The Powdermen Story

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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. 

The association of mining and spirits continued during the development of the United States. Often, train cars full of explosives being delivered to remote mining projects during the USA westward expansion would be followed (some from Simsbury, CT at Ensign Bickford!) by train cars full of alcohol to supply the miners. Appalachian coal miners were often also moonshiners. 

In Frank's own life, he learned how to distill spirits while traveling around the world as an explosives engineer and blaster where, frequently, mining crews would have their own stills at remote mining sites across Central and South America, where they were unable to source distilled spirits, so they had to make their own.

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, where they became fast friends. Charlie is who taught Frank the specifics of how to make what we would call "Moonshine", or Corn Whiskey, in the backwoods of North Carolina, and as their friendship became stronger, the two would frequently talk on the phone. One day, Charlie finally 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.