Secrets of the ‘shine: TV celebrity offers up tips

Jun 01, 2023

By [email protected] | on June 07, 2023

Kenny Law with Thelma Jones during a recent visit to Chase City.

Kenny Law, one half of the moonshine duo from Franklin County and star of the Discovery Channel show "Moonshiners," shared a few tips on making moonshine and some stories about his life during a recent visit with his cousin Trudy Robinette.

Robinette, who owns Chase City Produce, is kin to both Kenny and his cousin and business partner, Henry Law. Together the pair own Law's Choice distillery in Rocky Mount. "We bottle the best moonshine. It's smooth," said Kenny Law.

They market it under the name Hell's Holler.

Their secret, according to Law, is the quality of the grains, yeast and sugar they use to make their mash and the water in Franklin County.

"People moved to Franklin County for the water," Law said.

While he won't divulge their recipe, Law allows that their "distilled spirits are made with wheat, rye, malted barley and cane." The recipe has been honed by his family for three generations. They are now teaching it to his cousin Henry's two sons.

His family was one of the first to distill moonshine in a submarine-shaped still, instead of the more commonly used barrels or large round vats.

Law said they distill about 1,300 gallons per week in those submarine stills.

Kenny and Henry also produce "fruit liquor," which is distilled fruit. Some call it brandy, but Law said it's "fruit liquor. Apple and peach are the most common." He and Henry have been known to distill fruit liquor using cherries and other fruits.

"The trick is to use culled fruit," Law explained. "You smash the fruit by hand through a screen to remove the pits, and ferment it with sugar and yeast for about a week."

For every gallon of peach brandy, they distill, Law says they use a bushel of peaches. "You look at the brandy they sell in the stores. There's no fruit in it, they use fruit flavoring. We use real fruit. That's why we always sell out our fruit liquor."

Law said he began making ‘shine when he was 16, but he was introduced to the business long before. As a youngster his job was to fill the portable gasoline tanks his father needed to ignite the flames under the stills. As he got older, Law said he was given the task of finding hiding places in the woods throughout Franklin County for the moonshine his family produced.

He and his cousin Henry are anomalies in the moonshine world. Law said the average length of a career in moonshine is three-four weeks. "Most are caught [by law enforcement] by then and have the fear of God put in them." The Law cousins have been making moonshine for more than four decades.

The key to quality moonshine and fruit liquor lies in the temperature used to heat the mash, Law said. "It needs to be constant. You need a good thermometer and to keep an eye on the temperature. If it gets too high or too low you don't get a good product."

Law is not shy about his past, which has included a couple of stints in prison. He said with a tinge of pride in his voice, "They never caught me for producing, only for conspiracy."

He laughed as he recalled an award presented to him once by Virginia State Troopers, for outrunning the police. To make a car or truck run faster you drop in a larger engine, Law said. "If it's a Ford you use a Lincoln engine and if it's a GM you use a Cadillac engine." He's also been known to modify the springs on the vehicle so it does not ride too low when hauling moonshine.

"It's okay when the truck is loaded down, but when it's empty you feel every bump. It's like riding an ATV," he explained.

Law has not spent his entire life flouting the law. Moonshine was his side hustle. He's also a roofer and self-trained antiques appraiser. He's used some of the money earned from moonshine sales to put roofs on houses for free with Habitat for Humanity.

These days, with his stint on the Moonshiners TV show, he's also achieved celebrity status. Thelma Jones, a customer at Chase City Produce on the day Law was at the store, was excited to pose for pictures with Law. Her day was made, Jones said, "just by the fact that I met the liquor man."

Before heading out of town for a tasting event, Law passed on a few tips for budding moonshiners:

•» make your stills using white pine. When the wood gets wet, it will swell and seal the still.

•» Your thermometer and your hoe — the tool used to stir the mash — are your main tools.

•» The best water for making moonshine comes from small streams or springs, the smaller the better.

•» If you see a law man heading toward you and your still, don't run away from him. Instead run to the side and then back in the direction of the law man, otherwise you’ll run into a trap.

His last piece of advice: "you can purchase Hell's Holler" at most ABC stores in Virginia.

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