hine, a new family of moonshine products that honors the tradition of authentic mountain moonshine and the patriotic American rebel spirit, is now available to U.S. consumers in Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama and California from Windy Hill Spirits, of Nashville, Tenn.To create a beautiful and unique package design with an engaging eye appeal and bold prominent shelf appearance commensurate with the new spirit’s premium quality and smooth finish, it brought Saxco International, LLC, of Horsham, PA, world-wide packaging specialists for the wine, spirits, beer and food industries, into the mix. “Our role was to assist with the all- important packaging aspects of the American Born Moonshine brand and help to create a distinctive design with an overall attractiveness using all American components,” says Jimmy Owens, new product representative and category manager for craft spirits, for Saxco International. Owens worked closely with the Windy Hill Spirits brand development team and was able to manage the tight turnaround time schedules, while staying within the project’s budget parameters.
Saxco got the project started by developing a private mold traditional looking, classic American mason jar with a heavily embossed “American Born” shoulder which was produced by Piramal Glass, of Park Hills, Missouri. The jar was used for all three American Born Moonshine flavors-Original, Apple Pie and Dixie. Piramal Glass is one of Saxco’s long-time reliable and quality vendors in its vast international network of suppliers.
In addition, Piramal Glass supplied three different six-jar lithographed and laminated antique wood cartons imprinted with a snake logo and the verbiage, “Don’t Tread On Me. ”One of the totally unique aspects of the project was the development of the closure for the mason jar. In order to insure that there were no flaws imported into the taste of the American Born Moonshine flavors, Saxco supplied a custom food grade thermoplastic synthetic silver colored lid from C & N Packaging, of Wyandanch, New York, another of its premium quality supply sources. The top was further customized with a tee-top cork pour spout inserted into its center. The newly created pour spout application was completed by Paulson Supply, Inc., of Modesto, California. The custom tee-top was then over-fitted with a multi-colored tax stamp.
Windy Hill Spirits was founded in 2012 by Pat Dillingham, a former Notre Dame quarterback and Sean Koffel, a former U.S. Marine Corps Captain and Iraq War veteran. The entrepreneurial pair set out to bring moonshine whiskey to consumers that would honor the incredible tradition of America’s moonshiners. Over the last decade, the two were inspired by amazing family moonshine stories and recipes shared by friends and fellow Marines that grew up in the Appalachian Mountains. While starting Windy Hill Spirits and American Born Moonshine, Dillingham and Koffel spent a year traveling the Appalachians and the greater South, spending time with families, hearing first-hand accounts of moonshining and bootlegging legends, tasting a lot of great moonshine and developing an enormous appreciation for the role moonshine has played in American history.
American Born Moonshine offers three flavors-- Original, Apple Pie and Dixie. American Born Moonshine Original is 103 proof, 51.5 percent Alcohol By Volume, and is an un-aged corn whiskey made from a blend of corn, sugar and water. The recipe is high in corn content, yet still embraces the sugar to allow for a smooth finish and remarkable mixing characteristic. American Born Moonshine Apple Pie is made from a corn base with natural apple and cinnamon flavors and a hint of caramel. American Born Moonshine Dixie is the first-ever sweet tea-flavored moonshine. Dixie is made from a corn base combined with natural tea flavors. Both Apple Pie and Dixie flavors are 83 proof and have 41.5 percent Alcohol By Volume. The average retail price is $25 for all three flavors.
American Born Moonshine is produced and bottled in Nashville, Tenn. and all other elements of the product and packaging are made in the United States, mostly in the South.
As the company builds on its foundation in the Southeast, plans are in place for a disciplined nationwide rollout of American Born Moonshine over the next two years. On its path to becoming a national brand, the company will be laser-focused on winning markets one region at a time, embracing the company’s fundamental belief of selling whiskey with a handshake.
“Our goal with American Born is to provide consumers with a truly authentic product that tells the story of these strong Americans,” says Dillingham. “We want to pay homage to those that have demonstrated the best American ingenuity and independence by making, running and selling moonshine whiskey in order for their families to survive during most difficult times in the history of our country.” In addition Koffel explains that it is extremely important to us that we honor the American Moonshiners of the last three centuries. “Making our product in the South, where moonshine tradition was born, will always be the core of our brand,” Koffel relates.
