For some reason they had to ship the product out of the facility (taxes and inspection) and then shipped back to the facility and it could only be sold from that facility. Just crazy.
My guess is taxes. In NC all hard stuff has to be sold via the state ABC stores. There are no private sales of bottled spirits. You can buy a drink at bar or restaurant but not a bottle. Shipping the bottles to the state warehouse allows StateSammy to get his taxes. ABC officers run around the state checking bars/restaurants to make sure the bottles they have on site have the tax stamp. If the stamp is missing its fine time.
Before we bought our land I was walking the property. The land is a very wide shallow "valley" running downhill from south to north with a road going right up the middle. Its roughly 1700 fee across. Next to the road is a wet area. The road ditches keeps water from the east side of the property from flowing into the wet area. If it was not for the ditches the wet area would be a creek most if not all of the year.
I found an old still site in the wet area near a spring. The small little "ditches" the moonshiners scraped into the ground are still there as are some of the rocks for the still. I found the top of an old 2 gallon tan and brown jug which now sits in the study. There was/is an old kerosene can down there. This was a good spot for a still. They had water. It was close to two towns and the moonshiners could run in any direction to hit a road but they were also well away from anyone.
The masons who worked on our house have lived here for generations. They had a story about a Sheriff from along time ago who ran his own still. He had a man who worked for him making the shine. If pressure built up for him to do something about the moonshine he would raid his own still. Since he knew where it was it was easy. He would drive as close to the still has he could. Get out and yell, "JOE! Its the law! I'm coming to bust up the still!" Or words to that effect.
He never did catch ol' Joe.
I would guess the other shiners in the county helped elect the Sheriff.
Moonshine is still here. Its sold for a dollar a drink in shot houses. Three miles from the house is a auto parts store. The best I can tell the store is owned by a group of men. The youngest might be in his 50's but I would guess most are in their 60s or 70s. I was in there a few years ago and one of the owners wanted to see my truck. So we walked outside and as we did so a small Ranger type of truck pulled in and drove to the back of the building to park. Because of the lay of the land we had a clear view into the bed of the truck. There was plenty of room up front to park but the truck went to the back. The bed of the truck was full of old plastic gallon jugs filled with clear liquid. They were at least two layers of jugs.
I was a bit shocked that the guys would be driving with shine in the back and not even a tarp....
We went back inside and a few minutes later this real old man from the truck walks in. The store owners I was with starts asking questions such as, "What is in the back of the truck, Joe.", "Where did you get it?", "Who is the guy you are with?" Joe does not say anything. Just ignores the questions. The owner throws out one final question as Joe is leaving at which point Joe turns around and says, "Don't ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies." And he left.
By the time I left the store the truck was gone. He was heading west so my guess he was going to Siler City. Yes Siler City for you Andy Griffith fans. The lady that played Aunt Bea lived and died in Siler City.
Fast forward a few years and I'm getting my haircut. It may only be a slight exageration to say that the barber had cut Mose's hair but not by much.
He has been cutting hair in the shop since the late 40's or early 50s. The shop is what a barber shop should be. Anyway, he is cutting my hair and we somehow get to the topic of the parts store. Turns out that one of the owners, the guy who was helping me, was a retired Sheriff Deputy.
Which explained his questions and familiarity with Joe.
The health issues with moonshine is the lead from the radiators, antifreeze, wood alcohol and other stuff thrown in the shine. There is an old phrase which escapes me at the moment about the jiggers/shake/staggers. Some of the stuff put into the shine would cause blindness. Another would give the shakes which I think was permanent damage.
Later,
Dan
