LONDON - Home-brewed spirits have a bad reputation in Europe. The popular belief here is that drinking various types of moonshine can cause serious illness or even death. But scientists have found that this is not entirely true.

According to a study conducted by the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP), home-made spirits are not only safe for the most part, but are often superior in quality to products from well-known manufacturers.

Strong drinks made by handicraft methods are distinguished by a huge variety. In Ireland, for example, they love the local moonshine potin, and in Mexico, the product of distillation of cacti - pulque - is very popular.

Moreover, contrary to popular belief, not all moonshine is made in violation of existing laws. In France, for example, home distilleries, the so-called Bouilleurs de Cru, have existed for ages, and are completely legal. The small volume of homemade distilleries installed there allows for the production of alcohol with a higher concentration of aromatic substances. However, there is one feature that unites all varieties of moonshine - it is consumed mainly by the least affluent part of the population. Having set out to study the little-known market for homemade alcoholic beverages, scientists decided not to go into details and to study the consumption of any strong drinks made in a handicraft way, combining them into a single category of "moonshine". The result was impressive. "According to our estimates, moonshine accounts for at least half of the alcohol consumed worldwide," says ICAP President Marcus Grant.

The ICAP study was conducted in many national markets, including Tanzania, Zambia, Brazil, India, Mexico and Russia. Having studied not only the taste but also the chemical composition of various moonshines, scientists have found that sometimes drinking home-made strong drinks does in fact lead to poisoning. In Tanzania, fans of the local moonshine gonggo, which is made from fermented papaya fruits, have a philosophical toast - "Mazishi kesho saa nane!", which means "The funeral is tomorrow, at two in the afternoon."

However, according to Grant, poor-quality moonshine is more the exception than the rule. "The quality of home-made spirits is generally quite high," he says. Moreover, it turns out that some types of, say, Russian moonshine are superior in quality to such famous drinks as, for example, Cutty Sark whiskey.

Researchers claim that among moonshiners there are often those who value their reputation and regular clientele, and therefore will never allow themselves to lower the quality of the product they produce.

Ironically, the research into the global problems of moonshining was sponsored by major spirits companies such as Diageo, which would have benefited greatly if the scientists' findings had been less encouraging.

These seemingly unmixable markets - industrial brands and moonshine - are already beginning to have common ground. For many consumers, the underground product has an inexplicable charm. That is why a certain British company intends to launch a drink called Crack Ice, which contains Irish potion, on the market next year. (FT, 19. 12. 2003, Ekaterina Kudashkina)

"The quality is generally high"