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North Georgia Moonshine:
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An excerpt from North Georgia Moonshine
introduction
His view has not changed in sixty-plus years. Sitting plumb on a fourlegged waist-high stool, the elder gentleman balances his weathered frame, studying the crystal clear stream rolling from a sterling spout. He has followed its journey from a ten-foot-high, 175-gallon copper still and now watches it empty into a 3 -gallon stainless steel pot. As the pot fills to its brim, he transfers the full container to the right, placing another of the same size underneath the spout. The methodic transition occurs without a single drop of liquid escaping. His attention turns to the full one, scooping a little off the top into a hydrometer and tilting it upward toward the light. He knows the scientific ritual, but he prefers to pay attention to the beading, allowing hefty, plump bubbles to deliver the story of the liquid’s strength. When he is satisfied, he pours the sampling back into the full bucket, which he, in turn, dumps into a stainless steel 200-gallon drum, where liquid ripples and shimmers as it dances in the light. Placing the emptied container on the concrete floor within an arm’s reach of the stool, he sits back down, and in about six or seven minutes, he will do it all over again. Fixed on the spout once more, his eyes are vigilant as it delivers liquid gold that clocks in at about 130 proof . . .
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"Such a great book Judy Garrison, well done!" ~ Clayton Tyler Lovell
Hemingway said "there is nothing to writing. All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."
This came to mind because Judy has a way of creating a tone and atmosphere so palpable you can almost touch it. She put her blood, sweat and tears into it. She's amazing. ~Jessica B. Adamson
What I thought I knew about mountain agriculture as a New Jersey native living in Georgia changed dramatically reading "North Georgia Moonshine." This carefully written merger of what appears to be solid journalism blended with tales of a true-life family opened my eyes to the real history of liquor stills hidden in the leafy North Georgia forests. Moonshine supported families -- lots of them, and not just the makers but the related businesses. Best customers? Preachers, doctors, lawyers, schoolteachers. The lineage clearly outlined in this book will enrich my tastings as I travel to visit today's distilleries cropping up in legal moonshining ways. ~ Christine Tibbetts
Hemingway said "there is nothing to writing. All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."
This came to mind because Judy has a way of creating a tone and atmosphere so palpable you can almost touch it. She put her blood, sweat and tears into it. She's amazing. ~Jessica B. Adamson
What I thought I knew about mountain agriculture as a New Jersey native living in Georgia changed dramatically reading "North Georgia Moonshine." This carefully written merger of what appears to be solid journalism blended with tales of a true-life family opened my eyes to the real history of liquor stills hidden in the leafy North Georgia forests. Moonshine supported families -- lots of them, and not just the makers but the related businesses. Best customers? Preachers, doctors, lawyers, schoolteachers. The lineage clearly outlined in this book will enrich my tastings as I travel to visit today's distilleries cropping up in legal moonshining ways. ~ Christine Tibbetts
