Stephan G

I was rummaging through some of my old stuff and came across this shot of the road sign.

It was shot along a highway in North Carolina back in 1969.

Memories.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

We used to call it, "North End Porch Climber."

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

So does too much sunshine.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

That was back when 'shine was made by criminals, some of whom made methanol by mistake, and others who made ethanol containing lead from the solder in old car radiators used as stills! It was like today's street drugs... potentially deadly.

Today, various legitimate breweries make moonshine using time-honored recipes in state-of-the-art stills. It's as "safe" as regular whisky, vodka, or gin. Use in moderation! It's strong stuff.

One of the most successful school portrait photographers I knew was Max Ward, of Burlington, NC. He was a moonshine "runner," before making it as a school photographer with the Delmar Company, my first employer in that industry. He would go to the TN and NC mountains, meet a distiller, buy the product, and take it back to the Piedmont region for resale.

Max told me he had a souped-up car built by an early NASCAR team. It could outrun the highway patrol cars. He had driver's licenses in seven states so he could pick the one with the least points to show an officer when he got caught!

Max was already making school portraits by the time this billboard was on display. He made millions in that industry, built his own lab in Chesapeake, VA, and sold it to Lifetouch. He was quite a character.

Tote1940 Loc: Dallas

Franklin County Virginia was the Moonshine capital of the World
Took care of quite a few victims of bad moonshine, lead contaminated or mixed with Methanol as in antifreeze
Learned a lot from them
One blamed the high cost of silver, no one could afford silver soldered copper still anymore.
Another corrected me, “ Prestone is OK to drink “ together with good moonshine.
He was right, became glycol toxic when he ran out of good ethanol
Actually in those days we loaded patient with ethanol until we could start dialysis. Intravenous if too ill, by mouth if awake, some really enjoyed pre dialysis treatment
Alcohol dehydrogenase much more avid for ethanol than glycol. Glycol not toxic but this enzyme coverts to oxalate and that is toxic. There are other drugs today to do the same
My understanding is that now Pot much more profitable than moonshine in beatiful Franklin County, lived there 10 years plus 15 more in Roanoke , nearby

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

When I was younger, it cost $20 for a gallon jug. You could put some in a tablespoon, and it would burn to almost nothing with a nice pale blue flame.

Tote1940 Loc: Dallas

Nice blue flame very high proof…

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

It was stronger and nicer than the Russian potato juice you could get at the time. The pale blue flame was the 'test' for 'good stuff'.

Tote1940 Loc: Dallas

You could see moonshine making as a response to high taxation or expression of independence.
Virginia taxes alcohol a lot, people in Northern Virginia go to DC buy liquor there, but do not head directly back. Virginia cops note VA tags in DC liquor stores and will wait for you at the bridge

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

It's nice when they have 'reasonable and probable' grounds...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

There was a series on TV about some bootleggers. I always thought it was odd that they filmed and broadcast people breaking the law. I wonder how local law enforcement reacted to that. The bootleggers wanted to become legitimate liquor-makers - easier said than done.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

There are some generational stories here in NC and in KY that I'm vaguely aware of... grandparent ran a bootleg operation, grandkids run a licensed distillery... that sort of thing. Sometimes they use the old recipes.

Stephan G

Speaking of generational. There are the rumored stories about the Earnhardts.

And this: https://kickinthetires.net/nascar/earnhardt-family-partners-with-sugarlands-moonshine/

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's how stock car racing began - bootleggers running away from the police.

Stephan G

And "Rev!"-anoo-vers!......


A couple of friends of mine got ticketed for "bootlegging" because their two scotch bottles in the back seat had the "wrong stamp" when they came into Georgia back in the early 1970s.

When I moved to an apartment complex in College Park, next to the Atlanta, GA., airport, the big thing was for the airline people to bring in Coors beer from Texas, smuggled aboard the planes. Some of those lines did get to be long to the door where the stewardesses resided.

I ended up with a taste for Killian's Red back then. Another smuggled beer. Yes, I did get buddied with a few stewardesses back then.