CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Two entrepreneurs are taking advantage of South Carolina's new micro-distillery laws to make traditional moonshine whiskey legally in the state for the first time.
The Dark Corner Distillery will open next month in Greenville, where engineer Joe Fenten and longtime home beer brewer Richard Wenger will produce and sell small batches of 100-proof moonshine from a custom-made copper still.
The distillery, housed in a 1925 building, will also include a tasting bar and a museum dedicated to the history of the Dark Corner, the local mountains that were once full of moonshiners, feud and mayhem, Fenten, 27, told Reuters.
The area was settled, along with the nearby Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, by Scots, Irish and Welsh who migrated down through the Appalachian mountain chain from Pennsylvania in the 1700s.
"They thought it was their inalienable, God-given right to make whiskey," said Fenten, a Dark Corner native. "It was a hard life. If you could make an extra 10 cents more for a gallon of whiskey than you could for a bushel of corn, then why not?"
Moonshine traditionally was the term used to describe illegally distilled corn whiskey often made covertly by the light of the moon. The product made at the new distillery will be un-aged corn whiskey, but will be taxed and regulated.
Yep. it's kind of like a government owned Pot farm vs a closet grower. Not even close.
ReplyDeleteThe moonshine industry was outside the law, They gave us nascar and rotgut. They gave us some of the best folklore tales ever. And when I was in NC I managed to taste a bit of history in some backwoods areas of the eastern section. A dry county but it was anything but dry...
Now days though, POT is the growers moonshine. A lot of farmers that used to grow crops are being paid by the gubmint NOT TO. So they have figured a way to increase profits without legally growing shit. The risk is high but they're still Carolina Moonshiners at heart. Just product has changed a bit....
Yeah, a bit of Steve Earle.
ReplyDeleteOn a more important subject, haven't heard mention of CGD in awhile, hope all is well. That pooch is an icon.
I drank 3 small glasses of Brazilian moonshine (ultrapure distilled rum from cane sugar) about 2 weeks ago, and promptly blacked out. Unfortunately I continued drinking while blacked out. I was sick for several days. That was some great stuff, but next time, I'm only having one glass at a time.
ReplyDeleteI second the motion regarding CGD guddammit!
ReplyDeleteYa, when drinking moonshine there needs to be a little voice in the back of your head going is this going to kill me.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you can duplicate that under government regulation.
:-)
Josh
Tax-free 'shine tastes SO much sweeter!
ReplyDeletePerfectly legal here in New Zealand, as long as it's for your own consumption.
Title is balls-on, Kenny.
ReplyDeleteI'm from PA--land of the Whiskey Rebellion.
I'm thinking I'll have to build a still...gotta have something to barter after the revolution starts.