Cosby, Tennessee -
Moonshine Bar, but no more Moonshine

I'm afraid to say the moonshine bar is no longer! After searching for the street (which is now labeled, by the way), I drove 2 miles up the road to a two-tone blue trailer. They were closed, but while peeking in the window, a lady opened the door for me. I explained how R.A. led me to the place and asked about the moonshine. She said the guy who made the moonshine had died about 2 years earlier, and the homemade booze had gone with him. Now it's just a restaurant. Kind of interesting, though, because the ceiling is decorated with thousands of old, yellowing business cards put up with tacks. But the moonshine is a thing of the past! [Christine L. Tuohy, 12/06/2005]

[RA: Spetember 2006: Tipster Don Jankiewicz sent us a news account that the establishment had been raided by authorities for sale of alcohol other than beer.]

We found an honest-to-goodness moonshine bar right here in the hills. Located on Dark Hollow Road (unmarked) in Cosby, TN (a decades-old moonshine town), Fort Marx specializes in homemade beer and spirits. You'd never know the place is a public establishment because it's housed in two ramshackle double-wide trailers that rest uneasily against a thrown-together wood building. There's a tiny, scrawled sign in the window that reads Fort Marx.

Anyway, the bar is run by an old German couple; the wife makes an awesome sausage and potatoes dish. The beer tastes like apples (incredible) and the moonshine, flavored like banana, hazelnut, and a bunch of others....well let's just say you never know til it hits you! Take-home mason jars filled with moonshine and cherries or pears are available for 20 bucks, but I highly recommend the sit-down experience. Local flavor at this place is amazing, very backwoods! [S., 03/27/1998]