LBL Moonshine Up For Auction

By Richard Thomas

LBL Moonshine, once the premier legal moonshine brand in Western Kentucky due to its appearance in The Discovery Channel’s Moonshiners, is reportedly up for auction.

Spencer Balentine opened Silver Trail Distillery and an accompanying museum in the Kentucky’s Land Between The Lakes region several years ago, blazing a trail that many legal moonshine outfits from Hopkinsville to Paducah have since followed. Tragically, Silver Trail Distillery was destroyed in a 2015 still explosion caused by equipment failure that killed one worker, Kyle Rogers, and badly injured Rogers’ father, also working at the distillery.

For a time Balentine considered rebuilding the distillery, but ultimately chose not to. “It took my desire to put somebody else in front of a still,” Balentine said. “It took that away.”

Instead, Balentine contracted out production of the 100% corn whiskey used in his moonshine. Early on, reports indicated this was being done at MB Roland, but nowadays it’s known to be sourced through Silent Brigade Distillery in Paducah.

Now Balentine has decided to get out of the legal moonshine business altogether. It is his hope that the new owners will want to rebuild the distillery, and in the meantime continue contract production at Silent Brigade. Balentine has also expressed interest in continuing to work in promoting the LBL brand. The brand and its associated museum will be auctioned together, and the Robert Alexander Auction Company in Paducah will announce the new owners on July 14.