The Last of the Old-Time Moonshiners

A few years ago, working with the Blue Ridge Institute at Ferrum College, I trudged through the Franklin County woods to talk one on one with veteran moonshiner Jimmy Boyd.

Brewing up mountain dew has been a family tradition for Boyd, who learned how to cook up homemade whiskey from his brother, who learned it from his daddy.  “There’s something ‘mother about making it that just draws a person to it,” he says. “It’s almost like it’s habit forming, just like drinking it.”

My in-depth Q&A with Mr. Boyd, where he reveals the secrets of making illegal whiskey and recounts his clashes with revenuers and spying neighbors, has been published in the latest edition of Savor Virginia magazine.

Read "The Last of the Old-Time Moonshiners" by going right here.

And for more on the history of moonshine in Virginia, visit the Blue Ridge Institute's page right here.

(Photo by the mighty Pat Jarrett at the Virginia Foundation For the Humanities!)