History Main / MilitaryMoonshiner

Appearances before TheRenaissance are usually anachronistic, as prior to about 1500, stills were rare and usually used for medicinal and alchemical purposes (though that's not to say that making spirits of wine wasn't a hobby of alchemists...). This character has been known to appear earlier, making fermented brews rather than distilled liquor.

Because it requires the use of a still, appearances in cultures prior to the HighMiddleAges are anachronistic -- and even in the HighMiddleAges stills were rarities, mostly used for medicinal purposes. This character has been known to appear earlier, making fermented brews rather than distilled liquor.

* In ''Film/RedPlanet'', Commander Bowman discovers that two of her crewmembers have made a still in the lab after the computer tells her that the lab's thermostat is set a little high. She confronts the crewmembers... and then asks for a drink. She downs the shot in one go and, at the crewmembers' shocked expressions, reminds them that she was in the Navy.

* Moloch, in the {{novelization}} of the ''WebComic/GirlGenius'' wecomic, ''Literature/AgathaHAndTheAirshipCity'', is revealed to have been this, making him relatively popular amongst his peers. A later volume, ''Literature/AgathaHAndTheVoiceOfTheCastle'', states that some of the engineers on Castle Wulfenbach have managed to distill vodka [[GargleBlaster so powerful that it spontaneously ignites when exposed to direct sunlight]]. The Baron's chief administrator is fully aware of this... and drinks it regularly.

** The Russian Army does not denaturize the alcohol used as fuel or coolant on its equipment (the alcohol-based de-icer used in the air force and army aviation is particularly famous). They know their troops and that they would drink it ''anyway'', were the stuff rendered toxic or not.

* After the privations of home service and the spartan conditions of the North African desert, British soldiers posted to the Italian war in 1943 soon discovered one thing the Italians made in abundance - wine and spirits. Drunken-ness in this theatre was at epidemic levels, the British soldiers discovering wine had three or four times the alcohol content of the beer they were used to. Comedian Creator/SpikeMilligan relates how the British Army in northern Italy and Austria celebrated the German surrender in May 1945: a fountain near Milligan's billet was made to work and literally flowed with wine. According to Milligan, the official Order Of The Day for 7th May 1945 was ''Every man is ordered to get drunk!"

* ''A Study in Murder'' by Robert Ryan. Despite there being in theory nothing to ferment thanks to the surrounding populace being on starvation rations, moonshine still exists in the POW camp where [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Dr. Watson]] is imprisoned. Watson drinks a sample and promptly passes out, waking with a splitting headache. It could have been worse--several men had died after drinking the stuff and Watson suspected they'd been deliberately poisoned.

** The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Vulcan's Glory" establishes that producing "Engine Room Hooch" was almost universal on early Starfleet vessels. Predictably, newly arrived junior engineer [[TheAlcoholic Montgomery Scott]] was very skilled at producing hooch of the highest quality. Even by-the-book officers like Number One looked the other way (in exchange for having the first squeezings from the still, of course). However the batch in the novel was accidentally contaminated by radiation from the warp reactor, which made it ''much'' stronger than intended. This had the fortunate side effect of bringing their attention to a damaged reactor that they would have missed otherwise. After this incident, Chief Engineer Barry put a firm end to any further production of the hooch on the ''Enterprise''.
** Later, in the novel "Ghostwalker" several junior officers justify to themselves setting up a customized food synthesizer to produce better chocolate by stating that they were not setting up a still or making illicit substances.