Gatlinburg, Tennessee-based Ole Smoky Distillery is bringing National Moonshine Week (June 1-7) to life with a 360 degree marketing campaign and continued partnership with Friends of the Smokies, the nonprofit organization assisting Great Smoky Mountains National Park in its mission to preserve and protect America’s most visited national park. Ole Smoky will also be hosting celebrations in its hometown of Gatlinburg, 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.”
Moonshine is one of the most storied spirits in the United States. Production of the notoriously incendiary spirit dates to the late 1700s when Irish and Scottish immigrants settled in the Southern Appalachian area, bringing with them their home distilling practices and their recipes for what is typically a white whiskey derived from corn, yeast, sugar, and water. 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.
Fast forward to 2010 when Baker and his partners, using a fine-tuned, century-old family recipe, launched the brand shortly after Tennessee legalized distillation of spirits in East Tennessee in 2009. As the first legal moonshine in East Tennessee, the brand has grown exponentially over the past 14 years. The company now employs more than 700 people, makes a wide range of moonshines and whiskeys in four distillery locations across the state, and hosted more than 5 million visitors in 2023 alone.
In celebration of National Moonshine Week and moonshine’s birthplace of the Great Smoky Mountains, Ole Smoky Distillery is continuing their long-time support of 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 to June 7. The origin of this partnership inspired Ole Smoky’s 2021 release of their Limited Edition ‘Friends of the Smokies Blackberry Moonshine’, crafted to support the preservation and protection of the nation’s most biodiverse national park. Ole Smoky also provides staffing for volunteer days in the national park, as well as sponsoring their annual events and community activations.
“National Moonshine Week brings us many opportunities to not only honor the rich history of this storied spirit, but the community where it began,” says Robert Hall, CEO, 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.”
For those looking to celebrate at home, fans can visit https://nationalmoonshineweek.olesmoky.com/ to enter for a chance to win over 100 possible prizes. The grand prize is a VIP Trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a Smoky Mountain weekend experience, featuring roundtrip airfare for four, 3-night accommodations, a private VIP Moonshine Experience at The Holler, and more. The website also features Ole Smoky’s signature moonshine lemonade cocktail recipes for fans to enjoy in their homes, like Lightnin’ Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, Blackberry Lemonade, and Hunch Punch Lemonade. For more delicious recipes and ways to celebrate, click here.