Sips & Sites & Bites

The vaunted Ole Smoky Distillery, which is home of the most visited distillery in the world, is pulling out all the stops for National Moonshine Week, slated for June 1-7.

They’re doing so with a new marketing campaign and continued partnership with Friends of the Smokies, a non-profit organization that helps the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in its mission to preserve and protect America’s most visited national park. 

In fact, Ole Smoky will host celebrations in its hometown of Gatlinburg, Tennessee as well as in five markets around the U.S.

“National Moonshine Week is the perfect occasion for Ole Smoky to celebrate the legacy of moonshine and share the spirit with the world,” said Joe Baker, founder of Ole Smoky. “We were proud to have brought the holiday to life the last two years and are excited to share the spirit’s rich American history with everyone again in 2024 and for years to come.”

If you’ve been living under a rock, you may not know that moonshine is one of the most important spirits in U.S. history. The making of the controversial spirit in America dates back to the late 1700s when Irish and Scottish immigrants settled in the Southern Appalachian area of the country. 

They brought with them their home distilling practices and their recipes for what is typically a white whiskey derived from corn, yeast, sugar, and water. And although the practice was illegal, moonshiners continued to provide the spirit to hooch seekers in dry counties after Prohibition, and distillation and consumption became more of a pastime, especially in Southern Appalachia.

Movies, documentaries, TV shows have all cast a spotlight on the old-time spirit.

In 2010, Ole Smoky Co-Founder Joe Baker and his partners used a century-old family recipe and launched the brand shortly after Tennessee legalized distillation of spirits. As the first legal moonshine in East Tennessee, the brand has grown to more than 700 employees, and makes a wide range of moonshines and whiskeys in four distillery locations across the state, and most recently hosted more than five million visitors in 2023.

To celebrate National Moonshine Week, as well as the moonshine’s birthplace of the Great Smoky Mountains, Ole Smoky Distillery continues to support the Friends of the Smokies by donating a portion of the Moonshine Lemonade cocktail sales sold at participating bars and restaurants around the country from June 1-7. 

And, Ole Smoky also provides staffing for volunteer days in the national park, as well as sponsoring their annual events and community activities.

“National Moonshine Week brings us many opportunities to not only honor the rich history of this storied spirit, but the community where it began,” said Robert Hall, CEO of Ole Smoky Distillery. “Our commitment to helping our neighbors in East Tennessee remains true through our growing partnership with Friends of the Smokies, and we at Ole Smoky look forward to giving back to our fans, customers, and community through this annual celebration.”

As a bonus, you can visit https://nationalmoonshineweek.olesmoky.com to enter for a chance to win more than 100 possible prizes from Ole Smoky, including the grand prize of a VIP trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a Smoky Mountain weekend experience, featuring round-trip airfare for four, three-night accommodations, a private VIP Moonshine Experience at The Holler, and more. 

And you can peruse the website for Ole Smoky’s signature moonshine lemonade cocktail recipes, such as Lightnin’ Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, Blackberry Lemonade, and Hunch Punch Lemonade.