Friday, December 22, 2017

Inside the Secret Club of Illegal Moonshine

Via Cousin John


At a flea market off of Highway 129 in Knoxville, Tennessee, cars pack into the parking lot. So much so that vans and trucks with lift kits pull over on the shoulder of a side street and park. In recent years, the flea market doesn’t get a ton of business on Saturday, but on Sunday, it’s saturated with people. These are not Tennessee church people, though if you head far enough into the rows of flea market vendors, you can buy prayer candles with Mother Mary on them, six for five dollars.
 
At the top of the hill, attached to a chicken and rabbit stand is a small shed. Unlike ninety-five percent of the other stands at the flea market, this one has a screen door, with a sign fixed to it that reads “Burglars and thieves watch out for flying objects” and a drawing of a pistol pointed directly at its reader. If you want to buy a chicken, you should go around to the other side. This is an entrance for friends. Friends looking for something they can't (really) get in a liquor store: authentic, old-fashioned, Tennessee moonshine. Inside the shed, usually, is one of the few people left making and selling it the authentic, old-fashioned, Tennessee way.

More @ Esquire

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