cheap AaB in France? Ah, 'twas ever thus; it was about 9F/bottle (one or two litres, I can't remember) back in the early '80s IIRC so it hasn't really gone up that much in the meantime!
I always imagined it was a by-product of the enormous quantity of undrinkable wine that is still produced (at vast subsidised cost) in France, but I have no evidence to back this up. The Maize thing sounds at least as likely.
This page
http://www.distill.com/specs/EU2.htmlsays that it should only be produced by carbonisation of wood.
Needless to say, this stuff is incredibly poisonous, so don't drink it!
It has one major advantage over meths though; whilst toxic, it doesn't taste that bad, which means you can leave your stove burner inside your pans without slight leakage making your food taste like crap...
cheers