It’s easy for moonshiners to get away with their unlawful activities on the small screen since the state sanctions their manufacturing.
The lives of those who distil illicit moonshine in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia are depicted in the American docudrama series Moonshiners on the Discovery Channel, developed by Magilla Entertainment.
Their efforts to produce alcohol, their attempts to evade the authorities, and their everyday lives are all dramatized in the show. Officials at the municipal level have stated that the program is not what it claims to be.
The authorities in Virginia claim that the show’s protagonists do not produce any illegal alcoholic drinks. In March 2012, the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) argued that the Virginia ABC Bureau of Law Enforcement would have intervened if the criminal activity had occurred.
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Moonshiners Is Perfectly Legal
The production crew behind Moonshiners may have employed some televisual wizardry to get permission to film the drama.
Despite the show’s assertions, producing moonshine is perfectly legal so long as the necessary permits are secured.
So while some people watch the show without questioning the details, others can’t help but analyze every nuance.
Kathleen Shaw, then a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, shed some light on the show’s genuine intentions in 2011.
Audience members expressed concern that the local government was aiding illegal activity to create a television program. There’s a chance, though, that’s not the case.
Kathleen said in an email to the Associated Press that the Virginia ABC Bureau of Law Enforcement would have taken action if the illegal activity had occurred.
In conclusion, if Moonshiners were showing illicit moonshine manufacturing, the Virginian authorities would have undoubtedly intervened in the past to shut down a source of shame.
Is Moonshiners Based On Facts?
Since the show’s start, viewers have debated whether or not Moonshiners is based in fact. A showgoer vouched for the show’s integrity by posting on Reddit.
He said it’s true since he comes from a long line of moonshiners in Franklin County, Virginia, on his father’s side.
Even if the government had a video of them making moonshine, they wouldn’t be able to use it as evidence. The Virginia ABC says they don’t make moonshine due to their excessive avarice.
Another viewer argues, “It is not normally a crime to record someone else performing a crime, and suppose the filmmakers theoretically might be prosecuted as accomplices to their victims’ moon-shining actions, but even here, it would be hard to construct a case against them.”
The Discovery series features an accurate cast, but the episodes are likely planned before they air to the public.
If any unlawful conduct had been represented on the show, the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control would have taken enforcement action, according to Kathleen Shaw, a spokesperson for the department.
Fox News quotes an email from Shaw in which he claims that the Virginia ABC Bureau of Law Enforcement would have taken action had any illegal activity taken place.
