MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- White lightning is a Southern tradition, but it was probably country music star Hank Williams Jr. who put Alabama’s moonshine on the map.

His honky-tonking jam “White Lightnin'” from 1979 boasting about the caliber of Pike County’s white lightning still keeps the hooch flowing to bars even outside the Yellowhammer State, according to the agents tasked with busting illegal hooch makers.

The high-octane spirit is receiving even more attention lately as the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board’s new Moonshine Task Force has seized 447.5 gallons of ‘shine since its October 2013 formation. Its illegal street value: $13,425.

The three-man team busted 15 stills totaling 204 barrels in Lowndes, Bullock, Barbour, Macon, Russell, Coffee resulting in 15 criminal charges. These counties along with Pike are the hotbed for moonshine making in the state, but ABC agents say illegal liquor is made in every county.

And, moonshine accounts for big money for its makers.

Those 204 barrels contained 11,220 gallons of mash, which is capable of producing 1,428 gallons of moonshine a week. That has a street value of $42,840.

In a year, that would total $2.2 million.

Bullock County Sheriff Raymond “Buck” Rodgers called his county “the moonshine capital of the world,” saying many residents count on the operation to make ends meet.

“With the economy, it is the way they make a living,” he said, since his county has no manufacturing facilities.

Moonshining is traditional in Bullock County, Rodgers said, a fact he has known since birth. Most of the operations are located on hundreds of wooded acres right on the Pike and Bullock county line.

Many of Bullock County’s longstanding business owners got their start through money their families made through illegal moonshine operations, Rodgers said.

“They’re all hardworking people,” he said. “They just don’t have another way of making a living.”

ABC Agent Craig Shook agreed.

Moonshine distilling isn’t easy work. Many times shiners create their own stills by welding together two 55-gallon barrels or using old car parts.

Stills are often located in wooded terrain and fed by nearby ponds and creeks. Some even have garden hoses running to them.

Just as their ancestors did, today’s shiners use a process that takes about a week to turn grain, sugar, water and yeast into beer. From there, it takes a couple of hours to distill the watery beer into moonshine.

Agents say the high alcohol content from the distilling process and the dangers of lead poisoning and other contaminants are what make unregulated moonshine making illegal.

The Discovery Channel show “Moonshiners” sparked a renewed popularity of the business, agents say, even though none of the men featured on the show produce ‘shine in the Heart of Dixie.

Franklin County, Va. is actually considered the nation’s top producing area, according to the Franklin News-Post and other moonshine websites.

The curious, though, can purchase stills on the Internet and even download a recipe, but it’s the multi-generational makers that are the big producers.

“It is a certain breed,” Agent Geoffrey Owens said. “There are generations of people who stay in it.”

Their wares are sold right out of the still or trafficked to places like Atlanta, Mississippi and Jacksonville, Fla.

Rodgers said the word of his county’s moonshine spread when people moved to places like Detroit.

Agents said one Pike County maker they caught told them his ‘shine was transported to a Jacksonville, Fla., bar where shots were sold to college students while Williams’ tune “White Lightnin'” is playing.

Making a bust

Catching moonshiners isn’t an easy endeavor, either.

Agents walk hundreds of miles a week through national parks and other wooded areas. Sometimes they receive tips from residents and law enforcement agencies. Other times they are just going on a hunch.

They are even less likely to make an arrest since makers have to be catch in possession of a still or hooch. Agents have to make the decision whether to watch a still for hours or even days or to just destroy it.

“It is time consuming,” Owens said of his work.

Over the years, though, these agents have gotten pretty good at their jobs.

“You can show us a picture of a still, and we can tell you what county it came from,” Owens said.

Rodgers said moonshiners aren’t likely to be ratted out.

“Only time you hear something about a moonshine still is if they have made someone mad,” he said.

Rodgers remembers a particular occasion, though.

“It is funny,” he said. “I got a call at 2 o’clock one morning with a man saying ‘I can tell you where a liquor still is.’ ”

The man was angry because the maker wouldn’t sell him a 50-cent shot.

Stills destroyed by Moonshine Task Force since October 2013 formation

October 23 Collereen Community, Lowndes County 10 barrels

November 19 Rocky Mount, Barbour County 5 barrels

November 21 Tallassee, Macon County 20 barrels

December 10 Hurtsboro, Russell County 45 barrels

December 11 Elba (Curtis Community), Coffee County 18 barrels

December 18 Collereen Community, Lowndes County 15 barrels

January 7 Rocky Mount, Barbour County 4 barrels

January 9 Jack, Coffee County 1 barrel

January 10 Tyler, Lowndes County 11 barrels

March 3 Hurtsboro, Russell County 8 barrels

March 7 Midway, Bullock County 5 barrels

March 14 Collereen Community, Lowndes County 8 barrels

April 8 Collereen Community, Lowndes County 19 barrels

April 8 Collereen Community, Lowndes County 15 barrels

April 17 Tyler, Lowndes County 10 barrels