Greg Eidam, II
Greg was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Greg grew up with a curious and sharp mind, a love for adventure, enjoying playing sports, and being active. After moving around the country a bit, Greg’s intelligence and attention to details enabled him to enroll and ultimately graduate from the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville, Tennessee, with a degree in Civil Engineering. While a student at UT-Knoxville, Greg joined the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and soon developed a deep, life-long friendship with a fraternity brother, Ned Vickers. After graduation from college, Greg’s friend, Ned, pursued his passion and became an entrepreneur, whereas Greg took his earned Civil Engineering degree and applied it in his post-college vocation of choice. Within a few years, Greg grew tired of the out-sourcing of engineering and he yearned to pursue other career passions, such as brewing beer and distillation of spirits. Greg started brewing beer with a home-brewing kit in his garage along with a few of his college friends, one of which was a renowned brewer of beers.
Enter a New Career: Distillation of Spirits:
Greg was blessed with the following three talents coupled with a new opportunity in the distilled spirits industry:
1) Possessing an inquisitive mind.
2) Greg being educated to have a detailed, engineering-oriented focus on any project he took on.
3) Being anal-retentive (by Greg’s own admission).
A new opportunity for whiskey production and sales developed within the state of Tennessee in 2009. In that year, a state law was passed that permitted counties to approve distillation of spirits within its borders if there was already retail package sales of alcohol and liquor by the drink. Under this new law, each county in the state could elect to opt in or opt out on this newly passed law. Sevier County’s decision opened the door of opportunity for Greg and his reunited business partner, Ned Vickers (and others) to work through the many layers of Federal, State, county and municipality government bureaucracy to get permission to establish a new distillery on land that they had acquired in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the town of Gatlinburg. The name of this new distillery was Sugarlands Distillery.
Greg and his business partners set off on distilling and producing legal moonshine spirits of different flavors and types incorporating modern day science with “old time” moonshining traditions learned from local shiners and legends. Greg proceeded to do his homework. Greg met with several “old time” moonshiners to develop a knowledge and understanding of what went into distilling and producing quality moonshine spirits. Greg also enrolled at Moonshine University in Louisville, Kentucky, where he took numerous classes on distillation, barreling, storing, monitoring and blending whiskeys.
Soon, Greg was crafting and producing his “Prohibition Shine” in a sugar wash method. He developed a clear spirit, a flavored spirit, and a unique “Rye-shine” spirit made from 100% rye grain. Greg labeled his Rye-shine, “Jim Tom’s” after a legendary moonshiner, Marvin “Jim Tom” Hedrick.
Besides building Sugarland’s Distillery from a foundation of various moonshine spirits (“Sippin’ Whiskeys”) in order to pay the bills, Greg and his team at Sugarlands Distillery crafted a very complex (and also a very good tasting) Pot distilled Straight Rye Whiskey called “Roaming Man”. “Roaming Man” is named after Wiley Oakley, who’s nickname was the “Roamin’ Man of the Mountains” and was a local wilderness guide, a story teller on radio stations across America and was instrumental in the creation of the Smoky Mountain National Park.
Through Greg’s elaborate attention to details and his focus on documenting everything he and his distillery team does, Greg has grown and evolved Sugarlands Distillery into one that is becoming known as the distillery that now produces one of the most complex crafted whiskeys on the market today.
Through Greg’s conversations with moonshiners, distillers, and his education at Moonshine University, here are but a few of the features Greg and his team now implement at Sugarlands Distillery:
Using White Corn for distillation instead of Yellow Corn. Several moonshiners Greg spoke with told him that “White” corn was for whiskey, and “Yellow” corn was for critters!
The meticulous development and selection of a yeast strain for his distillery and a special, seven-day, fermentation process.
Development of a now longstanding relationship with a trusted Cooperage for production of barrels that meet the exacting standards Greg has developed over the years.
A complex and very detailed process of using a variety of seven different barrel entry proofs (aka “BEP’s”) ranging from 90-proof to 125-proof, and aging them an average of six years.
Greg and his team works long and hard at meticulously developing a blending process of the aged barrels with different levels of char on the staves inside of the barrels (typically using a combination of both Level 3 and Level 4 charred barrels).
In short, these aforementioned details are exactingly and collectively brought together in an overall process that Greg states as one of his defining principles of distilling and aging his whiskeys…. “The whole is GREATER THAN the sum of its parts”.
Regarding the future of bourbons and whiskeys, Greg believes there eventually will become a consolidation and/or a weeding out within the industry. Factors such as inflation, the economy and economic transitions are a concern. Also, Greg states that the younger generations are not drinking alcohol the way their parents and grandparents did in times past. New competition from spirits such as Tequila, Mezcal and Gin are penetrating into the demand within the Spirits industry. Also, the legalization of cannabis is having an effect on consumer choices and preferences. Nonetheless, the current volume of whiskey being produced is still huge. With a bright, enterprising, passionate Master Distiller such as Greg Eidam, II, who envelopes his distillation work in a creative, meticulous and detailed process, one can be confident that Greg will be a survivor and a legendary and acclaimed Star in the whiskey industry for years to come.
Contributed by: Todd Rust, Durham, North Carolina
with support from M. J. (Michael) Jacobs, Tennessee Whiskey Section Editor, Smyrna, Tennessee
