Modern Day Moonshine - Piedmont Distillers

Going to school in Alabama, I was exposed to Moonshine on several occasions. I only tried it once. While bartending, a fellow bartender brought in some of his family’s “shine” which they produced in the woods of Northern Alabama.

“It’s my granddaddy’s recipe,” he started. “He got it from his pappy. They use to run shine through the woods.”

I didn’t really know what Moonshine was, but as usual, I had to try it and find out. We poured a few drops of the shine from a mason jar into a couple of rocks glasses. I held it to the light and caught a light blue hue before taking a sip. The hooch burned my lips, rattled my teeth and scorched my throat. I coughed a little as my eyes watered. I have never tasted gasoline, but I can only imagine that this is what it was supposed to taste like.

“Oooo, weee! That’s some damn good shine,” my fellow bartender shouted. “Let me know when you’re ready for more.”

The truth was, I didn’t want anymore, but I did want to learn more about moonshine.

“Moonshine” is a term for an illegally-produced, distilled whiskey. The word is believed to come from the fact that distillers produced and distributed this homemade spirit by the light of the moon to avoid the law. Moonshiners produced their spirits in unlicensed stills and without paying state taxes for distribution. Moonshine was usually extremely strong and is commonly associated with the Appalachia and Atlantic Canada regions. Other terms for Moonshine are “mountain dew”, “white lightning”, “hooch”, "Tennessee white whiskey", and many others.

Piedmont Distillers is one distillery that is making Moonshine today (legally). In 2005, owner Joe Michalek opened the distillery in Madison, North Carolina, and created the company’s first spirit called “Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine.” Junior Johnson, of NASCAR fame (see below), became a part owner in 2007 and shared his family recipe for corn whiskey which was bottled as “Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon.”

Every batch of “Midnight Moon” is handcrafted in very small production and continues to follow the Johnson family’s Moonshine recipe.  “Midnight Moon” is produced in a copper still, made from corn, and is triple distilled for a smooth and clean spirit.

Piedmont Distillers recently released the handcrafted line “Midnight Moon Aged with Fruit” which includes Moon Cranberry, Moon Strawberry, Moon Apple Pie, Moon Cherry, and Moon Blueberry. Packaged in mason jars (just like moonshiners have done for generations), the line joins together the “Midnight Moon” recipe and real fruit. To ensure each jar reaches the peak of all-natural fruit flavor, the spirits are aged in the jar for several weeks at the distillery before shipment.

Who is Junior Johnson?:

Junior Johnson (Robert Glen Johnson, Jr.) was born in 1931 in North Carolina. His family owned a corn farm and soon realized that the corn was worth more distilled than it was as grain. With high taxes, most families could not afford to make a living off their moonshine so they began to bootleg the product across the East Coast. The Johnsons followed suit as their moonshine was considered to be the best.

At age 14, Junior began bootlegging Moonshine by tending to the family’s stills and quickly became a moonshining and bootlegging legend as he was never caught while running moonshine.

In 1955, Johnson decided to use his “moonshiner” driving skills and became a NASCAR driver on dirt tracks. One year later, Johnson was caught working the family still and was convicted of moonshining. He was sent to the federal prison for 11 months – a conviction later pardoned by President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

Johnson returned to the NASCAR racing in 1958 and retired in 1966. He claimed 50 victories over his career – 11 of which were on major speedways.

In 1965, author Tom Wolfe published an article about Johnson in Esquire magazine which was the basis for the 1973 movie titled ‘The Last American Hero’.  The movie stared Jeff Bridges as Junior Johnson and featured the Jim Croce hit song, “I Got A Name.”

There is something romantic about running from the law while holding illegal contraband – the modern day outlaw. Pedal to the floor, kicking up dust along country roads all by the light of the moon. Today, Moonshine is smooth and flavored – a long way away from the blue stuff I tried once in college.

Now, I must ask: Where is your favorite “shine” from?

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