White Lightning. Virginia at the time of these brothers would come to be known as the wettest county in the world. Franklin County, Virginia has long been known as the Moonshine Capital of the World. Portrayed in the movie “Lawless” starring Shia LaBeouf as Jack Bondurant, the Bondurant Boys were Franklin County “rumrunners” in the 1930s. Necessity is the mother of invention. That was November 1, 1916. Box 446 Rocky Mount, VA 24151 : Serial Number: 87196429: Filing Date: October 7, 2016: Status: Abandoned-Failure To Respond Or Late Response: Status Date: August 31, 2017 “The stories we’ve been told I’m sure these old-timers have never mentioned to another soul in their life, but because we were making moonshine they felt that kindred spirit and let us have some of their stories.”. Upon questioning, Jack “merely lifted his shirt to show the bullet hole.”. It’s just something you gotta do.”. for their ruthlessness and passion for moonshining in Franklin County Virginia. 3.3K likes. In a 2012 Newsweek article, the younger Bondurant describes his “Grandpa Jack” as “an imposing man” while recalling taking stock of a pair of brass knuckles hanging on the wall in his grandfather’s storage room. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. It’s a perfect place to make it.”, And people are making it. Lumsden uses traditional methods, but he’s seen major advancements over the years (though some things will never change). This premier event location in Leiper's Fork is ideal for romantic weekends, celebrations, family gatherings, and holiday retreats. F CD's recipes are birthed & bottled in the Moonshine Capital of America; Franklin County Virginia. And, when it comes to Franklin County, moonshine. otway.wordpress.com. (Shrink-wrapped, 2 1/2 inches thick. A fun bit of history for you: TCD’s owner and Master Distiller is the grandson of James Walter “Peg” Hatcher, one of those convicted in “The Great Moonshine Conspiracy on 1935.”, Learn More: Twin Creeks Distillery Craft Spirits >. Learn More: Franklin County Distilleries Heritage Spirits >, In a veritable race to be first, Twin Creeks Distillery also launched in 2015. Just because a guy wears bib overalls and works in the woods, there’s this misconception that he’s this uneducated hillbilly. Downtown Rocky Mount, Virginia. So Lumsden just had to just pay a fine and the cost of destroying the still.). During that same period the county used 37 tons of yeast (nine times what … In fact, the business had to get the support of locals during the 2017 election to pass a referendum that allowed the sale of liquor by the drink. Prillaman — whose family has been making moonshine in Franklin County since the late 1800s — oversees the distilling of Twin Creeks’ seven liquors, which include a corn whiskey, fruit brandies and a sweet mash rye that took a silver medal in the 2018 American Craft Spirits Awards. Twin Creeks has a small-batch copper still that’s used for some specialty spirits (everything else is made on-site but in larger stills). If you want to sample authentic Virginia moonshine in its legal form, visit Franklin County Distilleries , the first legal distillery founded in Franklin County. April is Moonshine Heritage Month in Franklin County! “A lot of input — solicited or not — from the old-timers told us what we needed to know, and we honed our recipe over time,” Underwood says. According to members of the Bondurant family, the Bondurant Boys – Forrest, Howard, and Jack - bucked the idea of paying additional “protection money” and were thus involved in a 1930 shoot-out with police at Maggodee Creek Bridge. 2021 Schedule Schedule To Be Announced Soon. Enjoy Virginia spirits responsibly and enjoy Franklin County. Franklin County hosts an annual Moonshine Heritage Month to commemorate the history and cultural aspects of moonshine with tours, special events, and costumed interpreters. Franklin County Moonshine Conspiracy. “Not many people sit around and drink straight vodka. by Casey L. Higgins, The days of illegal moonshine are long gone. Fast forward 80 years, Jack Bondurant's grandson, Robert, has taken over the family tradition of distilling moonshine, but legally this time. Visit Virginia's Blue Ridge 101 Shenandoah Avenue NE Roanoke, VA 24016 (540) 342-6025 (800) 635-5535, Franklin County Distilleries Heritage Spirits >, BRO-TV: Sons of the Moonshine Capital of the World. Follow along and get to know a little about bootleggin’ ‘shine through the mountains and valleys of Virginia’s Blue Ridge. In the 20th century during Prohibition, local wits named Franklin County the "Moonshine Capital of the World", as moonshine production and bootlegging drove the economy. Fully indexed and resourced. Credit: “P-682 Ingram Family Still, Franklin County, VA,” Lloyd Ingram Collection, Blue … 489 Floyd Highway South, Floyd, Va.; Thursdays-Sundays, various times. Red flags brought revenuers to southwest Virginia, and eventually sugar was bought by legitimate businesses like bakeries as a cover for the real operations. Prillaman, the business’s master distiller, knows exactly how they made the spirits back in the day — he learned his craft from friends of his grandfather, long before moonshine was legal. So much so that a movie, Lawless, was made about them. Fast forward 80 years, Jack Bondurant's grandson, Robert, has taken over the family tradition of distilling moonshine, but legally this time. D uring the prohibition period, the Bondurant Brothers of Franklin County, Virginia (Howard, Forrest, and Jack) were legendary for running moonshine. With hard economic times, though, comes moonshine. In fact, Matt Bondurant wrote that his grandfather’s shooting was unknown to the family until his father found a newspaper article about the incident. Says Stanley: “We’re still making money off of moonshine.”. Amos was a local legend. Visit our Franklin County section to learn more >. Several witnesses reported to have moved hundreds of thousands of gallons over a period of five or six years. A case (six gallons) of moonshine now costs $35 and the traditional "two-bit" or 25-cent shot now sells for "four bits" or 50 cents, in "nip joints" that sell moonshine by the drink. Ninety-nine out of every 100 residents were believed to play a part in the industry during the 1920s. Indeed, the new law led to health concerns. During prohibition, it … So much so that the movie Lawless was made in 2012 based off of the Bondurant Brothers' illegal moonshine business as written by Matt Bondurant, one of Jack's grandsons, in his bestselling book; The Wettest County in the World. After such a bust, one might think the hammer had effectively been dropped on moonshining in Virginia’s Blue Ridge, but that would be a foolish thought. However, there are “cool springs, lots of good water, a lot of forests, and you could drive right along the road, and right over the bank, people could be making liquor and you wouldn’t even know. “When I was in 11th grade, I had to do a report in my government class about what I wanted to do when I grew up, and mine was on moonshining,” says Andy Lumsden, distiller for Franklin County Distilleries. These 3 men bootlegged gallons and gallons of moonshine all “The actual production of the whiskey, the only thing that’s different for me is I’m inside and don’t have to worry about the weather. She's also a mom and wife living in and loving the mountains and valleys of Virginia. Their tasting room in Boones Mill is the place to sample their white label corn whiskey. Copyright © 2020 Franklin County Speedway. “We are really showing the history and the heritage of what it took to make these spirits back in the day.”. Since you aren't able to visit us, we decided to post a photo of an item in our Moonshine collection each Wednesday.The first one, April 1, 2020, is a folding skeleton key from the Mountain Rose Distillery operated by Joe H. de-Hart. Here is the story of the Duling brothers and the Moonshine Mafia. Town of Boones Mill/ Town of Rocky Mount, Virginia In this 1979 photograph, Morris Stephenson poses with portions of the 'cemetery still' moonshine operation discovered in Franklin County that featured 18 800-gallon submarine type stills. During the Prohibition period, the Bondurant Brothers were legendary for running moonshine. Or are they? There has been so much moonshine made in Franklin County that you can literally walk up any creek and find an old moonshine still. It’s been suggested that binge drinking got its start during prohibition, plus additives like creosote and embalming fluid were known to have been mixed into some batches to add color and potency. 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