Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 29, 1993 TAG: 9308290138
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CULPEPER LENGTH: Medium
Now Miller's doing the same thing, but it's all legal.
The 48-year-old beef cattle farmer has the official blessings of Virginia's Alcohol Beverage Control Board to make and sell corn whiskey, better known as moonshine.
The state even helped Miller doctor up the old family recipe by putting him in contact with some old moonshiners who had served time in prison.
"It's hard to make this stuff," Miller said. "You can't just go to the library and get a cookbook recipe. It's just not there."
Miller's "Virginia Lightning" is one of two corn whiskeys sold in Virginia's state-run liquor stores.
After decades of jailing moonshiners, why do state regulators smile on Miller's operation?
In short, it's the money.
"There's a consumer demand for it," said George Plunkett, assistant director of merchandising for the ABC Board in Richmond.
Illegal moonshiners can sell their whiskey at about the same price the state gets for Miller's hooch - $9.75 per fifth. But the moonshiners pocket almost all of it as profit.
Miller sells Virginia Lightning to the state for $2.50 a bottle, making about $1 in profit. The ABC board then adds federal and state taxes.
Virginia Lightning can be found on liquor store shelves in Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia and Maryland. In North Carolina, it's labeled "Carolina Lightning."
Miller's still in the flat farmland near the town of Culpeper uses old-fashioned copper tanks, the method used by Prohibition-era moonshiners. It is the only such still operating legally in Virginia.
The state also licenses a small distiller who makes brandy using a more modern still.
Miller's home-brewed product has met with success, selling 1,200 cases in Virginia alone during the past year.
When it first hit the shelves four years ago, Virginia Lightning quickly outsold its leading competitor, Plunkett said. Since then, Georgia Moon has again moved ahead to lead the state in fresh corn whiskey sales.
Miller begins the brewing process with a 1,250-gallon tank filled with water and cornmeal. After the mixture boils, Miller lets it cool and adds yeast. Then it flows through copper pipes to a fermenting tank where it stays for four days.
The liquid heats up again as the almost-finished product gurgles into the main storage tank. A recent batch measured 170 proof by the time it got to the main tank.
The strong mixture is diluted with distilled water to bring it down to 100 proof, the measure approved by the ABC board.
Miller once experimented with an 80 proof version of Virginia Lightning, but it wasn't nearly as popular as the harder stuff.
"It was too mild," he said.
Miller said the 100 proof concoction "gets your attention."
Colorful labels on the Carolina Lightning brand warn, "No sissys . . . no wimps . . . barefeet only."
by CNB