South End restaurant cited for offering moonshine

Of course, this being a more genteel age, axe-wielding revenooers didn't bust up a still out back of Estelle's on Tremont Street. Instead, a detective from the BPD Licensed Premises Division issued a paper citation for the bottle of Midnight Moon Moonshine sitting behind the bar.

The restaurant, which serves Southern food, is licensed to offer beers, wines and liqueurs. Moonshine, now a legitimate product, is hard liquor, which is not included on its license - although flavored moonshine would be, under the theory it's a cordial.

At a hearing today, Estelle's lawyer, James Byrne, apologized to the Boston Licensing Board. He said the restaurant's liquor distributor had left the bottle behind as part of a promotion. He said the restaurant never advertised it had the stuff and said it had only sold two or three drinks out of the bottle.

"This isn't some wild nightclub," he assured the board. "It's not some rowdy bar. It's a nice little restaurant."

He said that because of the citation, issued in October, the restaurant now checks with the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission before taking delivery on anything that might be questionable.

The board decides Thursday what action, if any, to take.