Our Story – Who are Powdermen Spirits?
The name “Powdermen” refers to the plural of a blaster, explosives engineer, or miner – who are known individually as a “Powderman”. The entire name of Powdermen Spirits is symbolic – Each one of our bottles is representative of the spirits of those individuals who contributed to Frank Lucca’s dream of owning & operating a distillery – Ed Walter, Ted Wilkinson, Tom Treleaven, Tom Gelormino, Charlie Simmons, Eduardo Nixon, Luis Vargas, Dave Dannenberger, Larry Wardrip, & Charlie Gray – just to name a few!
Having grown up in the mining & explosives industry, Frank has never been too far away from distillation, as the history of mining is deeply intertwined with spirits. The old-school Powdermen, having to work with nitroglycerin and other unstable explosives, usually drank heavily to calm their nerves! Powdermen and miners from around the world who came to the USA, all brought their own version of at-home, distilled spirits. Over the years, mining and moonshining have remained close – working around the world, Frank was frequently exposed to miners making their own spirits, and took an interest in doing it himself.
The “Kick-in-the-you-know-what” for Frank to start the distillery came from Retired US Special Forces Operator, and fellow Powderman, Charlie Gray. Frank worked with Charlie during his time at the USDA, and is who taught Frank the specifics of how to make what we would call “Moonshine”, or Unaged Corn Whiskey, in the backwoods of North Carolina.
One day, on one of their many phone calls, Charlie convinced Frank to buy a still and leave it in his living room as a constant reminder to follow through on the desire to start a distillery – and the rest is history. Charlie, who passed away Jan 28, 2016, is one of those Powdermen near and dear to Frank Lucca & his son Vince a piece of whose legacy are in every bottle we produce.
The father/son duo of Frank and Vince aim to build a business that shares a small piece of the rich history of the Powdermen from around the world and the distilled spirits they drank, and especially honor those Powdermen who are no longer with us today.
The Powdermen We Honor
