General term for homemade, unaged (and therefore colorless) drinking alcohol. The term came into use during the Prohibition era in the
United States when stills (homemade distilleries) throughout the southeast made liquor from corn, potatoes, sugar and other available
ingredients, in direct defiance of the law, in order to meet the never-diminished demand.
Moonshine (see also "
white lightning") as a term refers to the alcohol's clear, colorless potency.