Clear Creek ~ Illegal Whiskey

Illegal Still Uncovered by Grant Officials
Source: Alexandria Daily Town Talk October 14, 1970
Submitted By: Kay Thompson - Brown

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Colfax, La - Private enterprise got a set back in Grant parish Tuesday with the arrest of the last of five persons allegedly involved in a corn whiskey project.

Charged with the illegal manufacture of whiskey at the L.C. Foster residence on Clear Creek, are Foster's wife, Mrs.. Doris Foster, 20; Charles E Kelly, 35, Nebo Rout, Jena; Lloyd C Dyess, 50, of Pineville and Hynman Bush 55, of Deville. Foster is charged with illegal manufacture of whiskey.
The investigation by Grant Parish Sheriff Joe Morgan and deputies O.W. Sharp and Leonard Hataway was triggered by a tip - off received by Sharp. Foster was booked Saturday with "illegal possession" after officers found a barrel half full of fermenting mash, distilling apparatus and close to four gallons of the finished product at the Foster home near the Clear Creek community north of Camp Livingston.

Mrs. Foster, Dyess and Kelly were arrested Sunday and Bush was picked up Tuesday. All were released on bond.

The do-it-yourself operation was apparently nipped in the bud before the second batch of mash went to the cooker. According to information received by the sheriff's department the home-made "still" consisted of a 100 gallon wooden barrel in which mash was made of fermented corn and sugar, a 55 gallon steel drum in which the mash was cooked on an outdoor mash was cooked on an outdoor butane burner and connecting copper tubing coiled through another drum of cold water through which vapors from the cooking mash were drawn off and condensed for distillation.
Sharp estimated that the whiskey was about "180 proof." He described it as being perfectly colorless and well beaded, "apparently to-grade stuff."

It was also "private stock" which those charged were making for their own use according to testimony recorded in the investigation.