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I'm taking a short trip to the Smokies tomorrow and Wednesday and thought I'd see if I could pick up some of that cheap 190 proof Diesel alcohol that someone here mentioned.

So, anyone in the Maggie Vally area know where I can get a few bottles? In Ohio the high-powered stuff is sold at state liquor stores. Is it the same in NC? I'll also be south of the Smokies near the TN/NC border.

Thanks.

Bruce:

Yep, alcohol is sold only in licensed bars/restaurants, or at State controlled ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) stores. But, about anyone you meet should be able to tell you how to find one in the area.

Enjoy your time in the Smokies. I'm up there (or used to be) on the motorcycle quite a bit...it's a gorgeous area you're going to.

Bill

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Be careful, some of those mountain counties may be dry.  At least it used to be that way.  But any state ABC store should have the product.  The product is called Diesel, Grain Neutral Spirits, 190 Proof.

If you do end up in a dry county, if you ask around carefully, you could probably put your hands on some "Mason Jar", not so neutral spirits.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks guys.

Bill - one of my goals this summer is to make it down there on my bike.

Waddy - I could likely find some of that not so neutral stuff around here too.

what billshould have said is that spirits can only be legally purchased at the abe stores.

the is some excellent mountain dew sipped from time to time by mountain folk, if you are known.

yancey, madison and mitchell counties are dry, whilst buncombe has many abc outletts.

OH FOR AN EDIT BUTTON....

p.s. when first i moved to nc i called my son in brisbane to give him the new address, phone, etc. during our conversation i lamented that i was living in a dry county(yancey). his responce; "why dad, i thought the whole east coast got plenty of rain!"

the grossly uncivilized concept doesn't even exist in the australian consciousness!!!

Bruce, Virginia isn't any better. Same same, just a different tax.

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Aoibeann

Thanks for the heads up on the dry counties. I live in a dry county here in Ohio so I know what that is like.

Just out of curiosity, what is a dry county? Is it that "alcohol is sold only in licensed bars/restaurants, or at State controlled ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) stores", or that you can't buy it at all? If it is the former, that is how just like it is organized in this country and the rest of Scandinavia as well. If it is the latter, well, I feel for you!

Mason Jar?





Obviously I'm not familiar with all the jargon here, but I have a feeling you are referring to the contents of the jar when they come from something like this, correct?



If that is the case, we have some of that up here as well, and yes that works well for dissolving shellac (that is the purpose of all this, right?).

Do not mix it with your coffee (not-so-fondly recalling some unfortunate episodes from my misspent youth... )     

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

and dont make that russian stuff thats turning people bright yellow over there!

makes it kind of difficult to deny you've been drinking the homemade stuff...not that you'd have too...ahem....

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www.theguitarrepairworkshop.com

unfortunately, dry means just that, dry, parched, arid, as well as.... opps .... started to venture into forbidden ground.

the strange thing is that in the county i lived in as well as the one to the east, the rich folks in their mountaintop gated, airport/golf communities could buy grog. go figure... blind lady justice must be able to smell the folding green....

There are some days when I think blind lady justice just smells!

Roun heah, that nice piece of copper tubing going throught the bucket, is mos likely to be a radiator from a rusted out 1950's era Ford or Chevy Pickumup

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Arnt, in Virginia, a dry county was one that you could buy beer and wine at the grocery store, alcohol at the ABC store. There was nothing other than soft drinks served at restaurants and there were no bars. We went three miles in to NC to go drinking. The good folks of my county managed to turn the county into a wet one on the last possible chance before it was carved into stone.

A mason jar is a canning jar, like the one in your picture. Mason was the guy who invented them in the 1850's for canning.

My dad had a mason jar of what we called White Lightening. It was in that jar over the refrigerator for years. He would offer it around, but no one seem too interested in it, especially when they saw the condition of the inside of the lid. It takes something with teeth to rot out the inside of a canning lid.

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Aoibeann

      It's legal to distill anywhere in the US for other than drinking purposes. You can get a license by applying to the ATF. If your using it for FP there shouldn't be any problem.

    A friend of mine distills in his garage in small 5 gallon batches, I've smelled the stuff and I AIN't GONNA DRINK IT! Wooooah!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

White "likker" can be excellent, or so I'm told, based on how it's mixed. People who regularly drink it straight frequently walk around with Maalox in their hands. I think it depends greatly on the attention to detail, cleanliness and quality of both the ingredients, and the brewing process. I'm not much of drinker myself, but I have several friends who regularly partake of the home brew variety. It's very easy to get here in North Carolina - sort of a point of State pride to some folks.

For french polishing purposes, I would think it would be better to buy the stuff from an ABC store. The Everclear is 190 proof. And at least they're held to some known standards for quality and for the percentage of alcohol contained. By the way, in most NC ABC stores, there's a product called "Georgia Moon"...which I am told is about as close to the real thing you can get.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

years ago I lived in NC for a brief period of time and am still having problems convincing the NC department of revenue that the reason I'm not paying their state income tax is because I dont (didnt) live there when they think I did.

NC is one of the prettiest places on earth but right now I'm not real happy with that state's government.

I know that Macon County is a dry county up there as well as Cherokee county. Not sure how many others are but I know for a fact that there is an ABC store in Maggey Valley. It is on the west end of town near the stomping grounds (a pretty good country music place with dancing).

Hope you find what you are looking for !

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Reguards,

Ken H

Thanks for the input, guys. I found it at the ABC store in Maggie Valley.