origin of moonshine

[Jonathon Green]

The first ref. to moonshine as liquor is cited in Francis Grose's Classical
Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), in which states that 'The white brandy
smuiggled on the coasts of Kent and Susses, is [...] called moonshine.' In
the 1796 edn. he added 'and the gin in the north of Yorkshire.' The ref. is
to the nocturnal activities of the distillers or smugglers who would explain
away their boxes and barrels as 'mere moonshine', itself defined  since the
mid-17C as 'a trifle, nothing at all; nonsense.' Wright's Eng. Dialect Dict
also notes 'moonlight, smuggled spirits' and attributes it to the 'North
Country'.

Jonathon Green