Moonshining isn't just for mountain folk anymore.
A Gwinnett County man is free on bond after his arrest this week on charges of making illegal liquor.
Vosile Cosma, 63, of Lawrenceville was booked into the Gwinnett County jail Monday on charges of possession of untaxed whiskey, according to jail records. He was released the same day on $5,700 bond.
Cosma's neighbors called firefighters after noticing an unusual odor in the neighborhood. When firefighters arrived, they found Cosma in the back yard burning wood under a homemade distillery, according to an incident report obtained by the AJC. Cosma put out the fire with a garden hose, the report says.
"The investigators arrived and contacted to Georgia Department of Revenue and waited for their arrival," said Gwinnett Fire spokesman Eric Eberly. "The Revenue agents arrived, took custody of the evidence, destroyed remaining products of manufacturing and arrested the suspect," Eberly said.
The Gwinnett Daily Post quoted an unidentified friend of Cosma as saying that the Romanian immigrant was distilling a traditional Romanian beverage called "tuica" -- a fruit drink that is 45 to 60 percent alcohol -- for personal use.
"He was not trying to make moonshine," the friend said. "He was not going to sell it, that's for sure."
Regardless of his intent, Eberly said there are inherent dangers in running a backyard distillery.
“There are three significant problems -- not to mention it is unlawful," Eberly said.
"There's the obvious possibility that the fire can easily spread from the area cooking the product to nearby grasses, woods or structures," he said. "There is often a high probability of an explosion due to the over-pressurization of the cooking vessel. And often there is a high probability of contamination of the product, which can be extremely hazardous and cause people to become sick or even die from drinking it.”
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