Spirits-Neeley_Sum19_Ed-final.e$S_Road Trip_Cinci.qxd 5/30/19 12:43 AM Page 14
LIQUIDS | bourbon
BY STEVE AKLEY | PHOTOS COURTESY OF NEELEY FAMILY DISTILLERY
In 1906 on a fateful August day in Owsley County, Kentucky, 14-year-old Leonard Neeley stood behind a tree with a gun in his hand just outside the home of moonshiner Robert Allen. Leonard’s older brother, McKinley, had told him he would flush Robert out of the back of the cabin by entering through the front. If McKinley wasn't able to get a clean shot at him as he came through the interior of the house, it would be Leonard’s job to shoot Robert as he came out the back door. 14 Summer 2019 www.foodanddine.com
ust a week earlier in Owsley County, tensions between two moonshining families — the Allens and Neeleys — had led to a gun battle that would leave the head of the Neeley family, Jess, dead. He was killed by the head of the Allen family, Robert. The gun battle also took the life of an Allen family member and injured eight others between the two clans. Not long after Robert’s arrest, a mob of Neeley family members gathered outside with plans to rush the courthouse where he was held and deliver their own brand of justice. This prompted authorities to transfer Allen under a heavy escort of federal troops to a more secure facility. McKinley had gotten word that Robert had made bail and was planning on going home to pick up some personal effects before going into hiding as he awaited trial. The boys knew they would have to take care of this by themselves before he disappeared if they were going to get the justice they sought for their father. Leonard, behind the tree with the gun held at his side, heard glass breaking as McKinley broke through the front door.There was yelling and commotion but no gunshot. Suddenly, the back door
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flung open, and Leonard jumped out from behind the tree, face-to-face with a surprised Robert…
Meet Royce Neeley
I could literally feel the hairs on the back of my neck rising as Royce Neeley, the 27-year-old owner of Neeley Family Distillery, stood in the front room of his distillery by a case that contained the guns, artifacts and newspaper articles from the story he was telling me. A 14-year-old boy standing by himself in the woods, waiting with a gun for the man who killed his father? This isn’t real life; this is the kind of story reserved for the movies or TV shows like The Sopranos. I could tell as he paused between sentences Royce wasn’t bragging, but he wasn’t embarrassed either. He was simply telling me the story of his family. It was evident from the passion in retelling this event, even though he wasn’t involved in a gunfight which occurred over 100 years prior, it was his story. It was the story of the Neeley family and making whiskey and everything that goes with it. It has become his own personal history. When we think of whiskey and how the history of it ties to U.S. history, two families are often in the mix: the Samuels and the Beams. Makers Continued on page 17