Climax Moonshine Fire No. 32

Cinnamon with a hint of vanilla. Love it! As well as thre back label patronage tp fire fighters.

Not a huge shine fan, but this is a nice cinnamon bomb. Would warm your insides on a cold day.

So, my dad is a fan of the Discovery Channel show “Moonshiners”. The scripted, reality show follows Virginia’s illegal distiller, Tim Smith and his podunk town cohorts, as they try to evade detection from the authorities in the Shenandoah Mountains of western Virginia and North Carolina. Well, of course, he eventually got wise and went legit and took his special “shine” recipes to several local, craft distilleries in the area and has now released this flavored, corn whiskey (with government approval and taxes paid). What I’m reviewing here is the Fire No.32. It’s a cinnamon flavored moonshine named in honor of a local, volunteer fire deptartment. It’s bottled at 45% and is clear as a bell in your favorite Mason jar. I’m drinking it from a Glencairn because, well, I’m an up-scale redneck. There’s a difference. I bought this bottle in Virginia and brought it to my dad in WV (uh oh, bootleggin’. Breaker 1 Nine, looking for that black Trans-Am). He wanted to try it and have some on hand for family and friends that watch the show, I guess. I’m not gonna get too into this because it’s just flavored, un-aged, corn whiskey and doesn’t deserve that treatment. Plus, if the locals found out I did, they’d probably tar and feather me and run me out of town on a rail. The biggest notes here are obviously the cinnamon. This one has a mixture of the candy, Red Hots type of flavor, but also straight cinnamon sticks, too. It smells much better than Fireball for sure, but then again what doesn’t? Not much hint of corn on the nose, but boy it’s there on the tongue. Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and creamed corn (sounds delicious, don’t it). And sugar- lots of sugar. Geez, my fillings are rattling. It’s super smooth, but then again it should be because “real” Moonshine is usually well over 120 proof. Since this isn’t, it would have to be easy drinking and I suppose it is. The finish is sugar and cinnamon sticks, forever. Wow, on and on. If I were to rate this as a typical Moonshine, well I guess it’s 3 stars. It’s too sweet, yet too weak as well. Shine should kick you in the butt quickly, but this one will upset your stomach long before you get sloshed. Meh, TV show hype. At $30 for a 750ml it’s also way overpriced. Yeee-hawww, y’all!!