Jon Gruden gives a shoutout to the Tennessee Vols while enjoying a long-forbidden guilty pleasure of the Volunteer State on social media
Tennessee has been long known for a lot of things, but football and moonshine are two of their products that have stood the test of time and have made a name for the Volunteer State. Two of those things came together through former Tennessee Vols graduate assistant and Super Bowl winning head coach Jon Gruden. […]
Tennessee has been long known for a lot of things, but football and moonshine are two of their products that have stood the test of time and have made a name for the Volunteer State.
Two of those things came together through former Tennessee Vols graduate assistant and Super Bowl winning head coach Jon Gruden. Gruden, who now works for Barstool Sports, put up a post on Twitter/X where he's supposedly trying out a jar of Tennessee moonshine provided by his neighbor.
"This is real Tennessee moonshine. I've never been this nervous in my life," Gruden said while twisting off the lid. "I could start my car with this stuff," he added after taking a whiff.
But for Gruden, who met his wife Cindy while he was working at Tennessee in the mid-1980s, the taste appeared to pleasantly surprise the former NFL coach.
"Wow, pretty good. Pretty dang smooth, man. Go Vols. I love this stuff, man."
Moonshine liquor is no secret, particularly on gamedays in Knoxville and through other parts of the Carolinas and Appalachian Mountain region. It's long been an illegal home brew concocted outside the long arm of the law, but a change in Tennessee law in 2009 authorized commercial production. Since, it's become more mainstream and more widely produced and distributed in recent years through distilleries such as Ole Smoky and Tennessee Shine Company, among others.
Now, it appears that one of the Vols' most recognizable former members of its coaching ranks is joining the popular beverage's long list of fans.
