Firefly Apple Pie Moonshine Review

By S.D. Peters

Rating: D

Firefly Apple Pie Moonshine
(Credit: Firefly Distilling)

Firefly Distillery, on Wadmalaw Island, SC,  produces a distinguished White Lightning Moonshine, which is a great starting place for first-time white whiskey drinkers to start exploring the trend. The Distillery also produces flavored expressions of the Moonshine, of which its Apple Pie Flavor Moonshine is, sadly, reminiscent of neither apple pie nor moonshine.

The Moonshine
The color of Firefly Apple Pie Flavor Moonshine is a very light gold in the glass, which strongly suggests of the additive flavor rather than the aging that a similarly colored Scotch would convey. It’s also light on the alcohol, with only 30.15% ABV (60.3 Proof), making it more a like a liqueur.

To the nose it’s excessively sweet – initially the strong aroma of the sort of plastic-wrapped artificial apple Danish you might find at a roadside service station. The flavor is quickly overwhelmed by what might best be described as “rest room air freshner.” The taste continues the roadside theme, without resembling anything appley: it’s more like liquid soap, and that flavor continues through a finish that leaves you wishing it was shorter than it is.

Clearly, I’m not a fan of the flavoring, but flavoring enthusiasts might find something good here. In fact, someone else might detect the apple pie that I couldn’t. First time drinkers white whiskey who aren’t comfortable with the grainy flavor and bite of Firefly White Lightning Moonshine might be content to start with this sort of beginner’s elixir, but the White Lightning offers a much nicer port of entry to Firefly’s staple product than their Apple Pie Flavor Moonshine.

The Price
Firefly products, once predominately available in the Distillery’s home state of South Carolina, have a growing distribution in the U.S. Their Apple Pie Flavor Moonshine costs between $15-$20 a “jar”.