Second moonshine distillery opens in North Carolina

Moonshine is the new thing, apparently.

Though Troy & Sons claims much of the spotlight, appearing in the pages of Garden & Gun, Savor NC, among other publications, Howling Moon Distillery is the new kid in town.

Located just north of Asheville on Old Elk Mountain Road, Howling Moon‘s moonshine is made with a recipe from bluegrass artist Raymond Fairchild and sometimes incorporates seasonal fruits like apples and strawberries.

The corn used for Howling Moonshine is processed at Dellinger Grist Mill on Cane Creek, located four miles east of Bakersville, N.C. The mill is on the National Register of Historic Places and is the last water-powered, stone-ground grist mill of its kind in North Carolina. 

A little information from the distillery’s website, written by CEO Cody Bradford:

The art of making moonshine has been passed down for generations as it was in my family. My great-uncle was a moonshiner and I want to continue the tradition by making traditional moonshine legally with family recipes. We use all-natural ingredients in every step of the process. The only way to make true moonshine is use fresh and natural ingredients, but it’s not moonshine if its not made in a moonshine still like the one we are using, which was hand-crafted, not store bought — like everything we make. We spend a lot of time and money to make less product, but it is the highest quality moonshine you can find in the woods or the store. We can trace our recipe back over 150 years, when everything was handmade in these mountains with pride. If you want to know what moonshine really tasted like in these mountains 150 years ago, then try Howling Moon.

Our straight white moonshine [is from] the recipe of moonshiner and bluegrass star Raymond Fairchild. Raymond has two gold records and is recognized by the International Bluegrass Music Museum as a pioneer of Bluegrass. He will help us make his own brand of moonshine. In a few months we will also offer fruit flavors from my family recipe and in time a variety of moonshine flavors and styles generations old that are rare even in these mountains. Some of the flavors will be seasonal because we will use local fruits and some will be consistent like Strawberry and Apple Pie. We are making moonshine the traditional way with old Appalachian recipes and a traditional moonshine still. Our products will be available in Western North Carolina first. We plan to grow, but we won’t compromise our quality or our traditional methods, which take longer to produce alcohol, but the quality is better and the moonshine is genuine.

Howling Moonshine can now be found in these locations:

Asheville ABC System
Woodfin ABC Store
Weaverville ABC Store
Brevard ABC Store
Franklin ABC Store
Maggie Valley ABC Store

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2 thoughts on “Second moonshine distillery opens in North Carolina

  1. Doug Sahm

    Sounds better than the yuppi-fied shine they are making at Troy & Sons. Their (Troy & Sons) article in Gadren and Gun looked more like a fashion shoot.

  2. Roy L. Colman

    Bought a jar of your apple shine in Maggie Valley n enjoyed every drop. I’m from Las Vegas, NV and would like to have it as my normal beverage and introduce it to my shine drinkin buddies. Is there a way this can be shipped? Thanks for a great product! Roy

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