Four charged in North Georgia moonshine case

by SP on August 5th, 2007

If you thought that the manufacturing of moonshine was something from the distant past in the south, you would be wrong. Apparently it is still a popular pastime.

Four charged in North Georgia moonshine case

One of the men charged in a federal moonshine bust said Saturday he’s quit drinking the high-octane, illegal liquor known as “white lightning.” But when he was a steady customer for more than 50 years, he preferred moonshine made in Georgia over the kind made in his native South Carolina.

It seems that Kelly Standridge, simply thinks that it tastes a lot better than anything you can get off the store shelves. He thinks that it has something to do with the water! If convicted, these men could spend 5 years in prison and a 10,000 dollar fine.

The government said the operation wasn’t small-time. The moonshine was bottled, crated and sold to individuals throughout the area. Agents staked out the still for two months, from December 2005 to January 2006, before they made the bust, according to an affidavit filed in a civil case, the Associated Press reported.

What Standridge can’t understand is why they waited so long to bring the case to court. (The charge was laid over 2 years ago.) Apparently, he had become a diabetic and cannot drink the popular moonshine any longer, but he recently bought 6 gallons so that he could make cough medicine for his friends. Apparently, it knocks the cough right out of you. All you do is mix it with a little honey and lemon!

“If you wanted some moonshine right now, I could tell you where to buy it,” he said. “There’s places that sell it not to far from downtown Atlanta.”

And I forgot to mention, Standridge isn’t from Georgia at all. He calls South Carolina home, but he swears that their moonshine isn’t as good as the Georgia variety. He thinks that it’s something to do with the water in Georgia. With that endorsement, I would imagine that a lot of South Caroliners will be headed to Georgia for their next purchase.