Why is making moonshine illegal and making beer isn't?

You could look at this with respect to health risks, making high alcohol liquor is far more likely to result in death due to lack of knowledge, often people make mistakes and end up drinking 100% alcohol, causing blindness, death, brain damage. Home brewing beer, this is not a risk as the alcohol created is natural. It's the distilling process that's illegal. However, you could also argue tax related reasons.