s almost automatic and it?s as good as anything at the liquor store.?

It?s somewhat ironic that distilling alcohol is basically the opposite of that other Canadian past-time, maple syrup production. With maple syrup, you keep the drip and let the vapour escape. With distilling, it?s the vapour that you want to keep.

And, unlike sugaring off, distilling is illegal. Says GCD, ?The government controls booze for the tax money. And, I suppose it?s illegal because it could be unsafe. But if you use clean safe equipment (no lead solder) and stainless steel and copper and you put good ingredients in, you won?t make poison.?

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2012, 12:45 pm and is filed under agriculture & culinary, business, economic development, rural. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://theflesherton.ca/homemade-hootch/

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