A New Brunswick distillery is paying tribute to one of Canada’s most notorious bootleggers.
“A.J. Violette was our most successful and prolific rum runner during the prohibition era,’ said Jeremiah Clark who owns Moonshine Creek Distillery in Hartland, N.B.
Back in the days of prohibition, alongside infamous American mobsters like Al Capone, New Brunswick’s very own Albenie J. Violette — aka Joe Walnut — of small town Saint Leonard was running cases of illegal rum out of the basement of the Brunswick hotel, said Mathieu Collin who is CFO of the distillery and friends with a defendant of the Violette family.
“That is how the rum was coming from Europe and smuggled through New Brunswick to across the nation and as well into the United States,” said Collin.
Collin said the kingpin of the Madawaska mob smuggled cases and cases of European booze that landed on the shores of Saint Pierre and Miquelon off the coast of P.E.I., making Saint Leonard an international hub in the North American illicit alcohol trade.
“At one time we were smuggling more alcohol into the U.S. than all the other provinces combined,” said Clark.
It’s a story Clark, who is the grandson of a bootlegger himself, said is seldom told. But the owner of Moonshine Creek is popping the cork on that piece of history by releasing a rum named in honour of Violette, along with a book of stories based on his life to be handed out with every bottle.
“We have always had a focus of making products that represent New Brunswick’s culture,” said Clark.
Of course he got the blessing of the former mob boss’ descendants before adding the family name to the bottle.
“It is part of our history so we should not be ashamed of. It was illegal and it is still illegal today, but it is part of our history so it’s good that it’s out there,” said family descendant Michel Violette, who still lives in Saint Leonard.
A.J. Violette rum is now available online and will make its way to legal liquor stores later this fall.
The booze named after the former rum runner is now legit.