Prohibition-era restrictions reduced Tennessee's spirits industry to a scant few locales -- among them Jack Daniel in Moore County and George Dickel in Coffee County. The Tennessee state legislature's decades-long delay in removing such restrictions enabled other states -- namely neighboring Kentucky -- to take an insurmountable lead both in the production of spirits and in the tourism that trails it.

A new law passed last year overturning those restrictions has at long last allowed budding "craft," "artisan" or "micro-" distillers to join the ranks of Tennessee's famed spirits makers. Such distilleries can set up shop in Tennessee counties where retail package sales and liquor-by-the-drink have been approved by voter referendum.

While the Volunteer State will always be playing catch-up to Kentucky's bourbon industry -- the Commonwealth’s “bourbon trail” fills state coffers with significant tourism dollars each year -- it might have found a competitive pick-me-up with a new use for an old spirit. Hello, moonshine.

Via Daniel and Dickel, Tennessee already has a proud spirits heritage. But perhaps more synonymous with Tennessee spirits production historically is moonshine. Tennessee distillers now have an opportunity to brand the state as a hot spot for legal moonshine. And that's precisely what three Tennessee entrepreneurs want to do.

Tennessee Moonshine will be available legally for the first time next month when Ole Smoky Distillery, founded by proprietors Joe Baker, Tony Breeden and Cory Cottongim, opens for business in Ole Smoky Holler in downtown Gatlinburg.

The distillery will offer tours, samples for adults over 21 and moonshine for sale. Ole Smoky will offer a number of moonshine products ranging from original un-aged corn whiskey moonshine, apple pie moonshine, sweet tea moonshine and peach moonshine. Moonshine cherries will be available for purchase during the holiday season.

The Ole Smoky recipes are the product of the work and experience of local families who have made moonshine in the mountains for more than a century. Dave Pickerell, who served as the Master Distiller for Maker's Mark for over 15 years, assisted with the refinement of the recipes in order to ensure a superior mountain-made moonshine.

There is no better place for moonshine production to emerge in Tennessee than in the mountains of East Tennessee. Doing so offers the perfect blend of an old-time spirit-making tradition and an epicenter for tourism. The distillery intends to place a particular emphasis on celebrating their mountain heritage as well as the historical significance of the moonshine craft in sustaining families during the tough economic times of the early 20th century. The facility will include an authentic working moonshine still where visitors will learn the science of the distilling process as well as the history and lore of moonshining in East Tennessee.

"Moonshine played an integral role in the daily lives of families in this region," Baker says. "Too often, people rely on the stereotype of a backwards old man making a cheap, dangerous product. In truth, a lot of good people made and sold moonshine in order to feed and clothe their families."

Tennessee's new law stands to help Tennessee increase its allure for visitors around the world who are rightfully fascinated by the state's cultural roots in spirits production.

Bill Owens, president of the American Distilling Institute, tells BusinessTN that new distilleries lead to tax and tourism revenues, jobs, and new markets for local farmers. According to Owens, seven jobs are created for every one person working in a distillery, "providing employment for farmers, truck drivers, retailers, wholesalers and others." He also ties new Tennessee distilleries to the Green Movement, saying, "It is part of the greening of America that people want to know where products are made and to support local businesses."

Ole Smoky is not the only distillery taking shape in Tennessee with an eye toward legal moonshine. Darek Bell, a Nashville native who founded Corsair Artisan Distillery in Bowling Green, Ky., now has space in the Gulch neighborhood in downtown Nashville distilling various spirits, including moonshine.

A year after lawmakers passed a law restoring part of Tennessee's rich heritage as a spirits-producing state -- a law that's sure to be an economic boon for the state -- it appears the results are about to start pouring in.