‘Sweet hooch Alabama’: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s infamous Hell House inspires whiskey
The spirit of Lynyrd Skynyrd lives – in a new whiskey called Hell House, named for the “nasty little shack” where “Free Bird,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and the band’s other rock classics were forged.
The ramshackle cabin in Jacksonville, Fla., served as the home base for the band’s original members — Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, and Allen Collins – as they began their journey to rock immortality.
It was at Hell House that Van Zant crafted the lyrics for the band’s 1973 debut album, “Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd,” which featured “Gimme Three Steps,” “Simple Man,” “Tuesday’s Gone,” and the band’s signature hit “Free Bird.”
It was also at Hell House that band members would stand guard through the night after someone broke in and stole their music equipment, Van Zant’s younger brother, Johnny, told Side Dish in
“It was just a nasty little shack,” said Van Zant, whose sibling Ronnie was killed in the tragic plane crash that claimed two more band members and three others in 1977 – and silenced Lynyrd Skynyrd for a decade.
“It was red, and it looked like a hell house. We’d either sweat or freeze our butts off. There was no air-conditioning, no running water, and no heat.”
The band was forced to move their rehearsals to the waterfront shack about 20 miles from their homes after police kept breaking up their practices because they were too loud.
“It had just an old couch that my brother Ronnie sat on,” recalled Van Zant, who was 17 when his brother died at age 29. “They had their amps there and there were crummy curtains.”
But the shack did come with one amenity — a dock.
“Ronnie would leave the guys while they were rehearsing and go out on the dock to go fishing and write lyrics,” his brother said. “And all these great songs were written there.”
There were also some horses that “the guys would also go out and ride.”
Today, Hell House no longer exists. It was bulldozed to make way for a gated community. After developers tore it down, Van Zant kept some of the foundation.
The hallowed grounds have become a sort of Graceland-esque pilgrimage site for Lynyrd Skynyrd’s loyal fans — though it’s now a gentrified, upscale area vastly different from the days when “Sweet Home Alabama” poured out the cabin’s cracked windows.
Ronnie Van Zant wrote the beloved Southern rock anthem as a rebuttal to Canadian singer Neil Young after he railed against the region’s Jim Crow past in his 1970 hit “Southern Man.”
Van Zant’s lyric, “I hope Neil Young will remember. A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow” set off a long-running feud between the bands.
But Johnny Van Zant told Side Dish the lyric was “just a joke” and that his brother “loved Neil Young.”
“I don’t think there was ever a real problem,” Van Zant said. “It was a joke. Let’s poke at him a little bit. What does Neil Young know about Alabama? He’s from Canada.”
Van Zant said the brothers listened to Young’s music. Johnny has attended his concerts but never met him — and would love to perform with him one day.
Johnny Van Zant picked up his brother’s role — but not Ronnie’s trademark rattlesnake-banded “High Roller” hat — in fronting the re-formed Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987. He said Hell House whiskey is the perfect way to pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the band’s seminal album.
He heads the still-touring Lynyrd Skynyrd with Rickey Medlocke, who is also part of Hell House Whiskey.
“We’ve consumed quite a bit of whiskey, and we’ve bought just about every whiskey out there, and tried them all while on tour over the years,” said Van Zant. “We joked that one day we should try to make our own, but it never happened.”
Then Bespoken Spirits, a California craft whiskey maker, approached them with an offer too good to refuse.
“They came to us and told us that we could be part of the process and taste it and make it our own, so we did,” Van Zant said.
As for choosing what to call their quintessential American whiskey, Van Zant said it was a no-brainer.
“We went through all these names, and it was right in front of us,” he said.
Bottles of the hooch cost $49.99 and can be purchased online at hellhousewhiskey.com.
“Hell House Whiskey captures the essence of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s indomitable spirit, and through our expertise and innovative techniques, we have crafted a whiskey that is as bold, timeless, and unforgettable as their music,” said Bespoken CEO Peter Iglesias after its launch last week.
