I’m sharing another serendipitous find from the library’s new book shelf this week: Pure Heart, A Spirited Tale of Grace, Grit, and Whiskey by Troy Ball with Bret Witter. Some of you might already be familiar with Troy Ball from the show Moonshiners or from her disabled & nonverbal son Marshall’s book Kiss of God (and their subsequent 1999 appearance on Oprah!). Her story, however, was as new to me as it was fascinating.
Meeting moonshine
In the early 2000s Troy and her husband Charlie decide to sell their beloved farm and move from their native Texas to Asheville, North Carolina with their three sons (two of whom have disabling genetic metabolic disorders). They’re in search of a more hospitable climate to help alleviate dangerous reactions to the Texas dust and heat, and explore several possibilities before settling in Asheville, a town with a lot of character (and filled with a lot of characters). There, Troy meets Forrest Jarrett, a local character who never shows up empty-handed — whether he’s dropping off fresh corn or Troy’s very first taste of moonshine.
That first taste? Not so great, as it turns out. But Forrest becomes a fast friend, and, eventually, Troy’s guide to the deep tradition and history of mountain moonshine before, during, and after Prohibition. Her fascination with these stories fuels her eventual determination to learn to distill the “good stuff” — as opposed to that first jar. The unlikely friendship between this self described southern “Vandy girl” and an irrepressible mountain raconteur gives her an appreciation of the deep history and tradition of her adopted home, and Troy’s descriptions of both the history of and current characters in the quirky town of Asheville add an underlying charm to her story.
Mountain history meets personal history
Troy hails from an entrepreneurial background; her father was a serial entrepreneur who taught her salesmanship and the power of persistence as far back as she can remember:
Other fathers took their seven-year-old daughters to patty-cake parties or softball games; Dad took me to Zig Ziglar sales seminars.
“If you know how to sell,” he drummed into me, “you will always survive. No matter what happens, Troy, you will always be able to take care of yourself.”
As Troy gradually builds a support network in Asheville between family, friends, and a state that offers more assistance for people with disabilities than Texas, her immediate family starts to become less dependent on her full-time attention. After 24 years as a stay-at-home mother, this leaves her free to pursue entrepreneurial interests of her own — and she focuses on learning to make authentic mountain moonshine, the right way, with an eye to launching her own business producing and selling heirloom moonshine.
She studies the competition, tasting the three brands of moonshine available at the time in state run liquor stores in North Carolina and identifying hole in the market for a traditional heirloom North Carolina corn whiskey. She pesters Forrest until he finally gives in and introduces her to someone who makes the “good stuff.” She sets up her first still, finds a local farmer to sell her a rare heirloom white corn, starts growing the operation, finds pigs to eat the leftover mash, perfects her recipe through trial and error, and wades into the morass of required government regulations and permits — all while caring for her sons through multiple health scares and dealing with personal financial & marital troubles when the housing bubble collapses, accelerating her plans for her business.
Determination pays off
Pure Heart is at its heart a story of the power of perseverance and determination, and Troy is a truly remarkable businesswoman and mother. Since the cover of the book notes that she’s the “founder of Troy & Sons, makers of the first true American moonshine,” and since she has appeared more than once on Moonshiners, it’s probably not too much of a spoiler to let you know that her perseverance pays off and she ends up being the first woman to legally distill hard spirits in North Carolina since Prohibition. Her Troy & Sons Platinum Whiskey recently received a gold medal for moonshine, and is still “made with heirloom Crooked Creek corn and pure Appalachian spring water.”
Along the way
“Pure Heart” has multiple meanings here: In distillation, pure heart refers to the middle part of the run that produces the best tasting moonshine, the phrase of course hearkens back to the Sermon on the Mount, and pure heart also describes Troy’s unwavering focus on creating the best life possible for her family. As the story of Troy’s business gradually unfolds, so do the intertwined stories of her family, the various people she meets in Asheville, and the history of moonshining in North Carolina. Most chapters also include insights from her son Marshall, offering glimpses into his soul. This memoir is an easy, entertaining, and heartwarming read, but one that never loses sight of the underlying values of faith, love, hope, and persistence.
What are you reading this week?
What have you been reading lately? Tell us about it! ? — and, you can browse all the What’s Rachel Reading? book reviews here.
