The Mob Museum is branching out into the wholesale liquor business.
The Downtown Las Vegas attraction began selling its corn mash moonshine product at Lee’s Discount Liquor stores in mid-October.
“It’s unique—there aren’t a lot of corn whiskey moonshine products out there,” said Jonathan Ullman, president and CEO of the museum. “There’s a strong connection to the Mob Museum and the story we tell here about Prohibition and the history of that time period.”
The museum started making the spirit from its Prohibition-themed basement speakeasy, the Underground, in 2018.
“It’s a high-quality product,” Ullman said. “It actually tastes good, which is something that is, I think, surprising for people. They tend to associate moonshine with something that is not a refined product. That’s often the case, but our process isn’t like that.”
The original product has a buttery popcorn taste, Ullman said, but they also infuse it with cinnamon and other flavors in specialty cocktails served at The Underground.
Moonshine has seen a resurgence in recent years in pop culture, thanks in part to the popularity of the TV docudrama series called Moonshiners on the Discovery Channel.
The moonshining operation at the Mob Museum, however, is anything but backwoods.
Behind a glass wall in a room adjacent to the Underground’s main lounge area sits an orderly row of liquor-making equipment, including a custom-made moonshine still from a German company called CARL, which has been fabricating distillery equipment since 1869.
“We wanted to have something that looked consistent to what you might have found back in the 1920s,” Ullman said. “This is all ultramodern equipment, so it’s not the exact genuine article of what people were using back then, but it gives us that feel.”
From start to finish, the entire process to make a batch takes seven days, said distilling manager Everett James.
Previously only available at the museum, the liquor is now available at all 19 Lee’s locations. The 750-milliliter offering, which retails for $24.99, comes in an old-time canning jar. The smaller version is $4.99.
The museum’s distributor is Johnson Brothers of Nevada, a Las Vegas-based company.
“We are excited for the opportunity to help promote Las Vegas and its history,” said Kenny Lee, president of the discount liquor chain.
More than 1,000 gallons of moonshine have been distilled in the museum’s basement since April 2018. It has the capacity to bottle 250 of the 750-milliliter jars every week.
“We’ve started talking about having a night shift,” Ullman said. “From the mash to the fermentation to the distilling, we’re doing it all, including bottling on-site to make sure we’re consistent with our proof. Certainly, we’re going to be interested in seeing how we might be able to grow this.”
Ullman is hoping to get the product into local bars and restaurants.
“We believe in this product,” Ullman said. “Getting it off-site is a big step. It’s also a way to enhance our brand and help push people down to the Mob Museum, where we tell the story of Prohibition, which is so important. This is history, science and culture all in one.”