Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 10, Episode 18 - Two Tons of Fun - full transcript
[narrator] This time
onMoonshiners...
You jump ten of these,
you win the princess.
-*bleep* Damn it.
-[laughs]
It's gonna be
the best Tennessee whiskey
East Tennessee's ever seen.
-Just rolls off your tongue,
doesn't it?
-[laughs]
If he's got eight pots,
we can do something
-with 4,000 pounds
of this malted corn.
-Yeah.
We're gonna go to Virginia
and work with Tickle,
Henry and Kenny.
We're going to Virginia with
a truckload full of stills?
Federal offence.
Brian, the scales are open.
Holy *bleep*.
Watch out for Old Smokey.
Buddy, you all right?
Hey, Brian?
Brian?
[man] This is how
we make the moonshine!
-That's Tickle.
What's up, bro?
-How's it going, fellas?
-Come on, you look bad.
-We got a whole lot work.
More like
4,000 pounds of work.
4,000 pounds of what?
-Malted corn.
-Thanks to our
good buddy Tim.
4,000 pounds of malted corn.
And it's beautiful.
[narrator] In
Franklin County, Virginia,
the clock is ticking
on Tickle, Henry and Kenny
as they look to turn
two tons of malted corn
into a high-proof pay day
before the finicky
grain spoils.
[Henry] I talked to Timmy
the other day
about possibly getting
some malted corn
During winter time,
I think it'd be hard
to get 400 pounds.
What happens? He shows up
with 4,000 pounds.
Boy, I tell you what?
It's got a flavor to it.
-Henry, this is great, but...
-We'll make some good stuff.
I mean, we got a little small
still going on right now.
What we gonna do
with 4,000 pounds of this
before it goes bad on us?
We're not gonna be able to eat
it all, I'll tell you that.
Uh-uh, even on
a big steam out there,
that ain't gonna do this.
We even got a place
full of that.
We'll run it what we got,
we been doing it
till next fall.
You're right. We gonna
be making liquor
for next Christmas.
I agree.
You know good
as well as I do, Henry,
that there's bugs and stuff,
they get in this stuff
forge the ground.
Little weevils, the eggs hatch
right inside there.
And next thing you know,
it's infested
and we can't run it.
I've dealt with corn before.
If you let it sit too long,
it gets little bugs in it,
and you can't do
anything about it.
You know, we went down
to help Josh to setup site.
And he's got eight fills now,
eight sub fills.
We went down
and we was in the basement
and we were hooking up
the oil and all,
and this guy came in
and I thought
we were going to jail.
Who are you? I didn't
commission any work down here.
You can leave by tonight
or I can go call
the police now.
-Damn.
-So he lost that site.
So maybe we can call him.
It can't hurt to ask.
If he's got eight pots,
we can do something
with 4,000 pounds
of this malted corn.
Give him a damn call.
See what he's going on.
We're short on stills
right now,
and Josh, he's got
a buttload of 'em.
-[line ringing]
-[Josh] Hello?
Fifteen damn rings before
you answer the phone.
What's going on?
*bleep* My,
what are you doing, buddy?
Did you find a site
for your eight subs?
No, after I moved,
I haven't done anything.
But you be interested in
making some money?
You know I am, always.
We got enough grain
to mash in eight subs.
Paid for.
Me, Tickle and Ken,
we need some stills.
What kind of grain?
Malted corn, man.
4,000 pounds of it.
Are you kidding? That's crazy.
[chuckles] Yeah, man.
I'm telling you.
If you bring eight subs up,
we'll get a spot,
make some money.
I tell you what,
this is a good team
right here.
You got that right.
I'm in.
But I got to drive
a big truck, you know?
It's a lot to bring that far.
It is a lot to bring.
You just get the subs
here in the caps,
and we'll be ready to roll.
All right, let me get
everything together
and we'll be on the way.
All right. Good, man. Bye.
We're aiming
to run 600 gallons.
I see a lot of money
coming our way.
We've got to get
on the damn stick
and find us a still site.
-We got another in mind.
-You got another in mind?
Hell, let's check it out.
See what we can do with it.
I tell you what?
It won't be long
before this 4,000 pounds
of malted corn is
a whole lot of good liquor.
[line ringing]
[David] Hello?
-Hi, David.
- Nah, Digger.
If you're calling me
for bail money,
you've already used
your "get out of jail" cards.
Nope, nothing like that.
You got any barrels?
We got some
two-year old barrels.
What could you do me about
eight or ten of those for?
About a hundred dollars
apiece.
I'm gonna call that a deal.
[narrator] In
the smoky mountains,
after discovering
a prime source
of limestone water...
[Mark] Very clear, very clean.
[narrator] ...Mark and Digger
are sourcing white-oak barrels
to fulfill a lifelong dream
of making authentic
Tennessee whiskey.
[Digger] Their water's good
and we can make
the best Tennessee whiskey
that East Tennessee's
ever had.
-There he is.
-And look at them barrels.
Oh, wow.
Looks they'd been through
a damn congressional
sub-committee.
My friend, David, he has some
two-year-old barrels.
Man, you don't know
what a solid you've done us.
These barrels are perfect.
That'll work us
a long time, cuz.
-Yeah.
-We gonna make fine liquor.
[narrator] The production
of whiskey in Tennessee
dates back to the 18th century
when the Scottish
and Irish immigrants
who settled the land
carried over
the distillation techniques
they knew
from the old country.
And many farmers
became small-scale distillers.
But the zealous embrace
of the Temperance movement
by state authorities
shut down many of
the small producers in 1909.
A decade before national
prohibition took effect.
Today, only a handful
of distilleries
produce true
Tennessee whiskey.
They typical use
limestone water,
and not only must it
be made in Tennessee,
but requires a mashbuild
consisting of
at least 51% corn.
And after distillation,
it's filtered through
Maplewood charcoal
before being aged
to new, charred
white-oak barrels.
And bottled at no less
than 80-proof.
That's the way
I roll the barrel.
True Tennessee whiskey
has to be put in
brand new white-oak barrels
with a number-four char.
These things are
two-year-old barrels,
once used.
So it won't be true,
true Tennessee whiskey,
but it'll be mine
and Digger's version
of Tennessee whiskey.
Hey, we're moonshiners.
We're not governed
by any rules and regulations
about how we make our whiskey.
Our conscience is
the only guide we have.
Hey, you jump
these barrels and I roll 'em.
-[laughs]
-*bleep* Damn it.
You jump ten of these,
you win the princess,
and it ain't a princess,
it's a JB.
Oh, no.
When we took possession
of this building,
we had this
big old metal rack.
I think it'll make
a perfect barrel rack.
We put these up high, store
the rest of 'em down low.
I think we can turn
this old rack
into something really,
really beneficial to us.
Since this liquor is going
straight into the barrel,
for the time the barrel
works it's magic on it,
it should be fantastic.
[Digger] The change
in barometric pressure
up and down causes
all the liquor
to get exposed to
the inside char of the barrel.
Looking good.
Whoo! Come out of there,
young feller.
How's my hair?
Oh, hell, it looks like
it's been combed
with firecrackers.
[speaking indistinctly]
Yeah. [grunts]
Wearing me out, it's hurting
my fingertips. Look out.
-Son of a bitch.
-Your face is kinda red.
We ain't as young as
we once were, and these
sons of bitches are heavy.
Let's spin it, there you go.
I want something mean
to kill me,
not a silly ass barrel.
All right, that's it,
12 o'clock.
[Mark] I think the barrel rack
looks great,
but a lot of work to fill in
these barrels,
that's 585 gallons.
It's gonna take a long time.
We can put one more up here,
-one more, and one more.
-[laughs]
-Yeah, boy.
-Mark and Digger's
Tennessee whiskey.
[Richard] Nothing like being
on a bayou early
in the morning.
Good gumbo today
would be good too.
We're all good, Louisiana
virgin sweet potatoes.
[narrator] Along
the winding bayous
of New Iberia, Louisiana,
Richard and his brother Craig
are mashing in
three barrels of a coveted
sweet potato liquor recipe
they plan to run on
their new submarine-pot still.
I had the chance to visit
my brother Tickle in Virginia.
How do you like
this whole set up?
Hmm, now this is a still site.
That flavor profile
is really gonna come through.
I'll drink to that.
They showed me
a submarine still setup.
So the bigger pot,
I can't wait
to get it right here.
I already have visions of it.
I've never run
a submarine setup before.
It'll up our volume so good.
This potato vodka, everybody
and their grandmother's
been asking for this,
so we need to get
a whole lot of this out.
We bought about a hundred
and fifty pounds
of sweet potatoes.
Trying to experiment
with all kind of liquor.
I don't wanna limit myself
to the norm.
We just finished up doing
a run among VAT,
it was hit,
same thing with cotton candy.
Because our customers
wanna try different varieties.
The slower you cook it,
the better it gets.
We use some
real good sweet potato.
We also use, uh,
dehydrated cranberry.
We use Carolina gold grain,
and I use a malted barley.
The outcome
was just unreal, man.
I got a million people
asking for this stuff.
We're gonna have
some help here in a minute.
Robert always
comes through for us.
Robert is my brother in law,
real good guy,
never lets me down
with anything.
-Oh, Rob's here.
-Hey, what's up, man?
Robert ended up here
'cause we needed help.
We on potato duty, huh?
-Yeah.
-Smells good.
-Craig, grab me a bit
of cranberries.
-I got 'em.
Real good compliment
to the potatoes,
the Carolina gold,
the malted barley.
The cranberry kind of
stands as a buffering
between all
of these ingredients.
All these different flavors,
that you would
not normally taste
kind of just marries
them together and makes 'em
sit together really well.
We got
our temperature correct,
it just hit 177.
When you're dealing
with sweet potatoes at 177,
those enzymes starts
to release themselves
from the potato.
That enzyme turns
complex starches
into simple sugars,
sugars that are fermentable.
-See how the color changes
in the water.
-Mmm-hmm.
We're gonna drop
the malted barley in here.
This has a real good
chocolate flavor.
It's just like coffee, kind of
makes you think it's coffee.
This grain is Carolina gold
that we're putting in here,
it's double mill.
This is gonna
make a big difference.
We're gonna put
five pounds in here.
Now we can't stop stirring.
It will scorch, it will burn.
The grains that we put in
were able to start working
and breaking up themselves,
breaking up some of the flavor
and emitting
their own enzymes.
I think this is ready, man.
Come and get
this barrel right here.
Go ahead
and pour it straight in there.
We normally make sweet potato
on a smaller scale.
This'd be the first time we're
doing it on a large scale.
It's a real good yeast and
I'll get the party started.
We gonna cap it up.
Do it again.
We have a lot of orders
coming in.
We just kind of put it out
there in the wind
to a couple of people and it
spread like wildfire.
Slower you cook it,
the better it is.
Smells great.
It looks so good. I think if
anybody would walk up on it,
they would think we were
cooking a good stew out here.
-This gonna be the last one.
-That's gonna make one
hell of a
sweet potato product.
I relate everything to life
and I can relate this alcohol
to a perfect marriage.
We've got 150 gallons.
'Cause these ingredients are
gonna produce
a perfect offspring
of beautiful baby Moonshine.
Here you go. Are you sure it
can't be seen on the bayou?
Come on, man. We're gonna head
to the supply store to make
the submarine still.
I finally got a phone call.
I talked to the sales rep
and he has the copper
that I need.
We gotta get these
orders out.
Ow. Ow.
-Perfect...
-[narrator]
Along the Carolina border,
Josh is calling on
his partner Brian
to help make a risky transport
to Virginia.
Tickle, Henry and Kenny,
they called me.
Tell me they got a bunch of
grains. Interested in
coming to Virginia.
I just said yes. I didn't even
think about how in the hell
I'm gonna get all this stuff
together fast enough to get
the heck up there.
Why you always got this
truck tore apart?
-What you talking about?
-You got a new toolbox.
-As go by your nickname.
-This is a new toolbox.
I'm gonna start
calling you toolbox.
So Josh called me. Wanted me
to come down to his house.
Be sure you bring the
big truck with you.
All I can think about is
what has he got going on now?
So what's the deal?
We'll all go to Virginia and
work with Tickle,
Henry and Kenny.
Everything in
the old truck here.
I know a couple of
problems I can think of
going to Virginia.
What's that buddy?
With a truckload
full of stills.
Let me spell it out for you.
Federal offense.
I know a couple of
problems I could think of
going to Virginia.
With a truckload
full of stills.
There's a lot of really big
risk involved in bringing all
the stuff to Virginia.
Crossing state lines,
you know,
we stand to lose everything.
We go through
the way stations.
I mean they get a little nosy,
You go sit in jail
with me if they look
in the back
and figure out we're crossing
into Virginia with
a truckload of stills.
They check your weight,
make sure what you're hauling,
and there's usually
three of four sets
of state troopers
running around in there.
You screw up the scales,
they'll get you.
We got to go around
them, right? We've got
to dodge them?
Yeah, I've been around
them before.
Well, look man.
There's thousands of pounds
worth of corn malt.
Around 4000 pounds or
something like that.
It's a lot.
With all these stills
and all of us working
together, if we work around
the clock, we can
seriously pump out
some shine man.
The amount of money we're
going to make, it's worth it.
You do the money on it,
it's a pretty good reward.
But we got to hope to
not get caught.
We don't have one set of
scales on the way there.
But, by gosh, they watch.
What they do is they'll...
They'll see you get off
of that exit.
They'll stay on
the interstate,
they'll go to the exit
that you're probably gonna get
on at.
Well, when you get back on
that exit right here in
10 minutes,
they'll know exactly what
you're doing. So you know what
I do?
I stay on the backroad for
about four more miles.
Go back three more exits.
Then I get back on.
If you're gonna go around
the scales, it's gonna take
a little bit longer.
You know, but it's a whole lot
safer than getting caught
by the law.
I mean, I just want you to
be prepared if you
got something that
-you don't want them to see.
-I don't understand the risk.
I'll drive in front of you
and be kinda like...
Run a lead man,
keep an eye out.
All you gotta do
-is driving us to Virginia.
-By God, here we go.
I hope we can get
her hooked up.
Let's load this bitch up
and hit the road.
He's got me feeling a
little bit nervous
about all this.
A lot of time in jail if we
get caught so...
We stand to make a lot of
money but we stand to lose a
lot of money too.
You know, anytime you do
anything like this,
it's a gamble.
But you got to gamble or
you never win.
-Is that good?
-That'll work. We're good.
[narrator]
In the foothills of the
Great Smoky Mountains,
Mike and Jerry are
stockpiling grains
so they can run enough liquor
to fill their stash house
and continue selling
the customers all winter.
This season has been hard
on everybody.
But you know we're
catching up.
We've got a lot of ingredients
stacked up.
We're not going to stop.
We're just gonna plough
through whatever's in
our way to get this alcohol
run off and keep
our stash house aboard.
My bags are fuller than yours.
May have been. Reckon?
We gonna build some swinging
doors, put some latches on and
some hinges.
That way we can just shut
the sugar up, keep varmints
from pecking holes
in our bags.
If we let that bag
go to waste,
we've got nothing to run.
We just need
to turn stuff over
before it's too damn late.
My God, we've got a cabinet,
don't we?
Got some good storage now,
don't we?
Me and Jerry, we wanna
fly ahead, go out there and
make us some money.
We go ahead and start mashing,
getting something done
'cause you know Mother Nature
is knocking on our back door.
This'll be it right here,
Jerry.
Place we can use to stash out.
I'll say this is a good
a place as any.
This whole stash house,
I'm actually real good friends
with the landowner.
Haven't used it in
a long time.
But it seems like the right
place for me and Jerry
to go at this time of year.
Pretty good,
we got to get this door fixed.
Yeah, I mean, little bit of
work to do.
We usually don't run this late
in the season
but we're gonna stash this
liquor up.
You know, everybody's got to
survive right now.
and that's just what me and
Jerry are doing here today.
You know the door's
a little broken.
Hell, it's a 150 years old.
It's been opened
a time or two.
Hey, gotta take
that hammer to the shop?
It's kind of a mess,
ain't it?
[both laughing]
These hammers...
[drilling]
That wood's hard, ain't it?
-Yeah it is.
-That's what she said.
All it needs is a padlock
and couple of slices of wood.
We don't want change it
more than we possibly
have to.
but we definitely want to
make sure it's secure.
-Hey, boy.
-Hey, made that Kenny?
We can hang this tarp
on these walls.
Fill up some of these holes.
I'm feeling real stoked about
this barn.
Haven't used it in years.
I'm excited to use it again.
I think that looks
pretty damn good.
Don't you?
I tell you what. This looks
like a good, clean
stash house now.
Yeah, buddy.
Me and Jerry were trying to
get our stash house full.
[Jerry] Let's get out of
here.
So we're gonna ride
to the still site.
[engine accelerating]
We're going to be ready in t
he winter time, we gonna lock
this wind up.
You ready for this, Jerry?
I'm as ready as I'll
ever be.
So we gonna stretch a
bunch of tarps up
on a string.
You know, basically work 'em
like shower curtains.
Something to block
the wind off
so the cold air won't come in
and condense our alcohol
too fast.
Or better yet,
freeze us to damn death.
I'm as ready as anybody in
this world to get
this pot fired up,
get that stash house full.
Run liquor throughout
the winter.
-[Jerry] As nice as it can be.
-I'm telling you.
Get some nice ingredients
in here and mash
this bad boy in.
[Jerry] All right,
let's do it.
-Gotta get this deal setup.
-I second that.
[narrator]
In New Iberia, Louisiana,
Richard is expanding his
operation with a
150 gallon submarine part
based on the design
he learned from Tickle.
This is a huge investment.
To be spending the
type of money
trying to put this
still together.
Which will be scaling up
for us.
It's gonna help us a whole lot
by having the submarine.
But this is all new to us.
I'm praying that my brother
and myself can handle it.
Good to see you again.
-I got the copper you needed.
-Bam!
This is like a blessing.
-Kind of a game changer.
-Yes. Big game changer.
This stick copper is gonna
take a whole lot
more pressure,
it's gonna be less prone
to damage
I can finally start working on
this submarine STILL.
All right.
We gonna pay for that.
I was told I have to use
white pine.
So I don't want to deviate.
I've been dreaming about
a submarine still
since I started making
moonshine and I mean,
I have everything I need and
I'm about to get to work.
Got this building my buddy's
gonna let me use for a while.
Buddy of mine is
gonna let me use his shop.
We gonna put this
still together
in a protected area.
Nothing else is around.
It's barbed wire everywhere.
Perfect build site. No one's
gonna know what we're
doing over here.
Prepare to be amazed.
Look at this.
Look at all this room.
Being the first time that I'm
doing this, I don't wanna
try something
so elaborate that it gets
out of hand.
We can't take the chance.
The simpler the better
in this case.
Later on after we get a
little bit experience,
know how to build them
a little bit better,
we'll be a little bit more
elaborate than we are
right now.
Man, I can't wait to get this
thing put together.
This is a large pipe.
It's not just gonna be
me and Craig that's gonna
be able to pick up this thing
and lug it around.
-Hey guys.
-What's up, Rob?
So, i got my brother-in-law,
Rob to get this pipe build.
-What you got to eat in there?
-Ain't got nothin' to eat
but I got some tools, man.
You need more than four hands
when you're building something
this big.
It's so important that we get
this right.
We only get one shot at this.
If this was metal, I could
weld something onto it.
If I could weld something on
the wood, I wouldn't be
standing right here right now.
I'd be on an island
I can't pronounce.
With a woman I can't talk to
and a drink I'm scared of.
We wanna make sure that this
thing is solid.
This wood's expensive.
I don't wanna mess it up.
I'm gonna put this same
system into play
that I learned
up here in Virginia.
As much as I've been given by
other people,
I understand what this
community is and what it
really stands for.
It's a tight-knit group,
a tight family structure in
this moonshine community.
-Who showed you
how to do that?
-Mr. Henry Law.
Man forgot more about alcohol,
then I'll ever know, probably.
It looks like sweet money.
That's what I need.
Right now we're making sure
both sides of the still
are the same.
We're using one side to make
the other side.
Everything will
match up perfectly.
Here in Louisiana, it's new.
I've never seen anybody do it.
My mom always told me if you
build a better mouse trap,
the world will be a path to
your doorstep.
Oh. How you looking there?
You back it up?
You wanna do a
zig zag pattern.
Instead of having nails just
side by side, we'll stagger
them out.
We're giving some strength
to it, It's not just
for aesthetics.
It's for safety also.
We're trying to make this
still as strong as
humanly possible.
Wow.
Man, we look like the boys
from up North, in the woods
with their submarine still.
With this submarine setup,
it's gonna benefit us all
across the board.
We're not far from home
now so...
Yeah, I think I'm gonna
take a shot of something
tonight.
[rapping on door]
Hurry up, it's wet out here.
[Mark] Come on in here.
[Digger] I used
to get it done.
Come out and help me
push this up that ramp.
We got the hauler components
in here for a still.
We're right next
to everything we need.
Ingredients and
equipment wise.
-Let's get busy.
-All right.
[Digger] We'll get everything
set up the way we need it.
And we can make the best
Tennessee whiskey
East Tennessee's ever seen.
[Mark] Here we go.
[Digger] Mark and Digger's
Tennessee Whiskey,
just rolls off
your tongue, don't it?
We got all our components
in here for a still.
Got all the barrels in place.
Now it's time
to build our furnace.
There's some block in here.
Now, the furnace itself,
we're gonna build it
a little different than
what we build in the woods.
We're gonna use cinderblocks
like we did in the old
still houses back in the day.
But, because
this one is temporary,
we're not gonna mud it in,
we're gonna fill the holes up
with sand to provide
extra insulation.
It'll heat up and it'll keep
reflecting that heat back
towards the still pots.
[Mark] Having this space
around through there
makes all
the difference in the world.
Yup, now that heat
can escape out these ends
and it'll come up.
It saves us time,
we're not spending
as much money on propane,
and we're making
liquor a whole lot quicker.
It doesn't help the ABV,
but you're making it faster,
which lets you get back
to make 'em mash faster
which means you're making
your next pot faster.
Well, you know,
it'll hold the heat
but, we just need
it to be here long enough
to get them barrels filled up.
Come summertime,
it'll be torn down
and we'll be
back in the woods.
[Digger] Yup.
Kind of looks like a damn
tractor trailer run
through a brick yard
with a copper kettle
on its ass.
[chuckles]
You know, this old furnace,
we did not build it
for attractiveness.
We built it for a purpose.
And I think it will be far
more effective than any,
any furnace
that we've ever had.
-Look at it.
-If we have to,
we could run a shower curtain
across through there.
Well, she ain't pretty
around that furnace
but I gonna tell you,
it'll be the best ever been.
And we won't get done
if don't get started.
We only need... If we can
get about six inches out.
Well, I was gonna fill it up,
then wash it down
as it rushed out.
I'll get this little rock,
put it right there.
We gotta get our water source
established in the building,
so, we're gonna
clean the spring out.
It just has to be deep
enough for a pump to sit in.
So, we're just gonna dig out
some of the sediment
in the bottom of it,
make sure it's flowing
down the drain good.
-[Digger] You hunged up?
-[Mark] *bleep* Dammit!
[Digger] Don't fuss,
don't cuss, just call us.
[Mark inhales] All right.
[Digger] All right,
that's got us
where we need
to be right there.
Plan here is to snake it along
the back of the building.
It's no place
that people will be.
There is not benefit at all
for anybody to be back there.
What do you got?
Aw!
[Digger] Paint
them barrels up.
Yeah, pretty.
It's gonna look good
and make us feel proud.
But if anybody comes
in here and gets looking
we're deadass guilty
right off the bat.
-[chuckling]
-Our names are there.
You know, I've always heard
every good artist
signs his work,
so, you know,
I'm okay with it.
Course, if we get
caught with it,
we can't lie out of it either.
'cause our names
are stamped on it.
-[Digger] Oh...
-[Mark] Oh, I'll be damned.
I ain't never seen nothing
that pretty in my life.
-[Mark] Sneaky son of a bitch.
-[Digger chuckles]
[neighs]
[Henry] The pole's right down,
the lawn comes in,
which one you gon' take?
Closest one.
I think I might take
the closest one.
[chuckles]
Henry, being as well
connected as he is
in the moonshine
world in Franklin County,
he makes
a couple of phone calls
and finds us a nice barn
with power and water
-on a working horse farm.
-[burrs]
And we're gonna give the owner
a cut in some sort of way,
whether it's liquor or money.
[Henry] Man,
we got this big barn.
I got a recipe of my Dad's
that we used years ago.
We called brother Josh,
he's ready to roll,
he's on the way up here.
He's got the subs,
we got the grain,
we gon' mash this stuff
and make us some money.
[Mark] He ought to be
rolling up anytime.
[engine whirring]
[Brian] All right, Josh.
We go down that way
back down the service road.
and go out 40.[radio beeps]
10-4.
I'm gonna go way ahead of you
and make sure if we're open,
we'll take exit 138,
and then go eight miles
to the gas station,
then right back to 40.
-Did that sound right?
-[Brian over radio] Yeah.
We'll out smart
'em there, you hear?
I'm down with that.
So, the plan is,
Brian's gonna follow me.
I'm gonna get
way ahead of him.
If the weigh station's open,
I'm gonna tell Brian
to take the exit before that.
[over radio] All right, Brian,
we're on the highway now.
Finally out here
on the big road.
There only happens to be
one weigh station in our way,
but it's still risky enough.
I'm gonna go way ahead of you
and see what the deal is.
[engine whirring]
[Brian over radio] Hey.
[beeps]
-I don't got
no damn handle.
-[beeps]
Hell, I've had
a handle for years.
[radio beeps]
I tell you what you
do get a handle on,
that's your toolboxes.
And since you buy so many,
-I'm gonna start
calling you Toolbox.
-[beeps]
Barn Yard and Toolbox,
that ain't too bad.
I kind of like it.
It's got a ring to it.
It's on.
All right, Brian,
that weigh station's
coming up.
I know, but, 138 is the exit
that I'm gonna get off of.
I'll wait on the 146 up there.
[beeps]
Looks like
a scales are open.
You're gonna need
to take that exit.
I'll go around them.
[Josh] Son of a bitch.
[Brian over radio]
[radio beeps]
[Josh] 10-4.
Holy... *bleep*
-[beeps]
-Watch out for old Smokey.
Yeah.
[Josh] It's important
for Brian to take his time.
If any cops seen
him before the scales
and they see
him after the scales,
they're gonna
wanna pull him over.
I'm here at the gas station.
Hope everything's
going your way, buddy.
You all right?
Hey, Brian?
How you going out there, man?
[radio beeps]
Hey, Brian, where are you?
You got your ears on?
The law's looking for people
to be going around scales.
If he get pulled over,
I' have no way
of knowing about it.
This is the riskiest
part of our mission.
If they see him
dodging the scales,
they're definitely
gonna pull him over.
-Hey, Brian?
-[radio beeps]
[Josh] Hey, Brian?
Hey, Brian, where are you?
You got your ears on?
Brian's taken the exit
before the weigh station,
I'm waiting on him a few exits
past the weigh station.
How much freaking
further you got
before you get back here?
Right now's about
one of the most
riskiest parts of our mission.
Because the law's
always looking
on these back roads
for people dodging the scales.
'cause that's what
people are doing
when they're breaking the law.
-Hey, Brian?
-[radio beeps]
Hey, Brian?
We definitely don't want
that truck to get pulled over.
[Brian over radio]
It's Barnyard, Toolbox.
[laughs]
Well, butter my biscuit.
[Brian] Come one around ,
Toolbox.
I don't wanna count
my chickens till they hatch,
but so far so good.
We got around the scales.
I think
the worst in behind us.
[Brian] This is the only
weigh station on our route
but the worry's not over yet.
We still have two hours
to go to Virginia.
We gotta do the speed limit
and try to stay
out of trouble.
I just can't wait
to see Kenny's face.
You tell him what kind
of operation we got coming?
[Josh over radio]
I don't think
they have no idea.
-[radio beeps]
-[engine whirring]
[Richard] We gotta
get this done.
We finished working
on the submarine still.
We got a bad
rain storm right now.
We gotta go ahead
and run right here.
Oh, yeah it smells good.
It's ready to run.
[Craig] All right,
I'll get the pump.
[Richard] We're running it
on a brand new still
we've never run before.
We're running a volume
that we've never run before.
There we go.
I'm getting nervous.
This is a large pot.
We're talking
a lot of alcohol in this pot.
It's a dangerous substance.
Leaking alcohol, a lot
of this thing's wasting money.
but most of all,
it's dangerous.
We wanna go home
at the end of the night.
It's not something
you wanna just take lightly.
You have to be cautious
around this stuff.
Our worm barrel,
man, it's leaking.
It's the first run
with this thing.
I mean, it was bound
to have some problems.
I know that this barrel
hasn't had water in it
in a very long time,
and that's just not good.
We gotta tighten it back up
because, when we took
the top off of this barrel.
we loosened these stays up.
Look, at that,
it allowed the barrel to leak.
So, we're doing
a little impromptu job.
I think that's as tight
as we're gonna get it.
And this barrel's been around
since probably
my grandparents.
This is paying homage
to guys in the old days.
To be able to just put
barrels to a submarine still,
that's awesome to me.
I mean, just to see
how big this thing is
as compared to what
we've dealt with before.
Oh, those heads
are starting to burn off now.
[Richard] I was told,
"Always leave the cap off
in the beginning.
"Let the steam come out."
That's what would be
caught up in your head.
Running the heads out
of the top of the pot
before you put the cap on.
It's the same thing as running
it through your system.
We gotta paste up
this real good.
No such thing
as too much of this stuff.
It's getting warm up here.
[Richard] It won't
be long now.
It's time to get some
of this money back.
It's getting there.
Everything's looking good.
Hot.
We don't have
any leaks anywhere.
Just waiting for the drip.
[Craig] Hey, man,
we're running.
That's what we're looking
for right there.
This still's got a nice flow.
I gotta taste this, man.
How is it?
[Richard] Ooh!
That sweet potato, man.
It's like a sweet potato pie.
-This is out of the park, man.
-Yeah, it's good.
[Craig] Taste
that multi-boiler.
Hit of that cranberry.
This right here
is what we've been
trying to achieve right here.
Putting this together
coming out
of a new still, a new worm,
this is awesome.
We're gonna
make money with this.
Yeah, that's a good
165 right there.
With this big
thing right here,
we can do anything we want.
The possibilities
are endless, man.
You know, I have aspirations
for this still.
This still's
a huge investment.
But we're expecting
huge payoffs.
We're gonna push this still
just as much
as we push ourselves.
Come on, let's do a toast.
Toast to us.
To the ones before.
'Cause if they had
never did this,
we'd never be able to do it.
I love it, I love it.
-[phone ringing]
-[automated voice] Please
leave your message.
Really never know
where Jerry's ass is
right now.
This is the time I need
him to help me load stuff
up,
get over to the still site,
get my stand.
He is a no show
today.
We need to get
my stand to get
this run run off.
You know, now we're
beating against
the clock,
we gotta make up
for lost time.
We're stashin' up liquor
and I need to keep
that stash house full
for a rainy day
or... a snowy one.
Ain't one monkey
stop this show,
just got to keep on going.
You know, I don't know
what the hell is going
on with Jerry,
I don't even know
where he's at.
[sighs]
Man, getting aggravating,
being late *bleep*
all the time.
So I'm gonna start
down to the still,
site,
maybe he'll show up,
I don't know.
-[phone ringing]
-[sighs] Oh, boy.
[automated voice]
Please leave your message...
Now I dread doin' this
by myself.
Me and Jerry,
we're partners. We
work very good together.
You know, I don't mind
pickin' up his slack
if there's something wrong,
if he's got a family
emergency.
With any job
that's acceptable.
People want their liquor.
I can't wait around.
But now, he's just
assin' off, hungover
from the night before.
I'm gonna keep
all the profit.
I mean, I just can't
afford to pay somebody
not to be at work.
This gotta get done,
one way or another.
Yeah, you know
it's freezing out here.
But you can actually
mash in,
keep it warm,
make it work off,
and you can run a run
in this,
as long as you got cover.
The hay bales
that me and Jerry
put up
for our mash outfit,
it just contains
a lot of heat.
You know, and just
because it's snowing,
that's not keeping me
from boing water
and bringing water
up to temperature here.
This time, we're gonna
run a simple corn mash.
[grunts]
It's too late in the season
to do any different recipes.
Everything's gone,
they fell off the trees
and stuff.
I'm gonna heat
my water up,
one pot at a time.
Let 'em steep
a little while.
It's miserable out here
doing this.
In the snow, in the cold.
Look, I'm trying to turn
the damn water off
with the gas nozzle.
[sighs]
You know, considering
the situation I'm in
today, I'm really happy
that I got this done
by myself.
Damn, it's getting
colder out here.
I just wish I had
my partner here to help
me do half of the work.
I'm gonna kick his ass
next time I see.
[narrator] Coming up...
That wasn't what
I had in mind.
That's how you move
a damn sub...
That's what I'm taking
about.
Hell to the yeah!
Can I take a picture
of that?
Where's my phone?
Hell yeah.
You're too small
for me to ride if
something goes down.
You know what?
You can be my buddy.
But if something goes down,
I'm getting on this big
old boy.
This is a horse.
This right here
is a donkey.
Now if you breed this
to that...
you get a mule.
That mule is almost
as hard-headed
as I am. [laughing]
Hell, sure hope we
can find enough stuff
to put that together.
Well, you know Tennessee
whiskey, it has to be
filtered over charcoal, so...
just so happens
Digger and I, we made
one sometime back.
So we got a charcoal
filter.
We're lookin' at what...
close to 500 gallon?
We run five gallon
over this.
We gotta have
something for 500.
I just don't think
it's long enough.
We really need to be
close to tripling the size
of this filter tube.
We need more
charcoal surface area.
If it's longer, they will
hold more charcoal.
Simply because of
the volume of liquor
we're gonna use.
Hell west and crooked,
here it comes.
This filter, it's gonna be
built out the thumb
part.
It's about a four-inch
in diameter copper
tube.
About three feet long.
We'll pack it with felt,
copper discs that'll
'cause the liquor
to separate and trickle
down in different
areas
instead of bein'
one solid stream.
And it mellows the liquor
a little bit.
We ain't got no sage to burn.
They say that maple
is the best on 'em.
We ain't got none.
We ain't got no
sugar maple
around here.
But I got some
fire coals.
White oak.
So with three feet
of charcoal in addition
to having more
copper, it's gonna
pass over and some
felt
that'll filter anything
that might be in
there out.
You're getting hot on
me on the upper?
I'm tougher than
a night in jail.
You just lay it too.
The soldering couldn't
be better,
it's looking good.
The joints are nice.
We're gonna put
a tube in it,
we're gonna put a bill
reducer and a half
inch copper pipe to it
before it can,
it can just filter out.
You know to stay there,
Puss.
You know, it's a very
simple build, it's nothing
extravagant.
But it's a step
that must be done
to make a Tennessee whiskey.
Get her on there.
It'll go in there a little
smoother, somewhat
slicker on there, don't it?
We'll put a ball valve
on it,
it'll throttle the flow
of the liquor down.
And let it hang out,
let the charcoal do
its work.
Now we gotta do,
we'll cut us some
fresh felt,
we'll put about
four of them down
here.
Then we'll pack some
charcoal in here
and we'll put a baffle,
about two felts
on it
and up an little bit more.
We'll leave it alone,
we'll let it leak test.
We'll prop it up.
And if it's still in there
when we come back
to check it and put it up,
we're in good shape.
Let's go make
some liquor.
Let's go make it.
We gotta filter,
we need some liquor
to put in it.
[Digger] We gotta
get some liquor goin'!
[Josh] He'll have to be
rollin' up anytime.
Here we go.
Here we go.
-Gonna get started.
-Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
He already come.
All right, Brian,
we're finally here, man.
Where he goin' at?
Look at this truck
comin' in here.
I think he'd come
right through here.
Stay it good and hard.
What's goin' on?
How's it goin' Josh?
Good spot, ain't it?
When we first
rolled into the side
I'm like, everything I had
in my mind,
it's like comin' together
so perfectly.
-[man on radio] Lookin' good,
lookin' good.
-Woah, woah, woah.
All right, boys.
Here it is.
Beautiful.
When I look at this
outfit he just backed
up in here with,
I mean, it gives me
chills.
It makes me think
of the old days.
Damn, if that ain't
a rig full of stills.
-I'm tellin' you.
-What's the deal
with this place?
-Nice, ain't it?
-It ain't too bad. No doubt.
Yeah.
We gonna stretch 'em out
across here.
We got power.
Got water right about
30 feet right there.
-Let me ask you something.
-Huh.
How much did you
tighten that butt *bleep*
up
bringing that load
across state lines?
You ever seen
a number two pencil?
[both chuckle]
I say let's get this stuff
unloaded.
I got it.
Go right in the middle.
-Yeah.
-Right in the middle.
Them go straight
to the ground.
Piece of cake.
These pots, these things
are huge.
You know how to
handle, be more
careful.
-I'm okay...
-Can you show him
how to do it?
Stick your hands
under the hole.
Lay it down on
your back. Ready?
That's how you move
stills, son.
[man] He's like a damn
bullock.
Man, he don't even know
his own strength.
That's how you move
a damn sub.
That's what I'm
talkin' about.
Hell to the yeah.
Can I get a picture
of that?
-Where's my phone?
-...on the ground.
Hell, yeah!
That's a big boy
right under.
-That wasn't what I had
in mind.
-Me neither.
We've gotta set this thing
up where it's gonna be
an efficient operation.
We're gonna put
these big ones
on the ends
and the smaller ones
in towards the middle.
You can run everything
in the proper order,
get everything run off.
[grunts]
That's good.
Let's move this big one.
[man] Hold up...
This is a sight behold
for any moonshiner.
It's just amazing
to do this again
after all these years.
To think about
my dad,
and the job he had
to do gettin' all
that stuff together.
He kept on us
with still hands.
That's why he wanted
us to end up making
liquor.
He didn't want us foolin'
around haulin'
and transporting
and stuff like that. So...
We're used to Dad
doin' all that.
Here we are
havin' to do what he did,
I see now the work
he really had,
I always took it
for granted.
It's good knowing
these boys.
Yes, sir. It does.
That's a whole lot
of subs right here.
Whole lotta subs.
When you get 'em
lined up in
a straight line,
and you could hardly
see till the end, you know
you got an operation.
[man] This is incredible.
We'll go make some
damn money.
[man] Hell of a day's
work, right?
[man 2] It is
a hell of a day's work.
[narrator] Next time
onMoonshiners...
[Digger] Just because you
make whiskey in Tennessee,
that does not make it
Tennessee whiskey.
I mean, that limestone
spring,
That's the deal.
-Wow.
-God dawg that's pretty.
Henry and Kenny Loft,
they're one of the families
that made Franklin County
the Moonshine capital
of the world.
Been 40 years since
we've seen this big
a setup and who did it?
We did.
There he is, buddy.
Got this buyer lined up.
So we're headed to
try to get rid of about
15 gallons of good
grain whiskey.
-He's got someone
with him, man.
-He what?
Man, how's it goin'?
What the hell
are you thinkin', brother?
Mike, come on now.
We don't need this man.
onMoonshiners...
You jump ten of these,
you win the princess.
-*bleep* Damn it.
-[laughs]
It's gonna be
the best Tennessee whiskey
East Tennessee's ever seen.
-Just rolls off your tongue,
doesn't it?
-[laughs]
If he's got eight pots,
we can do something
-with 4,000 pounds
of this malted corn.
-Yeah.
We're gonna go to Virginia
and work with Tickle,
Henry and Kenny.
We're going to Virginia with
a truckload full of stills?
Federal offence.
Brian, the scales are open.
Holy *bleep*.
Watch out for Old Smokey.
Buddy, you all right?
Hey, Brian?
Brian?
[man] This is how
we make the moonshine!
-That's Tickle.
What's up, bro?
-How's it going, fellas?
-Come on, you look bad.
-We got a whole lot work.
More like
4,000 pounds of work.
4,000 pounds of what?
-Malted corn.
-Thanks to our
good buddy Tim.
4,000 pounds of malted corn.
And it's beautiful.
[narrator] In
Franklin County, Virginia,
the clock is ticking
on Tickle, Henry and Kenny
as they look to turn
two tons of malted corn
into a high-proof pay day
before the finicky
grain spoils.
[Henry] I talked to Timmy
the other day
about possibly getting
some malted corn
During winter time,
I think it'd be hard
to get 400 pounds.
What happens? He shows up
with 4,000 pounds.
Boy, I tell you what?
It's got a flavor to it.
-Henry, this is great, but...
-We'll make some good stuff.
I mean, we got a little small
still going on right now.
What we gonna do
with 4,000 pounds of this
before it goes bad on us?
We're not gonna be able to eat
it all, I'll tell you that.
Uh-uh, even on
a big steam out there,
that ain't gonna do this.
We even got a place
full of that.
We'll run it what we got,
we been doing it
till next fall.
You're right. We gonna
be making liquor
for next Christmas.
I agree.
You know good
as well as I do, Henry,
that there's bugs and stuff,
they get in this stuff
forge the ground.
Little weevils, the eggs hatch
right inside there.
And next thing you know,
it's infested
and we can't run it.
I've dealt with corn before.
If you let it sit too long,
it gets little bugs in it,
and you can't do
anything about it.
You know, we went down
to help Josh to setup site.
And he's got eight fills now,
eight sub fills.
We went down
and we was in the basement
and we were hooking up
the oil and all,
and this guy came in
and I thought
we were going to jail.
Who are you? I didn't
commission any work down here.
You can leave by tonight
or I can go call
the police now.
-Damn.
-So he lost that site.
So maybe we can call him.
It can't hurt to ask.
If he's got eight pots,
we can do something
with 4,000 pounds
of this malted corn.
Give him a damn call.
See what he's going on.
We're short on stills
right now,
and Josh, he's got
a buttload of 'em.
-[line ringing]
-[Josh] Hello?
Fifteen damn rings before
you answer the phone.
What's going on?
*bleep* My,
what are you doing, buddy?
Did you find a site
for your eight subs?
No, after I moved,
I haven't done anything.
But you be interested in
making some money?
You know I am, always.
We got enough grain
to mash in eight subs.
Paid for.
Me, Tickle and Ken,
we need some stills.
What kind of grain?
Malted corn, man.
4,000 pounds of it.
Are you kidding? That's crazy.
[chuckles] Yeah, man.
I'm telling you.
If you bring eight subs up,
we'll get a spot,
make some money.
I tell you what,
this is a good team
right here.
You got that right.
I'm in.
But I got to drive
a big truck, you know?
It's a lot to bring that far.
It is a lot to bring.
You just get the subs
here in the caps,
and we'll be ready to roll.
All right, let me get
everything together
and we'll be on the way.
All right. Good, man. Bye.
We're aiming
to run 600 gallons.
I see a lot of money
coming our way.
We've got to get
on the damn stick
and find us a still site.
-We got another in mind.
-You got another in mind?
Hell, let's check it out.
See what we can do with it.
I tell you what?
It won't be long
before this 4,000 pounds
of malted corn is
a whole lot of good liquor.
[line ringing]
[David] Hello?
-Hi, David.
- Nah, Digger.
If you're calling me
for bail money,
you've already used
your "get out of jail" cards.
Nope, nothing like that.
You got any barrels?
We got some
two-year old barrels.
What could you do me about
eight or ten of those for?
About a hundred dollars
apiece.
I'm gonna call that a deal.
[narrator] In
the smoky mountains,
after discovering
a prime source
of limestone water...
[Mark] Very clear, very clean.
[narrator] ...Mark and Digger
are sourcing white-oak barrels
to fulfill a lifelong dream
of making authentic
Tennessee whiskey.
[Digger] Their water's good
and we can make
the best Tennessee whiskey
that East Tennessee's
ever had.
-There he is.
-And look at them barrels.
Oh, wow.
Looks they'd been through
a damn congressional
sub-committee.
My friend, David, he has some
two-year-old barrels.
Man, you don't know
what a solid you've done us.
These barrels are perfect.
That'll work us
a long time, cuz.
-Yeah.
-We gonna make fine liquor.
[narrator] The production
of whiskey in Tennessee
dates back to the 18th century
when the Scottish
and Irish immigrants
who settled the land
carried over
the distillation techniques
they knew
from the old country.
And many farmers
became small-scale distillers.
But the zealous embrace
of the Temperance movement
by state authorities
shut down many of
the small producers in 1909.
A decade before national
prohibition took effect.
Today, only a handful
of distilleries
produce true
Tennessee whiskey.
They typical use
limestone water,
and not only must it
be made in Tennessee,
but requires a mashbuild
consisting of
at least 51% corn.
And after distillation,
it's filtered through
Maplewood charcoal
before being aged
to new, charred
white-oak barrels.
And bottled at no less
than 80-proof.
That's the way
I roll the barrel.
True Tennessee whiskey
has to be put in
brand new white-oak barrels
with a number-four char.
These things are
two-year-old barrels,
once used.
So it won't be true,
true Tennessee whiskey,
but it'll be mine
and Digger's version
of Tennessee whiskey.
Hey, we're moonshiners.
We're not governed
by any rules and regulations
about how we make our whiskey.
Our conscience is
the only guide we have.
Hey, you jump
these barrels and I roll 'em.
-[laughs]
-*bleep* Damn it.
You jump ten of these,
you win the princess,
and it ain't a princess,
it's a JB.
Oh, no.
When we took possession
of this building,
we had this
big old metal rack.
I think it'll make
a perfect barrel rack.
We put these up high, store
the rest of 'em down low.
I think we can turn
this old rack
into something really,
really beneficial to us.
Since this liquor is going
straight into the barrel,
for the time the barrel
works it's magic on it,
it should be fantastic.
[Digger] The change
in barometric pressure
up and down causes
all the liquor
to get exposed to
the inside char of the barrel.
Looking good.
Whoo! Come out of there,
young feller.
How's my hair?
Oh, hell, it looks like
it's been combed
with firecrackers.
[speaking indistinctly]
Yeah. [grunts]
Wearing me out, it's hurting
my fingertips. Look out.
-Son of a bitch.
-Your face is kinda red.
We ain't as young as
we once were, and these
sons of bitches are heavy.
Let's spin it, there you go.
I want something mean
to kill me,
not a silly ass barrel.
All right, that's it,
12 o'clock.
[Mark] I think the barrel rack
looks great,
but a lot of work to fill in
these barrels,
that's 585 gallons.
It's gonna take a long time.
We can put one more up here,
-one more, and one more.
-[laughs]
-Yeah, boy.
-Mark and Digger's
Tennessee whiskey.
[Richard] Nothing like being
on a bayou early
in the morning.
Good gumbo today
would be good too.
We're all good, Louisiana
virgin sweet potatoes.
[narrator] Along
the winding bayous
of New Iberia, Louisiana,
Richard and his brother Craig
are mashing in
three barrels of a coveted
sweet potato liquor recipe
they plan to run on
their new submarine-pot still.
I had the chance to visit
my brother Tickle in Virginia.
How do you like
this whole set up?
Hmm, now this is a still site.
That flavor profile
is really gonna come through.
I'll drink to that.
They showed me
a submarine still setup.
So the bigger pot,
I can't wait
to get it right here.
I already have visions of it.
I've never run
a submarine setup before.
It'll up our volume so good.
This potato vodka, everybody
and their grandmother's
been asking for this,
so we need to get
a whole lot of this out.
We bought about a hundred
and fifty pounds
of sweet potatoes.
Trying to experiment
with all kind of liquor.
I don't wanna limit myself
to the norm.
We just finished up doing
a run among VAT,
it was hit,
same thing with cotton candy.
Because our customers
wanna try different varieties.
The slower you cook it,
the better it gets.
We use some
real good sweet potato.
We also use, uh,
dehydrated cranberry.
We use Carolina gold grain,
and I use a malted barley.
The outcome
was just unreal, man.
I got a million people
asking for this stuff.
We're gonna have
some help here in a minute.
Robert always
comes through for us.
Robert is my brother in law,
real good guy,
never lets me down
with anything.
-Oh, Rob's here.
-Hey, what's up, man?
Robert ended up here
'cause we needed help.
We on potato duty, huh?
-Yeah.
-Smells good.
-Craig, grab me a bit
of cranberries.
-I got 'em.
Real good compliment
to the potatoes,
the Carolina gold,
the malted barley.
The cranberry kind of
stands as a buffering
between all
of these ingredients.
All these different flavors,
that you would
not normally taste
kind of just marries
them together and makes 'em
sit together really well.
We got
our temperature correct,
it just hit 177.
When you're dealing
with sweet potatoes at 177,
those enzymes starts
to release themselves
from the potato.
That enzyme turns
complex starches
into simple sugars,
sugars that are fermentable.
-See how the color changes
in the water.
-Mmm-hmm.
We're gonna drop
the malted barley in here.
This has a real good
chocolate flavor.
It's just like coffee, kind of
makes you think it's coffee.
This grain is Carolina gold
that we're putting in here,
it's double mill.
This is gonna
make a big difference.
We're gonna put
five pounds in here.
Now we can't stop stirring.
It will scorch, it will burn.
The grains that we put in
were able to start working
and breaking up themselves,
breaking up some of the flavor
and emitting
their own enzymes.
I think this is ready, man.
Come and get
this barrel right here.
Go ahead
and pour it straight in there.
We normally make sweet potato
on a smaller scale.
This'd be the first time we're
doing it on a large scale.
It's a real good yeast and
I'll get the party started.
We gonna cap it up.
Do it again.
We have a lot of orders
coming in.
We just kind of put it out
there in the wind
to a couple of people and it
spread like wildfire.
Slower you cook it,
the better it is.
Smells great.
It looks so good. I think if
anybody would walk up on it,
they would think we were
cooking a good stew out here.
-This gonna be the last one.
-That's gonna make one
hell of a
sweet potato product.
I relate everything to life
and I can relate this alcohol
to a perfect marriage.
We've got 150 gallons.
'Cause these ingredients are
gonna produce
a perfect offspring
of beautiful baby Moonshine.
Here you go. Are you sure it
can't be seen on the bayou?
Come on, man. We're gonna head
to the supply store to make
the submarine still.
I finally got a phone call.
I talked to the sales rep
and he has the copper
that I need.
We gotta get these
orders out.
Ow. Ow.
-Perfect...
-[narrator]
Along the Carolina border,
Josh is calling on
his partner Brian
to help make a risky transport
to Virginia.
Tickle, Henry and Kenny,
they called me.
Tell me they got a bunch of
grains. Interested in
coming to Virginia.
I just said yes. I didn't even
think about how in the hell
I'm gonna get all this stuff
together fast enough to get
the heck up there.
Why you always got this
truck tore apart?
-What you talking about?
-You got a new toolbox.
-As go by your nickname.
-This is a new toolbox.
I'm gonna start
calling you toolbox.
So Josh called me. Wanted me
to come down to his house.
Be sure you bring the
big truck with you.
All I can think about is
what has he got going on now?
So what's the deal?
We'll all go to Virginia and
work with Tickle,
Henry and Kenny.
Everything in
the old truck here.
I know a couple of
problems I can think of
going to Virginia.
What's that buddy?
With a truckload
full of stills.
Let me spell it out for you.
Federal offense.
I know a couple of
problems I could think of
going to Virginia.
With a truckload
full of stills.
There's a lot of really big
risk involved in bringing all
the stuff to Virginia.
Crossing state lines,
you know,
we stand to lose everything.
We go through
the way stations.
I mean they get a little nosy,
You go sit in jail
with me if they look
in the back
and figure out we're crossing
into Virginia with
a truckload of stills.
They check your weight,
make sure what you're hauling,
and there's usually
three of four sets
of state troopers
running around in there.
You screw up the scales,
they'll get you.
We got to go around
them, right? We've got
to dodge them?
Yeah, I've been around
them before.
Well, look man.
There's thousands of pounds
worth of corn malt.
Around 4000 pounds or
something like that.
It's a lot.
With all these stills
and all of us working
together, if we work around
the clock, we can
seriously pump out
some shine man.
The amount of money we're
going to make, it's worth it.
You do the money on it,
it's a pretty good reward.
But we got to hope to
not get caught.
We don't have one set of
scales on the way there.
But, by gosh, they watch.
What they do is they'll...
They'll see you get off
of that exit.
They'll stay on
the interstate,
they'll go to the exit
that you're probably gonna get
on at.
Well, when you get back on
that exit right here in
10 minutes,
they'll know exactly what
you're doing. So you know what
I do?
I stay on the backroad for
about four more miles.
Go back three more exits.
Then I get back on.
If you're gonna go around
the scales, it's gonna take
a little bit longer.
You know, but it's a whole lot
safer than getting caught
by the law.
I mean, I just want you to
be prepared if you
got something that
-you don't want them to see.
-I don't understand the risk.
I'll drive in front of you
and be kinda like...
Run a lead man,
keep an eye out.
All you gotta do
-is driving us to Virginia.
-By God, here we go.
I hope we can get
her hooked up.
Let's load this bitch up
and hit the road.
He's got me feeling a
little bit nervous
about all this.
A lot of time in jail if we
get caught so...
We stand to make a lot of
money but we stand to lose a
lot of money too.
You know, anytime you do
anything like this,
it's a gamble.
But you got to gamble or
you never win.
-Is that good?
-That'll work. We're good.
[narrator]
In the foothills of the
Great Smoky Mountains,
Mike and Jerry are
stockpiling grains
so they can run enough liquor
to fill their stash house
and continue selling
the customers all winter.
This season has been hard
on everybody.
But you know we're
catching up.
We've got a lot of ingredients
stacked up.
We're not going to stop.
We're just gonna plough
through whatever's in
our way to get this alcohol
run off and keep
our stash house aboard.
My bags are fuller than yours.
May have been. Reckon?
We gonna build some swinging
doors, put some latches on and
some hinges.
That way we can just shut
the sugar up, keep varmints
from pecking holes
in our bags.
If we let that bag
go to waste,
we've got nothing to run.
We just need
to turn stuff over
before it's too damn late.
My God, we've got a cabinet,
don't we?
Got some good storage now,
don't we?
Me and Jerry, we wanna
fly ahead, go out there and
make us some money.
We go ahead and start mashing,
getting something done
'cause you know Mother Nature
is knocking on our back door.
This'll be it right here,
Jerry.
Place we can use to stash out.
I'll say this is a good
a place as any.
This whole stash house,
I'm actually real good friends
with the landowner.
Haven't used it in
a long time.
But it seems like the right
place for me and Jerry
to go at this time of year.
Pretty good,
we got to get this door fixed.
Yeah, I mean, little bit of
work to do.
We usually don't run this late
in the season
but we're gonna stash this
liquor up.
You know, everybody's got to
survive right now.
and that's just what me and
Jerry are doing here today.
You know the door's
a little broken.
Hell, it's a 150 years old.
It's been opened
a time or two.
Hey, gotta take
that hammer to the shop?
It's kind of a mess,
ain't it?
[both laughing]
These hammers...
[drilling]
That wood's hard, ain't it?
-Yeah it is.
-That's what she said.
All it needs is a padlock
and couple of slices of wood.
We don't want change it
more than we possibly
have to.
but we definitely want to
make sure it's secure.
-Hey, boy.
-Hey, made that Kenny?
We can hang this tarp
on these walls.
Fill up some of these holes.
I'm feeling real stoked about
this barn.
Haven't used it in years.
I'm excited to use it again.
I think that looks
pretty damn good.
Don't you?
I tell you what. This looks
like a good, clean
stash house now.
Yeah, buddy.
Me and Jerry were trying to
get our stash house full.
[Jerry] Let's get out of
here.
So we're gonna ride
to the still site.
[engine accelerating]
We're going to be ready in t
he winter time, we gonna lock
this wind up.
You ready for this, Jerry?
I'm as ready as I'll
ever be.
So we gonna stretch a
bunch of tarps up
on a string.
You know, basically work 'em
like shower curtains.
Something to block
the wind off
so the cold air won't come in
and condense our alcohol
too fast.
Or better yet,
freeze us to damn death.
I'm as ready as anybody in
this world to get
this pot fired up,
get that stash house full.
Run liquor throughout
the winter.
-[Jerry] As nice as it can be.
-I'm telling you.
Get some nice ingredients
in here and mash
this bad boy in.
[Jerry] All right,
let's do it.
-Gotta get this deal setup.
-I second that.
[narrator]
In New Iberia, Louisiana,
Richard is expanding his
operation with a
150 gallon submarine part
based on the design
he learned from Tickle.
This is a huge investment.
To be spending the
type of money
trying to put this
still together.
Which will be scaling up
for us.
It's gonna help us a whole lot
by having the submarine.
But this is all new to us.
I'm praying that my brother
and myself can handle it.
Good to see you again.
-I got the copper you needed.
-Bam!
This is like a blessing.
-Kind of a game changer.
-Yes. Big game changer.
This stick copper is gonna
take a whole lot
more pressure,
it's gonna be less prone
to damage
I can finally start working on
this submarine STILL.
All right.
We gonna pay for that.
I was told I have to use
white pine.
So I don't want to deviate.
I've been dreaming about
a submarine still
since I started making
moonshine and I mean,
I have everything I need and
I'm about to get to work.
Got this building my buddy's
gonna let me use for a while.
Buddy of mine is
gonna let me use his shop.
We gonna put this
still together
in a protected area.
Nothing else is around.
It's barbed wire everywhere.
Perfect build site. No one's
gonna know what we're
doing over here.
Prepare to be amazed.
Look at this.
Look at all this room.
Being the first time that I'm
doing this, I don't wanna
try something
so elaborate that it gets
out of hand.
We can't take the chance.
The simpler the better
in this case.
Later on after we get a
little bit experience,
know how to build them
a little bit better,
we'll be a little bit more
elaborate than we are
right now.
Man, I can't wait to get this
thing put together.
This is a large pipe.
It's not just gonna be
me and Craig that's gonna
be able to pick up this thing
and lug it around.
-Hey guys.
-What's up, Rob?
So, i got my brother-in-law,
Rob to get this pipe build.
-What you got to eat in there?
-Ain't got nothin' to eat
but I got some tools, man.
You need more than four hands
when you're building something
this big.
It's so important that we get
this right.
We only get one shot at this.
If this was metal, I could
weld something onto it.
If I could weld something on
the wood, I wouldn't be
standing right here right now.
I'd be on an island
I can't pronounce.
With a woman I can't talk to
and a drink I'm scared of.
We wanna make sure that this
thing is solid.
This wood's expensive.
I don't wanna mess it up.
I'm gonna put this same
system into play
that I learned
up here in Virginia.
As much as I've been given by
other people,
I understand what this
community is and what it
really stands for.
It's a tight-knit group,
a tight family structure in
this moonshine community.
-Who showed you
how to do that?
-Mr. Henry Law.
Man forgot more about alcohol,
then I'll ever know, probably.
It looks like sweet money.
That's what I need.
Right now we're making sure
both sides of the still
are the same.
We're using one side to make
the other side.
Everything will
match up perfectly.
Here in Louisiana, it's new.
I've never seen anybody do it.
My mom always told me if you
build a better mouse trap,
the world will be a path to
your doorstep.
Oh. How you looking there?
You back it up?
You wanna do a
zig zag pattern.
Instead of having nails just
side by side, we'll stagger
them out.
We're giving some strength
to it, It's not just
for aesthetics.
It's for safety also.
We're trying to make this
still as strong as
humanly possible.
Wow.
Man, we look like the boys
from up North, in the woods
with their submarine still.
With this submarine setup,
it's gonna benefit us all
across the board.
We're not far from home
now so...
Yeah, I think I'm gonna
take a shot of something
tonight.
[rapping on door]
Hurry up, it's wet out here.
[Mark] Come on in here.
[Digger] I used
to get it done.
Come out and help me
push this up that ramp.
We got the hauler components
in here for a still.
We're right next
to everything we need.
Ingredients and
equipment wise.
-Let's get busy.
-All right.
[Digger] We'll get everything
set up the way we need it.
And we can make the best
Tennessee whiskey
East Tennessee's ever seen.
[Mark] Here we go.
[Digger] Mark and Digger's
Tennessee Whiskey,
just rolls off
your tongue, don't it?
We got all our components
in here for a still.
Got all the barrels in place.
Now it's time
to build our furnace.
There's some block in here.
Now, the furnace itself,
we're gonna build it
a little different than
what we build in the woods.
We're gonna use cinderblocks
like we did in the old
still houses back in the day.
But, because
this one is temporary,
we're not gonna mud it in,
we're gonna fill the holes up
with sand to provide
extra insulation.
It'll heat up and it'll keep
reflecting that heat back
towards the still pots.
[Mark] Having this space
around through there
makes all
the difference in the world.
Yup, now that heat
can escape out these ends
and it'll come up.
It saves us time,
we're not spending
as much money on propane,
and we're making
liquor a whole lot quicker.
It doesn't help the ABV,
but you're making it faster,
which lets you get back
to make 'em mash faster
which means you're making
your next pot faster.
Well, you know,
it'll hold the heat
but, we just need
it to be here long enough
to get them barrels filled up.
Come summertime,
it'll be torn down
and we'll be
back in the woods.
[Digger] Yup.
Kind of looks like a damn
tractor trailer run
through a brick yard
with a copper kettle
on its ass.
[chuckles]
You know, this old furnace,
we did not build it
for attractiveness.
We built it for a purpose.
And I think it will be far
more effective than any,
any furnace
that we've ever had.
-Look at it.
-If we have to,
we could run a shower curtain
across through there.
Well, she ain't pretty
around that furnace
but I gonna tell you,
it'll be the best ever been.
And we won't get done
if don't get started.
We only need... If we can
get about six inches out.
Well, I was gonna fill it up,
then wash it down
as it rushed out.
I'll get this little rock,
put it right there.
We gotta get our water source
established in the building,
so, we're gonna
clean the spring out.
It just has to be deep
enough for a pump to sit in.
So, we're just gonna dig out
some of the sediment
in the bottom of it,
make sure it's flowing
down the drain good.
-[Digger] You hunged up?
-[Mark] *bleep* Dammit!
[Digger] Don't fuss,
don't cuss, just call us.
[Mark inhales] All right.
[Digger] All right,
that's got us
where we need
to be right there.
Plan here is to snake it along
the back of the building.
It's no place
that people will be.
There is not benefit at all
for anybody to be back there.
What do you got?
Aw!
[Digger] Paint
them barrels up.
Yeah, pretty.
It's gonna look good
and make us feel proud.
But if anybody comes
in here and gets looking
we're deadass guilty
right off the bat.
-[chuckling]
-Our names are there.
You know, I've always heard
every good artist
signs his work,
so, you know,
I'm okay with it.
Course, if we get
caught with it,
we can't lie out of it either.
'cause our names
are stamped on it.
-[Digger] Oh...
-[Mark] Oh, I'll be damned.
I ain't never seen nothing
that pretty in my life.
-[Mark] Sneaky son of a bitch.
-[Digger chuckles]
[neighs]
[Henry] The pole's right down,
the lawn comes in,
which one you gon' take?
Closest one.
I think I might take
the closest one.
[chuckles]
Henry, being as well
connected as he is
in the moonshine
world in Franklin County,
he makes
a couple of phone calls
and finds us a nice barn
with power and water
-on a working horse farm.
-[burrs]
And we're gonna give the owner
a cut in some sort of way,
whether it's liquor or money.
[Henry] Man,
we got this big barn.
I got a recipe of my Dad's
that we used years ago.
We called brother Josh,
he's ready to roll,
he's on the way up here.
He's got the subs,
we got the grain,
we gon' mash this stuff
and make us some money.
[Mark] He ought to be
rolling up anytime.
[engine whirring]
[Brian] All right, Josh.
We go down that way
back down the service road.
and go out 40.[radio beeps]
10-4.
I'm gonna go way ahead of you
and make sure if we're open,
we'll take exit 138,
and then go eight miles
to the gas station,
then right back to 40.
-Did that sound right?
-[Brian over radio] Yeah.
We'll out smart
'em there, you hear?
I'm down with that.
So, the plan is,
Brian's gonna follow me.
I'm gonna get
way ahead of him.
If the weigh station's open,
I'm gonna tell Brian
to take the exit before that.
[over radio] All right, Brian,
we're on the highway now.
Finally out here
on the big road.
There only happens to be
one weigh station in our way,
but it's still risky enough.
I'm gonna go way ahead of you
and see what the deal is.
[engine whirring]
[Brian over radio] Hey.
[beeps]
-I don't got
no damn handle.
-[beeps]
Hell, I've had
a handle for years.
[radio beeps]
I tell you what you
do get a handle on,
that's your toolboxes.
And since you buy so many,
-I'm gonna start
calling you Toolbox.
-[beeps]
Barn Yard and Toolbox,
that ain't too bad.
I kind of like it.
It's got a ring to it.
It's on.
All right, Brian,
that weigh station's
coming up.
I know, but, 138 is the exit
that I'm gonna get off of.
I'll wait on the 146 up there.
[beeps]
Looks like
a scales are open.
You're gonna need
to take that exit.
I'll go around them.
[Josh] Son of a bitch.
[Brian over radio]
[radio beeps]
[Josh] 10-4.
Holy... *bleep*
-[beeps]
-Watch out for old Smokey.
Yeah.
[Josh] It's important
for Brian to take his time.
If any cops seen
him before the scales
and they see
him after the scales,
they're gonna
wanna pull him over.
I'm here at the gas station.
Hope everything's
going your way, buddy.
You all right?
Hey, Brian?
How you going out there, man?
[radio beeps]
Hey, Brian, where are you?
You got your ears on?
The law's looking for people
to be going around scales.
If he get pulled over,
I' have no way
of knowing about it.
This is the riskiest
part of our mission.
If they see him
dodging the scales,
they're definitely
gonna pull him over.
-Hey, Brian?
-[radio beeps]
[Josh] Hey, Brian?
Hey, Brian, where are you?
You got your ears on?
Brian's taken the exit
before the weigh station,
I'm waiting on him a few exits
past the weigh station.
How much freaking
further you got
before you get back here?
Right now's about
one of the most
riskiest parts of our mission.
Because the law's
always looking
on these back roads
for people dodging the scales.
'cause that's what
people are doing
when they're breaking the law.
-Hey, Brian?
-[radio beeps]
Hey, Brian?
We definitely don't want
that truck to get pulled over.
[Brian over radio]
It's Barnyard, Toolbox.
[laughs]
Well, butter my biscuit.
[Brian] Come one around ,
Toolbox.
I don't wanna count
my chickens till they hatch,
but so far so good.
We got around the scales.
I think
the worst in behind us.
[Brian] This is the only
weigh station on our route
but the worry's not over yet.
We still have two hours
to go to Virginia.
We gotta do the speed limit
and try to stay
out of trouble.
I just can't wait
to see Kenny's face.
You tell him what kind
of operation we got coming?
[Josh over radio]
I don't think
they have no idea.
-[radio beeps]
-[engine whirring]
[Richard] We gotta
get this done.
We finished working
on the submarine still.
We got a bad
rain storm right now.
We gotta go ahead
and run right here.
Oh, yeah it smells good.
It's ready to run.
[Craig] All right,
I'll get the pump.
[Richard] We're running it
on a brand new still
we've never run before.
We're running a volume
that we've never run before.
There we go.
I'm getting nervous.
This is a large pot.
We're talking
a lot of alcohol in this pot.
It's a dangerous substance.
Leaking alcohol, a lot
of this thing's wasting money.
but most of all,
it's dangerous.
We wanna go home
at the end of the night.
It's not something
you wanna just take lightly.
You have to be cautious
around this stuff.
Our worm barrel,
man, it's leaking.
It's the first run
with this thing.
I mean, it was bound
to have some problems.
I know that this barrel
hasn't had water in it
in a very long time,
and that's just not good.
We gotta tighten it back up
because, when we took
the top off of this barrel.
we loosened these stays up.
Look, at that,
it allowed the barrel to leak.
So, we're doing
a little impromptu job.
I think that's as tight
as we're gonna get it.
And this barrel's been around
since probably
my grandparents.
This is paying homage
to guys in the old days.
To be able to just put
barrels to a submarine still,
that's awesome to me.
I mean, just to see
how big this thing is
as compared to what
we've dealt with before.
Oh, those heads
are starting to burn off now.
[Richard] I was told,
"Always leave the cap off
in the beginning.
"Let the steam come out."
That's what would be
caught up in your head.
Running the heads out
of the top of the pot
before you put the cap on.
It's the same thing as running
it through your system.
We gotta paste up
this real good.
No such thing
as too much of this stuff.
It's getting warm up here.
[Richard] It won't
be long now.
It's time to get some
of this money back.
It's getting there.
Everything's looking good.
Hot.
We don't have
any leaks anywhere.
Just waiting for the drip.
[Craig] Hey, man,
we're running.
That's what we're looking
for right there.
This still's got a nice flow.
I gotta taste this, man.
How is it?
[Richard] Ooh!
That sweet potato, man.
It's like a sweet potato pie.
-This is out of the park, man.
-Yeah, it's good.
[Craig] Taste
that multi-boiler.
Hit of that cranberry.
This right here
is what we've been
trying to achieve right here.
Putting this together
coming out
of a new still, a new worm,
this is awesome.
We're gonna
make money with this.
Yeah, that's a good
165 right there.
With this big
thing right here,
we can do anything we want.
The possibilities
are endless, man.
You know, I have aspirations
for this still.
This still's
a huge investment.
But we're expecting
huge payoffs.
We're gonna push this still
just as much
as we push ourselves.
Come on, let's do a toast.
Toast to us.
To the ones before.
'Cause if they had
never did this,
we'd never be able to do it.
I love it, I love it.
-[phone ringing]
-[automated voice] Please
leave your message.
Really never know
where Jerry's ass is
right now.
This is the time I need
him to help me load stuff
up,
get over to the still site,
get my stand.
He is a no show
today.
We need to get
my stand to get
this run run off.
You know, now we're
beating against
the clock,
we gotta make up
for lost time.
We're stashin' up liquor
and I need to keep
that stash house full
for a rainy day
or... a snowy one.
Ain't one monkey
stop this show,
just got to keep on going.
You know, I don't know
what the hell is going
on with Jerry,
I don't even know
where he's at.
[sighs]
Man, getting aggravating,
being late *bleep*
all the time.
So I'm gonna start
down to the still,
site,
maybe he'll show up,
I don't know.
-[phone ringing]
-[sighs] Oh, boy.
[automated voice]
Please leave your message...
Now I dread doin' this
by myself.
Me and Jerry,
we're partners. We
work very good together.
You know, I don't mind
pickin' up his slack
if there's something wrong,
if he's got a family
emergency.
With any job
that's acceptable.
People want their liquor.
I can't wait around.
But now, he's just
assin' off, hungover
from the night before.
I'm gonna keep
all the profit.
I mean, I just can't
afford to pay somebody
not to be at work.
This gotta get done,
one way or another.
Yeah, you know
it's freezing out here.
But you can actually
mash in,
keep it warm,
make it work off,
and you can run a run
in this,
as long as you got cover.
The hay bales
that me and Jerry
put up
for our mash outfit,
it just contains
a lot of heat.
You know, and just
because it's snowing,
that's not keeping me
from boing water
and bringing water
up to temperature here.
This time, we're gonna
run a simple corn mash.
[grunts]
It's too late in the season
to do any different recipes.
Everything's gone,
they fell off the trees
and stuff.
I'm gonna heat
my water up,
one pot at a time.
Let 'em steep
a little while.
It's miserable out here
doing this.
In the snow, in the cold.
Look, I'm trying to turn
the damn water off
with the gas nozzle.
[sighs]
You know, considering
the situation I'm in
today, I'm really happy
that I got this done
by myself.
Damn, it's getting
colder out here.
I just wish I had
my partner here to help
me do half of the work.
I'm gonna kick his ass
next time I see.
[narrator] Coming up...
That wasn't what
I had in mind.
That's how you move
a damn sub...
That's what I'm taking
about.
Hell to the yeah!
Can I take a picture
of that?
Where's my phone?
Hell yeah.
You're too small
for me to ride if
something goes down.
You know what?
You can be my buddy.
But if something goes down,
I'm getting on this big
old boy.
This is a horse.
This right here
is a donkey.
Now if you breed this
to that...
you get a mule.
That mule is almost
as hard-headed
as I am. [laughing]
Hell, sure hope we
can find enough stuff
to put that together.
Well, you know Tennessee
whiskey, it has to be
filtered over charcoal, so...
just so happens
Digger and I, we made
one sometime back.
So we got a charcoal
filter.
We're lookin' at what...
close to 500 gallon?
We run five gallon
over this.
We gotta have
something for 500.
I just don't think
it's long enough.
We really need to be
close to tripling the size
of this filter tube.
We need more
charcoal surface area.
If it's longer, they will
hold more charcoal.
Simply because of
the volume of liquor
we're gonna use.
Hell west and crooked,
here it comes.
This filter, it's gonna be
built out the thumb
part.
It's about a four-inch
in diameter copper
tube.
About three feet long.
We'll pack it with felt,
copper discs that'll
'cause the liquor
to separate and trickle
down in different
areas
instead of bein'
one solid stream.
And it mellows the liquor
a little bit.
We ain't got no sage to burn.
They say that maple
is the best on 'em.
We ain't got none.
We ain't got no
sugar maple
around here.
But I got some
fire coals.
White oak.
So with three feet
of charcoal in addition
to having more
copper, it's gonna
pass over and some
felt
that'll filter anything
that might be in
there out.
You're getting hot on
me on the upper?
I'm tougher than
a night in jail.
You just lay it too.
The soldering couldn't
be better,
it's looking good.
The joints are nice.
We're gonna put
a tube in it,
we're gonna put a bill
reducer and a half
inch copper pipe to it
before it can,
it can just filter out.
You know to stay there,
Puss.
You know, it's a very
simple build, it's nothing
extravagant.
But it's a step
that must be done
to make a Tennessee whiskey.
Get her on there.
It'll go in there a little
smoother, somewhat
slicker on there, don't it?
We'll put a ball valve
on it,
it'll throttle the flow
of the liquor down.
And let it hang out,
let the charcoal do
its work.
Now we gotta do,
we'll cut us some
fresh felt,
we'll put about
four of them down
here.
Then we'll pack some
charcoal in here
and we'll put a baffle,
about two felts
on it
and up an little bit more.
We'll leave it alone,
we'll let it leak test.
We'll prop it up.
And if it's still in there
when we come back
to check it and put it up,
we're in good shape.
Let's go make
some liquor.
Let's go make it.
We gotta filter,
we need some liquor
to put in it.
[Digger] We gotta
get some liquor goin'!
[Josh] He'll have to be
rollin' up anytime.
Here we go.
Here we go.
-Gonna get started.
-Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
He already come.
All right, Brian,
we're finally here, man.
Where he goin' at?
Look at this truck
comin' in here.
I think he'd come
right through here.
Stay it good and hard.
What's goin' on?
How's it goin' Josh?
Good spot, ain't it?
When we first
rolled into the side
I'm like, everything I had
in my mind,
it's like comin' together
so perfectly.
-[man on radio] Lookin' good,
lookin' good.
-Woah, woah, woah.
All right, boys.
Here it is.
Beautiful.
When I look at this
outfit he just backed
up in here with,
I mean, it gives me
chills.
It makes me think
of the old days.
Damn, if that ain't
a rig full of stills.
-I'm tellin' you.
-What's the deal
with this place?
-Nice, ain't it?
-It ain't too bad. No doubt.
Yeah.
We gonna stretch 'em out
across here.
We got power.
Got water right about
30 feet right there.
-Let me ask you something.
-Huh.
How much did you
tighten that butt *bleep*
up
bringing that load
across state lines?
You ever seen
a number two pencil?
[both chuckle]
I say let's get this stuff
unloaded.
I got it.
Go right in the middle.
-Yeah.
-Right in the middle.
Them go straight
to the ground.
Piece of cake.
These pots, these things
are huge.
You know how to
handle, be more
careful.
-I'm okay...
-Can you show him
how to do it?
Stick your hands
under the hole.
Lay it down on
your back. Ready?
That's how you move
stills, son.
[man] He's like a damn
bullock.
Man, he don't even know
his own strength.
That's how you move
a damn sub.
That's what I'm
talkin' about.
Hell to the yeah.
Can I get a picture
of that?
-Where's my phone?
-...on the ground.
Hell, yeah!
That's a big boy
right under.
-That wasn't what I had
in mind.
-Me neither.
We've gotta set this thing
up where it's gonna be
an efficient operation.
We're gonna put
these big ones
on the ends
and the smaller ones
in towards the middle.
You can run everything
in the proper order,
get everything run off.
[grunts]
That's good.
Let's move this big one.
[man] Hold up...
This is a sight behold
for any moonshiner.
It's just amazing
to do this again
after all these years.
To think about
my dad,
and the job he had
to do gettin' all
that stuff together.
He kept on us
with still hands.
That's why he wanted
us to end up making
liquor.
He didn't want us foolin'
around haulin'
and transporting
and stuff like that. So...
We're used to Dad
doin' all that.
Here we are
havin' to do what he did,
I see now the work
he really had,
I always took it
for granted.
It's good knowing
these boys.
Yes, sir. It does.
That's a whole lot
of subs right here.
Whole lotta subs.
When you get 'em
lined up in
a straight line,
and you could hardly
see till the end, you know
you got an operation.
[man] This is incredible.
We'll go make some
damn money.
[man] Hell of a day's
work, right?
[man 2] It is
a hell of a day's work.
[narrator] Next time
onMoonshiners...
[Digger] Just because you
make whiskey in Tennessee,
that does not make it
Tennessee whiskey.
I mean, that limestone
spring,
That's the deal.
-Wow.
-God dawg that's pretty.
Henry and Kenny Loft,
they're one of the families
that made Franklin County
the Moonshine capital
of the world.
Been 40 years since
we've seen this big
a setup and who did it?
We did.
There he is, buddy.
Got this buyer lined up.
So we're headed to
try to get rid of about
15 gallons of good
grain whiskey.
-He's got someone
with him, man.
-He what?
Man, how's it goin'?
What the hell
are you thinkin', brother?
Mike, come on now.
We don't need this man.