By Greg Jordan, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
LERONA, W.Va. — A Mercer County resident who demonstrated his distilling skills last year when he competed against other moonshiner makers and won will soon see his face on bottles of a product he created.
In early March 2020, Dustin Croy of Lerona competed on the Discovery Channel show “Moonshiners: Master Distiller” in an episode titled “Rum Conundrum.” After advancing in the show’s rounds against other skilled distillers, the signature recipe he had put so much work into perfecting, Cowboy’s Banana Rum, won the competition. He had worked a long time to create it.
“Experimenting,” Croy replied when asked how he developed Cowboy’s Banana Rum. “I’ve tried a lot of different flavors and combinations over the years. That one really went together. It really combined and turned out excellent. So when they called me and asked me to do a rum episode, I thought it would be an excellent time to let them taste this.”
For winning on “Moonshiners: Master Distiller,” Croy will see his Cowboy’s Banana Rum go on sale at the Sugarlands Distilling Company in Gatlinburg, Tenn. Croy plans to be on hand to see his rum reach the store’s shelves…
