Confiscated Pot Still by State ABC

[DeepSouth]

I was in my state ABC office today and they had a really nice pot still on display that they confiscated recently. About a 30 or 40 gallon pot, with a keg thumper and a super nice flake stand using a 55 gallon stainless steel drum.

[DeepSouth]

Uh Oh, photobucket doesn't seem to be working for me anymore.

[Bushman]

We would prefer the pictures be posted directly. Would love to see the pictures of the still.

[DeepSouth]

Let's see if this worked.

[Bushman]

Doesn't look like any I have seen on the forum. Nice looking rig, be careful you almost show in the reflection.

[hellbilly007]

That is a good looking setup. I'm curious if it was constructed of plate copper as thick as what is on the flange where the "onion" meets the boiler. If so, that was some serious coin put into that.

[Swedish Pride]

someone put a lot of money and hard work in to that, love the tiged copper joints.
My bet it is the copper is foldedin on it self where teh onion meets the boiler.

also looks like the barrel the worm is in was a boiler at some point, you don;t need a triclamp on a flake stand

@ BM, if we want to see DS, we just go to his Facebook page linked in his Sig

[The Baker]

What interests me is the circumstances of its confiscation.

Geoff

[Still Life]

Makes me wonder if they just put the prettiest confiscated one there.
That's showroom quality.

[skow69]

Don't ya know the builder just loved to run that rig? Having it stolen must have felt like a kick in the gut.

[Pikey]

Nobody owning up to being the owner ?

[der wo]

But unfortunately you loaded the pic again not to hd. It's a tapatalk picture now. Is this an issue? I don't know. Can he delete it again like he can with photobucket and this thread becomes trash like hundreds of other threads?

DeepSouth,
it's not against you. I often have thought about to ask this.

[DeepSouth]

Makes me wonder if they just put the prettiest confiscated one there.
That's showroom quality.

They definitely only put the prettiest confiscated ones in their lobby. There's another older one on the opposite side of the room out of the picture that is pretty nice too. I saw on the news that they confiscated one last week and it appeared to be a still Dragon with either 4 or 6 plates. That rig may make it's way to their lobby for display. In that case, the news reported that the previous owner and his wife were going through a messy divorce and she told the police about his hobby. His big charge was being in possession of dozens of guns as a prior convicted felon, and the still was ancillary but it was a more interesting news story.

[heynonny]

Looks like low temp (plumbing) solder the way its heaped up, hope it was not lead solder, , , ,

[robowop]

Hey guys, question from a curious distiller in Canada. Would ABC consider selling any of these rigs to legal distilleries?

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk

[still_stirrin]

Hey guys, question from a curious distiller in Canada. Would ABC consider selling any of these rigs to legal distilleries?

Probably to a copper scrap yard for the money. I can't imagine the bureau would risk additional illegal production by re-inserting a piece of hardware into the system.
ss

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk

And please turn this "signature" off. There is a thread at the top of EVERY forum addressing how to do it. Thanks.

[zapata]

Most states have specific laws regarding how various agencies can sell stuff. Most places cant just decide to sell something, way too much risk of fraud there. Ironically most stuff gets sold at under publicized auctions that bring less money than well marketed sales. Cest la vie. Anyway, finding the person who could even make that decision, AND have any way of getting it into the stream would be tough. Then they would have to know how to limit sales to legal purchasers. Again, possible, but out of the daily habbits of state workers. A similar sale would be police gear that is restricted for sale to only police. That they deal with often. I'd guess there just isnt enough volume of confiscated stills that anyone has ever considered doing it.

[gungatim]

in my state we have auctions of confiscated cars, guns, etc. used in crimes, as well as unclaimed recovered items. I have purchased stuff for ridiculous prices that I was surprised they would put back on the street...never seen a still at one, however...

[TDick]

I was in my state ABC office today and they had a really nice pot still on display that they confiscated recently.

I ASSuME that based on your signature, you are in Mississippi and are, or know someone, at Rich Distilling in Canton.
I'm located a few hours to your east.
By the way, I really like the layout and graphics of the website. Based on the reds & blues, I'm guessing you're no bulldog.

The story of liquor in Canton is a good tale to tell, unlike some of the BS we've discussed. And Delta is one handsome fellow.

I'm curious, since it was mentioned and Rich Distilling is legal, if ABC would sell it or auction it to licensed distillers.
Might be worth an ask just to see.
Cheers!

[DeepSouth]

Hey Bamaberry, yes I'm David Rich, the owner at Rich Grain Distilling Co. in Canton, MS. Thanks for checking out my website, and Delta loves the compliments. Canton has a pretty interesting history about alcohol production, both legal and illegal. There were several liquor dealers around the downtown square before prohibition that sold and shipped statewide since we're a railroad town. As far as railroad history, one notable thing about Canton is that Canton was the destination of Casey Jones' train when he had his famous crash that has been written about in so many songs. Canton was a major stop on the Illinois Central railroad between New Orleans and Chicago. As a railroad stop, we had lots of hotels, saloons, and liquor dealers. I've started a collection of pre-prohibition whiskey jugs from dealers in Canton. The famous blues musician, Elmore James, was also from Canton and I've read in a few history books that he actually used to make his own whiskey and was a moonshiner. He used to play in several of the black blues clubs that were located down the street from my distillery.

As far as that pot still at the ABC, I actually talked to my enforcement agent about it last week and got a little more back story. It was built by a man who I believe was a professional welder and used to work on some of the rigs offshore. You can tell he's a professional metal worker by the quality of the construction. He got down on hard times and started trying to sell some stills for extra money. He made the mistake of advertising them for sale on facebook or possibly craigslist. The ABC agent told me he felt awful for having to confiscate it because it's about the best, and most well made still they've ever come across. They showed mercy on him and I believe he only got a misdemeanor charge. The story has a happy ending because I think the ABC was about to hire him as a maintenance technician to work in the warehouse servicing all of their equipment and machinery.

[TDick]

Good ending for the guy. You're a couple hundred miles away but I've been feeling a need to give Indians in Philadelphia some money so I may keep driving and stop in.
Keep folks posted on the business

[DeepSouth]

Good ending for the guy. You're a couple hundred miles away but I've been feeling a need to give Indians in Philadelphia some money so I may keep driving and stop in.
Keep folks posted on the business

If you go the casino, just keep on driving. I'm only an hour further and the distillery is on the same road, it's literally a straight shot down Highway 16.

[HDNB]

easy to remember. i'm on hwy 16 too...just about 2000 miles NW of you.