Articles • Distilling Tradition: the Traditionalization of Craft
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PAGE 89 • Articles • Distilling Tradition: The Traditionalization of Craft Moonshine at Bear Wallow Distillery CAROLINE HUNDLEY MILLER Indiana University, Bloomington Abstract: Moonshine has traditionally been defined by the illicit nature of its production. Increasingly micro-distilleries are basing their business on the production of “legal moonshine”—legally produced un-aged whiskey labelled by the distillers as moonshine. This paper draws primarily on ethnographic work at Bear Wallow Distillery to understand how the owners create a destination distillery by connecting their legal moonshine and distillery experience to a local moonshining tradition and a broader rural American imaginary. It will also explore issues of traditionalization and commodification of heritage through examining how micro-distilleries rely on a perceived connection with an “authentic” moonshine tradition even as they seek to challenge traditional definitions of moonshine in the development of their own moonshining tradition. Bear Wallow Distillery is a family-run craft micro-distillery in Gnaw Bone, Indiana, nestled in the hills of Brown County. Brown County, situated about an hour south o f Indianapolis, is a popular tourist destination, especially for outdoor recreation. Its beautiful outdoor attractions include Hoosier National Forest, Brown County State Park, Yellowwood State Forest, Lake Monroe, and Lake Lemon. The distillery opened in 2014 and is owned and operated by Susan Spagnuolo. The distillery is truly a family-run business: Susan’s son Adam is the head of production, her son Jon is in charge of marketing and creates all the labelling and logos, and her husband Mike works at the distillery entertaining customers with highly engaging tours on the weekends. Bear Wallow make several types of small batch whiskeys, among them is a variety of legally produced craft “moonshines” or un-aged corn based white whiskey. Based primarily on an interview with Susan in 2016 and participant observation at Bear Wallow, this paper offers a case study of the ways in which legal craft moonshine is creating a place for itself both as an emergent tradition in its own Vol. 17, no. 1 (2020) New Directions In Folklore PAGE 90 right and as a part of the genre of moonshine, despite the contradictions apparent in commercializing a tradition defined by its illegality. Bear Wallow and Brown County That Bear Wallow emphasizes its connection to Brown County and a rural aesthetic is evident for the entirety of each guest’s visit, from the time they turn onto the gravel road that runs parallel to Old State Road 46, to the end of the distillery tour and tasting. Upon arriving at the 4,000-square-foot distillery, guests enter a large inviting tasting room. Natural wood paneling covers every wall giving it a log cabin-like feel. Soft lighting illuminates the wooden shelves along the walls that are stocked with handmade local products and whiskey infused foods, as well as some quirky locally and non-locally made gifts. On a given afternoon a visitor might purchase local bourbon barrel aged maple syrup, age your own whiskey kits, locally made moonshine whiskey pickles, a “Battleshots” drinking game, locally made ginger beer and root beer, or locally crafted simple syrups and elixirs. Before going on an hourly tour of the production space, guests might walk up to the bar and order one of the Bear Wallow’s signature cocktails, “Moonshine Shake-Ups,” from the handwritten list on a chalkboard above the bar. The cozy aesthetic of the tasting room certainly invokes notions of a rustic past which contrasts with the warehouse-like feel of the exterior and the distilling space. The distillery production space has concrete floors, high ceilings, and holds two large stainless-steel fermenters and a copper still. In comparison to the tasting room, the distillery space seems very modern except for the beautiful old-style copper pot still. The back room of the distillery space is another garage-like warehouse room that holds the packaging equipment. A small forklift sits idle in the corner and the air is warm and heavy with the sweet malty fragrance of whiskey production—it smells like a whiskey lover’s heaven. This is where all the barrels of their aging whiskey are stored, and the back wall is full of beautiful oak barrels. The juxtaposition of the rustic and nostalgic feeling of the tasting room and the generally more modern industrial feeling of the distillery space gives the tour participant the impression that, although the folks at Bear Wallow certainly see themselves as part of a tradition that is associated with a rural ascetic, they are also embracing the fact that theirs is an emergent tradition that incorporates previous Vol. 17, no. 1 (2020) New Directions In Folklore PAGE 91 traditions rather than stays bounded within them. One gets the feeling of a connection to the past, rather than being thrown abruptly back into it. There is certainly a past for them to connect to in Brown County. At one time Southern Indiana and several surrounding areas were known to hold the highest concentration of illegal stills outside of the South Eastern United States. And indeed, Brown County is especially well-suited for moonshining. The many streams in Brown County were a crucial supply of cold running water, which is essential to the distilling process, before widespread modern refrigeration and the hilly terrain made it easier to hide stills (Blackwell 2016). This is a past of which the people who live and work in Brown County are not only well aware, but also to which they very purposefully connect. For example, in February of 2015 the very first exhibit to open in the new Brown County History Center in Nashville, Indiana, was called Moonshine Stills in Brown County Hills. Bear Wallow Distillery was invited to contribute a display about their craft moonshine. Also, in May of 2014, The Brown County Playhouse put on a play called If You Don’t Outdie Me. It told a history of Brown County in which moonshiners featured prominently through the eyes of a photographer who was famous for photographing moonshine stills from the 1920s to the 1950s (Blackmer 2016). The origin story of Bear Wallow, at least as Susan tells it, is deeply connected to this recognition of a local moonshining tradition. Originally, she hadn’t planned to open a distillery at all and was instead focused on her desire to create a business that fit into the story of Brown County. As Susan explained, The inspiration, first of all started with me wanting to own my own business. I was walking through life for those couple of years just looking around and seeing what kind of might be a good fit. The idea for Bear Wallow actually came through a vacation with our friends in Asheville, North Carolina. This brewery we were at ended up being right next to this little craft distillery [Troy & Sons Distillery], which wasn’t open at the time or anything. We kind of looked in the window and there was a little copper still and there was just something about it. It was just a little immediate thing that went in my head, “Oh my gosh this would be cool in Brown County!” And we weren’t looking for a business idea at that point. It just kind of came to me. That was the little seed of Bear Wallow...There are a lot of similarities between North Carolina and some of the things that were going on in Southern Indiana with moonshining. That just kind of confirmed for me that it would be a good fit for Brown County. What Troy is doing and what I am doing wouldn’t necessarily fit other places. But the history was there, and the history was here. Vol. 17, no. 1 (2020) New Directions In Folklore PAGE 92 That’s where the seed started that this would be a neat story to tell in Brown County. Since Asheville and Brown County are both popular tourist destinations, Susan, like Troy & Sons’ owner Troy Ball before her, decided to open a distillery based on an agritourism business model. As an agritourism destination, Bear Wallow’s clientele is primarily made up of out of town tourists. Therefore, it is vital that Susan and her team can create an image of Bear Wallow Distillery as a destination experience within Brown County, rather than simply a bar. Susan explains that Bear Wallow’s agritourism business model is not based primarily on repeat or “regular” customers the way a bar’s would be. It is not a bar, we close at 5:00 or 6:00. Tours are the main thing we do. It is not just something we do. It really is a tour where we educate people, entertain people and we just happen to be a business that is using grains to make whiskey. That was the type of business that we wanted to create, more of an agritourism destination experience rather than a bar. Susan’s ability to create this destination experience depends on Bear Wallow’s capability to attract tourists. Jonathan Culler argues that tourists seek to “discover something which for them is unusual, authentic in its otherness, a sign of alien culture” (Culler 1981, 131). Although tourists who are visiting Brown County are probably not looking for a sign of something they would describe as “alien”, they are looking for something novel. In this case, connecting to a place that is completely new or, at least, is different from the one they inhabit in their everyday lives provides the novel experience that they are seeking. At Bear Wallow, visitors connect to Brown County through consuming its physical products of whiskey and other local goods while gaining esoteric access to the folk history surrounding moonshine in Brown County.