That’s probably the best way to look at it, and it’s certainly how our customers thankfully view it. The idea of selling out of Moonshine two or three times a week is still an unsettling feeling. Last week, we had to implement Moonshine rations (one bottle per customer) at the Stillhouse Store until we make a bigger release into stores. Our first shipment sold out so fast our distributor decided to wait until we’ve filled a massive order before another shipment.
Most of the thousands of visitors we’ve had since opening in April have a strong connection to Moonshine. We’ve got a great team making a great product and a wonderful brand that tells a story that belongs to many families in Tennessee.
Nothing beats seeing hard work so appreciated in so many different ways. Lately, it’s seeing how other people use our product, from co-branded cookies and cake to candies. Our Moonshine is showing up on menus. We even saw our product recently used in a funeral of a very dear friend and huge fan of our authentic Tennessee Moonshine. It’s been nothing short of amazing to feel such a deep and powerful connection with customers.
I haven’t submitted our product to contests yet, but I’m so proud to see it next to the hard work of other new Tennessee brands now emerging that share our state’s rich whiskey making heritage with the world. There are big things on the horizon for whiskey lovers in Tennessee thanks to the energy and vision of some truly remarkable people who I look forward to working with more and more.
Making moonshine is still illegal without the proper licenses and nod to the revenuers, but scenes like this are certainly more rare than they used to be.
That’s Pharis Macon Conley on the left kneeling behind several gallons of confiscated moonshine with a fellow Cannon County deputy. Conley severed three terms as Sheriff of Cannon County from 1948-1954 and saw his share of moonshine busts.
The corn liquor it produces is not just any moonshine, but the moonshine your grandparents may have drunk. This is because Short Mountain employs three of the best moonshiners this area has to offer: Ricky Estes, Jimmy Simpson and Ronald Lawson. The three of them have given up their days of illegal wildcatting. Judging by the smile on Lawson’s face (who was on the property the day of our visit), it seems to be working out well for them. Along with head distiller Josh Smotherman, they make a quality product that meets all legal requirements. Now that’s a brand new angle; the revenuers like the moonshiners.
Kaufman says, “When we opened, we already had 150 years of distilling experience thanks to these three guys.” Where Smotherman has access to all the technology that he needs for large-batch production, the moonshiners track the progress of the steam through the pipes as the alcohol boils off and then condenses by feeling the temperature of the copper pipes, listening to the hiss of the vortex in the pot still and watching the bubbles in the Carlo Rossi jugs they use to trap their lovely corn likker as it drips out of the outlet of the still.
Sometimes people need a good reminder of how things used to be. We could speed things up with tractors or increase our yield with a few chemicals, but when it comes to making good whiskey, some things just can’t be rushed.
A good team of mules are hard workers. Sometimes they’re slow, sometimes stubborn, but dedicated to getting the job done.
This is the second year we’ve teamed up with the Middle Tennessee Mule Skinners Association to disc our organic corn fields. Twelve teams came out Saturday and helped make farming look easy. The field they disced will become the corn that makes our authentic Tennessee Moonshine.
If you missed this year’s discing, be sure to come to our grand opening Saturday April 21 for free mule wagon rides, tours and Moonshine tasting. You can also catch a performance by the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band. And if the timing is right, we’ll have a few bottles of Shine for you to take home a genuine taste of this unique Tennessee experience.
They’re pink, blue and white and represent a good year’s worth of ignoring television and Twitter.
This isn’t all of the permits required before we can legally sell our authentic Tennessee Moonshine, but combined with the others they ought to get us from Memphis to Bristol without too much worry about going to prison. Now if we can keep the ’51 Chevy pickup under 70MPH as we travel the state, we should be fine.
Yesterday, I showed you a glimpse of our federally approved label for Short Mountain Shine along with the news that we signed distribution deals with all four regions of the state of Tennessee.
I thought I’d throw this photo of the bottle out there after a failed attempt yesterday to photograph the bottle for an upcoming tourism pamphlet. This isn’t an image we’d use, but it showed just enough to tease, and I’m a teaser. You can tell we used a sample label sent to us by our printer.
You’ll be able to taste a sample and purchase a bottle at our distillery on Short Mountain in Woodbury, TN once we open in late March. Shortly after that, it will be in stores throughout Middle Tennessee’s 36 county distribution region.
If it sounds familiar, that’s because it’s already famous. Most old-timers in Middle Tennessee know something about it, and it was sung about by Uncle Dave Macon on the October 1939 NBC television debut of the Grand Ole Opry. Who knows? Maybe one day the bottle will make a special appearance on one of country music’s biggest nights.
Short Mountain Shine is a respectable 105 proof authentic Tennessee Moonshine made from a family recipe handed down for generations. As Billy likes to say, “It’s the best moonshine ever made, made even better.”
When our welder saw all the lights being set up Friday he joked with Ricky that we were going to make him famous. I told him he better get Ricky’s autograph while he can.
If it weren’t for a final piece of compliance I would have had all three of our moonshiners fire up the still right then just to warm us all up. The temperature in the shiner’s shack must have been close to freezing, but once the shiner’s took their jackets off for photos and the stories started flying, the room warmed right up.
Friday was one of those personal moments of pride after looking through the photos and seeing and feeling the history we are about to make together. I can’t wait for you to meet these living legends of our state’s whiskey making heritage.
These really wanted to be donuts. I found this recipe for Bourbon glazed donuts that pretty much read my mind, except the part where I don’t have a donut pan and the thought that this recipe is a little light on the bourbon.
Here’s my slightly modified version turning them into stunted cupcakes. It makes 12 donuts if you do it right. I used a cupcake thing and came out with about 15 adolescent cupcakes.
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Buffalo Trace Bourbon
1 Tbsp. melted butter
Pre-heat the oven to 325 F. Mix all the dry ingredients. Mix the milk, eggs, melted butter and 1/4 tsp. of bourbon. Mix the wet and dry ingredients. Pour a pitiful half an inch or so into each cupcake thing.
Cook the donut cupcakes for 8 minutes, then check and realize you probably need about 4 more minutes. I did. I could tell because when I lightly pressed the tops I saw batter.
While this is cooking, make the Bourbon glaze by mixing 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup real maple syrup and 1/4 cup heavy cream, about 1/4 cup of bourbon. It makes way too much, but you can taste it a lot and probably save it.
When the donut cupcakes are done, get a glass with a few pieces of ice and pour the remaining bourbon in the glass. Let the cupcakes cool and then drizzle that bourbon glaze over them and eat a few with the rest of your bourbon.
The crane operator said this is the baby crane after slapping close to 37,000 pounds of counter weights on it this morning.
It didn’t take much for the baby crane to lift our chiller and boiler over the roof of the still house before the cold front blew through. These huge pieces of machinery are the muscle of our distillery, and like all of our major equipment, they were manufactured right here in the United States.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Over the past year, we’ve shared at least a book’s worth in posts and photos as we built our first still house, but this one really says a lot about how far we’ve come.
Our core team defies all the odds, both private and public. We made deep personal sacrifices. We changed the law. We worked through the necessary compliance and permitting. We put our friends and neighbors back to work and helped bring back something they call manufacturing. And in a matter of months, we’ll export our heritage and our pride to the world.
That still, the still house, the people, the whiskey… none of it would exist like it does if it wasn’t for many of you showing up last year and voting to change the law and make it happen. You trusted us. After a year of hard work, we’re ready to deliver.
Over the next two months, you’ll see us work to fire up the stills and bring into the light the magic of a centuries old craft handed down from generation to generation. You’ll see the old ways come back to life, the ups and the downs, but mostly we hope you’ll see our shared pride.
Bobby Self brought his combine and a couple of friends to the farm today and helped us shell about 300 bushels of our first organic corn. He had already finished his harvest, and like most neighbors he wanted to do what he could to help us get our first batches of whiskey and moonshine going at Short Mountain Distillery.
There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not humbled by how much people are connecting with what we’re doing on Short Mountain. They want to help because they want to see our country get back to work. They know we’ve gone out of our way to make sure our equipment was made by our friends and neighbors right here at home. They see our shared values and our determination in action. Most importantly, they see America’s story.
I want to invite you to connect with a growing community of neighbors and friends who are ready to help export to the world a genuine taste of Tennessee’s rich agricultural heritage. Join us on Facebook and be a part of our shared dreams and aspirations at Short Mountain Distillery.
The corn liquor it produces is not just any moonshine, but the moonshine your grandparents may have drunk. This is because Short Mountain employs three of the best moonshiners this area has to offer: Ricky Estes, Jimmy Simpson and Ronald Lawson. The three of them have given up their days of illegal wildcatting. Judging by the smile on Lawson’s face (who was on the property the day of our visit), it seems to be working out well for them. Along with head distiller Josh Smotherman, they make a quality product that meets all legal requirements. Now that’s a brand new angle; the revenuers like the moonshiners.
Kaufman says, “When we opened, we already had 150 years of distilling experience thanks to these three guys.” Where Smotherman has access to all the technology that he needs for large-batch production, the moonshiners track the progress of the steam through the pipes as the alcohol boils off and then condenses by feeling the temperature of the copper pipes, listening to the hiss of the vortex in the pot still and watching the bubbles in the Carlo Rossi jugs they use to trap their lovely corn likker as it drips out of the outlet of the still.
