Mark & Digger
Here's where we try to tell you a little about these boys. Where do we start? They wanted to leave out the part where they were underwear models and male strippers (apparently that didn't turn out too good). What they did agree on is telling about their mentor, Tennessee moonshining legend Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton.
Popcorn had a knack for recognizing a particular skillset in an individual. Early in his relationship with Mark, he saw the patience needed to bend and solder copper to build a still while at the same time not beating it flat with a hammer when things didn't fit like they should. After a bit of coaching Popcorn had Mark loaded with the knowledge of how to build a still to different capacities by changing it's measurements. Under the eye of the master, Mark learned how to build a still that is second to none. Mark could be referred to as the king of tinkering. He is constantly looking for the next big thing in the moonshine still world. The craftmanship used in building his stills is the same as his predecessors have used for centuries in the East Tennessee mountains. If you would like one of Mark's handmade minature stills, head on out to our online store We'll be glad to get one out to you.
Now when it came to Digger, Popcorn saw right off the bat he didn't have the even temper to work with copper. As Popcorn put it "Digger'd just as soon run over it with his truck if he got pissed off". What he found in Digger was the gift to build a top shelf mash that turned out that same quality likker. Popcorn took his prodigy through the processes of malting different grains, adding different amounts to the mash to render different tastes, and through time and experimenting, Digger mastered the art and could nail down a time that his mash would stop fermenting within a 24 hour period. Many times Popcorn would get a little mad because Digger wanted to up the grain and sugar amounts in a mash to up the amount of likker produce in a run. But the mad spells usually passed pretty quickly, and as Old Popcorn would say a lot of times "When I see you on Monday mornin' I won't have no hard feelin's toward ya". One of the particular things Popcorn appreciated was the seemingly endless supply of coon peckers Digger had. Popcorn and Digger both preferred one to keep likker from running back up the worm spout.
We appreciate you stopping by our inter web thing, check back often since we plan on adding more when we figure this thing out a little better. Again in the words of our mentor "we thank ye' for comin by."
Popcorn
A Tribute to the legend
What can be said about Popcorn. He could be hateful, contrary, had a fairly salty tongue. Most of the time when you saw these attributes they were beinig used to hide his big ole heart. We are talking about a man who drove 300 miles to take a man he ahd never even met food and money because he felt it was the right thing to do. When he came across a child in a store, he would buy them a treat if the parents gave him permisson. Popcorn never let a favor provided to him go without a just reward. But if you wronged him or someone he cared about, you would either be ignored or get a good dose of that salty tongue we mentioned. A true moonshining legend who was proud of his proffession, recipes, and heritage, He took pride in the likker he produced to the extent that if it didn't suit him he poured it out. As He would often say "Somtimes likker don't come out good. No matter if everything was done just like every other run, it just f**** up. Ain't nobodies fault."
No one wishes he was around to continue his story more than Mark and Digger, but as Mark said, "Who better to tell the his story better than the ones that knew him best."
When it comes to all the folks visiting this website we will say it the way Popcorn would say it: "Well I thank ye" Check back often as there will be more stories added as we go.
