Moonshine

This afternoon we visited a legal Ozark mountain moonshine still, "Copper Run."  This operating small distillery was a few miles north of Branson and caters to the tourist trade with a tasting/cocktail bar and a brief 15-20 minute tour.  The whole operation is in the basement of a house with the bar and sales area on the main floor.  Today being Sunday there was one young lady tending bar and then at tour time she locked up the upstairs part and led us down to the basement for the tour.

They make moonshine which by their definition is raw un-aged whiskey and then they age some in charred barrels for three years that they then call whiskey.

My definition of moonshine is similar but what I have known, from back in the days when we lived in this area, real moonshine was also un-aged but was not diluted so probably 160-180 proof.  Now for legal sales they have to dilute it to 80 proof.

They also distill rum from sorghum cane molasses.  All of this, both whiskey and rum, is in small batches but each batch does produce several hundred .75 liter bottles that they hand fill and label.  The bottling and labeling is done with volunteer labor that earns a lunch and a bottle of product.

They also infuse different flavors into their whiskey for a variety of tastes.  One they call apple pie where they use dried apples soaking in the whiskey to instill that particular flavor.  They also have one called cherry pie, which JoAnn tasted and liked, and a chai-tea flavoring.

It was a relaxing and pleasant afternoon.  Here is a picture of their modest still.