Authorities Poised To Clamp Down On Gatlinburg Moonshine
By Richard Thomas
Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge constitute the major resort destination of Appalachia, and hand in hand with the rise of America’s micro-distilling sector has been a local boom in legal moonshine. The area is literally stuffed with moonshine distilleries, and highway billboards advertise both the distilleries and where you can buy legal “mountain dew.” Now that boom is set to receive some regulation.
A bill introduced before the municipal council would prohibit new distillery construction “within 1,000 feet of the state right-of-way on U.S. Highway 441 within the corporate limits of any city with a population of no less than five thousand eight hundred seventy and no greater than five thousand eight hundred seventy-nine” according to a report from Local 8. As it applies only to new construction, the bill would not effect existing distilleries, should it become law.
The bill is scheduled for a vote on Friday, April 25.
