Schoolteacher Christy Townsend didn’t have a long-range goal to make moonshine with her musician husband, Tommy.
“Nowhere did we ever say, ‘We’re going to start a moonshine distillery,'” Townsend says.
But that’s what the Townsends opened on July 2, 2016 in Union County, Georgia: Granddaddy Mimm’s Moonshine Distillery and Museum is not only a family operation in Blairsville; it’s also based on family tradition.
“What makes this unique? The moonshine that we make was actually my granddaddy’s recipe,” says Debby Townsend, the distillery manager and the sister of Tommy Townsend.
Jack McClure, the grandfather of the Townsend siblings, “made moonshine back in the ’30s and ’40s and 50s,” Debby Townsend says.
McClure was a bootlegger. But he was also fondly remembered as “Grandaddy Mimm,” to grandchildren like Debby and Tommy. “Mimm was quite the entrepreneur back in his day,” adds Debby Townsend.
Today, his old moonshine recipe comes in flavors like apple pie. And it’s made with the help of Roy Townsend, McClure’s son-in-law and the father of both Tommy and Debby Townsend.
It can also be used for more than just sippin’.
“This is medicinal,” says Tobie Chandler, the tourism director for Blairsville. “You let the peppermints soak, and then you just take the candies out, and it will cure any cough you have – for real.”
During its first year in operation, the distillery sold tours and then gave visitors a complimentary bottle of moonshine. Yet, on Sept. 1, 2017, rules will have changed to allow the distillery to openly sell bottles of ‘shine on site.
“We have two proofs that are actually distilled,” Debby Townsend says. “It’s 100 proof and 140 proof. And they’re both the same recipe: They’re made from corn, sugar, water and yeast.”
Either one will make a good lemonade when mixed with boiled sugar and freshly-squeezed lemons, says Christy Townsend.
“It is adult lemonade,” Christy Townsend says with a smile. “So if you’ve had a really easy week, you have the 100 proof. If you’ve had a difficult week, you put the 140 proof in there. It really just depends upon your week.”
WANT MORE? grandaddymimms.com / 706-781-1829
