Chapter 262 261. Moonshine Culture (Monthly Pass 18+)

Goatee smiled and said, "No, Amish people don't want to make friends like me, but they like to barter, and I often carry a lot of things they like in my car..."

Li Du said: "You are a smart guy."

"Maybe a smart bastard, everyone thinks I'm an asshole." He laughed.

Li Du shook hands with him and said, "I'm Li, nice to meet you, take a stroll and see if we have anything you like here."

Goatee said: "It's nice to meet you too, Boss Li. I'm Goat, Goat Goat. Similarly, you can see if there is anything you like in my car."

Things in the carriage are very messy, there are rusty ironware, copperware with copper rust, some wooden furniture, and rough pottery, all of which look like handmade products.

Li Du felt that these things were quite simple. After the experience of the dodo specimen last time, he was more interested in the things of the Amish people, so he released the small flying insects.

This time it still lived up to expectations. After the bug flew out, it immediately flew to some small machines assembled from iron cans and steel pipes.

Li Du controlled it to return, then reached out and touched the machine calmly.

The small machine is mainly divided into two parts, one part is an iron pot, and the other part is something like a shunt tube that is aggregated together.

Among them, the iron pot was still connected with a rough steel pipe. He reached out his hand and gestured. Through the steel pipe, the iron pot and the shunt tube can be combined together, which looks like a set of tools.

He didn't know what this thing was for, so he gave Hans a wink.

Hans came over and asked in a low voice, "What's the matter?"

Li Du said: "Look at this, do you know what it is?"

Hans took a look and smiled: "It's a worthless thing, a moonshine still. My family used to have one of these. It used to be very common in rural areas."

Li Du suddenly said: "Oh, this is the tool used for moonshine?"

Moonshine, as the name suggests, is alcohol brewed in secret, and the reason why this kind of thing exists is that some people want to avoid high taxes or outright bans on alcohol consumption.

In the history of the United States, bootleg wine appeared very early, especially in rural areas. For a long time, almost all the whiskey or rum in the market was this stuff.

Hans said, "Yes, what's the matter? Are you interested?"

Li Du released the little flying insects again, and the little flying insects flew towards the moonshine still with great interest. From this point of view, this thing should not be around for a long time.

So, he whispered: "I feel this thing is like an antique, it gives me an extraordinary feeling."

Hans laughed, "You know our moonshine culture? The fact that a lot of these stills are grandpas because they're durable."

Li Du asked: "The culture of bootleg wine? Does this thing have culture?"

Hans said, "Of course man, you don't know the history of moonshine? It's as old as the United States!"

Shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War, the financial difficulties of the long war became apparent, and the United States government imposed a federal tax on distilled spirits to address the problem.

However, at that time, the American people had just been freed from heavy British taxes through the Revolutionary War, so they were so dissatisfied with this measure that they decided to continue brewing their own whiskey, completely ignoring the existence of federal taxes.

For these early moonshineers, brewing and selling alcohol wasn't a hobby or a side income, it was a means of survival.

During poor harvests, farmers distilled their corn into salable whiskey and scraped by on the little extra income they got.

For them, paying taxes means not being able to support their families, so even though the government has issued strict laws and regulations, farmers are still trying to make wine secretly.

In this case, the government began to use drastic measures. At that time, the war was just over, and many peasants were ex-soldiers from the army.

Faced with the government officials who forced them to come to their homes, the farmers took up their guns to fight.

“By the 1860s, the government was raising excise taxes to finance the American Civil War, a practice that intensified the battle between bootleggers and booze officials.”

"The society at that time was extremely chaotic, brother, it was too chaotic." Hans shook his head when he said this.

Li Du asked, "How chaotic is it? Has there been a violent conflict between the two sides?"

Hans sneered and said, "It's more serious! The bootleggers and the Ku Klux Klan have carried out an armed merger, and directly launched many fierce battles with the government forces!"

Li Du was surprised: "These guys are crazy enough!"

The Ku Klux Klan is the most notorious domestic black and evil force in American history. They pursue the policy of white supremacy, discriminate against people of color, and like to use violence and do a lot of evil.

Hans said: "It's even crazier, man, the bootleggers are intimidating, threatening local residents, and attacking IRS officials and their families in order to keep information about their breweries. Violent madmen!"

Li Du said: "Then they are disgusting. I know about some bootleggers. They later became gangsters, right? They used Chicago typewriters as weapons. I saw it on TV."

The Chicago Typewriter is the nickname of the Thompson submachine gun because it sounds as crisp as a typewriter.

In the 1920s and 1930s, this gun was the favorite of American gangsters, because it was only 85 centimeters in length and only 5 kilograms empty. It could be hidden in a coat and used with fierce firepower.

Hans shook his head and said, "What you know is not the real situation. Later, the number of moonshine brewers increased. Most of them are not very radical, they are rural farmers' brewers."

In the early 20th century, the United States successively passed several laws prohibiting the sale and purchase of alcohol.

By 1920, Prohibition went into effect nationwide, and suddenly there was no legal alcohol to buy, and the demand for moonshine skyrocketed.

But after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the market for moonshine began to dwindle.

While bootlegging was a problem that plagued federal authorities well into the 1960s and 1970s, few cases of illegal booze are heard in court today.

Nowadays, moonshine wine is rarely seen in the market because of its poor taste and unstable quality, and the tools for moonshine wine are not very popular in the market.

However, there are still some people who like to recall the old days will buy these tools, and they buy them only to drink wine in private, or just to reminisce about the past life.

Among them, the Amish people have always insisted on brewing wine privately. They do not participate in the circulation and operation of the market economy, and are active in their own small circles. They mainly brew their own wine.

Therefore, the Amish moonshine tools are better preserved and more marketable.