Military Moonshiner: Difference between revisions

{{quote|"''It's rotgut. Wheresoever men are gathered together, someone will find something to ferment in a rubber boot, distill in an old kettle, and flog to his mates. Made from rats, by the smell of it.''"|'''Sergeant Jack Jackrum''', ''[[Discworld|Monstrous Regiment]]'', by [[Terry Pratchett]]}}

A military company has one member -- usuallymember—usually low-ranking -- whoranking—who secretly distills liquor.

* In ''[[SoraSo noRa WotoNo Wo To]]'' the garrison of the Time-Keeping Fortress has taken the tradition of distilling calvados to make up for late payments. Apparently, it's a serious felony.

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' novel ''Scourge the Heretic'', when Kyrlock and Drake are standing guard at the beginning, Kyrlock produces drink distilled by one of the tank drivers.

** In ''The Armour of Contempt'', when they gather to greet Dalin Criid back from his first day of training, they succeeded in digging up some of Bragg's sacra. When Gaunt arrives to wish Dalin well, he points out that there are regulations about that sort of stuff -- sostuff—so they had better drink it up and get rid of it.

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s first [[Ciaphas Cain]] story, a soldier tells Cain he's not what they expected. Cain laughs and reels off all the things they doubtlessly did to prepare for his arrival -- includingarrival—including dismantle the stills.

* {{spoiler|Sir}} [[Sergeant Rock|Horace Harkness]] from ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' did it for the most of his recorded career -- andcareer—and, probably, still does...

== Live -Action TV ==

* Hawkeye and Trapper John (and later BJ) have a still in their tent on ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]''. They say that they're distilling gin (hence the martini glasses), but what actually comes out is little more than high-proof grain alcohol.

* The flight deck crew in [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'']] set up a still and are harshly reprimanded for it by Chief Tyrol... because it was a sloppy job that made "liquor" liable to kill someone. He gave them a list of parts necessary to make a workable still, and in a later episode XO Tigh "bonds" with the Pegasus' XO over rounds of the products of the flight deck still. The flight deck's moonshine also makes appearances elsewhere on the fleet, Chief Tyrol trades it for parts when he's building the Blackbird, and ''Pegasus'' crewmembers (who were evidently forbidden from anything even remotely resembling moonshine) treat it like ambrosia - which for the uninitiated [[Don't Explain the Joke|is the Colonial version of very good whiskey]].

* Not strictly military, but alcohol is still hard to find [[Firefly (TV series)|in the Black]]:

* This is referenced in one of the data entries in ''[[Mass Effect]]'': the Alliance ships have ablative armor and void spaces between that and the main hull; in the entry it's mentioned that you'd often find illegal stills in these void spaces. Chief Ashley Williams (no, not [[Evil Dead|THAT one]], the [[Action Girl|other one]]) jokes that a still is the second thing Alliance engineers install in a starship--thestarship—the engines being the first--beforefirst—before her toast [[To Absent Friends|to absent family members]].

* Referenced in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "Brother from Another Series" after Sideshow Bob is released from prison:

** This sounds like the stills in ''The Colditz Story'' -- the—the firewater would come out white, and they'd have to wait for the lead to settle out before skimming the liquid off the top to rebottle.