PARROTTSVILLE, Tenn — Moonshine and Cocke County go hand in hand. But while much of the making of the famous liquor has been kept in the shadows, nowadays, moonshine is fully in the spotlight.
And there can be no mention of moonshine without Popcorn Sutton. His widow, Pam Sutton, said she's known as the "First Lady of Moonshine." Of course, that makes Popcorn the president.
"I did not like moonshine at all, it was just nasty," Pam said. "Until I tried his. And it was like drinking water."
And moonshine has flowed like water in Cocke County for generations now. The man behind the still of much of that homebrew was Popcorn Sutton.
"Moonshine is our history," Pam said. "Regardless of what people want to say about it. It is part of our history. And in Appalachian, it's an art. It's an art. And he was good at it. And that's all he ever really wanted to do. And that's why I want to keep his memory alive."
Rather than go to prison, Popcorn took his own life back in 2009 at his Parrottsville home. And that home is now his final resting place. He's buried there just up a small hill, where he's never far from his widow's constant adoration and occasional frustration.
"Believe me, he's had a few cussins," Pam said. "Overall, it's nice, because he's close enough that I can stand on my front porch and tell him what I think of him. So yes, I still get angry."
But that anger also fuels her passion to keep Popcorn's "likker" legacy alive. So she teamed up with Ole Smoky Moonshine.
"It's like a dream come true," said Michael McCarter, Ole Smoky marketing manager. "I mean, it really is a dream come true. It'd be like Dollywood merging with Disney."
Ole Smoky is using Popcorn's original moonshine recipe for a special line that launched at the end of last year. The Popcorn Sutton Distillery in Newport is making a bourbon whiskey and a spirit called "Popcorn's Likker." It's being sold at Ole Smoky's distilleries in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Nashville.
"Moonshine's gotta be made in the mountains," McCarter said. "You don't buy moonshine from California. If you do, they're lying to you. So that's one thing I can say, it's probably the most secure, recession-proof product that you could be in, is working in moonshine."
Meanwhile, Pam is proud of her bottle design, which is a departure from the typical mason jar. She wanted the bottles to resemble champagne bottles, saying it's because Popcorn's moonshine is the champagne of moonshine.
"I'm going to try to make it bigger and better and just for him, because a lot of people, you know, there's people out there that says I'm in it for the money, but I could care less," Pam said. "I just want his memory to stay alive."