Remembering Popcorn
Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton, age 62, was born on October 5, 1946 passed away on March 16, 2009; 4 days before he was supposed to report to the federal penitentiary for illegally brewing liquor and possession of a firearm both while on probation. He passed away due to carbon monoxide poisoning which he inflicted upon himself with the exhaust from his three jug car nicknamed because he traded three jugs of liquor for it.
Popcorn Sutton, a third generation moonshiner, was raised in Cocke county Tennessee which is one of the top moonshine capitals in the world. He learned to make shine from his father who learned it from his ancestors that passed along the family tradition.
Popcorn got in trouble with the law, for the first time, in the early 70's but mostly kept his nose clean with the law after that even though he continued to make moonshine. His stills were home made at his cluttered house on the side of a mountain in the woods. Where exactly he made his shine is only known by 4 people other than him and those people only know because he couldn't carry a 1000 gallon still into the woods alone.
His book was sold in a small hole in the wall junk store. His book as well as his movie sold out of the store and shortly there after was known as a high profile man. At one point he would even hand out business cards and when asked why he did he responded "You can’t sell it if nobody knows you got it" which may or may not be considered a valid point.
His white lightning was known to be the best ever made and that is probably why the recipe is a close kept family secret. The liquor was very potent even though it had a very fine taste to it. He often said “I can brag about one thing, making likker. They ain’t no damn body that can beat me making likker.”which he did until the day he died.
Popcorn Sutton, a third generation moonshiner, was raised in Cocke county Tennessee which is one of the top moonshine capitals in the world. He learned to make shine from his father who learned it from his ancestors that passed along the family tradition.
Popcorn got in trouble with the law, for the first time, in the early 70's but mostly kept his nose clean with the law after that even though he continued to make moonshine. His stills were home made at his cluttered house on the side of a mountain in the woods. Where exactly he made his shine is only known by 4 people other than him and those people only know because he couldn't carry a 1000 gallon still into the woods alone.
His book was sold in a small hole in the wall junk store. His book as well as his movie sold out of the store and shortly there after was known as a high profile man. At one point he would even hand out business cards and when asked why he did he responded "You can’t sell it if nobody knows you got it" which may or may not be considered a valid point.
His white lightning was known to be the best ever made and that is probably why the recipe is a close kept family secret. The liquor was very potent even though it had a very fine taste to it. He often said “I can brag about one thing, making likker. They ain’t no damn body that can beat me making likker.”which he did until the day he died.