There was once a Tennessee whiskey that dwarfed Jack Daniel's, and a powerful man was behind it: V.E. "Manny" Shwab. Until now, virtually nothing has been written about either. Their story is one of a Jewish Alsatian immigrant's dream of finding community and prosperity in the New world; of smuggling during the Civil War; of the raging, sometimes fatal, battle against Prohibition; and of the wild side of rapidly growing Nashville during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

"Manny" Shwab was a Tennessean known as the "owner" of Tennessee politics, and--because of his George Dickel company, saloons, and Cascade Whisky--the "debaucherer of more young men than anyone else in the state." He was also one of Tennesee's richest and most powerful men for four decades. This is the first full-length biography of V. E. Shwab, written by his great-grandson, and also the first complete history of the George Dickel company.