First sip confirms the fear. This does not have the drinkability of the Firefly or even the restrained aggressiveness of the Ole Smokey. Instead, this is more like the White Lightening with a bit of flavoring added. This is especially concerning as a result of the 20% ABV that is well below what a moonshine would be expected to be. I'm just not sure how lighter fluid taste can become so pervasive in a beverage that is this relatively tame.
I take another couple of sips, and it really seems like the smell is worse than the taste, but the taste isn't great. More importantly, the familiar warmth that follows the sip and flows down the gullet isn't there. So, it's the badness of the lighter fluid taste without the benefit of the alcohol at all.
I'm disappointed, but I'm not too surprised. The hit-and-miss (mostly miss) nature of my relationship with moonshine has conditioned me to expect the worst. The isn't the worst beverage I've had, but I'm not going to buy Short Mountain's Apple Pie again. I'm going to fall back to Firefly which is cheaper and better. I tried the hyper-local moonshine, at least, but it just isn't as good. Sorry, Short Mountaineers.
0.75/5