Moonshine

Note Profile

Molecule

About

Moonshine is illicit unaged corn spirit. Fragrantica calls it 'a fantasy note with the smell of high-proof liquor'. The note is boozy first and close to nothing else, with a light corn-grain sweetness under it. It is not whisky. There is no barrel, so the vanilla, oak and smoke that carry an aged spirit are only traces here.

Scent Profile

Boozy leads and all four sources put it first. Fragrantica's definition is 'high-proof liquor', Recoil reports 'a powerful, ethanol scent', the fragrance oil is 'Pure corn grain alcohol straight from the still', and Cap Perfume opens with 'warm, boozy, and spicy'. It sits above the published vodka's 0.72 because high proof is the entire claim here, and level with the published liquor note. Sweet_vanillic is Recoil's 'sweet, almost vanilla aroma' on the corn-mash bottles. It is held down by the 0.1 per cent vanillin on the one product that plays the note straight, and it is far below liquor's 0.68 because that sweetness comes from a barrel this spirit never saw. Under those, nutty and tobacco_hay carry the corn grain and its dry husk, which is how the published cereals and corn-silk notes hold the same material. Warm_spice and fruity are Cap Perfume's 'spicy' and its 'subtle fruity esters'. Dry_woody, smoky and amber_resinous are the barrel, and they are traces because an unaged spirit has no barrel. They are not zero because DSH's fine-fragrance reading builds a whole accord on them. Honeyed, lactonic, sour and leather fill in behind.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeHeart · ~4h lasting

Family Sweet & Gourmand

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

Four sources, and they split on what the word names. Recoil's buyer's guide is the only one that noses real moonshine, and it reports two different smells. A genuine corn-mash bottle 'should smell like corn with subtle hints of sweetness', and one is nosed as 'Corn with a sweet, almost vanilla aroma'. Re-labelled grain-neutral spirit instead has 'a powerful, ethanol scent... like something you'd put in your gas tank', and the same guide treats that as a fault: the bottle it nosed as 'Ethanol, no getting away from it' is one that 'doesn't smell like moonshine'. The Candle Maker's Store sells the note straight as 'Pure corn grain alcohol straight from the still', with a vanillin content of 0.1 per cent, so almost no sweetening. Cap Perfume's liquor guide gives the generic spirit accord: 'warm, boozy, and spicy' with 'sharp alcoholic esters'. DSH Perfumes' Uptown Moonshine goes the other way entirely and builds a whiskey bar out of 'whiskey, tobacco, amber, oakwood, brown sugar, and smoked vanilla'. I weight the raw end, because Fragrantica's definition says liquor and does not say whiskey.

Usage in Perfumery

A boozy note used for a raw, hot spirit effect rather than an aged one. It gives an alcoholic lift with a grain tail and no barrel. 3 Fragrantica placements and none on Parfumo. `moonshine-whiskey` is rejected on the attested-once test, so this is the only live term for the material.