While we were at the Hoosier Round up last month, one of my brother-in-laws brought over a quart jar of apple pie corn liquor.  It was sweet, spicy, had a nice burn, and kicked like a mule. And to my surprise, it was 100% legal.

Junior Johnson, former bootlegger and NASCAR driver, has lent his name to a brand of legal moonshine, and it’s quite tasty.

Tonight at the liquor store, I picked up two jars of it, the apple pie and strawberry.

The apple pie variety is a very nice golden color, and sports a piece of cinnamon stick floating in the bottom of the jar.  It has a nice tart apple taste, and the alcohol and cinnamon combine to give it a good spicy flavor and burn.  This is strong, but not unpleasant.  The smell of the drink is exactly what it says on the label – apple pie, although too deep a snort might singe the hair in your nose.  It’s only 70 proof, but it tastes so good that it’s easy to keep taking pulls on your tumbler or straight from the jar.  It’ll kick you in the back of the head if you’re not careful.

The strawberry flavor has a nice red color to it, and is slightly higher proof than the apple pie.  The liquor is flavored with strawberries which float in the jar.  Where the cinnamon stick in the apple pie stays at the bottom, the strawberry floats at the top, making a pour into a tumbler more of a challenge.  The drink smells very distinctly of strawberries, and is quite pleasant.  By that I mean that it smells of real strawberries, not the artificial sicky-sweet smell of other strawberry products.  The strawberry also comes through in the flavor, but not as distinctly as the apple and cinnamon in the apple pie.  It also has a burn to it, and you can feel it all the way down.  Something tells me that when this jar is empty, eating that strawberry is going to be an adventure.

Packaging of both is in the classic manner for moonshine – a mason jar.  This is a nice touch, but it can make a pour ta bit more complicated than with a narrow necked bottle.  It’s easy to over pour your glass, but then, it’s good enough that a little extra isn’t going to hurt.

Price was OK for a novelty drink.  Both varieties were $19 apiece at my store, and from what I can see you won’t find this in a less expensive place anytime soon.  I’ve heard reports that it’s popular here in Louisville, so if you can find it, it’ll probably go for a bit more than other drinks of its niche.

The company also offers moonshine flavored with cherry, blueberry, and cranberry, and bottles of unflavored white liquor are also available.  My store also had the cherry flavor, so I may pay them a visit next payday and get a jar of that.  I’ll also be on the lookout for the cranberry, as that is one of my favorite flavors.

Overall, I’d say that this moonshine is a good value for something to nip on occasion.  Of the two, I prefer the apple pie, but I tend to prefer spicier flavors over sweet.  Like I said, it’s so well-flavored that it would not be hard to over-indulge.  But this will make a good sipping drink or something to bring out when company is over.