Letter from the Editor

Hey folks,

I am always amazed by the people of Tennessee.

On a visit last year, my wife and I met Chad Hunt, the master distiller at Roaring River Distillery in Gainesboro. He looked every bit the part of a moonshine man. Long beard and (on that day, anyway) bib overalls.

But he doesn’t just look the part. He lives it. His recipes and techniques are a blend of “old-timers’” knowledge and his own. He and his family built the distillery’s two stills — Big Bertha and Little Lincoln. Neither of them run on electricity or computers. Both of them, Hunt said, could be loaded up and run at the creek.

This respect of old ways, a palette trained to know good moonshine, and a by-heart knowledge of distilling techniques earned Hunt a spot on Discovery Channel’s “Moonshiners: Master Distiller” a few years ago. He got second place. But we still got Hunt and his moonshine. Read more about him on page 18.

I saw an Instagram post in the run-up to the Super Bowl this year, featuring a live bald eagle called Lincoln. The bird was trained, the post said, at the American Eagle Foundation in Tennessee.

I’d never heard of it. So, later I got connected with Jessica Hall, the foundation’s executive director and found out that their facility in Kodak is the biggest eagle sanctuary in the country. They care for nearly 50 eagles. 50! And right here in Tennessee. Amazing.

Seems like every story I disocver leads me to more amazing Tennesseans doing amazing things in fields as diverse as eagle care and making moonshine.

I can’t wait to meet all of you.

Toby Sells

Founder & Editor

State & Beale