Joe Michalek

“Moonshine Opportunist”

Joseph “Joe” Michalek was born in May 1968 in New York and spent his early years in the Bronx. Although not raised in a distilling tradition, something was eventually stirred in him by Southern culture and spirits when he attended North Carolina’s Wake Forest University. After studying business and marketing at Florida Atlantic University, he graduated in 1991. In 1995, he relocated to North Carolina to take a marketing position with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, settling in Winston-Salem.

In the Tarheel state, Michalek’s exposure to moonshine increased. He once attended a local music festival known as MerleFest, where he sampled a clear spirit with a peach; a month later, he encountered white lightning at a NASCAR race; then fruit-flavored moonshines at a barn concert; he regularly observed semi-formal dinner parties where Mason jars of clear, acerbic liquid were brought out and cordially passed around. He was impressed by how widespread the drinking of the harsh hooch was, and wondered to himself why no one was making a legal, high-quality version of moonshine and getting paid handsomely for it.

So in 2005, the ambitious Michalek founded Piedmont Distillers, Inc., located in Madison, North Carolina. His first move was to obtain a copper still that had previously belonged to another local venture. Soon Piedmont Distillers held the distinction of being the first legal distillery in North Carolina since Prohibition. Looking back, Michalek estimates that his startup costs for Piedmont at the time were around $750,000, a fraction of today’s capital outlay for a distillery, likely for two reasons: first, he was fortunate enough to find a working used still, and second, because of the economically battered town that Michalek chose for his home base, where labor was cheap, and land and property happily transferred ownership for a fraction of the cost as in Charlotte or Raleigh. Madison was, in fact, an ironic choice. It is a small town, with a population holding steady at about 2,100, and still fiscally devastated since the late 80s by the progressive and steep decline of the tobacco and domestic textile industries. It remains socially conservative, and with many residents being teetotalers, the town lacks bars or restaurants that serve liquor. Nevertheless, Joe found Madison willing, or at least tolerant, of a distillery providing jobs and opportunity, despite the cultural challenges.

From its beginning, Piedmont Distillery was distinctive, combining the mystique of moonshine with regulatory compliance, attention to design, branding, and production consistency. Michalek’s first products included “Catdaddy” Carolina moonshine as well as plain “White Lightning.” Over time, though, Michalek has been able to expand the product line to other flavored moonshines like apple pie, strawberry, and blueberry. However,  “The Clover” whiskey line is particularly interesting. It is made in partnership with the Bobby Jones legacy and with permission from Jones’ family. Bobby Jones, the legendary amateur golfer who passed away in 1971, was born on St. Patrick’s Day. When he began golfing, he was given a four-leaf clover medallion by his mother, and he always wore it in his pocket. Piedmont’s Clover Whiskey Collection draws on that lore: the name “Clover,” virtues associated with the four-leaf clover (hope, faith, love, luck), and packaging designed to reflect Jones’ sophistication and tradition. Piedmont’s whiskey collection, which is named after the medallion, includes straight and single-barrel whiskeys, a sourced Tennessee whiskey, and a rye. Notably, a portion of sales of the Clover line of whiskeys benefits the Bobby Jones Foundation, supporting research into Chiari malformation and syringomyelia, conditions from which Jones suffered.