Greg Eidam, II
Greg Eidam was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He grew up with a curious and sharp mind, a love for adventure, sports, and physical activity. After moving around the country a bit, Greg’s intelligence and attention to detail enabled him to graduate from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Civil Engineering. While a student at UT, Greg joined the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and soon developed a deep friendship with a fraternity brother named Ned Vickers. After graduating from college, Ned pursued his passion and became an entrepreneur, whereas Greg took his Civil Engineering degree and applied his vocation in the engineering field. Within a few years, Greg grew tired of the outsourcing of engineering and yearned to pursue other career passions, such as brewing beer and distillation of spirits. He began to brew beer with a home-brewing kit with friends in his garage.
A new opportunity for whiskey production and sales developed within the state of Tennessee in 2009, when state law was passed that permitted counties to approve the distillation of spirits. Under this new law, each county in the state could elect to opt in or opt out and either permit distillation or not as they saw fit. Sevier County’s decision opened the door of opportunity for Greg and his reunited business partner, Ned Vickers, along with others, to work through the many layers of Federal, State, county, and municipal government bureaucracy to get permission to establish a new distillery on land that they had acquired in Gatlinburg. The new distillery was to be called Sugarlands.
Greg and his business partners first set about distilling and producing legal moonshine spirits of different flavors and types, incorporating modern-day science with old-time moonshining traditions learned from local shiners and legends. Greg’s team did its homework, meeting with several moonshiners to develop a knowledge and understanding of what went into distilling and producing quality moonshine spirits. Greg also enrolled at Moonshine University in Louisville, Kentucky, where he took classes on distillation, barreling, storing, monitoring, and blending of spirits.
Soon, as Master Distiller, Eidam was crafting and producing his “Prohibition Shine” in a sugar wash method. He developed a clear spirit, a flavored spirit, and a unique “Rye-shine” spirit made from 100% rye grain. Greg labeled his Rye-shine, “Jim Tom’s” after a legendary moonshiner, Marvin “Jim Tom” Hedrick.
Besides building Sugarlands Distillery from a foundation of various moonshine spirits (“Sippin’ Whiskeys”), Greg and his team crafted a pot-distilled Straight Rye Whiskey called “Roaming Man”. “Roaming Man” is named after Wiley Oakley, who was the “Roamin’ Man of the Mountains” and also a local wilderness guide, as well as a storyteller on radio stations across America. Oakley was also instrumental in the creation of the Smoky Mountain National Park.
Through Greg’s elaborate attention to detail and his focus on documenting everything he and his distillery team do, Greg’s team has evolved Sugarlands Distillery into a destination known to be producing one of the more complex crafted whiskeys on the market today.
Through Eidam’s conversations with moonshiners, distillers, as well as his education at Moonshine University, here are but a few of the features Greg and his team now implement at Sugarlands Distillery that help him produce award-winning spirits:
Using White Corn for distillation instead of Yellow Corn—Several moonshiners whom Greg spoke with told him that “White corn was for whiskey and yellow corn was for critters.”
The meticulous development and selection of a yeast strain for his distillery and a special, seven-day fermentation process.
Development of a now-longstanding relationship with a trusted cooperage for the production of barrels that meet the exacting standards that Sugarlands has established over the years.
A complex and very detailed process of using a variety of seven different barrel entry proofs, ranging from 90-proof to 125-proof.
Aging barreled whiskeys for an average of six years.
Meticulous blending of the aged barrels, each having different levels of char.
These closely followed, time-proven processes result in a product that Greg exemplifies as one of his defining principles of distilling and aging his whiskeys: “The whole is GREATER THAN the sum of its parts”.
With a bright, enterprising, passionate Master Distiller such as Greg Eidam, II, who discharges his work in distillation in a creative, meticulous, and detailed manner, one can be confident that Sugarlands will be a survivor, and Greg Eidam a legendary star in the whiskey industry for years to come.
Greg is married to his wife, Jennifer, and the two still call East Tennessee home.
Contributed by: Todd Rust, Durham, North Carolina
with support from M. J. (Michael) Jacobs, Tennessee Whiskey Section Editor, Smyrna, Tennessee
