Granny Fee
Payoff money a moonshiner slipped to the law so the still stayed standing.
Also called granny fee.
Updated September 24, 2026
Granny Fee pronunciation
/GRAN-ee fee/
Meaning
A granny fee is the bribe or protection money paid by whiskey makers to local cops or deputies. You paid it so nobody busted your cooker or confiscated a load on the road. Folks still hear it in stories about Blue Ridge and Franklin County moonshine days, usually with a dry shrug about how the county got its cut.
How folks use it
- “He quit runnin' mash after the granny fee got bigger than what the whiskey was bringin' in.”
- “They left the granny fee under the rock by the creek, and the deputy never found that still.”
Origin and etymology
Best documented in Franklin County, Virginia, during the late 1920s and early 1930s moonshine conspiracy. Still operators paid local officers a set cut (often cited around $25 a still and $10 a whiskey load) to look the other way. Old-timers said the name borrowed from a mountain "granny" midwife's fee for delivering a baby: the still was the new baby, and the granny fee was what it cost to keep that baby safe.
Frequently asked questions
Does granny fee mean grandmother?
No. It is about money paid for protection in the moonshine trade, not a nickname for your grandma.