Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 10, Episode 16 - Basement Bust - full transcript
[dramatic music playing]
[dog howling]
[narrator] This time
onMoonshiners.
[Mark]
Looks like pink lemonade.
[Digger]
More like embalming fluid.
I've got a chiller.
Drip thing goes right.
It's gonna chill our condenser
down below
what we can get out
of creek water.
This thing
could be a lifesaver.
It rose up already though.
You can tell by that stream
we ain't cooling.
Oh, hell.
[indistinct chatter]
[Richard] Manglier is an herb
has been passed down
through the Creole culture
for years.
It has healing properties.
We'll have
a Manglier tea moonshine.
All these people
going in the gym,
spending all that money,
all you got to do
is be a moonshiner.
Whoa, oh yeah.
Oh, I smell it from here.
[man]
Wow, this place is killer.
[man] What do you think
about letting me set
-some stills up down here?
-Sounds good.
[man] Well, we're gonna move
our still site tonight,
[man] we're gonna be doing
the dirt right
up under everybody's noses.
[man] Oh my goodness, Josh.
I like this, bro.
[man speaking]
Who are you?
Brother, this is my building.
[man] This is how we make
the moonshine
[Mark] Winter's up on us.
[Digger] We'll assemble
everything out here.
[Mark] Yeah.
Now if we got any leaks,
this is a place to know it.
[narrator] In eastern
Tennessee with temperatures
falling and the window to
run shine outdoors closing,
Mark and Digger
devise a novel solution.
I like the looks
of that little fella.
[Digger] It's something else.
I've got a chiller that's made
for home brewing beer.
This cold gets cold fast.
This pump goes down in here.
It's made to keep lagers
down to, you know,
a 60 degree range.
I've never used it
and as far as I know,
nobody's ever used it to run
a condenser
for a liquor still.
So I want to find out
if it'll cool
a condenser enough
and long enough
to keep condensing liquor.
You know
everything about it, big man,
water in the woods
that we're used to is free.
Yeah.
See, shotgun condensers,
we normally have
a endless supply
of creek water
which is cold.
We just simply circulates
through this thing constantly.
Well, you're all the time
a-thinking, ain't ya?
That's about [beep]
ends up costing us money.
But in the long run this gonna
save us money I hope.
During the course
of the run and the shop,
we're dumping out hundreds
of gallons of water.
It gets very expensive.
[Digger] This is not like
taking three showers a day
where you use maybe
150 gallons of water.
Our run of liquor
is probably 150 gallons
an hour, bare minimum.
So it adds up really fast.
Well, let's get to pouring
this juice in there.
[Mark] Looks kind of like
pink lemonade, don't it?
It looks more like embalming
fluid to me.
Well, I don't know
what embalming fluid
-looks like.
-Eh.
You will, one of these days.
-No, I won't.
-You gonna get burnt?
No, but I won't know
what color hell
I'm being embalmed with.
[Digger] You might.
[Mark speaking]
[Digger] Popcorn said
it come out faster,
you do it like that.
Popcorn didn't know
everything.
Well, this little chiller,
if it can keep
this shotgun cold,
Digger's on to something.
This thing
could be a lifesaver.
It might permit us
just to make small batches
of liquor year round.
Well, I'm gonna turn
the pump on.
There we go.
That's a damn pump
right there.
[Mark] Yeah.
You ain't use pumping
-that big, right?
-[Digger] Uh-uh.
-My pump's little bitty.
-[Mark laughs]
[Digger] Basically
what this apparatus does,
it cools propylene glycol,
which is food-grade glycol.
And we fill it full of that.
It'll get this down
below freezing.
It'll get below freezing,
but will not freeze.
It's going to chill
our condenser
if everything goes right.
Down below, what we can get
out of creek water,
it'll go in the same way
that it does normally.
Where the cold
goes in the bottom
and the hot goes out the top.
And it recirculates,
it's not being cast out
after it runs through
the condenser.
We got a fine stream
running in there.
[Mark] So that's how fast
it's a-circulating.
Yeah, that's cooling down
real fast.
I'm a-looking forward
to seeing what it'll do.
[Mark] You've hit
something here now.
[Digger] It might be
the next best thing.
[Mark] I know.
If the coolin'
will outrun the steamin'.
Yeah, that's the tale
of the tape.
That'll tell the ticket.
[Digger] All
we got to do now is...
-Put the still to it...
-Put the still to it.
Great idea, Puss.
[Digger] I think, if it works.
[rock music playing]
[Josh] This has been a crazy
busy year for me,
but it's been so worth it.
I'm getting to spend
a lot of time
with Henry and Kenny
and Tickle.
And hell I brought
10, 000 pounds
worth of fruit
to Virginia to these guys.
That's a hell of a lot
of fruit.
[narrator] In Polk County,
North Carolina,
after weeks spent
pumping out hundreds
of gallons of shine,
Josh heads into town
to deliver two barrels
to a longtime customer.
[Josh] Right now
I'm over here delivering
a hundred gallons
of damn liquor.
My next step is to start
getting on trying to find
a place to move
to because now the leaves
have done fell off.
There's not supposed
to really be any traffic
going in and out
of [indistinct]
and so,
people are going to start
being real suspicious
that something's up.
That's the part
is sticking out
like a sore thumb.
That make winning proud
of their still [indistinct].
Chris?
-What... There you are.
-[Chris] Yeah?
[Josh]
What are you doing, buddy?
-[Chris] Hell of not much.
-I've known Chris for years.
He's got this recording studio
and I'm talking
about the equipment
in there will blow your mind.
Is this a projector?
Or what is that?
-That one's LED.
-Oh, my gosh, that's crazy.
-[Chris] Yeah.
-I brought you
a little something something.
Chris's building
is in the middle of town.
We come wheeling into town,
all I could think
about was how in the hell
am I gonna get
those barrels out
of the back of the truck
and into the building
without anybody seeing it.
But when you go do
something illegal,
you got to look like
it's your everyday routine,
so it don't look
you doing anything wrong.
What in the world is this?
[Chris] This is a elevator
from 1932.
[Josh] Holy crap, that's cool.
One of the oldest elevators
in western North Carolina.
Are we gonna be safe in it?
-We'll find out.
-Oh, my God.
Holy molly, that's wild.
This thing is so cool.
Freakin awesome.
And hell right now
we're delivering
two 50-gallon drums.
A hundred gallon sale
ain't no slouch.
This place is killer.
[Chris]
It's just stores right now.
[Josh] When we got off
that elevator,
first thing that popped
in my mind
was this would make
a great indoor
steel [indistinct].
This is awesome.
Oh, my gosh.
Man this place
has got potential man.
[Chris] Our water hose
right there.
Hasn't been a snake
that bit my head off.
[Josh] If there's a way
I can talk him
into letting me use this,
this would be perfect.
This is...this is good.
We got drains,
we got air, we got cover.
What do you think
about letting me
set some stills up down here?
This is perfect.
What do you think?
I'm willing
to give you money.
Sounds good.
I'm anxious to get started.
We can get started
pretty quick here or...
-Pretty quick.
-[Josh] Right on?
Wham. Bam.
Thank you, man.
We're in business.
This basement is perfect.
It's right up
under everybody's nose.
People are moving
big equipment in and out
of here all the time.
This is what is for.
Well, I'mma ease
on out of here.
I got a bunch of work to do.
[Chris] All right.
[Josh] I'm really excited
to get all my stuff
and get in here.
Chris is just a super
laid-back old boy.
I think he's gonna make
a great landlord.
[bird squawking]
[country music playing]
Be on the lookout for it,
even if it's in...Look.
-We got something right here.
-[Craig speaking]
[Richard] You remember back
in the days, mom and daddy
used to give us
that old Manglier tea
when we had a cold
or something?
It'd be all right
in the morning.
[narrator] Returning home
to the Louisiana bayou
after his run with Tickle
and the laws.
Give you first shot at it.
Oh, yeah.
That's good.
I'll take a second try too,
my brother.
[narrator] Outlaw moonshiner
Richard Landry
and his brother Craig
are in search
of a hard to find plant,
called Manglier,
to create a new moonshine
with a healthy kick.
That's a good bush
right there.
I wonder if these people
even know they got the cure
for COVID.
I don't know if it'll cure it,
but it will sure
make you feel better
if you got it.
Manglier is a Creole term.
T'manglier,
it has been passed down
through the Creole culture
for years.
And Native Americans
back in the day,
they went to nature
and Manglier was one
of those things
that they went to
when they had a common cold
or something like that.
This just passed
the test of time.
The Indians thought
it was something
that was real good
and the Creole heritage
that came into this area,
they found it
to be real good.
When I was growing up,
if we started
getting the sniffles,
our parents...
The first thing they would do
is go get some Manglier tea.
They would...
they would fix us a hot toddy.
[Craig] Used to be able
to find this everywhere.
Since COVID,
they come out here
and cut it all down.
You wake up feeling like
a million dollars.
Whether you wanted to go
to school or not.
It seemed like you
were anxious to wake up
in the morning and say
hey, I feel better.
[narrator] The medicinal
properties of Manglier
were first discovered
by the indigenous peoples
of southern Louisiana.
Used by tribal medicine men
for centuries.
By the 1800s,
Manglier had been passed on
to the Cajun and Creole
communities of Louisiana,
who continued to use it
as a cure-all
until the widespread
availability of antibiotics.
Although not widely known
outside
of southern Louisiana,
Manglier is thought to be
a natural immune booster,
which may be explained
by its active ingredient,
baccharis oxide.
The powerful
anti-inflammatory
and antiviral properties
of the compound
have been linked to improving
immune response to everything
from the common cold
to type two diabetes.
And we got an alligator
right here still sitting.
And the mom is probably
in that den right there.
So we don't want to be
too close to that.
We're gonna have to get out
of this boat get on land
if we're gonna get any more
of this product.
We got to start mashing
this in.
Take your rope,
take your rope,
take your rope.
Gently tie me off.
Yeah, this is my uniform.
Camouflage
and Air Jordans like
that's how I make moonshine.
You got
the hip-high waders, man.
What are you waiting
for the flood or scared
of the alligators, because
that's not gonna save you.
[scoffs] Well,
if the flood come,
at least my pants
won't be wet.
That looks like a one-piece
that a baby wears.
It is a onesie.
It's my onesie.
You got to explain
when you get home
about the mud in the marsh.
Say Honey, can you wash
my clothes please?
What we're gonna do
with this
is we're gonna take
the Manglier tea.
We're gonna ferment it,
distill it,
run it through a still,
instead of having
a Manglier tea,
tea, we'll have
a Manglier tea moonshine.
[Craig] This one's good,
but it's still flowering.
[Richard] Not gonna be
as much good to us.
I mean, it'll do a little good
but might as well
let's go ahead
and do what she has to do
to make some more
for the next generation.
Since this Manglier
is flowering,
what we're gonna do
is we're gonna leave it here.
We're gonna let it do
what it does.
Let the birds
and the bees come
and do what they're supposed
to do with it.
We could use this tree
right now
to make medicine with
but this is something
we'll let grow
and turn into a real tree,
a real bush
and be able to benefit
from it even more later on.
This will be a Manglier
that is not flowering.
-Cut this Craig.
-[Craig] This Manglier here.
[Richard]
Another thing about Manglier
is to try not to
take too much from it.
We try to leave enough of it
for herself
to not feel like
we robbed it
or we've deprived
of something that it needs.
The Native Americans
did it responsibly.
They made sure that
they had some for later on.
They didn't get out there
and cut down a whole tree
and say hey,
we have this for now.
They only took
what they needed.
Look this bush right here
has a real nice one
right here.
Take the whole thing.
Manglier is a real
green plant.
I don't have to
barely scratch it
for it to expose itself.
That's how I easily know
what Manglier is.
I could grab any other bush
out here and scratch it
and I wouldn't see this green
that's so apparent to me
right now.
We cut Manglier,
we try to do it
whereas to promote
new growth to it
just like pruning a tree
somewhere at home.
We pick quite a few
pounds of Manglier.
I'm glad that
we finally got enough
to stop mashing
this product in.
Next time, I gonna have
to bring my boots.
It won't be the first time.
Your wife's gonna let you
back in the house.
You might not walk in
with those shoes.
[narrator] Coming up.
[Digger] We got a lot
of starch in these.
It's going to have to be
cooked up and converted.
[Mark] And starch,
is it a sugar?
[Digger]
No starch is a starch.
It can be converted
into sugars.
Damn.
You're so smart.
I read Reader's Digest.
[Mark] Here we go.
Oh, I... [gasp] Damn.
-How you doing?
-Well, hell,
I'm about dead,
thank you for asking.
Come here. I'm want to
show you something.
Looker here what I got.
Maters and where'd you go
pickin' maters at?
-Them ain't maters, boy.
-What the hell are them?
[Mark] Them's persimmons.
My great granny used
to make persimmon jelly.
It was good.
We can use them to test
a [indistinct] chiller,
and see what kind of liquor
we get with these persimmons.
[narrator] Persimmons
have played a large role
in American life
for centuries.
With applications ranging
from medicine to moonshine.
During the Civil War,
Confederate soldiers
used unripe persimmons
as both antiseptic
and quelling,
while the fruit seeds
were ground and roasted
to be used as an
alternative to coffee.
But its history
on liquor production dates
back even further to 1771
when the Philosophical
Society of Philadelphia
experimented
with persimmon brandy
to break the colonies
dependence
on West Indian rum.
It became so popular
that the father
of the Bill of Rights,
George Mason,
even distilled it
on his farm in Virginia.
[Digger]
We can get them quartered up,
put them in boiling water,
boil them down,
break them down
as far as they will go.
And it should be an easy
cook on this.
Damn. Them persimmons
is given you guys
something horrible.
We're gonna...
You can't have
no more of them.
Surely it didn't spook,
did it?
[Mark] No.
You know they are firm
but they're an easy
fruit to work with.
They got a lot
of sugar content.
So hopefully
it'll make something.
[Digger] Well, we got a lot
of starch in these,
it's gonna have
to be cooked up
and converted it
and then I'll do
a little iodine test on it.
There's a sample little test
that the old timers
used to do
see if they converted
all their starch
to fermentable sugars.
Now, starch, is it a sugar?
No. Starch is a starch,
it can be converted
into sugars.
See, that's why I get lost
in all this *bleep*
The starch that's in here
is a complex carbohydrate.
See how it's turning black.
Starch is in there
and it will bond
with the iodines
and turn black.
Well it's not fermentable
readily right here.
It's gotta be broken down
by rotting.
Which rotting takes...
-rottening takes...
-Uh-huh
That's it.
We need to get that time
factor bumped up
by cooking them.
If you cook 'em they convert
through the heat
into a fermentable sugar.
Now, if the starches
are all cooked
and broke down there's nothing
for it to bind to,
so it dissipates.
When you drop your iodine in
and it dissolves,
that's your indicator
that you converted
-all your sugars.
-[Mark] It turns brown
and it's gone.
Well, there's nothing for it
-to bond to.
-Damn.
You're so smart.
I read Reader's Digest.
I gonna get this
sugar in here,
processed corn sugar.
It ferments all the way up
and it don't offer no flavor.
[Mark] Easy now.
[Digger] Yeah,
we don't want to splatter
-this hot stuff up on us.
-We've get zero starch left.
Now, we'll just melt
a little sugar,
pitch some yeast
and wait on it to takeoff
and see what it makes.
That tasted [indistinct]
in a pot.
-[Mark] There, oh.
-[Digger] It's sweet.
[upbeat music playing]
[Josh] Well, we're gonna move
our still site tonight.
I got Brian with this big
old truck right here.
This still site
in this apple orchard,
it's been my biggest
still set yet.
It's really served us well,
we've made a lot
of liquor there.
But our paid Chris
and I'mma move
into this new steel set.
[Brian]
All right. Hold on.
[Josh] It's a crazy
amount of hard work
to move all these stills,
just about each piece
is a pickup truck-load.
How dare you!
-Drink a little of it...
-[Josh] No, don't do it.
That'll make you sicker
than a dog.
Brian has been
a big help in this
because he's strong
as a bull ox.
-[Brian] Looky here.
-[Josh] Grass nest?
-[Brian] I guess.
-[Josh] I hate grass.
[Brian] I've never been
to the new site,
but he says it's just
the greatest thing ever.
[Josh] It's hard to believe
that we got a tractor-trailer
loaded with stills
moved out in one night.
I got Brian behind me
and a damn big old
18-wheeler truck.
And now we're moving
in to downtown here,
we're going to be doing
the dirt right up
under everybody's noses.
I think this
is going to be awesome.
Yeah, bring your 18-wheeler.
If Josh is driving,
he would have just
ran over everything.
Professional driving
right there.
All right,
check this place out, Brian.
[Brian] Holy smokes.
Looky yonder.
I just figured
all the stills
would kind of go on a row
right here.
-Yup.
-[Josh] I think four
450 galloon stills
is plenty damn big.
[Brian] I'd say we're just
leave them on their sides
-until we figure out what...
-[Josh] Yeah,
that's what
we're going to do.
Running these ginormous
stills inside,
that's something
I've never done before.
This is on
the different level.
Let's get this
party started.
I got a full bottle.
[Josh] We ain't using those.
I started realizing,
we don't wanna be
in a basement
running propane.
You know what happens
if we burn that down here?
-What?
-First of all
we'll get carbon
monoxide poison,
the second thing is,
is we're libel to just blow
the damn roof off
the building,
because propane,
if you try to burn it indoors
like that,
if there's any unburned gas
it lingers in the room
and if some kind of flame
hits it or whatever spark
or something,
then it's boom.
But this is the only way
I've ever done it,
it's either wood fire
or I've used propane burners.
Most of the time,
a damn turkey cooker.
I'll tell you what,
I bet you,
damn Henry and Kenny know,
them dudes have been making
shine for years.
They used to run indoors,
I've heard them tell stories
about it, they'll know.
-[line rings]
-Hold on a second.
-[man] Josh.
-Hey!
-[man] Hey!
-What's going on?
[man] We just stopped
and got some gas,
-almost run out of gas.
-Well, listen, man,
I moved into a new spot
and I know I need
some type of furnace
or something going on
but I'm not really sure
-how to fire it.
-You come on[indistinct]
-Is it outside or inside?
-Inside.
I got power, water, a drain.
[man] Oh, man,
that sounds sweet.
You know, we got...
I got a little time,
we can run down,
me and Kenny.
Bring some burners with us,
be glad to come down
and help you.
Oh, that's awesome.
I really appreciate it.
I know we got
everything down here.
We're ready to go
but until Henry and Kenny
get here with the burners
there's just no way
we can setup.
[man] Let's make some money.
Hell yeah,
one hand washes the other.
[man] All right, man.
See you.
See you.
[dramatic music playing]
There we got all the sugar
fresh from the mill.
We got all Manglier we need.
We'll go ahead
and mash that in.
We're gonna head
to the woods,
get in the still site,
we got some real good
unrefined sugars
that come out
of these plants.
You know, when they're
boiling the sugar...
you can smell it in the air.
Mosquito.
Sugar in this area
is one of the main
revenue sources.
There's hundreds
of thousands of acres
of sugarcane fields
around here.
It's just best to use sugar
that's grown in my backyard.
Not only does it promote
local business
but this unrefined sugar
is much better
than the processed sugar
from the best supermarket.
Let's go
make a run out of this.
[Roland]
What's going on guys?
[Richard]
What's going on, Roland?
[Roland] Just got
the refractor, PH meter.
Roland is my brother-in-law,
he's an engineer.
Roland is a numbers guy,
he's very technical.
-[Roland] He's got the scale.
-[Richard] All right.
And it has [indistinct]
so you know
[indistinct] it is.
No guesswork.
Man, we got the Manglier.
He wants to be able
to replicate the recipe
in ever-consistent product.
Do it the same way
every time.
Roland, will not let me
be one-tenth
of a gram off or something.
If it was five grams
it will not be 5.01
next time,
it will be
five grams next time.
Let's go, man.
Let's get this in the woods
-and start this off.
-Roland is that individual.
It always take a little work
to get the job done.
We have a beautiful spot
right on the bayou.
[Craig] Man,
I should have brought
a fishing pole with me.
Oh, man,
and a boat do good too.
We should be good right here.
We'll set a table up
right here.
[Roland] We'll get the rest
of the stuff set up.
[Richard] Because it's
hurricane season here now,
and the bayou floods.
We can't just leave
our stuff.
Try carrying this
monster with you.
That's a luxury
I wish I had here,
but we gotta bring it out
every time.
A few weeks ago,
our still site got hit.
It was under three feet
of water for quite some time.
[Roland] Hope them
mosquito will stay low.
[Craig] Call them the state
birds, they're so big.
[Richard] All these people
going in the gym.
Spending all that money?
All you gotta do
is be a moonshiner.
[Roland] It ain't too fun
and my back to the swamp,
you never know
what come out that bayou.
We grew up on this bayou
right here.
We did everything here.
I mean, this is someplace
that we used to go
to just sit and fish,
jump in the bayou.
This was a food source
for us,
this was a source
of entertainment.
This is some place that
I know I'm gonna be safe.
This is home.
You want some?
I'm good, man.
He don't drink.
[Roland] Gotta keep a clear
mind and clear head, man.
Make sure the number's right.
[Richard] Here it's not like
being up north
where you have natural
springs and creeks
that have real clean water.
Here we're at the mercy
of the bayous
and swampy water,
so we have to bring
fresh water in
from other places.
The indigenous people
to this area,
I mean,
everybody that came here,
that came through here
at some point in time
has something good
to see about Manglier.
It's still here for us.
Before we start
this boiling process
what I like to do is,
I like to mash these up.
I like to give them
a good ring,
that gives me
a stronger substance,
-a more potent product.
-[Roland] What's that number?
-3.1.
-What's the number
-we're looking for?
-Tell me when we see 25, bro.
[Roland speaking]
[Richard]
What's so good about this?
It takes me back
to childhood.
A lot of people, what they
do with Manglier tea
is they'll put just a little
bit of whiskey in it
and they'll make a hot toddy.
Put some lemon
and some honey in it,
it makes a real good drink.
We're gonna try to make
a hot toddy in a bottle.
Tea Manglier,
this is how we make a mash.
This is a super concentrate,
this is five gallons water
to 25 ounces of Manglier Tea.
Enough to make
20 gallons of mash.
It's a real earthy,
woodsy flavor,
bring it
to a real good boil.
And we'll start cooking
this down with sugar.
Manglier Tea,
everybody will describe it
as being very bitter,
that's why we...
add the other flavors,
just to break up
that bittery taste.
This is a real hidden gem.
I love it.
Under four ounces
of cinnamon,
we're gonna do
one ounce of lime peel,
one ounce of lemon peel,
one ounce of the tangerine.
Nutmeg, to wait,
then we'll do cloves.
This is the honey.
We're looking for the sugar
content definitely in this,
we're looking
for flavor also.
This complement
that this gives the Manglier,
is phenomenal.
This is one ounce
of lime peel.
A lot of people say
you can't ferment lime,
you can't ferment
citrus fruits,
it's real high in acidity.
Does real well
with Manglier Tea.
[Richard speaking]
Because the peels
don't carry a lot the acids
that are on the inside
of the fruit carry,
but it does have
a lot of the flavor.
This is unrefined
brown sugar.
This is fresh.
Smell it all around us
here in Louisiana,
it's 10% molasses.
It's gonna cook down
into something
with a high alcohol content.
So, Roland we're gonna put
10 pounds of this in here.
-[Roland] Ten pounds.
-[Richard] I find that...
As opposed to using
white sugars,
white sugars are just
kind of generic to me
as far as taste goes.
We love rums and brandies
and I guess, rum brandies
if you wanna mix
them together
like we do sometimes.
This is sugar the way nature
intended it to be.
We're gonna do
four grams of cloves.
Okay. I'm gonna add nutmeg
like my grandmother does.
Oh, you could smell it
a mile away.
Flavor's gonna come
through definitely.
I love it. I love it.
I love it. I love it.
-Taste all the citrus.
-Yeah, sweet.
Taste exactly like
what grandma used to give us.
That's awesome. I could taste
everything in it.
If I had a fever or cold
and I drank this right now,
within a short time frame,
those symptoms would be gone.
Make a believer
out of me, bro.
-Yeah.
-We're gonna make a believer
out of a whole
bunch of people.
I'm not gonna add the yeast
as soon as we finish with it
because it's gonna be...
just extremely too hot,
it's kind of thing,
a little viscous.
So it's gonna take a while
for this cool down.
You read to shut
the office down?
What were gonna do
is we're gonna go ahead
and put it in some buckets
and let it cool down,
and tomorrow
we'll walk into it
and we'll pitch the yeast.
[Roland] America's strongest
man competition.
Just do a good
a little cover up right here.
You know, boys,
we had a good day.
[Craig] Another whole
days' work, [indistinct]
[dramatic music playing]
[Digger] Let's run this
persimmon liquor,
-you know, it's ready.
-Oh, damn.
[Digger]
Today is the day we find out
this chiller's gonna run
efficiently or not.
I don't trust your judgment
when it comes to matters
of finances and women.
But this is liquor,
so we're good.
[Mark] Uh-huh,
no, that was beautiful.
Well, we got
our glycol chiller.
Now the way this works,
it chills that in here
to about
two degrees below zero,
and in the bottom
out the top.
It pumps out the glycol
into the condenser.
Well, once it fills up
it returns back in here
where it mixes
with the cold glycol,
goes back in.
Then away we go.
Yeah, our creek water,
we can't get it as cold
as we get this.
This smells pleasant.
With all this liquid
going through there,
you can see all the pink
going through the lines.
So, that's a good sign.
It means it circulating,
and it's circulating proper.
It didn't take long for it
heat up down through there.
-No, it didn't.
-Hell, we're heat... we're...
Hell, far.
What, boy it made noises like
I ain't never heard before.
Really, it really.
We got the pot running.
We've got vapor
coming over in the condenser.
If everything
works out right,
we should keep
the temperature somewhere
in the 60, 65 degree lines,
and if that's as high
as it will get,
we'll be happy.
[Mark] Feel how cold
that liquor is?
No, it's ice-cold.
It grows up three degrees
already though.
The fact that the temperature
is rising as fast,
that's not good.
It's gonna get hotter
that we made it pretty quick.
You can tell by that stream
we didn't cooling
real efficient right now.
And it ain't been running
30 minutes?
-[Digger] Yup.
-[Mark] Oh, hell.
The steam is outrunning
its cooling capacity.
I'm just throwing this
out there.
What if we put a [indistinct]
off the return line
in a cooler of ice,
and as it comes out of here,
it goes through that ice
before it goes back
into the chiller,
to knock some
of this heat down?
It could work.
I mean,
if we don't do something,
we're gonna lose this run.
Yeah.
[dramatic music playing]
[Richard] Man, you been
watching the weather report?
[Roland] Well, the weatherman
give different information
depending on
what channel you check, man.
[Richard] We [indistinct]
used about a week ago.
Now, the mash is ready
so we have to get in here
and do this run now,
but we do have an issue
we got to deal with today.
There's a hurricane
in the Gulf of Mexico
coming right at us.
Let's hurry up...
[Craig] Once that wind
and rain come
we don't wanna be around
these trees here.
[Roland] Yeah, especially
being by the bayou
you don't want a storm surge
and flooding coming through.
-[Richard] That's right.
-[Roland] Let's get it moving.
Act like we never
[indistinct] right now, right.
This is the one right here.
Look how beautiful that is.
Guys, smell that.
-Okay. Okay. Okay.
-Uh-hmm.
It's something that you smell.
You can smell the cloves.
-Uh-hmm.
-I can smell the lemon peels.
The tangerine.
I pick up on...
That's a big citrus job
-right there.
-And the honey.
The Manglier at the top
of all of it.
I'm smelling
the beautiful aroma.
There's no more movement
in it.
It's not bubbling,
it's not producing
CO2 anymore.
When I taste it,
there's alcohol in there.
It's real good.
It's tasting real good
right now.
[Roland] Let's see if we can
hurry up and make it
out of here.
[Craig] Just go, man.
[Richard] Common sense
would tell most people
don't run a run when
a hurricane is coming a way,
but this stuff is precious.
I don't want
to take the chance
that a tree might fall
on this,
a wind might blow something
and knock it over.
I mean, if we leave it out
too long,
it could turn into vinegar.
We don't want to take
the chance with this.
[Roland] Watch your step.
[Richard] Just put it
in the bayou.
-Give me some slack.
-[Richard] Flat.
[Craig] All right.
That's it.
Checking for that power,
be careful.
[Craig] You never know
what could happen
in situations like this.
Just using that cool water
off the bayou
to cool off the [indistinct]
This is the hard part
without wasting product.
And wasting
all that good tea, my man.
Next time we should've bring
some farmers too.
Roland, I can feel that money
slipping through
my fingers, man.
[laughter]
Man, these guys.
-The last bucket.
-Last bucket.
All right.
[Roland]
You all freehand guys, man.
[Craig]
That's the citrus there.
[Richard] Yeah, this is
a lot of citrus in here.
I don't even see any more tea
like it ate up all the tea.
[Roland] Like, yeah.
I noticed that.
This rain's starting
to come down, man.
I feel the drops.
Watch your fingers.
[Richard]
This is a 20-gallon still.
This is my prized possession.
Started out
with stainless steel.
I thought that was
the best thing in the world
until I was introduced
to copper.
This thing's gonna be superhot
in a little while.
I just want to make sure
these connections are good
before we can't touch it
anymore.
We got some wind
coming in now.
It's starting to get
a little heavy.
The tree tops,
they're blowing around,
so we got time but we ain't
got that much time.
[Roland] Man,
looking at the radar
coming up off the Gold Coast.
So you know how that goes.
Turn that pump on.
Get that heat.
[Richard] You know,
this takes me back
to Craig thought
I was gonna blow myself up,
he would stand way back here.
[Craig] And that was the days
before the pressure gauge.
I was scared to come close,
looked like I was
double-dutching.
[Craig] Yeah.
We came a long way, man.
-Whoa.
-Oh, yeah.
Oh, I smell it from here.
Wow. It's blowing out of here.
-See, that's that...
-[Roland] There it is.
First drip.
[Richard] Man, this thing
is spitting it out of there.
I've never seen that before.
Thank you, man.
This is what I need.
This is, uh...
this thing is just
discharging.
Look at that.
This smells awesome.
I can smell the honey in it.
I can smell... It smelled like
it came out of the bucket.
[Craig] Give me a jar.
We're gonna start
taking this
off of here right now.
[Roland] Careful with
that initial run though.
[Richard] This will be
hand sanitizer.
Boom.
Right, what we got?
[Roland] Going for 159, 160.
160.
[Craig] That's good.
Yeah.
[Richard] All right, bro.
Give you this one.
[Craig] Catching the essence.
[Richard] Good,
let's try that.
[Craig] Yes.
You wanna scoop it out?
[indistinct]
This is manglier.
This tastes like cinnamon.
This tastes like nutmeg.
This tastes like honey.
This is manglier tea.
This is a real smooth,
real pleasant drink.
That's it.
[Richard] That's what
you taste in a hot toddy.
I think we hit a homerun
with this product.
I think this is something
that everybody's gonna like.
Tastes good to me.
Yeah, buddy.
I taste all this citrus fruit
and with the honey
and the manglier.
That's awesome.
And I taste
the manglier the way
it should be tasted
in the back.
The bitterness that follows
manglier after you swallow it.
You get that bittery
back bite of it.
Everything that I put into it,
I taste in it.
I now pronounce us,
husband and wife.
Because we're married
to this idea now.
[Roland] Getting a little
cloudy, fellas.
I'm starting to get
a little worried.
Yeah.
The weather is about
to start running us.
See how dark
we're getting out here, man?
It's the calm before
the storm.
[Craig] Like somebody
turning out the lights on us.
Bro, how the weather looking?
[Roland] Man, coming off
that Gulf Coast pretty clear
but, uh, it look like
it's just missing this, man.
[Craig] I don't think
we're gonna get that wind
that they were thinking
we was going to get.
[Roland] See that, man?
[Richard] This is us
on the pin?
[Roland] Yeah.
So I mean it's just skirting
past us.
We should be getting
pounded right now.
Like something's
just blowing it away
from us right there.
We were directly in a path.
Everything
about this storm said
I'm coming to see you guys.
Fate. Luck.
Call it what you want,
but we should have 70 mile
an hour gusts here right now.
We should have rain
on top of us.
We don't have anything, we
caught a little bit of rain.
We're almost finished
with this run.
Man, I feel good about this.
Where is our sample jar.
[Roland] We know
who be driving back home.
Yeah, I ain't driving today.
We ran about three gallons
of untempered product.
We're gonna temper this down,
bring it down
to a manageable level.
I got a sample
from every jar.
[Craig] I can't get enough
of that.
I'm trying to taste
my tongue right now.
This is gonna hopefully put
some money in our pockets.
I'm gonna go home
and cook me a turtle
with some manglier tea shine.
I've been waiting on
this turtle for three weeks.
[Craig] You've been talking
about it for the past week
and a half.
[laughter]
[dramatic music playing]
[Henry] They ought to be here
at anytime, man.
[Kenny] These are
your friends, they gotta be
fashionably late,
just like you.
Tell Josh 10:00
he gets here at 12:30.
-Tell them 12:30...
-You're crazy.
You'd be lucky you see him
by dinnertime.
I'm usually 15 minutes late.
15 minutes after the hour.
Hey, there they are
right there.
[John] We got
a good setup going.
We're in the building,
we got all our stills
and stuff down there,
so Henry and Kenny,
they're gonna show me
how to set up oil burners
because we can't use
propane down there,
we'll end up blowing up
and killing everybody.
Tell you what?
I thought he's gonna kill me
on the way down here.
Never thought we'd make it.
All over the road.
Say he's a speed-demon, huh?
Well, you know, you didn't
say nothing until we got here.
We had [indistinct] bad knew
could've drove it.
[Josh] Ron, this is Henry
over here and this is Kenny.
I reckon if you was Josh,
we'd to let you slide,
won't we?
Hell, anybody that's got
any sense
to hang around this guy.
You got to be crazy one.
[Ron] We do have a smokestack
to tie these in to?
[Josh] Yeah, yeah,
we got a chimney coming out.
We could hook those in to.
[Henry] All right.
This will all work.
Kenny and I, we've had
inside still sites for years.
We had a lot of bad luck
with propane.
I about burn a house down.
Kenny blew a house up.
-Very dangerous.
-[Ron] Oh my goodness.
I'm telling you, Josh,
I like this bro.
Fueling with oil's
a complete
different situation,
it's safe
but it has to be built
completely tight,
almost has to be airtight.
[Josh] All right.
Come with us.
Watch your leg.
All right. Go.
We got the burners here.
We got the pipes here
to hook up the exhaust.
We got the bricks
and mortar and the sand
to lay these stills in place.
Everything's going smooth
as apple pie.
All right,
you [indistinct] on that.
[Ron] Your oil
comes out of here,
sprays through that little
bit of tip, that nozzle.
And these electrodes
right here
are constantly
sending current through it
and fires the sucker,
and once the fuel oil's lit,
she's right
underneath it there.
And we'll have a smokestack
lined at the back.
You fire it up,
if it's not completely
tight in the front,
completely tight in the back,
you'll get smoke,
your flames won't burn
correctly.
You'll lose a lot of your oil.
It won't be able to stay
in that.
You'll have to come out,
so it's got to be tight.
Easy.
Slow, slow, slow.
[Josh] Easy. Right here.
[man] Hey,
what are you guys are doing?
[Henry] Who is that guy?
[man] What are you guys doing?
-We're working.
-[man] What is this?
I don't know anything
about it.
Who are you?
You got camera crews
down here.
This... I've got
a studio upstairs.
I didn't commission
any work down here.
Did you pay him some,
did you pay him?
[Henry] We even paid
to be here.
-[man] Who did you pay?
-Chris.
What?
Chris is my brother.
This is my building.
Man, Sister Mary Catherine
was a nun.
She died, she got to the gates
of heaven.
St. Peter said,
Sister Mary Catherine
you've been so good.
We're gonna have
a party for you,
but we're not ready yet.
So we're gonna give you
24 hours to go anywhere,
do anything you want to do.
So she went to Rome,
she met the Pope,
she saw the Vatican,
she had a good time,
she gets back 24 hours later,
St. Peter said, "Look,
we ain't ready for you yet.
You all go do something else.
24 hours later,
I'll get you back up here."
48 hours later,
St. Peter getting worried,
no Sister Mary Catherine.
Next day, the phone rings.
"Hey, Pete. This Cat,
I'm in New Orleans."
[laughter]
I told him you gotta watch
yourself when you go
to New Orleans.
New Orleans
will make some people say
heaven can wait.
They gotta watch it
out there.
[Digger] You can tell
by that stream
we ain't cooling
real efficient right now.
The fact that
the temperature's rising
as fast,
that's not good.
What if we set a [indistinct]
of the return line
in a cooler of ice?
It could work.
I mean, if we don't
do something,
we're gonna lose this run.
Yeah.
[Mark] I'll go get us
some damn ice.
-We got our cooler over here.
-[Digger] Yeah.
I'll set our drinks out of it.
All we're doing
is trying to help
the little chiller
that could...
Well, our plan is now.
We got more tubing,
Mark's going to get some ice.
[Mark] If I'm not having store
right across the street.
[Digger] And we're going
to see if we can pre-chill it
going in
and it'll balance out.
[Mark] This is not
a permanent fix.
But if this works,
it may indicate to us
that a bigger chiller
will work.
[Digger] Let's see
what happens.
Oh, look at there,
by God she's a-going handy,
boy.
[Mark] As the glycol
leaves the condenser,
it's got to come through
this 40-foot of tube
and it's in this ice.
It's coming down fast to it.
[Digger] It's done come down
to six points.
You know, it's working.
The condenser is cold again.
The liquor coming out
is cold again.
For the moment,
we have solved this problem,
but it's not a long term fix.
[Digger] You couldn't ask
for better looking liquor.
Here's looking at you, kid.
Whoa, you've got
a big gullup didn't you?
Attaboy, show him
your balls are fuzzy.
Yeah, it's a little different.
It's just a little fiery,
-ain't it?
-[Digger] It is.
[Mark] Not a lot of flavors
carried over,
-have they?
-[Digger] Uh-uh.
[Mark] I think I've had
my fill of persimmons.
Thank you
for going along with me.
All and all, it's not
an exceptional liquor.
But in the long run,
in the big scheme of things,
this is way more important
than one round of liquor.
We've proved the point
with the chiller,
persimmons will make liquor.
Persimmons do not make
the best liquor.
[Digger] It's not
horrible liquor.
It's not...
No, it's not horrible,
but it ain't nothing
that them,
she write home to mama about.
We'll put that down there
where we won't find a bat
in there swimming around them.
You know what,
the chillers are successful.
-We learned a lot.
-[Digger] Yep.
Chillers will work.
Persimmons ain't worth
a damn.
[playful music playing]
[man] I didn't have
any work planned.
This is my building.
Well, Chris told us
that we can
set up down here and...
-Chris?
-Yeah.
No, Chris is my brother.
He doesn't schedule any work.
Is this a still?
We're just down here
working a little bit, man.
This is not good.
This is not good.
We thought we'd have
full permission to be here.
Chris can't let you have
permission to be
in the building.
This is not Chris's building.
This is illegal.
I don't want to lose
the building.
You can leave by tonight
or I can go call
the police now.
We don't...
we don't need any...
We don't need the police.
We're pretty good on that.
[Ron] So you'll give us
until tonight?
-You can guarantee it?
-You can be out here tonight.
Don't call the law.
We'll have it out of here.
[Josh] We'll get it out.
We're very sorry.
We're not trying
to cause any trouble.
We thought we had
full permission.
Well, this looks like trouble.
[Josh] I thought Chris
was the owner of the building
and he gave us
full rights to be here.
It ain't my fault.
This don't make no sense.
We didn't even get to set up.
-Where's the truck at?
-Mine's outside.
-The big truck?
-Hold this thought,
we're not gonna worry
about these stills.
The first thing
we're gonna do,
is get the most expensive
equipment out.
We're gonna get
these big worm out.
-Add all those stuff.
-Those caps.
-Long pipes, these burners.
-Yeah.
We'll get them out first,
because that's
the most expensive
then we'll come back
with a truck, big truck
-and get the stills.
-That's right.
-That's the way we work it.
-This ain't happening.
[Ron] This happened to us
before, several times.
I loaded some equipment
one night,
all the expensive stuff,
like we're getting ready
to do right now.
I made it three miles.
State Trooper got behind me.
And cut the stills
before I left.
I cut all of them.
And I still thank the people
had me called [indistinct]
-[indistinct]
-[Josh] Did they pull you up?
They pulled me up, I jumped
out and ran and got away,
but I lost all the equipment.
This is another
big blow for Josh.
I mean, Josh has a lot
of bad luck.
But this wasn't his fault.
I just have built
this damn thing
and now I gotta tear it down.
[Ron] You know,
I feel bad for him.
But that's the way it is
to making moonshine.
That's the moonshiners life.
Nothing is perfect.
[Josh] Just my damn luck.
If I ain't breaking some bones
or wrecking something,
then something's
being wrecked for me.
-I don't want to move in here.
-We moved so many times,
it's unbelievable.
It's part of the game.
It's part of
the fricken game, man.
But, you know what,
you didn't lose,
you won because you're going
home tonight.
[Josh] Right now, all I can do
is just suck it up,
pack up these trucks
with all we can get out,
find a new place to go.
Keep on rolling.
*bleep*
Oh, what a mess.
[narrator]
Next time on Moonshiners.
We checked everywhere
to get some malted corn.
[Richard] They said
you're the man to go get it.
You tell me you can't find it,
the more interesting it is
to me.
We got to get malted corn.
I have a contact
in Alabama.
[man] You know, I called you
about that sprouted corn.
I got corn but I ain't got
sprouted corn.
How can I get this?
I don't even know
where to go right now.
You know,
what am I gonna do?
[Richard] And we're cooking
cotton candy rhum today.
I want to be known
as a bag of jelly beans
with so many flavors,
people never get tired.
[Craig] You hear that?
You hear that?
Watch it. Some cop.
Come on.
Get down. Get down.
Hurry up.
Get down, get down.
You know what's great
about this spring?
It's got potential
of putting us on the map
as making true
Tennessee whiskey.
[Digger] From everything
I've been told all my life,
this is limestone hard water.
[Mark] I mean,
those damn trucks.
We can't set
no damn still up here.
We're going to pump water
right into this building.
You're full of crap.
[dog howling]
[narrator] This time
onMoonshiners.
[Mark]
Looks like pink lemonade.
[Digger]
More like embalming fluid.
I've got a chiller.
Drip thing goes right.
It's gonna chill our condenser
down below
what we can get out
of creek water.
This thing
could be a lifesaver.
It rose up already though.
You can tell by that stream
we ain't cooling.
Oh, hell.
[indistinct chatter]
[Richard] Manglier is an herb
has been passed down
through the Creole culture
for years.
It has healing properties.
We'll have
a Manglier tea moonshine.
All these people
going in the gym,
spending all that money,
all you got to do
is be a moonshiner.
Whoa, oh yeah.
Oh, I smell it from here.
[man]
Wow, this place is killer.
[man] What do you think
about letting me set
-some stills up down here?
-Sounds good.
[man] Well, we're gonna move
our still site tonight,
[man] we're gonna be doing
the dirt right
up under everybody's noses.
[man] Oh my goodness, Josh.
I like this, bro.
[man speaking]
Who are you?
Brother, this is my building.
[man] This is how we make
the moonshine
[Mark] Winter's up on us.
[Digger] We'll assemble
everything out here.
[Mark] Yeah.
Now if we got any leaks,
this is a place to know it.
[narrator] In eastern
Tennessee with temperatures
falling and the window to
run shine outdoors closing,
Mark and Digger
devise a novel solution.
I like the looks
of that little fella.
[Digger] It's something else.
I've got a chiller that's made
for home brewing beer.
This cold gets cold fast.
This pump goes down in here.
It's made to keep lagers
down to, you know,
a 60 degree range.
I've never used it
and as far as I know,
nobody's ever used it to run
a condenser
for a liquor still.
So I want to find out
if it'll cool
a condenser enough
and long enough
to keep condensing liquor.
You know
everything about it, big man,
water in the woods
that we're used to is free.
Yeah.
See, shotgun condensers,
we normally have
a endless supply
of creek water
which is cold.
We just simply circulates
through this thing constantly.
Well, you're all the time
a-thinking, ain't ya?
That's about [beep]
ends up costing us money.
But in the long run this gonna
save us money I hope.
During the course
of the run and the shop,
we're dumping out hundreds
of gallons of water.
It gets very expensive.
[Digger] This is not like
taking three showers a day
where you use maybe
150 gallons of water.
Our run of liquor
is probably 150 gallons
an hour, bare minimum.
So it adds up really fast.
Well, let's get to pouring
this juice in there.
[Mark] Looks kind of like
pink lemonade, don't it?
It looks more like embalming
fluid to me.
Well, I don't know
what embalming fluid
-looks like.
-Eh.
You will, one of these days.
-No, I won't.
-You gonna get burnt?
No, but I won't know
what color hell
I'm being embalmed with.
[Digger] You might.
[Mark speaking]
[Digger] Popcorn said
it come out faster,
you do it like that.
Popcorn didn't know
everything.
Well, this little chiller,
if it can keep
this shotgun cold,
Digger's on to something.
This thing
could be a lifesaver.
It might permit us
just to make small batches
of liquor year round.
Well, I'm gonna turn
the pump on.
There we go.
That's a damn pump
right there.
[Mark] Yeah.
You ain't use pumping
-that big, right?
-[Digger] Uh-uh.
-My pump's little bitty.
-[Mark laughs]
[Digger] Basically
what this apparatus does,
it cools propylene glycol,
which is food-grade glycol.
And we fill it full of that.
It'll get this down
below freezing.
It'll get below freezing,
but will not freeze.
It's going to chill
our condenser
if everything goes right.
Down below, what we can get
out of creek water,
it'll go in the same way
that it does normally.
Where the cold
goes in the bottom
and the hot goes out the top.
And it recirculates,
it's not being cast out
after it runs through
the condenser.
We got a fine stream
running in there.
[Mark] So that's how fast
it's a-circulating.
Yeah, that's cooling down
real fast.
I'm a-looking forward
to seeing what it'll do.
[Mark] You've hit
something here now.
[Digger] It might be
the next best thing.
[Mark] I know.
If the coolin'
will outrun the steamin'.
Yeah, that's the tale
of the tape.
That'll tell the ticket.
[Digger] All
we got to do now is...
-Put the still to it...
-Put the still to it.
Great idea, Puss.
[Digger] I think, if it works.
[rock music playing]
[Josh] This has been a crazy
busy year for me,
but it's been so worth it.
I'm getting to spend
a lot of time
with Henry and Kenny
and Tickle.
And hell I brought
10, 000 pounds
worth of fruit
to Virginia to these guys.
That's a hell of a lot
of fruit.
[narrator] In Polk County,
North Carolina,
after weeks spent
pumping out hundreds
of gallons of shine,
Josh heads into town
to deliver two barrels
to a longtime customer.
[Josh] Right now
I'm over here delivering
a hundred gallons
of damn liquor.
My next step is to start
getting on trying to find
a place to move
to because now the leaves
have done fell off.
There's not supposed
to really be any traffic
going in and out
of [indistinct]
and so,
people are going to start
being real suspicious
that something's up.
That's the part
is sticking out
like a sore thumb.
That make winning proud
of their still [indistinct].
Chris?
-What... There you are.
-[Chris] Yeah?
[Josh]
What are you doing, buddy?
-[Chris] Hell of not much.
-I've known Chris for years.
He's got this recording studio
and I'm talking
about the equipment
in there will blow your mind.
Is this a projector?
Or what is that?
-That one's LED.
-Oh, my gosh, that's crazy.
-[Chris] Yeah.
-I brought you
a little something something.
Chris's building
is in the middle of town.
We come wheeling into town,
all I could think
about was how in the hell
am I gonna get
those barrels out
of the back of the truck
and into the building
without anybody seeing it.
But when you go do
something illegal,
you got to look like
it's your everyday routine,
so it don't look
you doing anything wrong.
What in the world is this?
[Chris] This is a elevator
from 1932.
[Josh] Holy crap, that's cool.
One of the oldest elevators
in western North Carolina.
Are we gonna be safe in it?
-We'll find out.
-Oh, my God.
Holy molly, that's wild.
This thing is so cool.
Freakin awesome.
And hell right now
we're delivering
two 50-gallon drums.
A hundred gallon sale
ain't no slouch.
This place is killer.
[Chris]
It's just stores right now.
[Josh] When we got off
that elevator,
first thing that popped
in my mind
was this would make
a great indoor
steel [indistinct].
This is awesome.
Oh, my gosh.
Man this place
has got potential man.
[Chris] Our water hose
right there.
Hasn't been a snake
that bit my head off.
[Josh] If there's a way
I can talk him
into letting me use this,
this would be perfect.
This is...this is good.
We got drains,
we got air, we got cover.
What do you think
about letting me
set some stills up down here?
This is perfect.
What do you think?
I'm willing
to give you money.
Sounds good.
I'm anxious to get started.
We can get started
pretty quick here or...
-Pretty quick.
-[Josh] Right on?
Wham. Bam.
Thank you, man.
We're in business.
This basement is perfect.
It's right up
under everybody's nose.
People are moving
big equipment in and out
of here all the time.
This is what is for.
Well, I'mma ease
on out of here.
I got a bunch of work to do.
[Chris] All right.
[Josh] I'm really excited
to get all my stuff
and get in here.
Chris is just a super
laid-back old boy.
I think he's gonna make
a great landlord.
[bird squawking]
[country music playing]
Be on the lookout for it,
even if it's in...Look.
-We got something right here.
-[Craig speaking]
[Richard] You remember back
in the days, mom and daddy
used to give us
that old Manglier tea
when we had a cold
or something?
It'd be all right
in the morning.
[narrator] Returning home
to the Louisiana bayou
after his run with Tickle
and the laws.
Give you first shot at it.
Oh, yeah.
That's good.
I'll take a second try too,
my brother.
[narrator] Outlaw moonshiner
Richard Landry
and his brother Craig
are in search
of a hard to find plant,
called Manglier,
to create a new moonshine
with a healthy kick.
That's a good bush
right there.
I wonder if these people
even know they got the cure
for COVID.
I don't know if it'll cure it,
but it will sure
make you feel better
if you got it.
Manglier is a Creole term.
T'manglier,
it has been passed down
through the Creole culture
for years.
And Native Americans
back in the day,
they went to nature
and Manglier was one
of those things
that they went to
when they had a common cold
or something like that.
This just passed
the test of time.
The Indians thought
it was something
that was real good
and the Creole heritage
that came into this area,
they found it
to be real good.
When I was growing up,
if we started
getting the sniffles,
our parents...
The first thing they would do
is go get some Manglier tea.
They would...
they would fix us a hot toddy.
[Craig] Used to be able
to find this everywhere.
Since COVID,
they come out here
and cut it all down.
You wake up feeling like
a million dollars.
Whether you wanted to go
to school or not.
It seemed like you
were anxious to wake up
in the morning and say
hey, I feel better.
[narrator] The medicinal
properties of Manglier
were first discovered
by the indigenous peoples
of southern Louisiana.
Used by tribal medicine men
for centuries.
By the 1800s,
Manglier had been passed on
to the Cajun and Creole
communities of Louisiana,
who continued to use it
as a cure-all
until the widespread
availability of antibiotics.
Although not widely known
outside
of southern Louisiana,
Manglier is thought to be
a natural immune booster,
which may be explained
by its active ingredient,
baccharis oxide.
The powerful
anti-inflammatory
and antiviral properties
of the compound
have been linked to improving
immune response to everything
from the common cold
to type two diabetes.
And we got an alligator
right here still sitting.
And the mom is probably
in that den right there.
So we don't want to be
too close to that.
We're gonna have to get out
of this boat get on land
if we're gonna get any more
of this product.
We got to start mashing
this in.
Take your rope,
take your rope,
take your rope.
Gently tie me off.
Yeah, this is my uniform.
Camouflage
and Air Jordans like
that's how I make moonshine.
You got
the hip-high waders, man.
What are you waiting
for the flood or scared
of the alligators, because
that's not gonna save you.
[scoffs] Well,
if the flood come,
at least my pants
won't be wet.
That looks like a one-piece
that a baby wears.
It is a onesie.
It's my onesie.
You got to explain
when you get home
about the mud in the marsh.
Say Honey, can you wash
my clothes please?
What we're gonna do
with this
is we're gonna take
the Manglier tea.
We're gonna ferment it,
distill it,
run it through a still,
instead of having
a Manglier tea,
tea, we'll have
a Manglier tea moonshine.
[Craig] This one's good,
but it's still flowering.
[Richard] Not gonna be
as much good to us.
I mean, it'll do a little good
but might as well
let's go ahead
and do what she has to do
to make some more
for the next generation.
Since this Manglier
is flowering,
what we're gonna do
is we're gonna leave it here.
We're gonna let it do
what it does.
Let the birds
and the bees come
and do what they're supposed
to do with it.
We could use this tree
right now
to make medicine with
but this is something
we'll let grow
and turn into a real tree,
a real bush
and be able to benefit
from it even more later on.
This will be a Manglier
that is not flowering.
-Cut this Craig.
-[Craig] This Manglier here.
[Richard]
Another thing about Manglier
is to try not to
take too much from it.
We try to leave enough of it
for herself
to not feel like
we robbed it
or we've deprived
of something that it needs.
The Native Americans
did it responsibly.
They made sure that
they had some for later on.
They didn't get out there
and cut down a whole tree
and say hey,
we have this for now.
They only took
what they needed.
Look this bush right here
has a real nice one
right here.
Take the whole thing.
Manglier is a real
green plant.
I don't have to
barely scratch it
for it to expose itself.
That's how I easily know
what Manglier is.
I could grab any other bush
out here and scratch it
and I wouldn't see this green
that's so apparent to me
right now.
We cut Manglier,
we try to do it
whereas to promote
new growth to it
just like pruning a tree
somewhere at home.
We pick quite a few
pounds of Manglier.
I'm glad that
we finally got enough
to stop mashing
this product in.
Next time, I gonna have
to bring my boots.
It won't be the first time.
Your wife's gonna let you
back in the house.
You might not walk in
with those shoes.
[narrator] Coming up.
[Digger] We got a lot
of starch in these.
It's going to have to be
cooked up and converted.
[Mark] And starch,
is it a sugar?
[Digger]
No starch is a starch.
It can be converted
into sugars.
Damn.
You're so smart.
I read Reader's Digest.
[Mark] Here we go.
Oh, I... [gasp] Damn.
-How you doing?
-Well, hell,
I'm about dead,
thank you for asking.
Come here. I'm want to
show you something.
Looker here what I got.
Maters and where'd you go
pickin' maters at?
-Them ain't maters, boy.
-What the hell are them?
[Mark] Them's persimmons.
My great granny used
to make persimmon jelly.
It was good.
We can use them to test
a [indistinct] chiller,
and see what kind of liquor
we get with these persimmons.
[narrator] Persimmons
have played a large role
in American life
for centuries.
With applications ranging
from medicine to moonshine.
During the Civil War,
Confederate soldiers
used unripe persimmons
as both antiseptic
and quelling,
while the fruit seeds
were ground and roasted
to be used as an
alternative to coffee.
But its history
on liquor production dates
back even further to 1771
when the Philosophical
Society of Philadelphia
experimented
with persimmon brandy
to break the colonies
dependence
on West Indian rum.
It became so popular
that the father
of the Bill of Rights,
George Mason,
even distilled it
on his farm in Virginia.
[Digger]
We can get them quartered up,
put them in boiling water,
boil them down,
break them down
as far as they will go.
And it should be an easy
cook on this.
Damn. Them persimmons
is given you guys
something horrible.
We're gonna...
You can't have
no more of them.
Surely it didn't spook,
did it?
[Mark] No.
You know they are firm
but they're an easy
fruit to work with.
They got a lot
of sugar content.
So hopefully
it'll make something.
[Digger] Well, we got a lot
of starch in these,
it's gonna have
to be cooked up
and converted it
and then I'll do
a little iodine test on it.
There's a sample little test
that the old timers
used to do
see if they converted
all their starch
to fermentable sugars.
Now, starch, is it a sugar?
No. Starch is a starch,
it can be converted
into sugars.
See, that's why I get lost
in all this *bleep*
The starch that's in here
is a complex carbohydrate.
See how it's turning black.
Starch is in there
and it will bond
with the iodines
and turn black.
Well it's not fermentable
readily right here.
It's gotta be broken down
by rotting.
Which rotting takes...
-rottening takes...
-Uh-huh
That's it.
We need to get that time
factor bumped up
by cooking them.
If you cook 'em they convert
through the heat
into a fermentable sugar.
Now, if the starches
are all cooked
and broke down there's nothing
for it to bind to,
so it dissipates.
When you drop your iodine in
and it dissolves,
that's your indicator
that you converted
-all your sugars.
-[Mark] It turns brown
and it's gone.
Well, there's nothing for it
-to bond to.
-Damn.
You're so smart.
I read Reader's Digest.
I gonna get this
sugar in here,
processed corn sugar.
It ferments all the way up
and it don't offer no flavor.
[Mark] Easy now.
[Digger] Yeah,
we don't want to splatter
-this hot stuff up on us.
-We've get zero starch left.
Now, we'll just melt
a little sugar,
pitch some yeast
and wait on it to takeoff
and see what it makes.
That tasted [indistinct]
in a pot.
-[Mark] There, oh.
-[Digger] It's sweet.
[upbeat music playing]
[Josh] Well, we're gonna move
our still site tonight.
I got Brian with this big
old truck right here.
This still site
in this apple orchard,
it's been my biggest
still set yet.
It's really served us well,
we've made a lot
of liquor there.
But our paid Chris
and I'mma move
into this new steel set.
[Brian]
All right. Hold on.
[Josh] It's a crazy
amount of hard work
to move all these stills,
just about each piece
is a pickup truck-load.
How dare you!
-Drink a little of it...
-[Josh] No, don't do it.
That'll make you sicker
than a dog.
Brian has been
a big help in this
because he's strong
as a bull ox.
-[Brian] Looky here.
-[Josh] Grass nest?
-[Brian] I guess.
-[Josh] I hate grass.
[Brian] I've never been
to the new site,
but he says it's just
the greatest thing ever.
[Josh] It's hard to believe
that we got a tractor-trailer
loaded with stills
moved out in one night.
I got Brian behind me
and a damn big old
18-wheeler truck.
And now we're moving
in to downtown here,
we're going to be doing
the dirt right up
under everybody's noses.
I think this
is going to be awesome.
Yeah, bring your 18-wheeler.
If Josh is driving,
he would have just
ran over everything.
Professional driving
right there.
All right,
check this place out, Brian.
[Brian] Holy smokes.
Looky yonder.
I just figured
all the stills
would kind of go on a row
right here.
-Yup.
-[Josh] I think four
450 galloon stills
is plenty damn big.
[Brian] I'd say we're just
leave them on their sides
-until we figure out what...
-[Josh] Yeah,
that's what
we're going to do.
Running these ginormous
stills inside,
that's something
I've never done before.
This is on
the different level.
Let's get this
party started.
I got a full bottle.
[Josh] We ain't using those.
I started realizing,
we don't wanna be
in a basement
running propane.
You know what happens
if we burn that down here?
-What?
-First of all
we'll get carbon
monoxide poison,
the second thing is,
is we're libel to just blow
the damn roof off
the building,
because propane,
if you try to burn it indoors
like that,
if there's any unburned gas
it lingers in the room
and if some kind of flame
hits it or whatever spark
or something,
then it's boom.
But this is the only way
I've ever done it,
it's either wood fire
or I've used propane burners.
Most of the time,
a damn turkey cooker.
I'll tell you what,
I bet you,
damn Henry and Kenny know,
them dudes have been making
shine for years.
They used to run indoors,
I've heard them tell stories
about it, they'll know.
-[line rings]
-Hold on a second.
-[man] Josh.
-Hey!
-[man] Hey!
-What's going on?
[man] We just stopped
and got some gas,
-almost run out of gas.
-Well, listen, man,
I moved into a new spot
and I know I need
some type of furnace
or something going on
but I'm not really sure
-how to fire it.
-You come on[indistinct]
-Is it outside or inside?
-Inside.
I got power, water, a drain.
[man] Oh, man,
that sounds sweet.
You know, we got...
I got a little time,
we can run down,
me and Kenny.
Bring some burners with us,
be glad to come down
and help you.
Oh, that's awesome.
I really appreciate it.
I know we got
everything down here.
We're ready to go
but until Henry and Kenny
get here with the burners
there's just no way
we can setup.
[man] Let's make some money.
Hell yeah,
one hand washes the other.
[man] All right, man.
See you.
See you.
[dramatic music playing]
There we got all the sugar
fresh from the mill.
We got all Manglier we need.
We'll go ahead
and mash that in.
We're gonna head
to the woods,
get in the still site,
we got some real good
unrefined sugars
that come out
of these plants.
You know, when they're
boiling the sugar...
you can smell it in the air.
Mosquito.
Sugar in this area
is one of the main
revenue sources.
There's hundreds
of thousands of acres
of sugarcane fields
around here.
It's just best to use sugar
that's grown in my backyard.
Not only does it promote
local business
but this unrefined sugar
is much better
than the processed sugar
from the best supermarket.
Let's go
make a run out of this.
[Roland]
What's going on guys?
[Richard]
What's going on, Roland?
[Roland] Just got
the refractor, PH meter.
Roland is my brother-in-law,
he's an engineer.
Roland is a numbers guy,
he's very technical.
-[Roland] He's got the scale.
-[Richard] All right.
And it has [indistinct]
so you know
[indistinct] it is.
No guesswork.
Man, we got the Manglier.
He wants to be able
to replicate the recipe
in ever-consistent product.
Do it the same way
every time.
Roland, will not let me
be one-tenth
of a gram off or something.
If it was five grams
it will not be 5.01
next time,
it will be
five grams next time.
Let's go, man.
Let's get this in the woods
-and start this off.
-Roland is that individual.
It always take a little work
to get the job done.
We have a beautiful spot
right on the bayou.
[Craig] Man,
I should have brought
a fishing pole with me.
Oh, man,
and a boat do good too.
We should be good right here.
We'll set a table up
right here.
[Roland] We'll get the rest
of the stuff set up.
[Richard] Because it's
hurricane season here now,
and the bayou floods.
We can't just leave
our stuff.
Try carrying this
monster with you.
That's a luxury
I wish I had here,
but we gotta bring it out
every time.
A few weeks ago,
our still site got hit.
It was under three feet
of water for quite some time.
[Roland] Hope them
mosquito will stay low.
[Craig] Call them the state
birds, they're so big.
[Richard] All these people
going in the gym.
Spending all that money?
All you gotta do
is be a moonshiner.
[Roland] It ain't too fun
and my back to the swamp,
you never know
what come out that bayou.
We grew up on this bayou
right here.
We did everything here.
I mean, this is someplace
that we used to go
to just sit and fish,
jump in the bayou.
This was a food source
for us,
this was a source
of entertainment.
This is some place that
I know I'm gonna be safe.
This is home.
You want some?
I'm good, man.
He don't drink.
[Roland] Gotta keep a clear
mind and clear head, man.
Make sure the number's right.
[Richard] Here it's not like
being up north
where you have natural
springs and creeks
that have real clean water.
Here we're at the mercy
of the bayous
and swampy water,
so we have to bring
fresh water in
from other places.
The indigenous people
to this area,
I mean,
everybody that came here,
that came through here
at some point in time
has something good
to see about Manglier.
It's still here for us.
Before we start
this boiling process
what I like to do is,
I like to mash these up.
I like to give them
a good ring,
that gives me
a stronger substance,
-a more potent product.
-[Roland] What's that number?
-3.1.
-What's the number
-we're looking for?
-Tell me when we see 25, bro.
[Roland speaking]
[Richard]
What's so good about this?
It takes me back
to childhood.
A lot of people, what they
do with Manglier tea
is they'll put just a little
bit of whiskey in it
and they'll make a hot toddy.
Put some lemon
and some honey in it,
it makes a real good drink.
We're gonna try to make
a hot toddy in a bottle.
Tea Manglier,
this is how we make a mash.
This is a super concentrate,
this is five gallons water
to 25 ounces of Manglier Tea.
Enough to make
20 gallons of mash.
It's a real earthy,
woodsy flavor,
bring it
to a real good boil.
And we'll start cooking
this down with sugar.
Manglier Tea,
everybody will describe it
as being very bitter,
that's why we...
add the other flavors,
just to break up
that bittery taste.
This is a real hidden gem.
I love it.
Under four ounces
of cinnamon,
we're gonna do
one ounce of lime peel,
one ounce of lemon peel,
one ounce of the tangerine.
Nutmeg, to wait,
then we'll do cloves.
This is the honey.
We're looking for the sugar
content definitely in this,
we're looking
for flavor also.
This complement
that this gives the Manglier,
is phenomenal.
This is one ounce
of lime peel.
A lot of people say
you can't ferment lime,
you can't ferment
citrus fruits,
it's real high in acidity.
Does real well
with Manglier Tea.
[Richard speaking]
Because the peels
don't carry a lot the acids
that are on the inside
of the fruit carry,
but it does have
a lot of the flavor.
This is unrefined
brown sugar.
This is fresh.
Smell it all around us
here in Louisiana,
it's 10% molasses.
It's gonna cook down
into something
with a high alcohol content.
So, Roland we're gonna put
10 pounds of this in here.
-[Roland] Ten pounds.
-[Richard] I find that...
As opposed to using
white sugars,
white sugars are just
kind of generic to me
as far as taste goes.
We love rums and brandies
and I guess, rum brandies
if you wanna mix
them together
like we do sometimes.
This is sugar the way nature
intended it to be.
We're gonna do
four grams of cloves.
Okay. I'm gonna add nutmeg
like my grandmother does.
Oh, you could smell it
a mile away.
Flavor's gonna come
through definitely.
I love it. I love it.
I love it. I love it.
-Taste all the citrus.
-Yeah, sweet.
Taste exactly like
what grandma used to give us.
That's awesome. I could taste
everything in it.
If I had a fever or cold
and I drank this right now,
within a short time frame,
those symptoms would be gone.
Make a believer
out of me, bro.
-Yeah.
-We're gonna make a believer
out of a whole
bunch of people.
I'm not gonna add the yeast
as soon as we finish with it
because it's gonna be...
just extremely too hot,
it's kind of thing,
a little viscous.
So it's gonna take a while
for this cool down.
You read to shut
the office down?
What were gonna do
is we're gonna go ahead
and put it in some buckets
and let it cool down,
and tomorrow
we'll walk into it
and we'll pitch the yeast.
[Roland] America's strongest
man competition.
Just do a good
a little cover up right here.
You know, boys,
we had a good day.
[Craig] Another whole
days' work, [indistinct]
[dramatic music playing]
[Digger] Let's run this
persimmon liquor,
-you know, it's ready.
-Oh, damn.
[Digger]
Today is the day we find out
this chiller's gonna run
efficiently or not.
I don't trust your judgment
when it comes to matters
of finances and women.
But this is liquor,
so we're good.
[Mark] Uh-huh,
no, that was beautiful.
Well, we got
our glycol chiller.
Now the way this works,
it chills that in here
to about
two degrees below zero,
and in the bottom
out the top.
It pumps out the glycol
into the condenser.
Well, once it fills up
it returns back in here
where it mixes
with the cold glycol,
goes back in.
Then away we go.
Yeah, our creek water,
we can't get it as cold
as we get this.
This smells pleasant.
With all this liquid
going through there,
you can see all the pink
going through the lines.
So, that's a good sign.
It means it circulating,
and it's circulating proper.
It didn't take long for it
heat up down through there.
-No, it didn't.
-Hell, we're heat... we're...
Hell, far.
What, boy it made noises like
I ain't never heard before.
Really, it really.
We got the pot running.
We've got vapor
coming over in the condenser.
If everything
works out right,
we should keep
the temperature somewhere
in the 60, 65 degree lines,
and if that's as high
as it will get,
we'll be happy.
[Mark] Feel how cold
that liquor is?
No, it's ice-cold.
It grows up three degrees
already though.
The fact that the temperature
is rising as fast,
that's not good.
It's gonna get hotter
that we made it pretty quick.
You can tell by that stream
we didn't cooling
real efficient right now.
And it ain't been running
30 minutes?
-[Digger] Yup.
-[Mark] Oh, hell.
The steam is outrunning
its cooling capacity.
I'm just throwing this
out there.
What if we put a [indistinct]
off the return line
in a cooler of ice,
and as it comes out of here,
it goes through that ice
before it goes back
into the chiller,
to knock some
of this heat down?
It could work.
I mean,
if we don't do something,
we're gonna lose this run.
Yeah.
[dramatic music playing]
[Richard] Man, you been
watching the weather report?
[Roland] Well, the weatherman
give different information
depending on
what channel you check, man.
[Richard] We [indistinct]
used about a week ago.
Now, the mash is ready
so we have to get in here
and do this run now,
but we do have an issue
we got to deal with today.
There's a hurricane
in the Gulf of Mexico
coming right at us.
Let's hurry up...
[Craig] Once that wind
and rain come
we don't wanna be around
these trees here.
[Roland] Yeah, especially
being by the bayou
you don't want a storm surge
and flooding coming through.
-[Richard] That's right.
-[Roland] Let's get it moving.
Act like we never
[indistinct] right now, right.
This is the one right here.
Look how beautiful that is.
Guys, smell that.
-Okay. Okay. Okay.
-Uh-hmm.
It's something that you smell.
You can smell the cloves.
-Uh-hmm.
-I can smell the lemon peels.
The tangerine.
I pick up on...
That's a big citrus job
-right there.
-And the honey.
The Manglier at the top
of all of it.
I'm smelling
the beautiful aroma.
There's no more movement
in it.
It's not bubbling,
it's not producing
CO2 anymore.
When I taste it,
there's alcohol in there.
It's real good.
It's tasting real good
right now.
[Roland] Let's see if we can
hurry up and make it
out of here.
[Craig] Just go, man.
[Richard] Common sense
would tell most people
don't run a run when
a hurricane is coming a way,
but this stuff is precious.
I don't want
to take the chance
that a tree might fall
on this,
a wind might blow something
and knock it over.
I mean, if we leave it out
too long,
it could turn into vinegar.
We don't want to take
the chance with this.
[Roland] Watch your step.
[Richard] Just put it
in the bayou.
-Give me some slack.
-[Richard] Flat.
[Craig] All right.
That's it.
Checking for that power,
be careful.
[Craig] You never know
what could happen
in situations like this.
Just using that cool water
off the bayou
to cool off the [indistinct]
This is the hard part
without wasting product.
And wasting
all that good tea, my man.
Next time we should've bring
some farmers too.
Roland, I can feel that money
slipping through
my fingers, man.
[laughter]
Man, these guys.
-The last bucket.
-Last bucket.
All right.
[Roland]
You all freehand guys, man.
[Craig]
That's the citrus there.
[Richard] Yeah, this is
a lot of citrus in here.
I don't even see any more tea
like it ate up all the tea.
[Roland] Like, yeah.
I noticed that.
This rain's starting
to come down, man.
I feel the drops.
Watch your fingers.
[Richard]
This is a 20-gallon still.
This is my prized possession.
Started out
with stainless steel.
I thought that was
the best thing in the world
until I was introduced
to copper.
This thing's gonna be superhot
in a little while.
I just want to make sure
these connections are good
before we can't touch it
anymore.
We got some wind
coming in now.
It's starting to get
a little heavy.
The tree tops,
they're blowing around,
so we got time but we ain't
got that much time.
[Roland] Man,
looking at the radar
coming up off the Gold Coast.
So you know how that goes.
Turn that pump on.
Get that heat.
[Richard] You know,
this takes me back
to Craig thought
I was gonna blow myself up,
he would stand way back here.
[Craig] And that was the days
before the pressure gauge.
I was scared to come close,
looked like I was
double-dutching.
[Craig] Yeah.
We came a long way, man.
-Whoa.
-Oh, yeah.
Oh, I smell it from here.
Wow. It's blowing out of here.
-See, that's that...
-[Roland] There it is.
First drip.
[Richard] Man, this thing
is spitting it out of there.
I've never seen that before.
Thank you, man.
This is what I need.
This is, uh...
this thing is just
discharging.
Look at that.
This smells awesome.
I can smell the honey in it.
I can smell... It smelled like
it came out of the bucket.
[Craig] Give me a jar.
We're gonna start
taking this
off of here right now.
[Roland] Careful with
that initial run though.
[Richard] This will be
hand sanitizer.
Boom.
Right, what we got?
[Roland] Going for 159, 160.
160.
[Craig] That's good.
Yeah.
[Richard] All right, bro.
Give you this one.
[Craig] Catching the essence.
[Richard] Good,
let's try that.
[Craig] Yes.
You wanna scoop it out?
[indistinct]
This is manglier.
This tastes like cinnamon.
This tastes like nutmeg.
This tastes like honey.
This is manglier tea.
This is a real smooth,
real pleasant drink.
That's it.
[Richard] That's what
you taste in a hot toddy.
I think we hit a homerun
with this product.
I think this is something
that everybody's gonna like.
Tastes good to me.
Yeah, buddy.
I taste all this citrus fruit
and with the honey
and the manglier.
That's awesome.
And I taste
the manglier the way
it should be tasted
in the back.
The bitterness that follows
manglier after you swallow it.
You get that bittery
back bite of it.
Everything that I put into it,
I taste in it.
I now pronounce us,
husband and wife.
Because we're married
to this idea now.
[Roland] Getting a little
cloudy, fellas.
I'm starting to get
a little worried.
Yeah.
The weather is about
to start running us.
See how dark
we're getting out here, man?
It's the calm before
the storm.
[Craig] Like somebody
turning out the lights on us.
Bro, how the weather looking?
[Roland] Man, coming off
that Gulf Coast pretty clear
but, uh, it look like
it's just missing this, man.
[Craig] I don't think
we're gonna get that wind
that they were thinking
we was going to get.
[Roland] See that, man?
[Richard] This is us
on the pin?
[Roland] Yeah.
So I mean it's just skirting
past us.
We should be getting
pounded right now.
Like something's
just blowing it away
from us right there.
We were directly in a path.
Everything
about this storm said
I'm coming to see you guys.
Fate. Luck.
Call it what you want,
but we should have 70 mile
an hour gusts here right now.
We should have rain
on top of us.
We don't have anything, we
caught a little bit of rain.
We're almost finished
with this run.
Man, I feel good about this.
Where is our sample jar.
[Roland] We know
who be driving back home.
Yeah, I ain't driving today.
We ran about three gallons
of untempered product.
We're gonna temper this down,
bring it down
to a manageable level.
I got a sample
from every jar.
[Craig] I can't get enough
of that.
I'm trying to taste
my tongue right now.
This is gonna hopefully put
some money in our pockets.
I'm gonna go home
and cook me a turtle
with some manglier tea shine.
I've been waiting on
this turtle for three weeks.
[Craig] You've been talking
about it for the past week
and a half.
[laughter]
[dramatic music playing]
[Henry] They ought to be here
at anytime, man.
[Kenny] These are
your friends, they gotta be
fashionably late,
just like you.
Tell Josh 10:00
he gets here at 12:30.
-Tell them 12:30...
-You're crazy.
You'd be lucky you see him
by dinnertime.
I'm usually 15 minutes late.
15 minutes after the hour.
Hey, there they are
right there.
[John] We got
a good setup going.
We're in the building,
we got all our stills
and stuff down there,
so Henry and Kenny,
they're gonna show me
how to set up oil burners
because we can't use
propane down there,
we'll end up blowing up
and killing everybody.
Tell you what?
I thought he's gonna kill me
on the way down here.
Never thought we'd make it.
All over the road.
Say he's a speed-demon, huh?
Well, you know, you didn't
say nothing until we got here.
We had [indistinct] bad knew
could've drove it.
[Josh] Ron, this is Henry
over here and this is Kenny.
I reckon if you was Josh,
we'd to let you slide,
won't we?
Hell, anybody that's got
any sense
to hang around this guy.
You got to be crazy one.
[Ron] We do have a smokestack
to tie these in to?
[Josh] Yeah, yeah,
we got a chimney coming out.
We could hook those in to.
[Henry] All right.
This will all work.
Kenny and I, we've had
inside still sites for years.
We had a lot of bad luck
with propane.
I about burn a house down.
Kenny blew a house up.
-Very dangerous.
-[Ron] Oh my goodness.
I'm telling you, Josh,
I like this bro.
Fueling with oil's
a complete
different situation,
it's safe
but it has to be built
completely tight,
almost has to be airtight.
[Josh] All right.
Come with us.
Watch your leg.
All right. Go.
We got the burners here.
We got the pipes here
to hook up the exhaust.
We got the bricks
and mortar and the sand
to lay these stills in place.
Everything's going smooth
as apple pie.
All right,
you [indistinct] on that.
[Ron] Your oil
comes out of here,
sprays through that little
bit of tip, that nozzle.
And these electrodes
right here
are constantly
sending current through it
and fires the sucker,
and once the fuel oil's lit,
she's right
underneath it there.
And we'll have a smokestack
lined at the back.
You fire it up,
if it's not completely
tight in the front,
completely tight in the back,
you'll get smoke,
your flames won't burn
correctly.
You'll lose a lot of your oil.
It won't be able to stay
in that.
You'll have to come out,
so it's got to be tight.
Easy.
Slow, slow, slow.
[Josh] Easy. Right here.
[man] Hey,
what are you guys are doing?
[Henry] Who is that guy?
[man] What are you guys doing?
-We're working.
-[man] What is this?
I don't know anything
about it.
Who are you?
You got camera crews
down here.
This... I've got
a studio upstairs.
I didn't commission
any work down here.
Did you pay him some,
did you pay him?
[Henry] We even paid
to be here.
-[man] Who did you pay?
-Chris.
What?
Chris is my brother.
This is my building.
Man, Sister Mary Catherine
was a nun.
She died, she got to the gates
of heaven.
St. Peter said,
Sister Mary Catherine
you've been so good.
We're gonna have
a party for you,
but we're not ready yet.
So we're gonna give you
24 hours to go anywhere,
do anything you want to do.
So she went to Rome,
she met the Pope,
she saw the Vatican,
she had a good time,
she gets back 24 hours later,
St. Peter said, "Look,
we ain't ready for you yet.
You all go do something else.
24 hours later,
I'll get you back up here."
48 hours later,
St. Peter getting worried,
no Sister Mary Catherine.
Next day, the phone rings.
"Hey, Pete. This Cat,
I'm in New Orleans."
[laughter]
I told him you gotta watch
yourself when you go
to New Orleans.
New Orleans
will make some people say
heaven can wait.
They gotta watch it
out there.
[Digger] You can tell
by that stream
we ain't cooling
real efficient right now.
The fact that
the temperature's rising
as fast,
that's not good.
What if we set a [indistinct]
of the return line
in a cooler of ice?
It could work.
I mean, if we don't
do something,
we're gonna lose this run.
Yeah.
[Mark] I'll go get us
some damn ice.
-We got our cooler over here.
-[Digger] Yeah.
I'll set our drinks out of it.
All we're doing
is trying to help
the little chiller
that could...
Well, our plan is now.
We got more tubing,
Mark's going to get some ice.
[Mark] If I'm not having store
right across the street.
[Digger] And we're going
to see if we can pre-chill it
going in
and it'll balance out.
[Mark] This is not
a permanent fix.
But if this works,
it may indicate to us
that a bigger chiller
will work.
[Digger] Let's see
what happens.
Oh, look at there,
by God she's a-going handy,
boy.
[Mark] As the glycol
leaves the condenser,
it's got to come through
this 40-foot of tube
and it's in this ice.
It's coming down fast to it.
[Digger] It's done come down
to six points.
You know, it's working.
The condenser is cold again.
The liquor coming out
is cold again.
For the moment,
we have solved this problem,
but it's not a long term fix.
[Digger] You couldn't ask
for better looking liquor.
Here's looking at you, kid.
Whoa, you've got
a big gullup didn't you?
Attaboy, show him
your balls are fuzzy.
Yeah, it's a little different.
It's just a little fiery,
-ain't it?
-[Digger] It is.
[Mark] Not a lot of flavors
carried over,
-have they?
-[Digger] Uh-uh.
[Mark] I think I've had
my fill of persimmons.
Thank you
for going along with me.
All and all, it's not
an exceptional liquor.
But in the long run,
in the big scheme of things,
this is way more important
than one round of liquor.
We've proved the point
with the chiller,
persimmons will make liquor.
Persimmons do not make
the best liquor.
[Digger] It's not
horrible liquor.
It's not...
No, it's not horrible,
but it ain't nothing
that them,
she write home to mama about.
We'll put that down there
where we won't find a bat
in there swimming around them.
You know what,
the chillers are successful.
-We learned a lot.
-[Digger] Yep.
Chillers will work.
Persimmons ain't worth
a damn.
[playful music playing]
[man] I didn't have
any work planned.
This is my building.
Well, Chris told us
that we can
set up down here and...
-Chris?
-Yeah.
No, Chris is my brother.
He doesn't schedule any work.
Is this a still?
We're just down here
working a little bit, man.
This is not good.
This is not good.
We thought we'd have
full permission to be here.
Chris can't let you have
permission to be
in the building.
This is not Chris's building.
This is illegal.
I don't want to lose
the building.
You can leave by tonight
or I can go call
the police now.
We don't...
we don't need any...
We don't need the police.
We're pretty good on that.
[Ron] So you'll give us
until tonight?
-You can guarantee it?
-You can be out here tonight.
Don't call the law.
We'll have it out of here.
[Josh] We'll get it out.
We're very sorry.
We're not trying
to cause any trouble.
We thought we had
full permission.
Well, this looks like trouble.
[Josh] I thought Chris
was the owner of the building
and he gave us
full rights to be here.
It ain't my fault.
This don't make no sense.
We didn't even get to set up.
-Where's the truck at?
-Mine's outside.
-The big truck?
-Hold this thought,
we're not gonna worry
about these stills.
The first thing
we're gonna do,
is get the most expensive
equipment out.
We're gonna get
these big worm out.
-Add all those stuff.
-Those caps.
-Long pipes, these burners.
-Yeah.
We'll get them out first,
because that's
the most expensive
then we'll come back
with a truck, big truck
-and get the stills.
-That's right.
-That's the way we work it.
-This ain't happening.
[Ron] This happened to us
before, several times.
I loaded some equipment
one night,
all the expensive stuff,
like we're getting ready
to do right now.
I made it three miles.
State Trooper got behind me.
And cut the stills
before I left.
I cut all of them.
And I still thank the people
had me called [indistinct]
-[indistinct]
-[Josh] Did they pull you up?
They pulled me up, I jumped
out and ran and got away,
but I lost all the equipment.
This is another
big blow for Josh.
I mean, Josh has a lot
of bad luck.
But this wasn't his fault.
I just have built
this damn thing
and now I gotta tear it down.
[Ron] You know,
I feel bad for him.
But that's the way it is
to making moonshine.
That's the moonshiners life.
Nothing is perfect.
[Josh] Just my damn luck.
If I ain't breaking some bones
or wrecking something,
then something's
being wrecked for me.
-I don't want to move in here.
-We moved so many times,
it's unbelievable.
It's part of the game.
It's part of
the fricken game, man.
But, you know what,
you didn't lose,
you won because you're going
home tonight.
[Josh] Right now, all I can do
is just suck it up,
pack up these trucks
with all we can get out,
find a new place to go.
Keep on rolling.
*bleep*
Oh, what a mess.
[narrator]
Next time on Moonshiners.
We checked everywhere
to get some malted corn.
[Richard] They said
you're the man to go get it.
You tell me you can't find it,
the more interesting it is
to me.
We got to get malted corn.
I have a contact
in Alabama.
[man] You know, I called you
about that sprouted corn.
I got corn but I ain't got
sprouted corn.
How can I get this?
I don't even know
where to go right now.
You know,
what am I gonna do?
[Richard] And we're cooking
cotton candy rhum today.
I want to be known
as a bag of jelly beans
with so many flavors,
people never get tired.
[Craig] You hear that?
You hear that?
Watch it. Some cop.
Come on.
Get down. Get down.
Hurry up.
Get down, get down.
You know what's great
about this spring?
It's got potential
of putting us on the map
as making true
Tennessee whiskey.
[Digger] From everything
I've been told all my life,
this is limestone hard water.
[Mark] I mean,
those damn trucks.
We can't set
no damn still up here.
We're going to pump water
right into this building.
You're full of crap.