Virginia Lightning Corn Whiskey

Gross, strong, ethanol moonshine

Got this to help hone my whiskey tasting to better know what a young unaged whiskey tastes like. This tastes like corn and ethanol with a cinnamon finish. Pretty terrible, perhaps better than cheap vodka but not much else. Glad I got the 375ml and not a full bottle.

Ah, good ole home grown hooch. There ain’t nothing better*. This is supposedly the premier, mass produced corn whiskey in the state of Virginia. Belmont Farms is located about 30-40 miles south of Washington DC and they produce all kinds of cheap spirits. They are also contracted to make Tim Smith’s moonshine- he’s the guy from the hit A&E channel’s “Moonshiners” television program. Virginia Lightning is Belmont Farms’ own brand of corn whiskey. It’s bottled at 50% ABV and sells for about $25-28 a bottle. It’s crystal clear in color, because there’s no barrel aging, and it’s even proudly advertised as being less than 30 days old on the label. Oh boy. The nose is exactly what you’d expect: soggy, musty corn and astringent alcohol. There’s a powerful artificial sweetness about it, too. It’s almost like sugar cane. There no need to spend any time looking for anything else, nor should you even bother giving it a proper nosing. The palate is hot, sweet corn. There’s a buttery aspect to it- like it’s been thickened by a simple syrup of some kind. The mouthfeel is heavy- which is not what you want from moonshine. It should feel watery, warm and smooth- especially if it’s a proper, higher proof. The finish is fiery hot with, surprise!, more corn. There’s a cinnamon candy sweetness and heat that lingers, but you don’t really want it to. Trust me. Overall, this stuff is tough to drink. The best thing you can do is cut it with some apple juice and a few cinnamon sticks and try to make yourself a bottle of low grade, “apple pie”.. I actually have sliced up a few lemons and cut it with pre-bought lemonade and pour it over ice like a poor man’s Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and it works halfway fine. At no point should you drink it straight, on ice, or in public for that matter. In fact, leave it on the shelf and buy some real whiskey. 0.5 stars, because you can get drunk off of it. Cheers. * pure sarcasm

Due to Michigan laws concerning the shipment of alcohol to private residents, I’ve had to route most of my purchases through my friend @LeeEvolved in Virginia. A few months ago one such purchase landed on his doorstep. He had a few samples to send me as well so he opened the box and added them. He realized there was enough room in the box for another full bottle and gave me a choice. Either a bottle of the Macallan Classic Cut 2018, or this un-aged corn whiskey. Well, I’d already gone through a bottle of the CC and wasn’t that impressed, so I went with the Virginia Lightning. Let’s see what I got myself into. So this “moonshine” is un-aged as I said previously, in fact the back of the bottle proudly proclaims “Less than 30 days old”. It’s bottled at 50% ABV and has no color as it spent zero time in any type of wooden container, and I would guess that it is chill filtered but I have no real info one way or the other. The nose is strong, and, if I’m being nice, unpleasant. If I’m being truthful, it’s terrible in a way I never expected. Corn...rancid corn swimming in butter and butterscotch. Bile, rotten vegetables with a sickly sweetness. Old funky salsa verde and pickled pearl onions. Really really cringeworthy. The palate actually arrives somewhat sweet with savory corn and butter, but quickly turns utterly revolting. Bad corn, butterscotch, a general harshness and a light metallic note. A light bodied mouthfeel that is thin and tongue coating. The finish is medium short with that rancid corn and alcohol. Well clearly I made the wrong choice. This stuff is absolutely revolting neat, and equally bad over ice just slightly colder. I tried adding in some grenadine to mask the flavor and it went from terrible to just plain bad. Biggest waste of my money in recent history and it was a gift! Lee told me he paid $25 for this bottle. That’s about $28 too much. I can say with some certainty that this is the worst whiskey I’ve ever had. Please avoid. Cheers