For many years moonshining was an illegal activity according to the federal government, and still is, without the proper license.

For one area spirits distillery, moonshining is not only a legitimate business, but also an art form.

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Grand River Spirits of Carbondale is a craft distillery that has provided legally made spirits to the southern Illinois region for nearly five years. The distillery produces several types of alcohol including moonshine, which is un-aged corn whiskey, brandy, aged-whiskey and bourbon.

On Saturday morning, distillery workers as well as volunteers from the area worked diligently to bottle a new flavor of their classic “Red Eye” moonshine into 375- and 750-milililter jugs by hand. The workers were a part of what distillery co-owner Karen Binder called a new product launch of a cherry flavored moonshine called “Red Eye Cherry.”

Binder is one of three partners who own the craft distillery. She works with Ellen Schmulbach and Curtis Baird, both of Carbondale. The distillery began as a way to showcase southern Illinois’ resources. Almost every ingredient comes from the Little Egypt region, Binder said.

After completing some research on brandy production, which involves distilling wine, she stumbled on a unique opportunity to remain within the alcohol business while staying away from a common southern Illinois business plan.

“My background is mostly in the wine industry and the concept came about after thinking about what kind of business could I begin in southern Illinois that would compliment and support what we already have here,” Binder said. “The last thing we needed was another winery.”

Kyle Groves, a senior from Freeport studying art, works as a distiller at Grand River Spirits. Binder said his job is very labor intensive — it requires taking a lot of temperature readings on the various gauges located on the still. However, his job also includes using taste to determine the quality, she said.

“There is a lot of craft to it,” Binder said. “You can always look at time and temperature and know when certain things are going to happen, but the ultimate decision is the taste and the operator makes that decision. That’s where some of the hand-craftedness comes in.”

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Groves said the process of making the liquor begins with mixing corn flour and water into a boil kettle, which converts all the starches in the corn to sugar. From there they cool it down and add yeast.

Once the liquid is cooled it ferments for one to three weeks. It is then pumped into the still and goes through two distillations. The first run is called a “strip run,” during which all the possible alcohol is stripped from the corn mash. The second is called a “spirit run.” This run uses fractional distillation to make precise cuts to the alcohol, changing the taste to a clean and smooth product.

While in the still, the alcohol heats up and evaporates. As the vapor rises it reacts with the still’s copper plates and goes into what is called a snake, where the vapor condenses and is released in a liquid form.

Groves said the cuts are then judged by temperature and taste.

The liquor business is heavily regulated by the federal government, making it hard to receive a license, Binder said. Before a license is issued, the distillery and equipment must already be put in place, she said.

“There are endless forms and pieces of paper and background checks that you have to go through,” she said. “There is a lot of reporting. There is a minimum of three forms you have to fill out a month. Those don’t include the forms you have to fill out for your own business to keep track.”

Grand River Spirits recently won several awards. Their original Red Eye moonshine, an apple pie moonshine called Red Eye Pie and Grand River Baby Whiskey all won bronze medals at the American Craft Distillery Association’s national competition.

Ultimately, one of the most intriguing parts of running a distillery is the amount of experimentation involved in creating new spirits — most spirits Grand River makes are never made the exact same way again, Binder said.

“That’s the cool thing about this industry,” she said. “There is a lot of experimental type things, and once you capture that essence, sometimes it will never be captured again in the same way.”

Grand River Spirits offers free tours and tastings at the distillery. They ask people who are interested to book a tour through their Facebook page or their website www.grandriverspirits.com.

Kyle Sutton can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @KyleSutton_DE or at 536-3311 ext. 254.