Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 10, Episode 15 - Another Man's Mash - full transcript
[man] This time
onMoonshiners...
Richard here,
he's very good with fruit.
These guys right here,
when it comes to the brandy,
it don't get no better.
[Richard] These guys are
making a strawberry brandy.
I love mixing things up.
This strawberry
needs a complement.
You ever thought about
mixing that with something?
No, not really.
At night,
she's ready to bloom.
But it's a hell of a day.
These damned old widowmakers
will bash a fellow's head.
Here she comes, boys.
*bleep*
[Tim] This is it,
right here.
[Howard] We're gonna make
a still out of that?
This is actually gonna
get me back to the 1600s.
Back then, George Thorpe
and the Native Americans,
they used some
kind of pottery.
[Howard]
This is right up my alley.
I took pottery in school.
If we can just shape it and
design it a little bit more
to make it into a still.
Don't you think it's gotta
be thicker than that?
[Howard] Yeah, obviously,
I talk a big game.
As a matter of fact, I think
I got an F in that class.
[man] This is how
we make the moonshine.
[Richard] How far are we
from the site, Tickle?
We've been walking forever.
I'll tell you what,
you let me know
when you spot it.
-Okay.
-All right?
[narrator]
In Franklin County, Virginia,
Tickle and the Laws invited
up-and-coming outlaw shiner,
Richard Landry,
to collaborate on a
late season run of brandy.
[Tickle] You got woods
like this in Louisiana?
Yeah, but we don't have
clean water like you guys.
We don't have
this natural spring.
Yeah, well, you know, that's
what makes Franklin County
the moonshine capital
of the world.
I'm bringing Richard Landry
up here to meet
Henry and Kenny.
I met Richard
a little while back
when we were filming
Master Distiller.
Richard...
you're the next
Master Distiller, my friend.
Congratulations, bro.
[Tickle] Well, it's this side.
It's just right down here.
[Richard] Tickle invited me
down for a couple of days.
He knows I have an interest
in brandies.
He said he has some guys
down here that do some
real good brandy.
Still site down here?
[Tickle] Yeah,
right down here.
[Richard] My family has been
in Louisiana forever.
I was born and raised.
My mom and dad,
their family as well.
I'm so glad that
I get the chance to be
able to show these guys
what's going on in Louisiana.
Well, here we are, Richard.
[Richard] Here we are, where?
Sure. What we have here,
it's a still site.
This is a still site?
Yes, sir,
this is a still site.
This a fishing hole, Tickle.
[Tickle] That's Henry
and Kenny.
This is my buddy Richard,
he's from Louisiana.
-What's up, Richard?
-[Tickle] He's a moonshiner.
So y'all make shine
down in Louisiana, huh?
[Richard] We sure do.
-Good shine?
-[Richard] Yes, sir.
I'll tell you what, Richard,
let's go and talk
to these boys.
Meet some good
old fellas right there.
Walking into someone
else's still site, I mean,
it's strange. I mean,
I know how I would feel
if someone walked into mine.
[man] How long have you
been fooling with liquor?
[Richard] I've been messing
with liquor ten years.
[man] Ten years?
I'm appreciative that they
were so receptive to me.
If I had known that
these gentlemen make
liquor on another scale...
[man] How do you like
this little set-up?
[Richard] Mmm,
now this is a still site.
I brought Richard here
'cause he's very good
with fruit.
These guys right here,
when it comes to the brandy,
it don't get no better.
So I heard.
He deals with brandies
and stuff
where he's at in Louisiana.
Figured we needed
to get everybody together.
We already got this mash down,
we got a little something here
-from old brandy,
strawberry brandy.
-Yeah.
These guys are making
a strawberry brandy.
I love mixing things up.
This strawberry
needs a complement.
You ever thought about
mixing that with something?
No, not really.
I deal with a loquat.
Lo-who?
Loquat, Japanese plum.
Uh-huh, Japanese.
Well, to be honest,
he's naming all stuff
we ain't never heard of,
much less know
what it even tastes like.
What else besides loquat?
Dragon fruit, litchi.
Litchi? You can get ten
if you go in that crate.
[Richard] No, this is a fruit.
I like blueberries,
blackberries.
We've never done
a double fruit mash before.
We've never mixed.
-First time for everything.
-[Henry laughs]
So we got to thinking,
maybe if we take
Louisiana
and Virginia
and put them together,
we might come up with us
a damn good brandies.
All right,
so what's the plan?
We're gonna try and find some?
Let's... let's find some.
[Tickle] I'm gonna
eat one more.
[Richard] I'm gonna take one,
too, they're pretty good.
Bustle them.
-We'll bag 'em up.
-Yeah, I know.
[Howard] Where do you
wanna set this at?
[Tim] All right, take it
in the shop there, Howard.
-[Howard] Just set
it on the floor?
-[Tim] Yeah.
[narrator]
In Culpeper, Virginia,
Tim and Howard
are trying to replicate
the first American
whiskey recipe,
developed 400 years ago
by George Thorpe.
Me and Howard wanted to learn
a little bit about the history
of George Thorpe.
We went to the
Berkeley Plantation.
George Thorpe is credited
with inventing
what we now call
American whiskey.
I want to replicate
what he did 400 years ago.
We learned about the recipe.
We picked out some
local Indian corn for free.
I ain't never seen no corn
that looked like that before
in my life.
And now we're gonna
try to shell it.
400 years ago, they
only had this Indian corn,
and they was making a whiskey.
I'm interested in what
did it taste like back then?
You know, as a distiller,
I want to go back
and I want to make it
as authentic as I can.
This is research here.
We don't even know
if we can make it or not.
And if it does come out,
then this could be a brand.
We can upscale it,
make it commercial, uh,
but we gotta start with
the authenticity of it first.
[Howard] Good God, man,
this is work right here, son.
-You ain't never shell
no corn before?
-No, man.
I've shucked corn before.
Ain't never shell no corn.
I mean, I was rubbing
my hands dry
trying to get this stuff
to pop off.
This corn is killing me.
My daddy used to have
these gloves you put on,
and they had metal,
like, hooks and claws
and stuff on it.
-You just strip it?
-Yeah, you just grab stuff,
just rip stuff up,
just turn it up, you know.
Well, you got any
of those now?
-No, I think they
outlawed them.
-Why?
'Cause people would go
to a bar fight with them on.
[Howard laughs]
You turn around like that,
and the next thing, their nose
was hooked onto it.
Oh, God!
And they come back again
and eat it back off 'em.
Next thing you know,
he's missing everything.
It's gone.
Back in my early days, too,
I used to get some corn
and used to shell it.
After a couple of years, it
starts working on your hands.
Not as easy as said as done.
[Howard] There's gotta
be a better way.
Well, there's a
corn sheller here somewhere.
Well, I wanna stay
as authentic as I can,
but it's gonna take us forever
to shell this corn off
by hand.
There's a sheller here.
I don't think
it's electric, though.
I think it's still manual.
Let's give it a look.
Let's go look around.
[Howard] I'm down.
An old coffee table
from the early '20s.
Chuck, you know, he was always
collecting stuff around.
This is an old cap
off the still,
that's 1933 right there.
He's actually got
a corn sheller.
Over here somewhere now,
I know.
You know it's his heirloom,
so they'll hand it down.
It is not like he went out
and bought it.
Right there, Howard.
[Howard] That's the sheller?
This thing?
[Tim] That's, like, the real
nice one right there.
That's the Cadillac of 'em?
You know,
looking at this machine,
it's probably back
from 1890, 1900.
-Put your hand down there.
-I'm not doing it.
That's why there's only
three finger holes there.
Somebody lost a pinkie.
It's a very unique design.
It's wood, metal,
it's got all these grinders
and gears in it.
Here we go, Howard.
A little in first.
Fire in the hole!
-There you go.
-Yeah!
Once we started
using this thing
and Tim was cranking
that handle,
I was chucking
ears of corn in it,
it was...
[imitating machine whirring]
I mean, it was like a machine.
It was a machine.
[Tim] There you go.
Hey, now we're peeling.
I'm gonna tell you
when them folks
came up with this invention
right here,
this was the downfall
of society right here.
I mean, this raised laziness.
Crank the thing, chuck an ear,
crank, chuck.
All day long, it was...
it was easy.
We went through
that box in no time.
This is the last of the corn.
We've got a six pack left.
I see the end.
I see the end in sight.
[Tim] Yeah.
And just like that,
we're done.
We took two days of work
and made it two hours.
That's what I'm talkin' about.
Hard to get them lids off
of 'em, sealed ain't it?
After about 2,000 of it,
ain't gonna be much fun,
is it?
[narrator]
In Cocke County, Tennessee,
one man's trash
is another man's mash.
After the test batch that we
did on the mandarin orange,
Digger and I decided,
you know,
yeah, we're going to use
the rest of the pallet of 'em.
This is a great deal for us.
I mean,
we got these oranges free,
so it'll make less
expensive liquor,
and honestly,
we feel that it's something
that we can sell,
so we're gonna mash in
on a larger scale.
There's one of a lot of jars.
[Mark] You know, we have
over 1,000 jars of
these mandarin oranges.
It wouldn't make
any sense at all
to try to carry all of
these jars into the woods
and mash 'em like that,
so we're here in the alleyway,
it's good and level,
we got what we need.
I believe
it's about all we need.
[Digger] I believe
you is true and correct.
Oh, yeah, it's gonna be more
than we wanna fool with.
Oh, hell, yeah.
Yeah, let's see if we can
get the truck over here.
You know, when we
tried to put this barrel
off of the trailer
that we'd already filled up,
it was obvious then
we should be filling them up
in the truck.
That ain't got far to go.
Now don't you... Don't hurt
yourself now, I'm telling you.
-[both grunt]
-God Almighty!
[grunts]
I think... You okay?
No, I ain't okay,
but we gotta get this done.
God Almighty.
You can hear something
that's about to sound like
Velcro turn,
you taste blood,
is that good or bad?
Uh, that ain't no *bleep*.
Leave it alone.
-I'm already hurt.
I ain't gonna hurt no worse.
-I might, it might.
Ain't no need to
making it worser.
[sighs]
You need to go to
the damn doctor
or chiropractor.
Doctor's ain't gonna
do nothing'.
-[Mark] Go see a Chiropractor.
-Chiropractor'll put you
in a wheelchair.
My back, I've had trouble
with it since the early '80s.
And it's... It rears its
ugly head occasionally,
and that's what
it's doing now.
Call old Daniel.
See if he's in town.
He might be
at the co-op this morning.
[line ringing]
[Daniel over phone]
What's going on, buddy?
[narrator] Coming up.
-[Tickle] What is it?
-[Richard] A Rambutan.
[Tickle]
Hey, that thing gonna bit you.
No, you bite it.
[Tickle] Richard does
one thing where he's from,
and we do a whole different
thing here in Virginia,
where me, Henry
and Kenny are from.
This is called a Jackfruit.
It's like an egg about to
hatch from another planet.
You need to go to
the damn doctor
or chiropractor.
Doctor's ain't gonna
do nothing'.
-[Mark] Go see a Chiropractor.
-Chiropractor'll put you
in a wheelchair.
Call old Daniel.
See if he's in town.
He might be
at the co-op this morning.
[line ringing]
[Daniel over phone]
What's going on, buddy?
Hello, Daniel.
What're you doing, my man?
[Daniel]
I'm just riding around.
What're you doing?
[Mark]
Well, we was tryin' to work,
but Digger has blown
his back out.
Are you so busy that
you can't come and...
and help me for just
a little while.
[Daniel] No, I sure ain't.
Where are you at?
The normal spot?
[Mark] Well, no, actually,
we're at Digger's building,
in the back alley.
[Daniel] I'll be...
I'll be there
in about ten minutes.
-All right, then.
Thank you, man.
-[Daniel] Yes, sir.
Daniel, you know,
whether he was doing something
that needed to be
doing or not,
he said he'd be glad
to come and help us,
you know, that's the kind of
fellar he is.
[Digger grunts]
Can you stand right there
on that trailer?
Yeah, you hand...
While I stand right here,
you hand them to me,
and I'll just open 'em up.
[Digger]
Daniel, he's there for us,
and he knows what it's like
when you're hurting.
He hurt his back last year,
and he understands that
you gotta baby it
a little bit for a while.
There's old Daniel Boone.
Good mornin', fellas.
You know that
it was about a year ago,
when I was in them same shoes.
When I went down
and my back was hurt,
Mike replaced me,
just like that.
What in the damn world
is wrong with you?
Wrestling around with them
logs and stuff,
my back's
not been right since.
You look like a damn vampire.
Damn bat or something.
I've got to
keep moving forward,
So I'm gonna have to get
somebody in here to help me
get the work finished.
-[Digger] Do you
trust me driving?
-[Mark] I do.
[country music playing]
[Mark] Watch yourself
here now, Daniel,
don't let that son of a gun
get away from you.
You don't need to loose
a nut there with that hammer.
Whoa. Whoa.
-[Daniel] Snuck out,
right there.
-Just right, ain't it?
[Daniel] Yeah.
I really like the idea of
doing this mandarin orange.
I mean,
it's something different.
Something that you don't do
around these parts too much,
you know, hell, I'm all in for
trying something new.
[Digger] It's gonna be about
three-twos, is what it'll
boil down to.
You need the PH at 5.2,
preferably.
I figure a good a handful
on this, that ought to
bring her down good.
[Mark] It's amazing
how little of it, it takes.
Now shake that
up a little bit,
just kind of slow.
[Mark] One of the things with
mashing in these
mandarin oranges,
Digger kept tinkering with it,
and he adjusted the pH
so to speak with baking soda
just simple as that.
look here at that beautiful
orange mash.
All right, boys, it's time to
put that yeast in there.
-Yes, sir.
-Lay it to it, brother.
I ain't gonna climb up
on that rascal.
[Daniel] You don't need to.
Been a long nice day.
Daniel, thank you, sir.
-Ain't no problem.
-Yeah we appreciate
you coming back.
Well, I'm just glad
to be here,
that way you didn't
hurt your back
no worse than it is.
[Mark] You think you can
walk out of here?
-[Digger] Well, do you
wanna carry me?
-[Mark] No.
[dramatic music playing]
They've got everything
in here.
-You sure about this place,
Richard?
-I'm sure.
[narrator]
In Franklin County, Virginia,
moonshine cultures unite,
when Louisiana shiner
Richard Landry
brings Bayou improvisation
to backwoods tradition.
-[man] Louisiana style
moonshine.
-[Richard] In Virginia.
[Tickle] When it comes to
making moonshine,
Richard does
one thing in Louisiana,
where he's from,
and we do
a whole different thing
here in Virginia.
where me, Henry
and Kenny are from.
-What is all this?
-[Richard] This is awesome.
What do you think
of that right there?
It's like an egg about to
hatch from another planet.
This is called a Jackfruit.
This is a real sweet fruit
right here.
Down in Louisiana,
there's a lot more
fruit based liquor.
It's because there's always
some kind of fruit growing,
as opposed to this area,
where it's a lot of
grain based liquors.
-What does it taste like,
Kenny?
-[Kenny] Bubble gum.
This is Dragon fruit.
Very sweet.
I can see that Richard's
really in his element here.
-[Richard] Tickle, what do you
think about this?
-[Tickle] What is it?
A Rambutan.
He's picking up fruits that
I've never seen in my life.
And he knows what they are.
He knows what they taste like.
[Richard] Very sweet.
Very pleasant.
That like one of them things
that come out of the ocean.
-Hey, that thing's
gonna bite you.
-No, you bite it.
-Looks like a grape
on the inside.
-Look at that.
Tickle was infatuated.
He loved these Rambutan.
-[Henry] Is it good?
-It's real good.
It really is.
See all these spines on 'em
and how pokey that is.
Could you imagine that
coming out of your but.
[all laughing]
[Tickle] This rambutan,
it was good.
But I don't know if that would
go with strawberries.
-Tickle, don't run.
-[Tickle] Uh-oh.
-What is it? Sugarcane?
-[Richard] This is Sugarcane.
This is pure sugar.
That right there, huh?
Ph, yes, sir. That's sweet.
[Richard] Down in Louisiana
we have Sugarcane
this is something
that I use often.
I mean, I would almost
take this and put this
into the mash.
-Wouldn't that be rum?
-Yes.
I can use Sugarcane
as a sugar source
without buying
a bunch of sugar
and throwing sugar in.
It's gonna give it
a little bit of
a different flavor.
So we've got strawberries,
right?
What do you think would
go good with it?
-Mangoes. The yellow mangoes.
-The yellow mangoes.
-[Henry] Soft.
-[Richard] I mean,
they're soft.
-They're real soft.
-[Tickle] It is, they are.
Yellow mangoes are smaller
than the other
varieties of mango.
A lot sweeter.
The red mangoes,
they're larger,
they give you more meat,
but the sweetness...
I look for sugar content.
A yellow mango gives you
more bang for your buck.
That would do real well
with that strawberry
we're gonna deal with.
Little bit of Sugarcane in
there to give it
a little twist.
Mango-strawberry-rum-brandy.
Flows right off the tongue.
Richard seems to think
that the flavor profiles
are gonna pair very well
with our strawberries,
so that's what we're gonna do.
-You take care of this?
-Did you pay for this?
No, I didn't pay for it.
Got no money with me.
Who's got my phone.
-Who's gonna pay for it?
-God almighty.
Thank you, sir.
[Howard] So,
what's the next step?
Next step, we've got to
like grind it up.
[Tim] We're trying to
grind this corn up,
gotta hammer, we're trying to
beat on it with the table,
[groans]
We're a big distillery,
and we've got
multiple grinders here,
but we're trying to stay
as authentic as we can.
This is gonna take forever,
right here, How.
But I mean, it may take
days to grind this
stuff up like this.
It ain't working too good.
Chuck's got a coffee grinder.
What if I go get that?
What difference does it make
we have an electric grinder
or a hammer?
We're just trying to get
the corn ground.
I don't think grinding
the corn with a machine,
or grinding the corn
with a rock,
is gonna make it
taste any difference.
Hey, How, I got the...
Coffee grinder.
Well I think it is.
And Chuck let you
borrow that jewel?
Well, I didn't tell him.
[laughs] Even better.
[Tim] All right, give me
some of that corn, man.
Give me some of this corn.
See, this is what
they were lacking, power.
[machine whirring]
[Howard] Holy smokes!
That's what
we were looking for.
Can't believe
we can make that work.
So this little
small coffee grinder,
this is ideal for this.
We got jumping in there.
Look at that.
Just gonna take
a little bit of time,
but, hey, we would never
get it done if we had
to do it by hand.
Looks like salt
and pepper there.
Look at that.
-Fine.
-All right, that's it, How.
Well, what do we got
next to do, buddy?
We gotta mash in.
So I got this little
wooden barrel over here.
Back in 1600s,
they had barrels.
So, we just
gotta take this out. [grunts]
There you go.
See, it didn't take--
I put a little flex on it.
That was all me.
That was all me.
That's you. That's you.
We're gonna still stay
as authentic as we can.
We're just gonna put
simply water and the corn,
we're not gonna add
any other grains to it other
than the mix of Indian corn.
The fruits of our labor
right here, old buddy.
We'll find out.
Can I recreate what actually
was the recipe they put
in that pot back in 1600s?
Making sure, can we get
the right taste profile
and make this
one special batch.
There's no sugar.
There's no nothing, really.
It's just corn mill and yeast
and let her eat.
Oh, she working on
in there now, son.
Like a milkshake.
Another thing,
you're not warming it up, man.
-You gotta work it
a little bit harder.
-Yeah.
Because this right here,
that stuff gets to the bottom
like cement.
Back in 1600s,
they just put it in there
and let it ferment.
It takes a little bit longer
to activate then?
Yeah, it may take ten days.
I just gotta keep working.
If we add a little heat
to this barrel.
Heat the barrel?
It'll be on fire.
-Yeah.
-That's wood.
We got water in it.
Howard, you're talking
to a fireman.
-You can't put a fire
under a wood barrel.
-[laughs]
It don't work.
You'd burn it down.
I think you're good.
What does it taste like?
It don't taste bad.
It tastes like oatmeal.
Yeah? Well, let's see.
Mmm-hmm. I think it's already
starting to work.
Mmm-hmm. Now we gotta
figure out how we gonna
build a still.
Yeah, all right.
Let's cover it up, How.
All right.
[Howard] That's it, buddy.
On to the next phase.
Holy moly,
I'm losing weight out here.
[Tim] I don't know about that.
About done with strawberries.
You know that's gonna
turn out nice.
Strawberry, that's pretty
common one for us.
But, yellow mangoes,
now this is something
we have never tried before.
Is this a seed
or some sort of corn in here?
It's both of what
you just said. A seed pod.
-I cook everything.
-It smell good.
That's really good.
But you know what? Once I give
this yellow mango a try,
I'm immediately a big fan.
And also,
when we're mashing in,
looks a lot like peach.
[Richard] You know I'm getting
this good smell right now.
I mean, I'm just smelling
a perfect complement.
[Henry] Gonna take
this ice cold water.
We're not gonna need much,
'cause it's such a small run.
Being here in Virginia,
and being in Louisiana,
two totally different things.
Like just
the water sources here.
The abundance of water
that they have here.
How beautiful it is.
That's better water
than you gettin' out
of your faucet in most places.
We got 10,000 springs
in the state of Virginia.
-10,000?
-10,000.
I don't wanna leave here ever.
How did you become
a moonshiner, man?
How'd you learn the trade?
Family?
I don't have
anybody in my family.
I had a grandfather
that made wine. But, uh...
Distillation is a whole
lot different, ain't it?
Whole lot different.
I don't know really anybody
that does what I do.
You ever done much cooking
at the still site?
Oh, yes. Gumbo. I kill
a rabbit in a heartbeat.
Squirrel, yeah.
That's what gumbo is.
Everything that you could
possibly get, throw it in.
-I'm a big fan of cooking
at the still site.
-You have to be.
-[Henry] Damn that looks good.
Don't it?
-Yeah.
It ought to ferment nicely.
-What about that sugarcane?
-I'll show you what we do
with this right here.
We boil this with the skin on.
Get everything out.
It'll start to loosen up
the sugars in it.
Richard starts
breaking it down into chunks.
Throw 'em over in there.
I'm really excited
about using this
and seeing how it turns out.
-[Richard]
Oh, that looks good.
-Gimme some of that mango.
[Henry] Yes. That's what
we're looking for.
I'm taking this mango,
the strawberries, go ahead
and sticking it in there.
[Tickle] Get all that goodness
out of that bucket.
Pour some in here.
We take that sugarcane,
get that poured in.
All right, Tickle, I guess
we're ready for some sugar.
That's real sweet.
You sure you wanna put
some more sugar in there?
I always like to add
a little sugar to ours.
It brings that flavor out.
Throw a bit of sugar in,
we're dissolving it
like we normally do.
Trying to show Richard
this is the ways we do it.
We'll let it sit a minute,
get it broken down real well
before we pour it in there.
Yeast can work with that
easier than it can work
with anything else.
-Could do.
-That smells good.
All right.
Hot damn, boys.
Oh, that goes
really good together.
Now the magic's
about to happen.
Some special blend,
just for brandies.
So this is a proprietary yeast
you use just for brandy?
[Henry] Yeah, we got
a combination blend of yeast.
Stir that away, Kenny.
[Richard] I can smell it. Man!
Coming here to Virginia
and bringing some
Louisiana with me,
I mean, I think this is gonna
be a real good outcome,
the way we mixed this together
and put some Louisiana love
and some Virginia love
into it.
Gonna seeing it
in just a few days.
-Baby'll be good.
-Get on out of here.
[Tim] All right, Howard, look.
It's not a pot
like you think is a pot.
-What?
-Yeah.
[Tim] I wanna go
400 years back,
and I wanna recreate the ways
that they made alcohol.
And it just came to me,
I know exactly what I need.
This is it right here.
We're gonna make a still
out of that.
-We're gonna make a still
out of that?
-Yeah, let's put it in here.
I mean, I know you don't see
the vision right now as I see.
I see plants
growing out of it.
I don't understand
how this thing works.
It's being misused, see?
This thing is a clay pot.
It's gonna get us
back to 1600s.
Grab the thing, How.
You gonna carry
the whole thing?
I got you, old buddy,
you grab that.
-You get there then.
-Yeah.
This pot is actually made
to burn wood in it,
but it's been
sitting there for years
no one's actually used it,
and someone
has planted flowers in it.
And this is actually gonna
get me back to 1600s.
Back then, George Thorpe
and the Native Americans,
they used
some kind of pottery,
You know, we got the clay pot.
If we can just shape it and
design it a little bit more,
we can make it into a still.
Well, now we gotta
stuff this up.
This is the only hole
we gonna have.
-So how we stuffing this up?
-Well, I got some clay.
And you ever played with clay,
made stuff? Pots and stuff?
-I took pottery in school.
-I know I got you
for a good reason.
Now this is my time to shine.
This is right up my alley
right here, Tim.
I feel like
I'm in sixth grade again, man.
I had this teacher
named Miss Roe.
There was nothing
I couldn't make.
Cups, bowls, plates.
You name it, I made it.
[Tim] Looks like it's gotta be
thicker than that.
Oh, I'll make it
thicker than that.
Don't worry.
I'm just getting...
I'm forming it now
and then I'll add
a little more meat to it.
I don't know how much thicker
we need to get it.
It's gotta be thick, man.
It can't be like that.
I don't know what
he was making, like mud pie
or play dough or something.
I don't know
what he was making,
'cause we got a big hole
And this thing
is gotta be able to hold
some pressure here.
You know, obviously,
I talk of big game.
Matter of fact, I think I got
an F in that class.
I think what we can do
is keep, keep doing it
like that.
-Oh, I see what you doin'.
-After a while,
the hole is gonna get smaller.
That's why I'm here,
I'm up here to learn,
not take control of anything,
obviously, I don't know what
the hell I'm doing.
He was just right here,
making his famous pie.
Maybe the first time
this been done since 1600.
No wonder you wanted
to go back to 1620,
you got back to your roots.
Yeah.
I went together
a hell lot faster
than I thought it would.
You're a modern day
Demi Moore.
from Ghost,old buddy,
he's working that clay,
starting to look like a brain,
this is the brain of
the operations right here.
I think the clay will do
a good job,
I mean it's supposed
to withstand the heat,
we just need to form this cap
and make a condenser for it.
Put the mash in it
and cook it.
All right, so next thing
we got to put a cap on it.
-[laughs] Hubcap?
-Yeah.
It fits like a glove.
We'll use this as a mold,
so we're gonna make
a clay top.
Somebody's gonna come in
and say, "What in
the world is that?"
[Howard chuckles]
[Tim] This is the brain
that goes on that brain
over there.
[Howard laughs] This is
the brain to the brain.
[Tim] Well, hell, I think what
we ought to do
is leave this to dry it,
and, uh, start on that trough.
The condenser is not
the regular copper coil worm.
It's just a straight pipe
laying in like a trough.
This goes in here.
You know, at this point,
I think that we've got
about everything
we need to work with.
We built a wood trough
that's gonna be at an angle.
Insert.
We've got that straight pipe
just like looking at
the picture.
They had a pot and they had
a straight pipe
with a trough around it,
where we can add
some water.
So this is going to give us
a lot of time
for this alcohol to condense.
If that don't get no more
primitive than that
crooked son of a gun,
I don't know what does.
We're as authentic as
we can be here.
I mean we got
the ceramic pot.
We've got a straight
copper pipe.
No worm, no doubler,
no nothing,
this is the original
right here,
this is 400 years ago,
if there's ever one
400 years ago.
Soon as that cap
gets done drying,
the mask gets done firming.
All we gotta do is
put it together,
put some heat under it,
put some water in it.
Looks just like George Thorpe
would've done it.
Yes, sir. let's go get
something to eat.
-Thank God.
-Over there.
-Bean time.
-Get some poop time.
[Mark] I'll tell you
something, boys,
that mash, she's ready to run,
but it's a hell of a day.
These damned old widowmakers
will bash a fellow's head.
[narrator] In the backwoods of
Cocke County, Tennessee,
after multiple test mashes
and a small scale run.
[coughs]
It's got some
damn alcohol in it.
Mark, Daniel and Digger
are ready to take
their mandarin orange shine
to primetime.
Looks like Tang.
Yeah.
You know, I like a grain based
mash, uh, fruit base
is not as sturdy,
you don't have the time
to kill with it.
When it's ready,
it's got to be run,
your window of opportunity
is very small.
We were supposed to have
bad weather coming in
this evening.
[Digger] Normally we'd
just call it a day,
but we really need to
get this done,
get this mandarin orange,
we don't know how well
it'll hold up.
Here she comes, boys.
*bleep*
That one was a popper.
It gives.
It's blowing the top side
of 'em.
It doesn't take a very
big limb to hit you
to hurt you really bad
or kill you,
when you hear one fallin',
you don't know
where it's coming from.
Lay it to you.
And it's a whistlin',
ain't it?
Yeah.
Oh, look,
here she comes again.
[wind blowing]
-Which way you gonna run?
-I don't know.
I need to know, so
we don't run into each other
and then get both of us
get killed, ain't no sense
in two for one.
You know, this is
the worst weather
that I've seen here
in a long time, I mean,
the winds whipping around,
knocking the trees every
which way.
Look, right over there,
that our vase.
One of our test buckets
we put our liquor in
and the winds blown it
all the way across
the creek over there.
We got to be on our toes,
we got to worry about
catching the woods on fire,
we got to worry about
cooling the cap off,
condensing our liquor,
before it makes it
over the keg.
I mean, there's a number
of worries on a day
like today.
Boys, that temperature is
a changin'.
-It's getting colder.
-That ain't a good sign.
I mean, normally
we may be gone already,
but I think we need
to hedge our bet
and just see if we can
get it done,
it might go plumb around.
In East Tennessee,
the old saying is,
"If you don't
like the weather,
stick around about 15 minutes,
it'll change."
I don't think
I can sing till I'm drunk.
How about me and dancing?
More moves in you
than a whole bottle of Ex-Lax.
Well, like I told you, son,
that dancing just runs
in the Swayze family.
Hey, Hattie, don't believe
that rain went around us.
-It didn't, did it?
-When it starts raining,
there's no way possible
to finish this run
because all that water
be hitting the cape
and the cap
and it'll be condensing
the alcohol right
straight back down
in the pot.
Boys, we got to skedaddle.
Sometimes, it just
ain't meant to be, is it?
[Mark] You know,
we really hope that
we'd have got this run in.
It's not raining hard
right now,
but we can see it
coming yonder.
We'll be grounded by the time
we get out of here.
We're just gonna
shut everything down.
I'm gonna go turn
the generator out.
We're very concerned
about the stability
of our mash at this point,
this being
a fruit based mash,
it will go bad really fast.
-Let's go, boys.
-[Digger] By tomorrow,
it could turn out to be
really bad,
but, you know,
we don't have any choice.
Damn it.
I got the mash, man.
It's definitely got
a different color to it.
It's definitely
a different color.
It's got a few gnats and bugs
and stuff.
-That's just protein.
-That's when you
know it's good
-when the bugs
are getting in there.
-Oh, they're drunk, too, boy.
This night's the big night.
We're about to
put the proof to concept
that this 400 year old recipe
is going to actually work.
-Slowly.
-We just got to add
the mash to the pot
and fire this thing up
and see what we can do.
So...
like that.
-Bam!
-Bam!
-All right, How.
-Now it just comes
to your clay master skills.
Okay.
[Tim] We've tried
to recreate the still
as best that we can
from the primitive style.
And I'm looking at, well,
they probably didn't use
rapid pace back then,
they mixed up some clay
with some water
and they probably
just kept piling it on
so silt could catch
that vapor.
Will this work?
-I mean--
-Dum, dum, dum...
This is gonna be
something special.
This is like something
from another planet.
I mean, at the end of the day,
it's gonna be awesome though
to taste something
from 400 years ago, man.
Where was your sixth
grandfather from, huh?
Well, according to
my DNA,
I'm Scottish
and Welsh, old buddy.
-What'd you do? Send it
in on the Internet?
-Yes. [laughs]
I send it on the Internet,
I did the whole
Internet thing.
You have submitted your DNA
and paid them to take it,
they're tracking
your tail now.
[Howie] It's all right,
I ain't got nothin' to hide.
Let me put a little bit
on this one, man,
you into
making, like, pancakes.
I don't know what
you want...
You know what you should be?
You should be a pizza maker.
-[laughs]
-If you got a big, ol' pizza,
you'd be flipping up
in the air, doin' like this.
Well, you know what I mean.
I'm working on backup plan
in case this moonshine
don't work out, man,
I can always get
into the pizza business,
You know what,
I'm really glad you came.
I've enjoyed
every minute of this.
[Tim] Yeah, get that
fire going, How.
[Howard] Let me get
the little rake here
and build her up a little bit,
here, fluff her.
[Tim] I'm gonna sit down.
That's what I'm gonna do.
Once you start the firing,
you kind of have
committed yourself
to making alcohol.
Wait, sit, fingers crossed.
Hopefully it's gonna hold
together, nothing's
gonna blow up,
we'll make an alcohol,
1600s style.
The old brain's starting
to smoke.
Well, maybe, it's about time
to shift that condenser,
it need some water in it.
Hey,
that's really boiling, How.
I can hear it.
-You can hear it bubbling?
-Mmm-hmm.
I can hear it, bubbling
inside the still,
so I know it's getting ready
to produce alcohol,
so it's time to go ahead
and add some water
to that condenser,
-Like that.
-Uh-huh.
That way it's gonna cool it,
it's gonna make some alcohol.
Look at that, see that?
The alcohol is right there,
I feel it 'cause
you can't hold it.
-it's so hot.
-[laughs]
Look, look, look, Howard.
-Look, look, look.
-[Howard] I see it!
[Tim] Man, we're back in 1620.
-[laughs]
-Here we go, Howard,
here we go.
Holy *bleep*,
this is gonna work.
-[laughs]
-Pour some drops.
[laughs]
Four hundred year recipe
back, baby.
[Tim] There's some vapor
coming out the end,
I actually can smell it,
we're gonna add some water
for this alcohol to condense,
and then it actually starts
running,
and this alcohol,
this is no joke.
We got the condenser
just right,
got the fire just right,
all this is just right.
This is like history,
we proved the concept
will work.
This is a very special.
Tim, this is awesome,
old buddy.
Thank you for letting me
be a part of this.
-This is the coolest thing...
-Nobody will believe
this will work.
-We're gonna throw this away.
-Oh, my Lord.
Get rid of that,
-put that.
-[Howard] Right after
we tossed the heads,
we got the alcohol
in its entirety.
[Tim] Look at that bridge
on that thing!
[Howard] That thing's
a little bit warm.
30-40 Proof, Tim, look at it.
-[Tim] This bottle's
got 80 proof.
-[laughs] I think so.
It's got a good
nice bead on it.
I mean I'm looking at
80 to 90 proof alcohol,
that's no joke.
First sip of 400 years ago.
It's different,
but it's so smooth though.
They never had tasted
anything like that.
Ooh, it's good,
I mean it's smooth,
that's a drink from
the past there, old buddy.
It's got the craziest smell
and the taste of it
is real earthy, it's like
nothing I've ever tasted
in my life,
it's almost like
a beautiful mud pie.
Four hundred year old liquor.
This is just incredible,
you know, the sky's the limit,
we could upscale this thing,
make it commercial,
make a brand and we can
sell it on the market.
We made 1620 right here today.
Look at yonder,
that's a whole lot of rocks.
-Look at this, How.
-That's looks like
an old knife.
-I'm gonna bleed.
-Well, you know,
they had the Civil Wars
fought right here
between these
two banks right here.
-Really?
-Yeah.
This is Cedar Run Creek,
Battle of Cedar Mountain
right over there.
I mean, this could be,
like, part of history.
Is that neat or what?
Back in prison, you could have
used that, can you?
[Howie] I could have got
a little meal out
of that deal.
-I'd have got
all the groceries.
-[both chuckle]
Man, I want to keep that, man.
[Mark] It's a nice day,
no wind.
We had
a little rain delay yesterday
and unfortunately
it's not like a ball game,
you don't get a few hours
to see if it's gonna clear up,
so we're coming back today
to finish up run
we started yesterday
for this mandarin
orange liquor.
We'll get to it.
We've only been gone
18 hours,
we hope sincerely,
that our mash yields
a good product.
[laughs] I love that sound,
don't you?
You know, we could look
at this mash all day long
and not know what's going on,
the only way to find out
what the brandy is going
to do is run it and taste it
when it tampers down.
Now, boys, I'm gonna go
over here and guard
the whiskey barrels.
[Mark] You take a load off.
Yeah,
we'll take it from here.
[Digger]
Back's still a hurtin'.
If we hadn't brought
Daniel in,
we'd be really in
a bad shape right now.
Hattie, boy, I got
a packer,
but I ain't real proud of it,
I'm gonna turn it over to you.
[both chuckle]
Oh, oh, look,
there you come,
little dripper.
-There we go.
-Couldn't you find
-a dirtier jar?
-Well, I'm just gonna
catch some heads.
Daniel, get a little hold
for that,
see what you think
you smell.
Well, it transferred.
It ain't worth a damn,
we keep telling people
the more orange juice
you put with it the better.
[all laughing]
I like it.
That's pretty funny.
That's enough.
It's the moment of truth,
we're going to decide
and know instantly here
whether we've made something
really drinkable or something
that needs poured out.
Maybe the moonshine gods
are smiling on us today.
-That's pretty and clear.
-That does look good,
don't it?
Yeah.
-Mandarin orange liquor.
-Yeah.
See what you think about it.
That's gonna be hard to beat.
I'm gonna tell you,
we're setup to make
some damn good money
-on this liquor.
-Boy, I hope so,
we ain't got hardly nothin'
in at the time.
It is mandarin orange
front to back, got a lot
of orange note to it.
I think I'm way into the back
ends right there,
taste of that
and see if it is,
I'm gonna cut the fire,
'cause if we don't run
in that tub, it'll cloud
our liquor up.
See if you think
I ain't pretty deep
in the back ends right there.
Yeah, It's beginning
to get better.
Let's shut that son
of a bitch out,
-You want to?
-Yeah, cut her,
kill that part.
You know, I'll bet it took
two days to get this
under a belt,
it was a good one and who's
to say to heat that mash up,
let it run a little
bit further,
it might have had
a little more sugar to offer.
All in all, we got
41-42 gallons probably
out of old, big sloppy.
Oh, *bleep*.
Oh, poor Mark.
That's bad, I know
how you felt.
Yeah.
-I reckon it's time
to run this, right, Richard?
-Can't wait to taste this.
Right.
[Henry] We got the strawberry
mango mash in a few days ago
and I'm hoping
it's gonna turn out right.
-Let's see what we got.
-Look at that.
Mmm-hmm.
-All right.
-It's bitter.
-She's ready.
-Let's fire this baby up.
Mmm, goodness, yes.
[Richard] As long as I've been
knowing about alcohol,
I've known about
Franklin County,
the people that I live up
to right now
are actually showing me
how they've done it,
how they learned about it.
I'm more than pleased
to be able to partake in this.
See now, Richard,
at 145 degrees,
that methanol is coming off,
all of it is coming out
of our still before
we can cap it.
-No throwing heads off
in the run.
-Right.
Like, by leaving
the cap off,
these guys get
the methanol out,
just the little things
that these guys do
that they've been through
trial and error with
is amazing.
Richard, do you ever use
rye for your paste?
I never use rye,
but just add a little bit
of water,
the still gets
you good and hot.
-The steam hits it.
-It's hot as a rock,
will not let it leak.
I know Richard is
a good moonshiner,
but now I can just
see him almost like
a sponge
just soaking every little bit
of knowledge up that he can.
It's getting a little warmer.
There we go.
That's a nice looking steam,
I tell you.
When this run starts
to come out,
first thing I want to
do is taste it.
It's a little bit hotter now.
When that liquor first starts
coming out,
I don't like to give it
a taste test,
let the white portion
run through it
just a little bit,
then you start getting
your true taste from it.
Mm-hmm, you got
a little bead on that.
-Yes, sir.
-Thank Richard.
You be the first shot at it.
-Oh, that's good, oh,
I'll take the second try too.
-[chuckles]
This is an awesome drink.
What do you think of that?
That mango comes
through there real good.
I tell you what, this is
some good, smooth liquor.
I can taste the mango
on your front
-and your strawberry...
-Strawberry on the back.
-Mm-hmm.
-Front and back.
Haven't heard it.
Only front side and back side
and your side side,
all I know is is "Damn."
[all] Mango on your front,
strawberry on your back.
-Mango on the front.
-[all] Strawberry on
your back.
Tastes so good, I'm ready.
I ain't know that.
I know Richard's
got his own thing going on
down in Louisiana,
but I sure wouldn't mind
if he came up here
and run liquor
with us all the time.
I'll drink to that.
[Richard] I so enjoyed
this opportunity.
I was nervous that
it wasn't gonna go right,
but for these guys
to see that, "Hey, look,
he knows
what he's talking about."
It's a good product.
That means the world to me.
-Here's your... jar.
-Mm-hmm.
-And here's mine,
-We'll see y'all back
at the house,
-I'm going with Henry.
-[laughs]
[narrator] Next time
onMoonshiners...
[Mark] That's kind of
like lemonade.
[Digger] More like
embalming fluid.
I've got a chiller,
if everything goes right,
it's gonna chill our condenser
down below
what we can get out
of Creek water.
At this large, this thing
could be a life saver.
It grills up already,
we ain't coolin'.
Oh, hell.
Be on the lookout,
we got some right here.
Manglier is a an herb
that has been passed down
through the Creole culture
for years
and it has healing properties,
we'll have
a Manglier tea moonshine.
All these people
going into gym,
spending all that money,
all you gotta do
is be a moonshiner.
-[chuckles]
-Whoa.
-Oh, yeah.
-Oh, I smell it from here.
[man] Wow.
This place is killer.
What do you think about
letting me set some stills up
down here?
Sounds good.
Well, we're gonna move
our still site tonight.
We're gonna be doing
a dirt ride up under
everybody's noses.
Josh, I don't like
this, brother.
-Hey, what are you guys doing?
-Who are you?
This is my building.
onMoonshiners...
Richard here,
he's very good with fruit.
These guys right here,
when it comes to the brandy,
it don't get no better.
[Richard] These guys are
making a strawberry brandy.
I love mixing things up.
This strawberry
needs a complement.
You ever thought about
mixing that with something?
No, not really.
At night,
she's ready to bloom.
But it's a hell of a day.
These damned old widowmakers
will bash a fellow's head.
Here she comes, boys.
*bleep*
[Tim] This is it,
right here.
[Howard] We're gonna make
a still out of that?
This is actually gonna
get me back to the 1600s.
Back then, George Thorpe
and the Native Americans,
they used some
kind of pottery.
[Howard]
This is right up my alley.
I took pottery in school.
If we can just shape it and
design it a little bit more
to make it into a still.
Don't you think it's gotta
be thicker than that?
[Howard] Yeah, obviously,
I talk a big game.
As a matter of fact, I think
I got an F in that class.
[man] This is how
we make the moonshine.
[Richard] How far are we
from the site, Tickle?
We've been walking forever.
I'll tell you what,
you let me know
when you spot it.
-Okay.
-All right?
[narrator]
In Franklin County, Virginia,
Tickle and the Laws invited
up-and-coming outlaw shiner,
Richard Landry,
to collaborate on a
late season run of brandy.
[Tickle] You got woods
like this in Louisiana?
Yeah, but we don't have
clean water like you guys.
We don't have
this natural spring.
Yeah, well, you know, that's
what makes Franklin County
the moonshine capital
of the world.
I'm bringing Richard Landry
up here to meet
Henry and Kenny.
I met Richard
a little while back
when we were filming
Master Distiller.
Richard...
you're the next
Master Distiller, my friend.
Congratulations, bro.
[Tickle] Well, it's this side.
It's just right down here.
[Richard] Tickle invited me
down for a couple of days.
He knows I have an interest
in brandies.
He said he has some guys
down here that do some
real good brandy.
Still site down here?
[Tickle] Yeah,
right down here.
[Richard] My family has been
in Louisiana forever.
I was born and raised.
My mom and dad,
their family as well.
I'm so glad that
I get the chance to be
able to show these guys
what's going on in Louisiana.
Well, here we are, Richard.
[Richard] Here we are, where?
Sure. What we have here,
it's a still site.
This is a still site?
Yes, sir,
this is a still site.
This a fishing hole, Tickle.
[Tickle] That's Henry
and Kenny.
This is my buddy Richard,
he's from Louisiana.
-What's up, Richard?
-[Tickle] He's a moonshiner.
So y'all make shine
down in Louisiana, huh?
[Richard] We sure do.
-Good shine?
-[Richard] Yes, sir.
I'll tell you what, Richard,
let's go and talk
to these boys.
Meet some good
old fellas right there.
Walking into someone
else's still site, I mean,
it's strange. I mean,
I know how I would feel
if someone walked into mine.
[man] How long have you
been fooling with liquor?
[Richard] I've been messing
with liquor ten years.
[man] Ten years?
I'm appreciative that they
were so receptive to me.
If I had known that
these gentlemen make
liquor on another scale...
[man] How do you like
this little set-up?
[Richard] Mmm,
now this is a still site.
I brought Richard here
'cause he's very good
with fruit.
These guys right here,
when it comes to the brandy,
it don't get no better.
So I heard.
He deals with brandies
and stuff
where he's at in Louisiana.
Figured we needed
to get everybody together.
We already got this mash down,
we got a little something here
-from old brandy,
strawberry brandy.
-Yeah.
These guys are making
a strawberry brandy.
I love mixing things up.
This strawberry
needs a complement.
You ever thought about
mixing that with something?
No, not really.
I deal with a loquat.
Lo-who?
Loquat, Japanese plum.
Uh-huh, Japanese.
Well, to be honest,
he's naming all stuff
we ain't never heard of,
much less know
what it even tastes like.
What else besides loquat?
Dragon fruit, litchi.
Litchi? You can get ten
if you go in that crate.
[Richard] No, this is a fruit.
I like blueberries,
blackberries.
We've never done
a double fruit mash before.
We've never mixed.
-First time for everything.
-[Henry laughs]
So we got to thinking,
maybe if we take
Louisiana
and Virginia
and put them together,
we might come up with us
a damn good brandies.
All right,
so what's the plan?
We're gonna try and find some?
Let's... let's find some.
[Tickle] I'm gonna
eat one more.
[Richard] I'm gonna take one,
too, they're pretty good.
Bustle them.
-We'll bag 'em up.
-Yeah, I know.
[Howard] Where do you
wanna set this at?
[Tim] All right, take it
in the shop there, Howard.
-[Howard] Just set
it on the floor?
-[Tim] Yeah.
[narrator]
In Culpeper, Virginia,
Tim and Howard
are trying to replicate
the first American
whiskey recipe,
developed 400 years ago
by George Thorpe.
Me and Howard wanted to learn
a little bit about the history
of George Thorpe.
We went to the
Berkeley Plantation.
George Thorpe is credited
with inventing
what we now call
American whiskey.
I want to replicate
what he did 400 years ago.
We learned about the recipe.
We picked out some
local Indian corn for free.
I ain't never seen no corn
that looked like that before
in my life.
And now we're gonna
try to shell it.
400 years ago, they
only had this Indian corn,
and they was making a whiskey.
I'm interested in what
did it taste like back then?
You know, as a distiller,
I want to go back
and I want to make it
as authentic as I can.
This is research here.
We don't even know
if we can make it or not.
And if it does come out,
then this could be a brand.
We can upscale it,
make it commercial, uh,
but we gotta start with
the authenticity of it first.
[Howard] Good God, man,
this is work right here, son.
-You ain't never shell
no corn before?
-No, man.
I've shucked corn before.
Ain't never shell no corn.
I mean, I was rubbing
my hands dry
trying to get this stuff
to pop off.
This corn is killing me.
My daddy used to have
these gloves you put on,
and they had metal,
like, hooks and claws
and stuff on it.
-You just strip it?
-Yeah, you just grab stuff,
just rip stuff up,
just turn it up, you know.
Well, you got any
of those now?
-No, I think they
outlawed them.
-Why?
'Cause people would go
to a bar fight with them on.
[Howard laughs]
You turn around like that,
and the next thing, their nose
was hooked onto it.
Oh, God!
And they come back again
and eat it back off 'em.
Next thing you know,
he's missing everything.
It's gone.
Back in my early days, too,
I used to get some corn
and used to shell it.
After a couple of years, it
starts working on your hands.
Not as easy as said as done.
[Howard] There's gotta
be a better way.
Well, there's a
corn sheller here somewhere.
Well, I wanna stay
as authentic as I can,
but it's gonna take us forever
to shell this corn off
by hand.
There's a sheller here.
I don't think
it's electric, though.
I think it's still manual.
Let's give it a look.
Let's go look around.
[Howard] I'm down.
An old coffee table
from the early '20s.
Chuck, you know, he was always
collecting stuff around.
This is an old cap
off the still,
that's 1933 right there.
He's actually got
a corn sheller.
Over here somewhere now,
I know.
You know it's his heirloom,
so they'll hand it down.
It is not like he went out
and bought it.
Right there, Howard.
[Howard] That's the sheller?
This thing?
[Tim] That's, like, the real
nice one right there.
That's the Cadillac of 'em?
You know,
looking at this machine,
it's probably back
from 1890, 1900.
-Put your hand down there.
-I'm not doing it.
That's why there's only
three finger holes there.
Somebody lost a pinkie.
It's a very unique design.
It's wood, metal,
it's got all these grinders
and gears in it.
Here we go, Howard.
A little in first.
Fire in the hole!
-There you go.
-Yeah!
Once we started
using this thing
and Tim was cranking
that handle,
I was chucking
ears of corn in it,
it was...
[imitating machine whirring]
I mean, it was like a machine.
It was a machine.
[Tim] There you go.
Hey, now we're peeling.
I'm gonna tell you
when them folks
came up with this invention
right here,
this was the downfall
of society right here.
I mean, this raised laziness.
Crank the thing, chuck an ear,
crank, chuck.
All day long, it was...
it was easy.
We went through
that box in no time.
This is the last of the corn.
We've got a six pack left.
I see the end.
I see the end in sight.
[Tim] Yeah.
And just like that,
we're done.
We took two days of work
and made it two hours.
That's what I'm talkin' about.
Hard to get them lids off
of 'em, sealed ain't it?
After about 2,000 of it,
ain't gonna be much fun,
is it?
[narrator]
In Cocke County, Tennessee,
one man's trash
is another man's mash.
After the test batch that we
did on the mandarin orange,
Digger and I decided,
you know,
yeah, we're going to use
the rest of the pallet of 'em.
This is a great deal for us.
I mean,
we got these oranges free,
so it'll make less
expensive liquor,
and honestly,
we feel that it's something
that we can sell,
so we're gonna mash in
on a larger scale.
There's one of a lot of jars.
[Mark] You know, we have
over 1,000 jars of
these mandarin oranges.
It wouldn't make
any sense at all
to try to carry all of
these jars into the woods
and mash 'em like that,
so we're here in the alleyway,
it's good and level,
we got what we need.
I believe
it's about all we need.
[Digger] I believe
you is true and correct.
Oh, yeah, it's gonna be more
than we wanna fool with.
Oh, hell, yeah.
Yeah, let's see if we can
get the truck over here.
You know, when we
tried to put this barrel
off of the trailer
that we'd already filled up,
it was obvious then
we should be filling them up
in the truck.
That ain't got far to go.
Now don't you... Don't hurt
yourself now, I'm telling you.
-[both grunt]
-God Almighty!
[grunts]
I think... You okay?
No, I ain't okay,
but we gotta get this done.
God Almighty.
You can hear something
that's about to sound like
Velcro turn,
you taste blood,
is that good or bad?
Uh, that ain't no *bleep*.
Leave it alone.
-I'm already hurt.
I ain't gonna hurt no worse.
-I might, it might.
Ain't no need to
making it worser.
[sighs]
You need to go to
the damn doctor
or chiropractor.
Doctor's ain't gonna
do nothing'.
-[Mark] Go see a Chiropractor.
-Chiropractor'll put you
in a wheelchair.
My back, I've had trouble
with it since the early '80s.
And it's... It rears its
ugly head occasionally,
and that's what
it's doing now.
Call old Daniel.
See if he's in town.
He might be
at the co-op this morning.
[line ringing]
[Daniel over phone]
What's going on, buddy?
[narrator] Coming up.
-[Tickle] What is it?
-[Richard] A Rambutan.
[Tickle]
Hey, that thing gonna bit you.
No, you bite it.
[Tickle] Richard does
one thing where he's from,
and we do a whole different
thing here in Virginia,
where me, Henry
and Kenny are from.
This is called a Jackfruit.
It's like an egg about to
hatch from another planet.
You need to go to
the damn doctor
or chiropractor.
Doctor's ain't gonna
do nothing'.
-[Mark] Go see a Chiropractor.
-Chiropractor'll put you
in a wheelchair.
Call old Daniel.
See if he's in town.
He might be
at the co-op this morning.
[line ringing]
[Daniel over phone]
What's going on, buddy?
Hello, Daniel.
What're you doing, my man?
[Daniel]
I'm just riding around.
What're you doing?
[Mark]
Well, we was tryin' to work,
but Digger has blown
his back out.
Are you so busy that
you can't come and...
and help me for just
a little while.
[Daniel] No, I sure ain't.
Where are you at?
The normal spot?
[Mark] Well, no, actually,
we're at Digger's building,
in the back alley.
[Daniel] I'll be...
I'll be there
in about ten minutes.
-All right, then.
Thank you, man.
-[Daniel] Yes, sir.
Daniel, you know,
whether he was doing something
that needed to be
doing or not,
he said he'd be glad
to come and help us,
you know, that's the kind of
fellar he is.
[Digger grunts]
Can you stand right there
on that trailer?
Yeah, you hand...
While I stand right here,
you hand them to me,
and I'll just open 'em up.
[Digger]
Daniel, he's there for us,
and he knows what it's like
when you're hurting.
He hurt his back last year,
and he understands that
you gotta baby it
a little bit for a while.
There's old Daniel Boone.
Good mornin', fellas.
You know that
it was about a year ago,
when I was in them same shoes.
When I went down
and my back was hurt,
Mike replaced me,
just like that.
What in the damn world
is wrong with you?
Wrestling around with them
logs and stuff,
my back's
not been right since.
You look like a damn vampire.
Damn bat or something.
I've got to
keep moving forward,
So I'm gonna have to get
somebody in here to help me
get the work finished.
-[Digger] Do you
trust me driving?
-[Mark] I do.
[country music playing]
[Mark] Watch yourself
here now, Daniel,
don't let that son of a gun
get away from you.
You don't need to loose
a nut there with that hammer.
Whoa. Whoa.
-[Daniel] Snuck out,
right there.
-Just right, ain't it?
[Daniel] Yeah.
I really like the idea of
doing this mandarin orange.
I mean,
it's something different.
Something that you don't do
around these parts too much,
you know, hell, I'm all in for
trying something new.
[Digger] It's gonna be about
three-twos, is what it'll
boil down to.
You need the PH at 5.2,
preferably.
I figure a good a handful
on this, that ought to
bring her down good.
[Mark] It's amazing
how little of it, it takes.
Now shake that
up a little bit,
just kind of slow.
[Mark] One of the things with
mashing in these
mandarin oranges,
Digger kept tinkering with it,
and he adjusted the pH
so to speak with baking soda
just simple as that.
look here at that beautiful
orange mash.
All right, boys, it's time to
put that yeast in there.
-Yes, sir.
-Lay it to it, brother.
I ain't gonna climb up
on that rascal.
[Daniel] You don't need to.
Been a long nice day.
Daniel, thank you, sir.
-Ain't no problem.
-Yeah we appreciate
you coming back.
Well, I'm just glad
to be here,
that way you didn't
hurt your back
no worse than it is.
[Mark] You think you can
walk out of here?
-[Digger] Well, do you
wanna carry me?
-[Mark] No.
[dramatic music playing]
They've got everything
in here.
-You sure about this place,
Richard?
-I'm sure.
[narrator]
In Franklin County, Virginia,
moonshine cultures unite,
when Louisiana shiner
Richard Landry
brings Bayou improvisation
to backwoods tradition.
-[man] Louisiana style
moonshine.
-[Richard] In Virginia.
[Tickle] When it comes to
making moonshine,
Richard does
one thing in Louisiana,
where he's from,
and we do
a whole different thing
here in Virginia.
where me, Henry
and Kenny are from.
-What is all this?
-[Richard] This is awesome.
What do you think
of that right there?
It's like an egg about to
hatch from another planet.
This is called a Jackfruit.
This is a real sweet fruit
right here.
Down in Louisiana,
there's a lot more
fruit based liquor.
It's because there's always
some kind of fruit growing,
as opposed to this area,
where it's a lot of
grain based liquors.
-What does it taste like,
Kenny?
-[Kenny] Bubble gum.
This is Dragon fruit.
Very sweet.
I can see that Richard's
really in his element here.
-[Richard] Tickle, what do you
think about this?
-[Tickle] What is it?
A Rambutan.
He's picking up fruits that
I've never seen in my life.
And he knows what they are.
He knows what they taste like.
[Richard] Very sweet.
Very pleasant.
That like one of them things
that come out of the ocean.
-Hey, that thing's
gonna bite you.
-No, you bite it.
-Looks like a grape
on the inside.
-Look at that.
Tickle was infatuated.
He loved these Rambutan.
-[Henry] Is it good?
-It's real good.
It really is.
See all these spines on 'em
and how pokey that is.
Could you imagine that
coming out of your but.
[all laughing]
[Tickle] This rambutan,
it was good.
But I don't know if that would
go with strawberries.
-Tickle, don't run.
-[Tickle] Uh-oh.
-What is it? Sugarcane?
-[Richard] This is Sugarcane.
This is pure sugar.
That right there, huh?
Ph, yes, sir. That's sweet.
[Richard] Down in Louisiana
we have Sugarcane
this is something
that I use often.
I mean, I would almost
take this and put this
into the mash.
-Wouldn't that be rum?
-Yes.
I can use Sugarcane
as a sugar source
without buying
a bunch of sugar
and throwing sugar in.
It's gonna give it
a little bit of
a different flavor.
So we've got strawberries,
right?
What do you think would
go good with it?
-Mangoes. The yellow mangoes.
-The yellow mangoes.
-[Henry] Soft.
-[Richard] I mean,
they're soft.
-They're real soft.
-[Tickle] It is, they are.
Yellow mangoes are smaller
than the other
varieties of mango.
A lot sweeter.
The red mangoes,
they're larger,
they give you more meat,
but the sweetness...
I look for sugar content.
A yellow mango gives you
more bang for your buck.
That would do real well
with that strawberry
we're gonna deal with.
Little bit of Sugarcane in
there to give it
a little twist.
Mango-strawberry-rum-brandy.
Flows right off the tongue.
Richard seems to think
that the flavor profiles
are gonna pair very well
with our strawberries,
so that's what we're gonna do.
-You take care of this?
-Did you pay for this?
No, I didn't pay for it.
Got no money with me.
Who's got my phone.
-Who's gonna pay for it?
-God almighty.
Thank you, sir.
[Howard] So,
what's the next step?
Next step, we've got to
like grind it up.
[Tim] We're trying to
grind this corn up,
gotta hammer, we're trying to
beat on it with the table,
[groans]
We're a big distillery,
and we've got
multiple grinders here,
but we're trying to stay
as authentic as we can.
This is gonna take forever,
right here, How.
But I mean, it may take
days to grind this
stuff up like this.
It ain't working too good.
Chuck's got a coffee grinder.
What if I go get that?
What difference does it make
we have an electric grinder
or a hammer?
We're just trying to get
the corn ground.
I don't think grinding
the corn with a machine,
or grinding the corn
with a rock,
is gonna make it
taste any difference.
Hey, How, I got the...
Coffee grinder.
Well I think it is.
And Chuck let you
borrow that jewel?
Well, I didn't tell him.
[laughs] Even better.
[Tim] All right, give me
some of that corn, man.
Give me some of this corn.
See, this is what
they were lacking, power.
[machine whirring]
[Howard] Holy smokes!
That's what
we were looking for.
Can't believe
we can make that work.
So this little
small coffee grinder,
this is ideal for this.
We got jumping in there.
Look at that.
Just gonna take
a little bit of time,
but, hey, we would never
get it done if we had
to do it by hand.
Looks like salt
and pepper there.
Look at that.
-Fine.
-All right, that's it, How.
Well, what do we got
next to do, buddy?
We gotta mash in.
So I got this little
wooden barrel over here.
Back in 1600s,
they had barrels.
So, we just
gotta take this out. [grunts]
There you go.
See, it didn't take--
I put a little flex on it.
That was all me.
That was all me.
That's you. That's you.
We're gonna still stay
as authentic as we can.
We're just gonna put
simply water and the corn,
we're not gonna add
any other grains to it other
than the mix of Indian corn.
The fruits of our labor
right here, old buddy.
We'll find out.
Can I recreate what actually
was the recipe they put
in that pot back in 1600s?
Making sure, can we get
the right taste profile
and make this
one special batch.
There's no sugar.
There's no nothing, really.
It's just corn mill and yeast
and let her eat.
Oh, she working on
in there now, son.
Like a milkshake.
Another thing,
you're not warming it up, man.
-You gotta work it
a little bit harder.
-Yeah.
Because this right here,
that stuff gets to the bottom
like cement.
Back in 1600s,
they just put it in there
and let it ferment.
It takes a little bit longer
to activate then?
Yeah, it may take ten days.
I just gotta keep working.
If we add a little heat
to this barrel.
Heat the barrel?
It'll be on fire.
-Yeah.
-That's wood.
We got water in it.
Howard, you're talking
to a fireman.
-You can't put a fire
under a wood barrel.
-[laughs]
It don't work.
You'd burn it down.
I think you're good.
What does it taste like?
It don't taste bad.
It tastes like oatmeal.
Yeah? Well, let's see.
Mmm-hmm. I think it's already
starting to work.
Mmm-hmm. Now we gotta
figure out how we gonna
build a still.
Yeah, all right.
Let's cover it up, How.
All right.
[Howard] That's it, buddy.
On to the next phase.
Holy moly,
I'm losing weight out here.
[Tim] I don't know about that.
About done with strawberries.
You know that's gonna
turn out nice.
Strawberry, that's pretty
common one for us.
But, yellow mangoes,
now this is something
we have never tried before.
Is this a seed
or some sort of corn in here?
It's both of what
you just said. A seed pod.
-I cook everything.
-It smell good.
That's really good.
But you know what? Once I give
this yellow mango a try,
I'm immediately a big fan.
And also,
when we're mashing in,
looks a lot like peach.
[Richard] You know I'm getting
this good smell right now.
I mean, I'm just smelling
a perfect complement.
[Henry] Gonna take
this ice cold water.
We're not gonna need much,
'cause it's such a small run.
Being here in Virginia,
and being in Louisiana,
two totally different things.
Like just
the water sources here.
The abundance of water
that they have here.
How beautiful it is.
That's better water
than you gettin' out
of your faucet in most places.
We got 10,000 springs
in the state of Virginia.
-10,000?
-10,000.
I don't wanna leave here ever.
How did you become
a moonshiner, man?
How'd you learn the trade?
Family?
I don't have
anybody in my family.
I had a grandfather
that made wine. But, uh...
Distillation is a whole
lot different, ain't it?
Whole lot different.
I don't know really anybody
that does what I do.
You ever done much cooking
at the still site?
Oh, yes. Gumbo. I kill
a rabbit in a heartbeat.
Squirrel, yeah.
That's what gumbo is.
Everything that you could
possibly get, throw it in.
-I'm a big fan of cooking
at the still site.
-You have to be.
-[Henry] Damn that looks good.
Don't it?
-Yeah.
It ought to ferment nicely.
-What about that sugarcane?
-I'll show you what we do
with this right here.
We boil this with the skin on.
Get everything out.
It'll start to loosen up
the sugars in it.
Richard starts
breaking it down into chunks.
Throw 'em over in there.
I'm really excited
about using this
and seeing how it turns out.
-[Richard]
Oh, that looks good.
-Gimme some of that mango.
[Henry] Yes. That's what
we're looking for.
I'm taking this mango,
the strawberries, go ahead
and sticking it in there.
[Tickle] Get all that goodness
out of that bucket.
Pour some in here.
We take that sugarcane,
get that poured in.
All right, Tickle, I guess
we're ready for some sugar.
That's real sweet.
You sure you wanna put
some more sugar in there?
I always like to add
a little sugar to ours.
It brings that flavor out.
Throw a bit of sugar in,
we're dissolving it
like we normally do.
Trying to show Richard
this is the ways we do it.
We'll let it sit a minute,
get it broken down real well
before we pour it in there.
Yeast can work with that
easier than it can work
with anything else.
-Could do.
-That smells good.
All right.
Hot damn, boys.
Oh, that goes
really good together.
Now the magic's
about to happen.
Some special blend,
just for brandies.
So this is a proprietary yeast
you use just for brandy?
[Henry] Yeah, we got
a combination blend of yeast.
Stir that away, Kenny.
[Richard] I can smell it. Man!
Coming here to Virginia
and bringing some
Louisiana with me,
I mean, I think this is gonna
be a real good outcome,
the way we mixed this together
and put some Louisiana love
and some Virginia love
into it.
Gonna seeing it
in just a few days.
-Baby'll be good.
-Get on out of here.
[Tim] All right, Howard, look.
It's not a pot
like you think is a pot.
-What?
-Yeah.
[Tim] I wanna go
400 years back,
and I wanna recreate the ways
that they made alcohol.
And it just came to me,
I know exactly what I need.
This is it right here.
We're gonna make a still
out of that.
-We're gonna make a still
out of that?
-Yeah, let's put it in here.
I mean, I know you don't see
the vision right now as I see.
I see plants
growing out of it.
I don't understand
how this thing works.
It's being misused, see?
This thing is a clay pot.
It's gonna get us
back to 1600s.
Grab the thing, How.
You gonna carry
the whole thing?
I got you, old buddy,
you grab that.
-You get there then.
-Yeah.
This pot is actually made
to burn wood in it,
but it's been
sitting there for years
no one's actually used it,
and someone
has planted flowers in it.
And this is actually gonna
get me back to 1600s.
Back then, George Thorpe
and the Native Americans,
they used
some kind of pottery,
You know, we got the clay pot.
If we can just shape it and
design it a little bit more,
we can make it into a still.
Well, now we gotta
stuff this up.
This is the only hole
we gonna have.
-So how we stuffing this up?
-Well, I got some clay.
And you ever played with clay,
made stuff? Pots and stuff?
-I took pottery in school.
-I know I got you
for a good reason.
Now this is my time to shine.
This is right up my alley
right here, Tim.
I feel like
I'm in sixth grade again, man.
I had this teacher
named Miss Roe.
There was nothing
I couldn't make.
Cups, bowls, plates.
You name it, I made it.
[Tim] Looks like it's gotta be
thicker than that.
Oh, I'll make it
thicker than that.
Don't worry.
I'm just getting...
I'm forming it now
and then I'll add
a little more meat to it.
I don't know how much thicker
we need to get it.
It's gotta be thick, man.
It can't be like that.
I don't know what
he was making, like mud pie
or play dough or something.
I don't know
what he was making,
'cause we got a big hole
And this thing
is gotta be able to hold
some pressure here.
You know, obviously,
I talk of big game.
Matter of fact, I think I got
an F in that class.
I think what we can do
is keep, keep doing it
like that.
-Oh, I see what you doin'.
-After a while,
the hole is gonna get smaller.
That's why I'm here,
I'm up here to learn,
not take control of anything,
obviously, I don't know what
the hell I'm doing.
He was just right here,
making his famous pie.
Maybe the first time
this been done since 1600.
No wonder you wanted
to go back to 1620,
you got back to your roots.
Yeah.
I went together
a hell lot faster
than I thought it would.
You're a modern day
Demi Moore.
from Ghost,old buddy,
he's working that clay,
starting to look like a brain,
this is the brain of
the operations right here.
I think the clay will do
a good job,
I mean it's supposed
to withstand the heat,
we just need to form this cap
and make a condenser for it.
Put the mash in it
and cook it.
All right, so next thing
we got to put a cap on it.
-[laughs] Hubcap?
-Yeah.
It fits like a glove.
We'll use this as a mold,
so we're gonna make
a clay top.
Somebody's gonna come in
and say, "What in
the world is that?"
[Howard chuckles]
[Tim] This is the brain
that goes on that brain
over there.
[Howard laughs] This is
the brain to the brain.
[Tim] Well, hell, I think what
we ought to do
is leave this to dry it,
and, uh, start on that trough.
The condenser is not
the regular copper coil worm.
It's just a straight pipe
laying in like a trough.
This goes in here.
You know, at this point,
I think that we've got
about everything
we need to work with.
We built a wood trough
that's gonna be at an angle.
Insert.
We've got that straight pipe
just like looking at
the picture.
They had a pot and they had
a straight pipe
with a trough around it,
where we can add
some water.
So this is going to give us
a lot of time
for this alcohol to condense.
If that don't get no more
primitive than that
crooked son of a gun,
I don't know what does.
We're as authentic as
we can be here.
I mean we got
the ceramic pot.
We've got a straight
copper pipe.
No worm, no doubler,
no nothing,
this is the original
right here,
this is 400 years ago,
if there's ever one
400 years ago.
Soon as that cap
gets done drying,
the mask gets done firming.
All we gotta do is
put it together,
put some heat under it,
put some water in it.
Looks just like George Thorpe
would've done it.
Yes, sir. let's go get
something to eat.
-Thank God.
-Over there.
-Bean time.
-Get some poop time.
[Mark] I'll tell you
something, boys,
that mash, she's ready to run,
but it's a hell of a day.
These damned old widowmakers
will bash a fellow's head.
[narrator] In the backwoods of
Cocke County, Tennessee,
after multiple test mashes
and a small scale run.
[coughs]
It's got some
damn alcohol in it.
Mark, Daniel and Digger
are ready to take
their mandarin orange shine
to primetime.
Looks like Tang.
Yeah.
You know, I like a grain based
mash, uh, fruit base
is not as sturdy,
you don't have the time
to kill with it.
When it's ready,
it's got to be run,
your window of opportunity
is very small.
We were supposed to have
bad weather coming in
this evening.
[Digger] Normally we'd
just call it a day,
but we really need to
get this done,
get this mandarin orange,
we don't know how well
it'll hold up.
Here she comes, boys.
*bleep*
That one was a popper.
It gives.
It's blowing the top side
of 'em.
It doesn't take a very
big limb to hit you
to hurt you really bad
or kill you,
when you hear one fallin',
you don't know
where it's coming from.
Lay it to you.
And it's a whistlin',
ain't it?
Yeah.
Oh, look,
here she comes again.
[wind blowing]
-Which way you gonna run?
-I don't know.
I need to know, so
we don't run into each other
and then get both of us
get killed, ain't no sense
in two for one.
You know, this is
the worst weather
that I've seen here
in a long time, I mean,
the winds whipping around,
knocking the trees every
which way.
Look, right over there,
that our vase.
One of our test buckets
we put our liquor in
and the winds blown it
all the way across
the creek over there.
We got to be on our toes,
we got to worry about
catching the woods on fire,
we got to worry about
cooling the cap off,
condensing our liquor,
before it makes it
over the keg.
I mean, there's a number
of worries on a day
like today.
Boys, that temperature is
a changin'.
-It's getting colder.
-That ain't a good sign.
I mean, normally
we may be gone already,
but I think we need
to hedge our bet
and just see if we can
get it done,
it might go plumb around.
In East Tennessee,
the old saying is,
"If you don't
like the weather,
stick around about 15 minutes,
it'll change."
I don't think
I can sing till I'm drunk.
How about me and dancing?
More moves in you
than a whole bottle of Ex-Lax.
Well, like I told you, son,
that dancing just runs
in the Swayze family.
Hey, Hattie, don't believe
that rain went around us.
-It didn't, did it?
-When it starts raining,
there's no way possible
to finish this run
because all that water
be hitting the cape
and the cap
and it'll be condensing
the alcohol right
straight back down
in the pot.
Boys, we got to skedaddle.
Sometimes, it just
ain't meant to be, is it?
[Mark] You know,
we really hope that
we'd have got this run in.
It's not raining hard
right now,
but we can see it
coming yonder.
We'll be grounded by the time
we get out of here.
We're just gonna
shut everything down.
I'm gonna go turn
the generator out.
We're very concerned
about the stability
of our mash at this point,
this being
a fruit based mash,
it will go bad really fast.
-Let's go, boys.
-[Digger] By tomorrow,
it could turn out to be
really bad,
but, you know,
we don't have any choice.
Damn it.
I got the mash, man.
It's definitely got
a different color to it.
It's definitely
a different color.
It's got a few gnats and bugs
and stuff.
-That's just protein.
-That's when you
know it's good
-when the bugs
are getting in there.
-Oh, they're drunk, too, boy.
This night's the big night.
We're about to
put the proof to concept
that this 400 year old recipe
is going to actually work.
-Slowly.
-We just got to add
the mash to the pot
and fire this thing up
and see what we can do.
So...
like that.
-Bam!
-Bam!
-All right, How.
-Now it just comes
to your clay master skills.
Okay.
[Tim] We've tried
to recreate the still
as best that we can
from the primitive style.
And I'm looking at, well,
they probably didn't use
rapid pace back then,
they mixed up some clay
with some water
and they probably
just kept piling it on
so silt could catch
that vapor.
Will this work?
-I mean--
-Dum, dum, dum...
This is gonna be
something special.
This is like something
from another planet.
I mean, at the end of the day,
it's gonna be awesome though
to taste something
from 400 years ago, man.
Where was your sixth
grandfather from, huh?
Well, according to
my DNA,
I'm Scottish
and Welsh, old buddy.
-What'd you do? Send it
in on the Internet?
-Yes. [laughs]
I send it on the Internet,
I did the whole
Internet thing.
You have submitted your DNA
and paid them to take it,
they're tracking
your tail now.
[Howie] It's all right,
I ain't got nothin' to hide.
Let me put a little bit
on this one, man,
you into
making, like, pancakes.
I don't know what
you want...
You know what you should be?
You should be a pizza maker.
-[laughs]
-If you got a big, ol' pizza,
you'd be flipping up
in the air, doin' like this.
Well, you know what I mean.
I'm working on backup plan
in case this moonshine
don't work out, man,
I can always get
into the pizza business,
You know what,
I'm really glad you came.
I've enjoyed
every minute of this.
[Tim] Yeah, get that
fire going, How.
[Howard] Let me get
the little rake here
and build her up a little bit,
here, fluff her.
[Tim] I'm gonna sit down.
That's what I'm gonna do.
Once you start the firing,
you kind of have
committed yourself
to making alcohol.
Wait, sit, fingers crossed.
Hopefully it's gonna hold
together, nothing's
gonna blow up,
we'll make an alcohol,
1600s style.
The old brain's starting
to smoke.
Well, maybe, it's about time
to shift that condenser,
it need some water in it.
Hey,
that's really boiling, How.
I can hear it.
-You can hear it bubbling?
-Mmm-hmm.
I can hear it, bubbling
inside the still,
so I know it's getting ready
to produce alcohol,
so it's time to go ahead
and add some water
to that condenser,
-Like that.
-Uh-huh.
That way it's gonna cool it,
it's gonna make some alcohol.
Look at that, see that?
The alcohol is right there,
I feel it 'cause
you can't hold it.
-it's so hot.
-[laughs]
Look, look, look, Howard.
-Look, look, look.
-[Howard] I see it!
[Tim] Man, we're back in 1620.
-[laughs]
-Here we go, Howard,
here we go.
Holy *bleep*,
this is gonna work.
-[laughs]
-Pour some drops.
[laughs]
Four hundred year recipe
back, baby.
[Tim] There's some vapor
coming out the end,
I actually can smell it,
we're gonna add some water
for this alcohol to condense,
and then it actually starts
running,
and this alcohol,
this is no joke.
We got the condenser
just right,
got the fire just right,
all this is just right.
This is like history,
we proved the concept
will work.
This is a very special.
Tim, this is awesome,
old buddy.
Thank you for letting me
be a part of this.
-This is the coolest thing...
-Nobody will believe
this will work.
-We're gonna throw this away.
-Oh, my Lord.
Get rid of that,
-put that.
-[Howard] Right after
we tossed the heads,
we got the alcohol
in its entirety.
[Tim] Look at that bridge
on that thing!
[Howard] That thing's
a little bit warm.
30-40 Proof, Tim, look at it.
-[Tim] This bottle's
got 80 proof.
-[laughs] I think so.
It's got a good
nice bead on it.
I mean I'm looking at
80 to 90 proof alcohol,
that's no joke.
First sip of 400 years ago.
It's different,
but it's so smooth though.
They never had tasted
anything like that.
Ooh, it's good,
I mean it's smooth,
that's a drink from
the past there, old buddy.
It's got the craziest smell
and the taste of it
is real earthy, it's like
nothing I've ever tasted
in my life,
it's almost like
a beautiful mud pie.
Four hundred year old liquor.
This is just incredible,
you know, the sky's the limit,
we could upscale this thing,
make it commercial,
make a brand and we can
sell it on the market.
We made 1620 right here today.
Look at yonder,
that's a whole lot of rocks.
-Look at this, How.
-That's looks like
an old knife.
-I'm gonna bleed.
-Well, you know,
they had the Civil Wars
fought right here
between these
two banks right here.
-Really?
-Yeah.
This is Cedar Run Creek,
Battle of Cedar Mountain
right over there.
I mean, this could be,
like, part of history.
Is that neat or what?
Back in prison, you could have
used that, can you?
[Howie] I could have got
a little meal out
of that deal.
-I'd have got
all the groceries.
-[both chuckle]
Man, I want to keep that, man.
[Mark] It's a nice day,
no wind.
We had
a little rain delay yesterday
and unfortunately
it's not like a ball game,
you don't get a few hours
to see if it's gonna clear up,
so we're coming back today
to finish up run
we started yesterday
for this mandarin
orange liquor.
We'll get to it.
We've only been gone
18 hours,
we hope sincerely,
that our mash yields
a good product.
[laughs] I love that sound,
don't you?
You know, we could look
at this mash all day long
and not know what's going on,
the only way to find out
what the brandy is going
to do is run it and taste it
when it tampers down.
Now, boys, I'm gonna go
over here and guard
the whiskey barrels.
[Mark] You take a load off.
Yeah,
we'll take it from here.
[Digger]
Back's still a hurtin'.
If we hadn't brought
Daniel in,
we'd be really in
a bad shape right now.
Hattie, boy, I got
a packer,
but I ain't real proud of it,
I'm gonna turn it over to you.
[both chuckle]
Oh, oh, look,
there you come,
little dripper.
-There we go.
-Couldn't you find
-a dirtier jar?
-Well, I'm just gonna
catch some heads.
Daniel, get a little hold
for that,
see what you think
you smell.
Well, it transferred.
It ain't worth a damn,
we keep telling people
the more orange juice
you put with it the better.
[all laughing]
I like it.
That's pretty funny.
That's enough.
It's the moment of truth,
we're going to decide
and know instantly here
whether we've made something
really drinkable or something
that needs poured out.
Maybe the moonshine gods
are smiling on us today.
-That's pretty and clear.
-That does look good,
don't it?
Yeah.
-Mandarin orange liquor.
-Yeah.
See what you think about it.
That's gonna be hard to beat.
I'm gonna tell you,
we're setup to make
some damn good money
-on this liquor.
-Boy, I hope so,
we ain't got hardly nothin'
in at the time.
It is mandarin orange
front to back, got a lot
of orange note to it.
I think I'm way into the back
ends right there,
taste of that
and see if it is,
I'm gonna cut the fire,
'cause if we don't run
in that tub, it'll cloud
our liquor up.
See if you think
I ain't pretty deep
in the back ends right there.
Yeah, It's beginning
to get better.
Let's shut that son
of a bitch out,
-You want to?
-Yeah, cut her,
kill that part.
You know, I'll bet it took
two days to get this
under a belt,
it was a good one and who's
to say to heat that mash up,
let it run a little
bit further,
it might have had
a little more sugar to offer.
All in all, we got
41-42 gallons probably
out of old, big sloppy.
Oh, *bleep*.
Oh, poor Mark.
That's bad, I know
how you felt.
Yeah.
-I reckon it's time
to run this, right, Richard?
-Can't wait to taste this.
Right.
[Henry] We got the strawberry
mango mash in a few days ago
and I'm hoping
it's gonna turn out right.
-Let's see what we got.
-Look at that.
Mmm-hmm.
-All right.
-It's bitter.
-She's ready.
-Let's fire this baby up.
Mmm, goodness, yes.
[Richard] As long as I've been
knowing about alcohol,
I've known about
Franklin County,
the people that I live up
to right now
are actually showing me
how they've done it,
how they learned about it.
I'm more than pleased
to be able to partake in this.
See now, Richard,
at 145 degrees,
that methanol is coming off,
all of it is coming out
of our still before
we can cap it.
-No throwing heads off
in the run.
-Right.
Like, by leaving
the cap off,
these guys get
the methanol out,
just the little things
that these guys do
that they've been through
trial and error with
is amazing.
Richard, do you ever use
rye for your paste?
I never use rye,
but just add a little bit
of water,
the still gets
you good and hot.
-The steam hits it.
-It's hot as a rock,
will not let it leak.
I know Richard is
a good moonshiner,
but now I can just
see him almost like
a sponge
just soaking every little bit
of knowledge up that he can.
It's getting a little warmer.
There we go.
That's a nice looking steam,
I tell you.
When this run starts
to come out,
first thing I want to
do is taste it.
It's a little bit hotter now.
When that liquor first starts
coming out,
I don't like to give it
a taste test,
let the white portion
run through it
just a little bit,
then you start getting
your true taste from it.
Mm-hmm, you got
a little bead on that.
-Yes, sir.
-Thank Richard.
You be the first shot at it.
-Oh, that's good, oh,
I'll take the second try too.
-[chuckles]
This is an awesome drink.
What do you think of that?
That mango comes
through there real good.
I tell you what, this is
some good, smooth liquor.
I can taste the mango
on your front
-and your strawberry...
-Strawberry on the back.
-Mm-hmm.
-Front and back.
Haven't heard it.
Only front side and back side
and your side side,
all I know is is "Damn."
[all] Mango on your front,
strawberry on your back.
-Mango on the front.
-[all] Strawberry on
your back.
Tastes so good, I'm ready.
I ain't know that.
I know Richard's
got his own thing going on
down in Louisiana,
but I sure wouldn't mind
if he came up here
and run liquor
with us all the time.
I'll drink to that.
[Richard] I so enjoyed
this opportunity.
I was nervous that
it wasn't gonna go right,
but for these guys
to see that, "Hey, look,
he knows
what he's talking about."
It's a good product.
That means the world to me.
-Here's your... jar.
-Mm-hmm.
-And here's mine,
-We'll see y'all back
at the house,
-I'm going with Henry.
-[laughs]
[narrator] Next time
onMoonshiners...
[Mark] That's kind of
like lemonade.
[Digger] More like
embalming fluid.
I've got a chiller,
if everything goes right,
it's gonna chill our condenser
down below
what we can get out
of Creek water.
At this large, this thing
could be a life saver.
It grills up already,
we ain't coolin'.
Oh, hell.
Be on the lookout,
we got some right here.
Manglier is a an herb
that has been passed down
through the Creole culture
for years
and it has healing properties,
we'll have
a Manglier tea moonshine.
All these people
going into gym,
spending all that money,
all you gotta do
is be a moonshiner.
-[chuckles]
-Whoa.
-Oh, yeah.
-Oh, I smell it from here.
[man] Wow.
This place is killer.
What do you think about
letting me set some stills up
down here?
Sounds good.
Well, we're gonna move
our still site tonight.
We're gonna be doing
a dirt ride up under
everybody's noses.
Josh, I don't like
this, brother.
-Hey, what are you guys doing?
-Who are you?
This is my building.