We Taught Them Well!

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Mention Kentucky to people, and there are things that usually come to mind immediately. Hopefully, the great things, like the natural beauty of the state (Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world), the horses, and the music (people from jazz’s Lionel Hampton to country’s Loretta Lynn to rock’s Everly Brothers to gospel’s Dottie Rambo to the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe) come to the forefront. Of course, there are also the stereotypes, many of which revolve around drinking. Kentucky is the largest producer of bourbon in the world, and one of the great tourism additions in the past few years has been the “Kentucky Bourbon Trail.” That’s the legal stuff. With 48 of Kentucky’s 120 counties still dry and a number of others “moist” (allowing beer and wine but no “hard liquor”), the homemade distillery is still part of Kentucky’s legend. Well, guess what was on display at the Camp Breckenridge museum: a homemade distillery. It was found beneath the floorboards of one of the prisoners’ barracks. My, but we taught them well, didn’t we. In the photo you see the rusted remains of an 82-year-old homemade hooch still, along with some corn used to make the moonshine. I don’t know if you’ve ever been around the stuff, but moonshine has a very powerful (I’d say downright pungent) smell (odor) as the “mash” is cooking. How they thought they could hide the fact that there was some home brewing going on is beyond me. Some of the things the prisoners made were acceptable, such as homemade radios. The still, however, was a no-no. Still, I found it funny to see that these German soldiers, from the land that invented beer, had resorted to Kentucky distilling so soon after arriving here!