Everyone instinctively knows that “XXX” written on a jug indicates that it contains moonshine, but what do the X's mean? Before the invention of more modern distilling techniques, moonshiners used a basic pot still made up of a boiler to cook the mash and a condenser to collect and cool the alcohol vapor back to a liquid. While it's an effective device, you don’t get pure alcohol when you run a batch through the first time. The first run produces liquor at about 60-80 proof and it's drinkable, but you wouldn’t want to drink it because the taste is still a bit off. The second run raises it up to the 60-70% range, but the third run puts the pure range of above 80%. The XXX scrawled on the front of the moonshine jug indicates it’s been run through the still three times and has a high, almost pure, alcohol content. Today, it's unlikely any moonshiner would sell the liquor in a jug, let alone one with three X's on it. Modern moonshiners prefer half-gallon mason jars with no label at all. You just have to take their word for how many runs it's made, or demand a "proof of pure" taste.
