FRENCHBURG, Ky. (AP) — Anna Childers doesn’t look like the typical moonshiner. But, then, she isn’t making the typical moonshine.
The mother of four is adding a special touch to the potent corn whiskey to make what she calls moonshine jelly, a product that is quickly snatched from gift shop shelves at tourist hotspots across Kentucky.
“Oh, yes, it’s popular,” she said, holding a small jar that goes for about $2 per half pint. “People buy it up about as quickly as we can make it.”
Miss Childers, manager of Barton’s Fine Foods in Frenchburg, is taking advantage of what some have described as a moonshine craze sweeping through Appalachia again, this time fueled in part by tourists intrigued by the liquor’s mystique.
Tourism officials say many urban visitors to Appalachia tend to equate mountains with moonshine, which has pushed the price of the black-market elixir to $20 to $30 a quart. Some believe the demand has grown because communities suffering from job losses in the coal industry have begun to concentrate on tourism.
Larry Webster, an eastern Kentucky attorney who helps organize the annual Hillbilly Days Festival in Pikeville, said many tourists ask locals where they can find moonshine. And often, he said, locals can point them in the right direction.
“They’re looking for the essence of hillbilly culture,” Mr. Webster said. “And there’s nothing that more symbolically captures that essence than moonshine liquor.”
Some, against the best advice of local authorities, drink the stuff. Others take it back in Mason jars as a keepsake.
“The government has quit hunting it. They took their manpower and started using it on firearms and explosives, deciding it was a waste of time to search through the hills for stills. As a result, you can get better moonshine now than you could during the Depression.”
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