I can't hear, here. Is that Steve Earle?

I love how half the probable cause for search ("a green leafy substance") isn't important enough to identify in the article.

I guess it's the "controlled substance" Hubbard possessed, but if it's Mary Jane, why don't they identify it as such? Or is the moonshine the controlled substance and the bag just some basil they were taking home for making pesto?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Yeah, it is Steve Earle.

They were making moonshine jokes on the radio this morning but they didn't have any more details on the arrest than in that article. I did see a blurb on the news where a way-serious police officer said "There is a still out there somewhere and we WILL find it."

He made it sound like they were looking for WMD. =)

A couple years ago I went for a hike in the Shenandoah, western Virginia, with my brother and his dog. We decided against paying the park fee -- I think it was for getting on Skyline Drive, but we just wanted to park and find a trail.

So somewhere near Front Royal, we started forking off onto backroads until we found a dirt track heading up a holler. Parked the car near a trailhead outside the state park, and trudged into the forest. About 300 yards off the road, we came upon this crazy old trailer with a crazy old man out front and a rather large still out back.

It was metal, about six feet around and teardrop shaped, with a chimney on top and a couple of valves on the sides.

I should point out here that I am adventurous when it comes to intoxicants. There are few things I won't try once.

But this old man was so tetched and so unable to communicate clearly that my brother and I didn't buy any white lightning offa him. I've never been so certain that something would cause extensive brain damage.

As far as I could tell, from his muttering and his gestures, the crazy old man took a cotton to my brother's dog, who wanted nothing to do with him in return.

We left out of there and picked up a fruit pie at an orchard on the way back to Alexandria. Oh, and some plums.

So wait, they couldn't figure out where the moonshine came from, so they charged him with possesion of the still? That doesn't make any sense to me...

1) I read an article in the WSJ or NYT about, oh, 7 years ago about how corn liquor stills were on the comeback in the Appalachians somewhere. Someone's even bottling it and selling it for $20 a pint (in Mason jars, of course) to rich white folks in New England.

2) This post is very timely, for me anyway; I just started reading Deliverance this weekend.

3) Tear My Stillhouse Down, Gillian Welch

Oh man, when i was on tour/walkabout...I encountered many a person that had really good shine...

Nothing quite like the white lightning, especially when the guy selling it to you looks more like sasquatch than the dirty crusties that you normally meet on tour...

When i lived outside asheville, i almost started a still. It was almost a family thing, as my great uncle used to run shine from stills to the city on a motorcycle on those crazy mountain roads...

I'll have a few sips every once in a while, but chartruese is my poison alcohol of choice at this moment. Besides beer of course.