08/14/2026
💡FUN FACT FRIDAY💡
MOONSHINE ORIGINS
Many Irish and Scottish immigrants settled in the Smoky Mountains. They brought with them their time-honored practice of distilling whiskey. And while European whiskey is often made with malted barley, the settlers used locally grown corn instead.
20-CENT TAX
The 20-cent tax refers to the federal excise tax on distilled spirits originally implemented by Congress in 1862 during the Civil War. Distillers in the Smoky Mountains were not pleased and many Appalachian folks decided not to pay it. In order to avoid the law, distillers would do their work at night, by the light of the moon. And that’s why their unaged corn whiskey was soon called “moonshine.”
MOONSHINERS AND THE FORBIDDEN CAVERNS
What today is a popular attraction in the Smoky Mountains, many years ago it was a favorite hideout for moonshiners because of its remote location and subterranean lake (from which the distillers got their water). When you tour Forbidden Caverns, your guide will point out an old moonshine still in the cave.
ROBIN HOOD OF THE SMOKIES
Lewis Redmond was a legendary Robin Hood moonshiner in the Smokies. He became a person of interest in 1876 when he shot and killed a deputy who tried to arrest him. Redmond spent five years on the run, hiding out in the mountains and sharing his moonshine money with his supporters. He was arrested in 1881, but ultimately pardoned.
AL CAPONE IN THE MOUNTAINS
Rumor has it that when Prohibition came into effect in 1920, both entrepreneurs and criminals all around the country started illegally distilling and selling alcohol. Even the infamous mob boss Al Capone might have stashed his illicit spirits in the Smoky Mountains before transporting them to Chicago.
https://www.tnshineco.com/latest-news/cool-facts-about-moonshine-history
