Piedmont Distillers sits on US-220 in Madison, North Carolina, in the heart of what locals call ‘Junior Johnson country.’ Founded in 2005 by Joe Michalek, this operation started as something of a moonshine revival project in an area where white lightning wasn’t just folklore—it was family business. Michalek, who came from a corporate background, partnered with NASCAR legend Junior Johnson to create what they called the first legal moonshine in North Carolina since Prohibition. The distillery occupies a 6,000-square-foot facility that looks more like a working warehouse than a tourist trap, complete with copper stills and aging rooms that smell like corn mash and mountain heritage. The whole thing began when Michalek approached Junior Johnson about licensing his family’s moonshine recipe—the same recipe that helped fund Johnson’s early racing career back in the 1950s. Johnson’s father had been running moonshine through these same mountain roads decades earlier, and Johnson himself was famously arrested for moonshine running in 1956. After years of development and navigating federal regulations, they launched Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon in 2007. The distillery expanded over the years, bringing in master distiller expertise and scaling up production while keeping that authentic mountain spirit approach. When you visit, you’re walking through an active production facility where they’re making everything from traditional corn-based moonshine to flavored varieties and aged spirits. The atmosphere is no-nonsense industrial—this isn’t a polished visitor center but a real distillery that happens to welcome guests. You can watch the mashing, fermentation, and distillation process, and the team actually knows the technical details if you ask smart questions. They’ve got a tasting room where you can sample their full lineup, and the story-telling here revolves around actual local history rather than manufactured heritage.