The founders of Chattanooga Whiskey are quietly prepping the launch of Freedom Moonshine in May.The founders of Chattanooga Whiskey are quietly prepping the May launch of Freedom Moonshine, an unaged rye whiskey that will compete with established conglomerates and backwoods bootleggers alike.
Partners Tim Piersant and Joe Ledbetter will position Freedom Moonshine as an Americana-themed alternative to high-proof competitors like Gatlinburg, Tenn.-based Ole Smokey Moonshine and Madison, North Carolina-based Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon, which each sell hundreds of thousands of cases annually, according to food and beverage analysis firm Techmonic.
Piersant and Ledbetter, who declined to comment on the pending launch, have posted photos on social media platforms teasing the red, white and blue liquor, which will arrive on shelves stored in a jar wrapped in an American flag-themed label.
“It’s almost time to let freedom shine,” the group wrote on Twitter, echoing the brand’s marketing campaign. “Find freedom this May.”
Existing entrants into the fast-growing legal moonshine market have grown sales by distributing through Walmart and other mainstream retailers, rather than purely through liquor stores. Such mainstream acceptance of a drink that for decades has remained off limits to law-abiding citizens has caught the attention of larger distillers such as Jim Beam, which in 2013 released Jacob’s Ghost, its own version of the unaged rye whiskey.