gunbunny
Well-Known Member
The other day my dad and I were just chatting, the topic of my grandpa came up and the family farm.
My grandpa owned a grade "A" dairy until I was about 9 or so. The farm was located outside a little village called Ripley Oh. If you look for it on a map, it's on the Ohio River about 45 miles east of Cincinnati Oh. In fact, from where our farm was, you look south, you see past the river and into Kentucky. We were up on the hill pretty good.
I recalled getting into a ton of trouble with my grandpa because my brother and I had taken a couple of wooden barrels, rolled them to the side of the hill, climbed in and rolled down the hill. My brother and I probably did this till we were sick. My grandpa caught us and all hell broke loose. That truly was about the only time I remember him raising his voice to us. I asked why he got so bent out of shape over us playing.
My dad just grinned, he says to me, "you remember the strawberry patch grandpa had?" I did, it was huge. Picked a ton of strawberry's out of there, ate a bunch too. "Your grandpa, uncle's Wood and Todd (grandpa's brothers) used to run liquor out of an old machine shed there at the farm. They used the strawberry's for mash for shine. Keep in mind, prohibition had only ended 40 years or so earlier and not all of these whiskey brands were as popular as they are today. You're grandpa would also run corn liquor, age it in those barrels and sell it too." He asked me if I remembered all of the barrels being in the tobacco barn, I had seen them, but my grandma had all of us kids scared to death to go up in the loft, so my memory was vague. Dad said we probably busted up one of grandpa's good aged barrels and we probably dumped a couple gallons out to play with it. Dad said that my grandmothers family had been bootleggers prior to WWII and they ran "shine" from Mason Co. to Newport and Covington Ky when the illegal gambling was going on. Grandpa come home from WWII, bought the farm and had been distilling since. My grandmothers brothers were customers and well, it just went from there.
Dad told me he remembers as a boy people coming and buying "brown milk". Dad said grandpa used to bottle his whiskey in milk bottles. It made sense, he had the dairy too.
Dad said grandpa finally got sick of the dairy business, cattle and everything that came with it. The fact dad wasn't around as much either to help out was also a huge motivator, so grandpa sold out. Dad said that as far as he knew that was also the last grandpa made whiskey.
That conversation was neat as hell, because while I remembered very vividly alot of the things dad was telling me, I had no idea what was going on. I never really put it together until dad started talking about it, heck I was just a kid. Looking back, it all makes sense and it's really quite funny. I do remember my Uncle's Woody and Todd stumbling out of that machine shed singing and carrying on!
Grandma just stand there looking mad as hell, but I can't say I ever remember grandpa coming in loaded, but you had to know Audrey 
.
Dad also told me that grandpa hired a couple guys to dig a well, that they had a pump down in the well to pump water out as they dug, grandpa went to check on the guys and they he found them dead. Managed to asphyxiate from the CO off the pump motor. Not as happy of a story, but interesting.
Things you learn if you sit down and just have a talk. Things I know I'll share with my boy!
My grandpa owned a grade "A" dairy until I was about 9 or so. The farm was located outside a little village called Ripley Oh. If you look for it on a map, it's on the Ohio River about 45 miles east of Cincinnati Oh. In fact, from where our farm was, you look south, you see past the river and into Kentucky. We were up on the hill pretty good.
I recalled getting into a ton of trouble with my grandpa because my brother and I had taken a couple of wooden barrels, rolled them to the side of the hill, climbed in and rolled down the hill. My brother and I probably did this till we were sick. My grandpa caught us and all hell broke loose. That truly was about the only time I remember him raising his voice to us. I asked why he got so bent out of shape over us playing.
My dad just grinned, he says to me, "you remember the strawberry patch grandpa had?" I did, it was huge. Picked a ton of strawberry's out of there, ate a bunch too. "Your grandpa, uncle's Wood and Todd (grandpa's brothers) used to run liquor out of an old machine shed there at the farm. They used the strawberry's for mash for shine. Keep in mind, prohibition had only ended 40 years or so earlier and not all of these whiskey brands were as popular as they are today. You're grandpa would also run corn liquor, age it in those barrels and sell it too." He asked me if I remembered all of the barrels being in the tobacco barn, I had seen them, but my grandma had all of us kids scared to death to go up in the loft, so my memory was vague. Dad said we probably busted up one of grandpa's good aged barrels and we probably dumped a couple gallons out to play with it. Dad said that my grandmothers family had been bootleggers prior to WWII and they ran "shine" from Mason Co. to Newport and Covington Ky when the illegal gambling was going on. Grandpa come home from WWII, bought the farm and had been distilling since. My grandmothers brothers were customers and well, it just went from there.
Dad told me he remembers as a boy people coming and buying "brown milk". Dad said grandpa used to bottle his whiskey in milk bottles. It made sense, he had the dairy too.
Dad said grandpa finally got sick of the dairy business, cattle and everything that came with it. The fact dad wasn't around as much either to help out was also a huge motivator, so grandpa sold out. Dad said that as far as he knew that was also the last grandpa made whiskey.
That conversation was neat as hell, because while I remembered very vividly alot of the things dad was telling me, I had no idea what was going on. I never really put it together until dad started talking about it, heck I was just a kid. Looking back, it all makes sense and it's really quite funny. I do remember my Uncle's Woody and Todd stumbling out of that machine shed singing and carrying on!
Grandma just stand there looking mad as hell, but I can't say I ever remember grandpa coming in loaded, but you had to know Audrey .Dad also told me that grandpa hired a couple guys to dig a well, that they had a pump down in the well to pump water out as they dug, grandpa went to check on the guys and they he found them dead. Managed to asphyxiate from the CO off the pump motor. Not as happy of a story, but interesting.
Things you learn if you sit down and just have a talk. Things I know I'll share with my boy!
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WHAT!??? Seriously though, great story 
