Want to try a little moonshine? Or perhaps see just how White Lightning is made? You can do just that in Dawsonville, Ga., at a legalized moonshine distillery that just happens to be next door to the Dawsonville City Hall. (Yes, I did say NEXT to the City Hall.)The Dawsonville Moonshine Distillery opened in October 2012, just in time for the annual Dawsonville Moonshine Festival. But it wasn't until December that the distillery received the legal okay to sell the moonshine and to permit the actual onsite sampling of the local white lightning.
However, if you want to buy your own moonshine stash, you'll have to wait in line. The moonshine batches sold out fast, but the distillery is taking orders for its next batch.
Owner Cheryl Wood uses moonshine recipes that go back over 150 years, recipes handed down to her grandfather, Simmie Free. The distillery is a one-still operation with fourth generation distiller Dwight "Punch" Bearden overseeing the moonshine making. The brewery consists of a 250 gallon copper still, a 1,050 gallon and two 415 gallon mash tanks.
Of course, Dawsonville is the perfect spot for a public distillery. After all, the town is the Moonshine Capital of the World. Legend is that the corn farmers in Dawson and neighboring Appalachian mountain communities survived the great depression by making and selling moonshine to city slickers.
The brew was transported to Atlanta across curvy mountain roads and down Georgia Hwy. 9. Federal government revenuers often chased the moonshine drivers down Thunder Road (Hwy. 9), giving birth to a legion of skilled drivers and the start of NASCAR.
You can tour and taste Dawsonville moonshine every Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m. For directions and maybe to put your name on the "I need some moonshine" list, call 770-401-1211 or 706-344-1210.
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