Number of expansions are based on having an Organized and/or Hardworking manager.
“T1-T4” refers to tiers. You start by unlocking T1, then as you continue to expand and learn more skills, you can produce more – and fancier – alcohol, until you reach the highest level.
Upgrading a T1 operation into a T2 operation means you lose your source of e.g. Hard Cider unless you build a new T1 operation in another building. That’s why it’s better to build a new T2 operation instead of upgrading from T1.
Production stalled comes up if there wasn’t enough materials in storage when a production cycle ended. As long as you have enough materials in the building before the turn the cycle is supposed to end, it will run as normal.
The input/output and timeframe are based on not having a manager, while the number of Expansions (see below) are based on having an Organized and/or Hardworking manager.
Completing production cycles is how your manager gets XP to level up. Producing 1000 of any type of alcohol is a requirement for the Accountant role of a Captain.
Types of alcohol to make
| Category | Name |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Brick Wine Hard Cider Homemade Beer Moonshine |
| Tier 2 | Backroom Beer Bathtub Gin Counterfeit Wine Sparkling Cider |
| Tier 3 | Bottled Brandy Bottled Rum Bottled Vodka Bottled Whiskey |
| Tier 4 | Aged Whiskey Beer Keg Champagne Cordial Gin Spiced Rum |
| Map exclusives | Absinthe (New York) Amaretto (New York) Applejack (Pittsburgh) Bourbon (Cincinnati) Corn Whiskey (Cincinnati) Fruit Wine (Detroit) Homemade Brandy (Philadelphia) Rakija (Pittsburgh) |
| Nationality DLC exclusives | Blended Whiskey (Irish) German Lager (German) Grappa (Italian) Nalewka (Polish) |
Expansion options
Adding a manager and expansions will allow you to use fewer materials for more output and cuts down on production time.
If you want to change expansions, you have to remove a previous one. This page exists so you don’t have to remove an expansion thinking you have something better, only to have to pay to reapply the one you removed when you realise Junkyard Booze isn’t an option for Moonshine.
When upgrading an operation (e.g. T1 to Improved T1), all expansions are removed/reset so you will need to pay to reapply them – for what appears to be double the original price.
| Expansion name | Requirements | Effect | Base cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double Barrel Production | Skill: Double Barrels | Output +20% | -$1200 |
| English Cider Presses | Skill: Old World Knowledge: Cider | Output +25% | -$700 |
| Ethnic Solidarity | Skill: Ethnic Solidarity | Input -20% | -$750 |
| German Beer Kettles | Skill: Old World Knowledge: Beer | Output +25% | -$700 |
| High Capacity Absinthe Stills (New York)1 | Skill: Improved Absinthe Stills | Output +40% | -$2500 |
| High Capacity Amaretto Stills (New York) | Skill: Improved Amaretto Stills | Output +40% | -$1400 |
| High Capacity Grain Stills (New York)2 | Skill: Improved Pot Stills | Output +50% | -$1200 |
| High Quality Yeast | Skill: High Quality Yeast | Time -10% | -$800 |
| Industrial Filters | Skill: Industrial Filters | Input -10% | -$800 |
| Italian Wine Presses | Skill: Old World Knowledge: Wine | Output +25% | -$700 |
| Junkyard Improvements | Skill: Junkyard Booze | Time -20% | -$1200 |
| Polish Spirit Stills | Skill: Old World Knowledge: Spirits | Output +25% | -$700 |
| Production Tracking | Trait (any): Hardworking, Intelligent, Organized | Output +10% | -$100 |
| South Slavic Stills (Pittsburgh) | Skill: Old World Knowledge: Fruit Distillation | Output +25% | -$700 |
| Steam Sanitizer | Skill: Sanitary Measures | Output +10% | -$600 |
- See Known issues for details. ↩︎
- This only works for the New York way of making Moonshine (in pot stills), not regular Moonshine operations! ↩︎
Then there are these ones, which seem to appear rarely and randomly:
| Expansion name | Requirements | Effect | Base cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brick Wine Contraption | Basic T1 op | Output +25% | Free, see comment |
| Hard Cider Contraption | Basic T1 op | Output +25% | Free, see comment |
| Homemade Beer Contraption | Basic T1 op | Output +25% | Free, see comment |
Unsure if there is a corresponding one for Moonshine as well. They can come as a mission reward (Brick Wine and Hard Cider have been spotted in New York, Homemade Beer in Cincinnati) and were free to apply, but went away and couldn’t be re-added when upgrading to Improved [T1] Operation.
| T1-T2 alcohols |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Double Barrel Production | – | – | – | – | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| English Cider Presses | – | ✔️ | – | – | – | – | – | ✔️ |
| Ethnic Solidarity | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| German Beer Kettles | – | – | ✔️ | – | ✔️ | – | – | – |
| High Quality Yeast | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Industrial Filters | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Italian Wine Presses | ✔️ | – | – | – | – | – | ✔️ | – |
| Junkyard Improvements | – | – | – | – | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Polish Spirit Stills | – | – | – | ✔️ | – | ✔️ | – | – |
| Production Tracking | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| South Slavic Stills | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Steam Sanitizer | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
N.B. Moonshine also has High Capacity Grain Stills, but only in New York.
My go-to combination for T1 is [English Cider/German Beer/Italian Wine/Polish Spirit] with Ethnic Solidarity to maximize output and minimize input. Then either Production Tracking (it gives the same bonus as Steam Sanitizer but is a lot cheaper) to get more output, or Industrial Filters if supplying the op is tricky.
For T2, [English Cider/German Beer/Italian Wine/Polish Spirit] with Ethnic Solidarity and either Junkyard Improvements (if I want it done quicker) or Double Barrel Production (if I want to make as much as possible).
| T3-T4 alcohols |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Double Barrel Production | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| English Cider Presses | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ethnic Solidarity | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| German Beer Kettles | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| High Quality Yeast | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Industrial Filters | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Italian Wine Presses | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Junkyard Improvements | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Polish Spirit Stills | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Production Tracking | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Steam Sanitizer | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
You only have three options for these anyway, so my go-to combination here is unsurprisingly the only three options you have.
The ones marked with a ? below are productions I don’t (yet) have myself. If anyone wants to fill in the blanks, that would be great!
| Map exclusives |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Double Barrel Production | ✔️ | ✔️ | – | ? | ✔️ | – | ? | ✔️ |
| English Cider Presses | – | – | – | – | ✔️ | – | ? | – |
| Ethnic Solidarity | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | – | ✔️ | ? | ✔️ |
| German Beer Kettles | – | – | – | – | – | – | ? | – |
| High Capacity Absinthe Stills | ✔️ | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| High Capacity Amaretto Stills | – | ✔️ | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| High Quality Yeast | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | ✔️ |
| Industrial Filters | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | – |
| Italian Wine Presses | – | – | – | – | – | ✔️ | ? | – |
| Junkyard Improvements | ✔️ | ✔️ | – | ? | – | – | ? | ✔️ |
| Polish Spirit Stills | – | – | – | – | – | – | ? | – |
| Production Tracking | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | ✔️ |
| South Slavic Stills | – | – | ✔️ | – | – | – | – | ✔️ |
| Steam Sanitizer | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | ✔️ |
| Nationality exclusives |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Double Barrel Production | – | – | ? | – | ? |
| English Cider Presses | – | – | ? | – | ? |
| Ethnic Solidarity | – | – | ? | – | ? |
| German Beer Kettles | – | – | ? | – | ? |
| High Quality Yeast | – | – | ? | – | ? |
| Industrial Filters | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | ✔️ | ? |
| Italian Wine Presses | – | – | ? | – | ? |
| Junkyard Improvements | – | – | ? | – | ? |
| Polish Spirit Stills | – | – | ? | – | ? |
| Production Tracking | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | ✔️ | ? |
| South Slavic Stills | – | – | – | – | – |
| Steam Sanitizer | ✔️ | ✔️ | ? | ✔️ | ? |
Upgrade tree
Only the ones that can be made using another type of lower tier alcohol are included. Rum doesn’t require any kind of cider to make, but it falls under the cider tree when it comes to speakeasy upgrades, and what you can downgrade a rum operation to.
Some upgrades don’t require a lower tier alcohol, e.g. you can make Backroom Beer two ways, and only one of them require using Homemade Beer. Gin can also be made two ways, only one requires Bathtub Gin, and so on.
| Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homemade Beer | ⇄ | Backroom Beer | ⇄ | Vodka | ⇄ | Cordial |
| ⇄ | Nalewka (Polish) | |||||
| ⇄ | Beer Keg | |||||
| ⇄ | German Lager (German) | |||||
| Hard Cider | ⇄ | Sparkling Cider | ← | Rum | ⇄ | Spiced Rum |
| Moonshine | ⇄ | Bathtub Gin | ⇄ | Gin | ||
| ⇄ | Whiskey | ⇄ | Bourbon (Cincinnati) | |||
| ⇄ | Blended Whiskey (Irish) | |||||
| Brick Wine | ⇄ | Counterfeit Wine | ⇄ | Brandy | ||
| ⇄ | Champagne | |||||
“Word is they’re going to repeal Prohibition. What’ll you do then?”
“I think I’ll have a drink.”