This story first appeared in Carolina Journal By John Trump “The day the music died.” I thought about that song a lot last year. The music didn’t die then, exactly, but rather faded like that final guitar riff, the one before the band waves and turns its collective back on the crowd, who stay hoping…
Supply chain snags and ABC system disrupt private liquor business
This story originally appeared in Carolina Journal. Ollie Mulligan, this week from an airport somewhere in the Northeast, talked about his upcoming flight home, about returning to his native Ireland, to County Kildare. He thought aloud about the bright, rolling green fields. Of horses, and of Guinness. Mulligan, turning the conversation, started talking about his…
Let there be music: Club owners, promoters, and performers ready to go live
By John Trump Mason Via of Danbury is having a lot of fun. “So much fun,” Via, who had just boarded a bus for Florida, tells Carolina Journal. “It’s great. It’s killer.” Via, in his early 20s and a wildly talented string musician, has accomplished so much already. So much to be thankful for. Now,…
Distiller’s battle with monopolistic ABC system turns toward online sales
By John Trump Jonathan Blitz makes and sells whiskey. He and his team make the whiskey in Durham, at Mystic Farm & Distillery. They sell the whiskey from the distillery, and in state-controlled Alcoholic Beverage Control stores. But they can’t sell it online, per Chapter 18B of the N.C. General Statutes. Blitz, like most N.C. distillers,…
Bill forcing schools to serve Muscadine juice should die on the vine
By John Trump A bill filed in the House last month is meant to encourage healthy eating in schools, particularly healthy food grown or produced in North Carolina. Thing is, this bill does nothing of the sort. The measure, House Bill 136, promotes Muscadine grape juice in public schools and the state’s colleges and universities —…