Alcohol as Currency

     Imagine, the life of a miner. Stepping into an elevator where people are packed so closely you can smell what they had for breakfast on their breath. Then, the elevator jerks into motion and heads down into the cold, dark, earth; the last rays of light disappearing with every second. Now, the only light is from the lanterns they carry. Dirt everywhere, eyes stinging, every breath difficult. The earth rumbles, everyone freezes; a few stones fall from the top of the tunnel. Sighs of relief go around as they realize they are spared, the tunnel did not collapse. Twelve hours later and the early sunset hurts as eyes readjust from the dark cave they just emerged out of. Another day, still alive.
     In my world, there is a colony of miners. Now, these miners are living in the prohibition era where alcohol is forbidden and illegal, but it was not always this way, the miners used to go home after every shift and end the day with some alcohol to release the stress of not knowing if they would survive another day in the deep dark hole someone decided to call a mine. So of course there was some person who figured out how to make homemade alcohol.
     Alcohol would serve as a currency in this situation because everyone wants it, it is easy to make, and you can make different potency and amounts to serve as higher or lower amounts of money. Everyone wants it because when you tell someone they cannot have something, they want it even more. Everyone has the potential to make it, all they would need is rye, barley, or white sugar, as a base and sugar, yeast, and water. Oh and typically a bathtub in the back woods to cook and ferment it in. Now, while everyone has the ability to make it, if it is not done properly the alcohol can be deadly. If rye or barley is used to make the alcohol it becomes whiskey and is very strong. If white sugar is used it makes rum which is less potent and cheaper. The difference in the ingredients allows for the different alcohol to be used as different amounts when representing the worth.
     Since there are few ingredients that are easy to get, it is convenient to use alcohol to buy food and clothing that is made or grown from the other miners and their wives, who stay at home and have some trade that provides for the colony. Overall, I think that alcohol would be a sustainable currency in this situation.