The Good Bootlegger's Guild
Old Roy
“The Good Bootlegger’s Guild” annually celebrates the life and times of the Northwest’s Rumrunning King, Roy Olmstead. The Guild continues its groundbreaking research on Olmstead’s 1925 Thanksgiving Day arrest – known as the Woodmont Dock Raid. This dramatic middle-of-the-night showdown with federal prohibition agents is a cornerstone of the Olmstead bootlegging legend – and also may have unknowingly stopped the first (and last) shipment of “Glenoldroy,” allegedly Olmstead’s own private-labeled whiskey imported directly from Scotland. According to Guild founders, “we’ve collected circumstantial evidence that on that fateful night Roy Olmstead may have finally closed the missing loophole in his supply chain – reaching back into two distilleries in Scotland that mysteriously both went out of business just one year after Olmstead’s arrest.”
In Development
The Guild has also been retained as the historical consultant for a new motion picture in development with the filmmakers behind the locally-produced The Maury Island Incident. Screenwriter Steve Edmiston says, "we believe that Roy Olmstead’s story presents an amazing counterpoint to the violent reign of his contemporary, Al Capone. Our story is essentially Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid meets The Untouchables, and is just a stunning, all-true story, that starts with the spectacular 1925 Thanksgiving Day Woodmont Dock Raid, a little black book with missing pages, and reaches to the United States Supreme Court and President Roosevelt.”
Annual Celebration
The Annual Meeting of the Good Bootlegger’s Guild (a.k.a. “TGBG”) has become a summer highlight in the City of Des Moines, connecting residents, historians, whiskey lovers and vendors, politicians, and most recently, a crack scuba team that pulled a mysterious crate from the icy depths of Puget Sound (2017), a ghost boat from the past delivering a case of original Glenoldroy (2018), and a pair of prohibition cars finally returning the infamous “Woodmont Cut.” The Guild has also supported the dedication of a monument to the Woodmont Dock Raid.
A Really Big Show
Three sold out programs at Seattle’s legendary Smith Tower with the Rumrunner’s Club.
Featured on the Travel Channel’s “Legendary Locations.”
Keynoted for the Washington State Historical Museum’s Repeal Ball.
Featured at the Port Townsend Boat Festival.
Upcoming in 2020 at McMenamins throughout the Northwest.
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Olmstead's final arrest
Newspaper headlines - and already a differential in the number of cases recovered. Just 111? Reports are 240 cases were siezed. TGBG is committed to finding the rest.
"The Woodmont Cut."
In 2019 better-late-than-never appearance, a Packard finally delivers the traditional “cut” to the Woodmont community - the bootlegger’s cost of doing business.
Breaking Code
It was alleged that Elise Olmstead read children’s bedtime stories over the radio with embedded codes to the Puget Sound rum runners. In 2018, the Guild may have cracked the codes - and called this ghost boat from the past.
Four man scuba team rises!
In 2017, a crack underwater team emerges from the icy depths of Poverty Bay with a sealed crate bearing mysterious markings.
Found
Perhaps the first bottle of the mythological beast - Roy Olmstead's first, last, and lost shipment of Glenoldroy - recovered from the icy waters of Puget Sound since 1925.
A second discovery
A crate of Glenoldroy dropped by the ghost boat. Unbelievable? Sure. Gone (by auction) in 60 seconds.
Honoring Old Roy
Overlooking the Woodmont Dock ruins since 1925.
The Good Bootlegger’s Guild on Travel Channel’s Legendary Locations!
Smith Tower “Smells Like Seattle Spirit”
Three sell-out gigs at Smith Tower in 2019!
A label not seen in 90 years?
The perfect expression of better late than ever.