By Mike Ellis
The Anderson Independent-Mail
ANDERSON, S.C. — A small explosion and fire around noon Thursday at a legal moonshine distillery in downtown Anderson sent gallons and gallons of spirits flowing into the streets.
One woman had a minor scratch to her left knee and was treated with a bandage, but there were no other injuries, said Brian Black, battalion chief with the Anderson City Fire Department.
A still inside the two-story brick building downtown ruptured, sending the alcohol down to the heat source and causing a flash fire that led to an explosion that shot off the top of the still, Black said.
Palmetto Moonshine is the first legal moonshine distillery in the state, licensed in January 2011. It opened downtown earlier this year and has already expanded with a retail store in Pendleton.
The company responded with humor and said in online postings that it had reopened by Thursday afternoon.
“The moonshine industry has exploded in popularity over the past few years, and our shine’s so good it’s on fire ... at least it was for a few minutes earlier this afternoon,” Palmetto Moonshine wrote in a post to the company’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon.
The post says that the fire happened when a cap on the still popped off, which the posting said it has probably happened to anyone with moonshine experience.
The company follows strict safety procedures, the post said, and the cleanup is “nothing a broom and a mop can’t handle.”
There was little visible damage inside the building. There were a few tears in screen netting around the still and the biggest section of the copper still was missing its top.
Employees used brooms to push a thin layer of spilled 105-proof corn whiskey out of the building into drains outside on Benson Street.
The city fire department is only a few blocks away and Black said the explosion and small fire were essentially contained by the time firefighters arrived.
Palmetto Moonshine owners declined to comment.
Garvin Gibson, owner of Ge’Monte’s Headquarters Barber Shop, said he did not hear any explosion but heard the commotion of the fire trucks.
“I hope it doesn’t hurt the business too bad,” Gibson said. “Those are some good guys, fantastic neighbors, and I’d hate anything bad to happen from this.”
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