Hilton Head Island liquor store owner, distiller team up with Gullah women to produce moonshine
By ERIN SHAW eshaw@islandpacket.comJanuary 21, 2014 Updated 16 hours ago Hooch, White Lightning, Hillbilly Pop, Radiator Whiskey and Mule Kick are just a few nicknames for moonshine, an illegal spirit distilled in backwoods Appalachia since the 1800s. Moonshine has Lowcountry roots as well. On Daufuskie Island, the Gullah called it "scrap iron," perhaps for the metal still it was made in or the iron will it took to drink it. If the self-explanatory monikers are any indication, then moonshine is not something one consumes quickly or easily. The original name, "moonshine," is said to emanate from bootleggers who illicitly distilled the unaged corn whiskey by the light of the moon, far away from the prying eyes of Prohibition revenuers. Thanks to new South Carolina micro-distillery laws, moonshine is now legal -- if the appropriate taxes are paid -- and coming back in a big way. In accord