Renegade Issue 34

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I recently had the chance to tour the Call Family Dis-
tillery. I was invited by Aaron Brown, owner of The Car
Shop and builder/driver of the worlds fastest rat rod
not to mention all his other accomplishments. He in-
troduced me to the family, who were very gracious and
informative about the history of moonshining.
The Call Family Distillers distillery is located in Wilkes-
boro, NC on the banks of the Yadkin River. Known in
some parts of the world as Hell’s Half Acres - Call Sec-
tion, it’s a place that was once home to some of the
toughest individuals in western North Carolina. It was
due to the high volume of illegal whiskey production in
this area that led federal revenue officers to dub Wilkes
County, NC, “The Moonshine Capital of the World.”
The Call family has been integral part of moonshine
history from the very beginning.
Being descendants of moonshiners and distillers, the
Call family today carries on the family tradition of pro-
ducing the finest spirits made using a one-of-a-kind di-
rect steam injection distillation technique.
Representing a deep-rooted heritage of whiskey mak-
ing beginning in the 1800’s, the Reverend Daniel Call
was a Lutheran minister who lived in Lynchburg, Ten-
nessee and taught Jack Daniels the art of distilling whis-
key. Jack Daniels began working at the general store
owned by Reverend Call at an early age. Behind the
store, Call operated a whiskey still. During the 1860’s,
as the Civil War swept through America, Reverend Dan
Call passed his secrets on to young Jack. Eventual-
ly they partnered up together and formed a distillery
named Call & Daniels Distillery No. 7, District #4.
As the temperance movement began to sweep through
America, the Reverend was forced to make a serious
decision: choose his church congregation or the whis-
key business. He elected to stay with the ministry and
sold off his stake in the distillery to Jack Daniels.
Willie Clay Call was one of the most renowned moon-
shiners to come out of Wilkes County, North Carolina.
This was the epicenter of the moonshine industry from
the 1940’s, all the way through the 1960’s. Clay Call
made moonshine and ran it out of necessity to support
his family. After years of chasing Willie, Federal ATF
agents labeled Clay “The Uncatchable”, a title that Clay
rightly earned by eluding their best efforts to apprehend
this real life Renegade for so long!
Clay Call’s 1961 Chrysler New Yorker Golden Lion Edi-
tion was his favorite for hauling shine. He was said to
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