Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 11, Episode 2 - Holy Grail of Moonshine - full transcript
this time on moonshiners...
we up on a mountain
up here, ain't we, brother?
The heat's been on me
and j for a while,
we just crossed over
into north carolina.
We've got to
build something new.
I'm gonna solder it
from the inside.
Whoa!
oh, god!
Here, you wanna do what
I'm doing? For a while there,
it reminds you of being
a teenager again.
The recipe that jb wants
is all corn, no sugar.
Damn, you ain't never had
a whooping for holding
your breath, have you?
Glad I'm driving you
out of here.
That's the biggest damn
green strawberry
I ever seen in my life, josh.
This is only going to make
one still full of mash.
So what we're going to do
is go back down to one
of our old still sites
and we're gonna run it there.
Somebody's coming
across the bridge.
this is how
we make the moonshine!
- oh, my god.
would you look at that.
This is where you
and popcorn sutton
made his last run.
I never thought
we'd be up here thinking
about making a run of liquor.
in haywood county,
north carolina,
jb is leading
mark and digger to the site
where their friend and mentor,
popcorn sutton,
made his infamous last run.
Tennessee's home to us.
If we're gonna run liquor,
I'd rather run it
in my back door.
But right now,
that's not an option,
because the police
are back out in full force.
They are on their a-game
right now.
20 years.
It's been 20 years
right now, come July.
-Yeah, that's what we are,
it'll be 20 years.
-Yeah.
Jb, this is sacred ground.
You're damn right it is.
If there's a holy grail
of moonshine,
it's right here.
Wow.
this is where the rage
of moonshine began.
This is where popcorn sutton
did his video
the last run.
What little liquor
comes off of this,
the right people will
pay you $100 a gallon for it.
Popcorn,
he was the outlaw moonshiner.
I'm just doing this so
people can see how rough
an old moonshiner's life was.
He kept telling me,
"wish we could do a video
the way my granddaddy
and daddy had done it."
he said, "we're gonna keep
the moonshine tradition
going."
this is the last damn run
of liquor I'm gonna ever make.
I guess I'm letting you off.
They'll be glad of that 'cause
they won't have to watch me
no damn more.
he done it out
in the open too much.
That's the reason
he got caught,
'cause he got too bold.
If I hadn't quit when I did,
I'd have went to the pen.
Cold chills runnin'
over my arm.
I swear, it's just...
Yeah, you're darn right.
His spirit's here.
oh, yeah,
so something will go wrong.
That's exactly
what was going through
my mind.
look, here, the old furnace.
Yeah, we cooked on this.
Pot of beans
and fried potatoes.
Fried potato.
Boys, we ain't gonna
disturb none of this stuff.
No. Hell, no.
That'd be like jumping on
the statue of liberty
and cutting her ear off.
well, that's a fine stream.
yeah, it's good water.
Is this far enough
back from the law?
I think it ought to do it.
If this ain't far enough
out of the dadgum way,
-we deserve to be caught.
-Caught. Yeah, right.
with the fact
that law enforcement's
on our trail,
we need to exercise
all caution.
And, right now, we're just
gonna hang out over here
in north carolina a while.
-I'll tell you what, rader.
-Yeah.
Seeing how
you drug us in here,
this first run,
it's gonna be yours.
You tell us how you want it,
-we'll do whatever
you dictate.
-Okay.
You got anything in mind
you want to do?
Well, popcorn always said
something about
making some
pure corn, no sugar,
but he ain't never did do it.
Jb tells us that
popcorn always promised him
that they would do
an all-grain corn run,
no sugar.
I want just pure corn choice,
he always said
it was damn good,
but didn't produce much.
don't make a lot of it.
-No.
it'll get you about
a half the run of
what sugar would.
Yeah, yeah.
Pure corn, about 103 proof.
You know, we always knew
popcorn wanted to make
an all-grain run.
He always talked about it.
But the thing that it is,
popcorn didn't have
the patience.
Let's get down here
and get us
a plan ciphered out.
Yeah. We gotta round us up
some materials.
47 miles to get back out
and get something.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
well, jerry, it looks like
we've made it over
the mountain, buddy.
Look at these valleys.
Look at these mountains
on both sides.
Yeah, bud, it's beautiful
out here.
on the north carolina-
tennessee border
after a police raid
cleaned out a season's cache
of moonshine,
mike and jerry are slipping
across the state line
where they can operate
as relative unknowns.
The heat's been on me
and j for a while,
so we just crossed over
into north carolina.
We need to be in a place
we know we'll be safe
and can evade the law
or any other human coming in
and finding us.
So, where in the hell are we
going to look for a still
site out around here, buddy?
There should be a road
that turns off to the left.
You know, I mean,
some people would feel like
they're invading on somebody
else's territory, but to me,
it's neutral ground.
You know, we got to do
what we got to do.
If there's anybody else
over here that thinks we're
stepping on their toes,
we'll deal with it
when it comes to us.
Well, this is nice,
ain't it, jerry?
Sure is.
You know, we've been running
in tennessee for
the last two seasons.
You know, I think it's time,
with the heat we got going on,
we've got to figure out
something, and we got to
do it pretty quick.
What's that over yonder?
That's a damn flag over there.
That means somebody
put that there.
Somebody's been in here
clearing this out
-for some reason.
-It's a no-go.
That's just something
we can't have.
don't look too old, either.
No, it does not.
I'm not gonna put
our operation here.
Ain't happening.
We got to bust this place,
we got to move on.
You know, this area that
we're in right now, you know,
I know it really good.
It's not where I grew up,
but it's dang close.
It's a great little valley
to hide in, lots of woods.
This is not my domain.
Over in tennessee,
people know exactly
who me and jerry is.
You know,
here in north carolina,
we're just two regular guys.
It makes me feel
a little more comfortable,
a little more hid.
It's kind of under the radar.
Nice, some good-looking water
right down through here
coming out.
This is where the infamous
popcorn sutton's from.
He made a lot of liquor
over here, and he's got
a big name over here,
and I respect that.
But it's mine
and jerry's turn now.
We up on a mountain up here,
ain't we, brother?
This is a pretty place.
I guarantee.
I'll tell you what, man.
Me and jerry, we are struck
by the sheer beauty
of this place.
That's some big old timber in
here, ain't there, buddy?
sure is.
Away from civilization.
You know, the harder it is
for me and jerry
to get to where we're
gonna go to our still site,
the damn harder it is
for anybody else,
and especially the police.
Man, look at the waterfall
in there.
I say that right there
won't never dry up, will it?
That ought to give us
all the water we need.
think we can get
down there.
I don't know about getting
back up through here.
We got to get down to
the creek and taste the water.
I know it's fine water,
but I always like
to put my mouth on it.
You're tasting it wrong.
You got to get
your face in it.
you're gonna put
your mouth on it, ain't ya?
There you go.
Is that not good water
or what?
It's done that it's cold,
clean as it can be.
you know, this
water source right here,
coming down
the side of this mountain,
we shouldn't have no problem
having water all season
long and plenty of it.
What do you think about
this little spot
right in here?
I like being able to
see the water.
Yeah. Well, the closer we are
to the water, the better off
we gonna be, ain't we?
Yeah.
You know, I don't
want to haul that rig
and everything across
the mountain over here.
You take a chance
on getting caught with it.
So we got to do something.
I don't want to get caught
crossing down state lines
with something illegal
in the back of my truck.
That's a federal offense,
then.
So we've got to build
something new.
Well, what's your thoughts
on what we're gonna
run this year?
I ain't got no damn clue,
really.
From what I've been hearing
through the grapevine,
you know, people's getting
some money back
in their pocket now,
they're buying
high-end alcohol.
A lot of barrel-aged,
good, high-end whiskeys
and stuff is what
they're buying.
Everybody that I've talked
to are wanting high-end,
barrel-aged whiskey.
And they don't mind
paying for it.
And that stuff takes time.
That's something
we don't have, a lot of time.
We definitely don't have time
to start filling up barrels
'cause we've got to start
making money 'cause
we have none.
What if we had
the best of both worlds?
What if we actually ran
our liquor in a wooden barrel?
Run liquor out of
a wooden barrel?
-Yeah.
-A charred white oak barrel.
Yeah.
And how in the hell
are we gonna do that?
It's wood.
We're gonna just put
a core through it.
Still don't get hot.
It'll get hot, but--
all we're doing
is heating the steam.
We can mash right
in the barrel.
I'll just have
to draw it out and show you.
I just come up with an idea
I just don't think
nobody's ever tried.
I mean, who's going to try
to make a moonshine still
out of a wooden barrel?
Let's see what we got here.
-Here's our barrel, right?
-Right.
We come in here,
we cut us in a copper core
and we'll put heat to it
and all that heat
will come up this flute.
We're gonna try to put
that barrel-aged aroma
and taste into it
in the beginning
while we're doing our mash.
What we'll do is we'll stop us
-a couple of
pieces of pipe on top...
-Mmm-hmm.
...So the core itself
becomes part of the flue.
-Wood soaking all
that mash in.
-Mmm-hmm.
And then as we run it off,
we're gonna have
something that's going to be
essentially a charred taste,
but it's gonna be clear.
I think it's gonna give us
a flavor like none other
when this thing heats up.
Oh, it definitely will.
Usually, to get
that wood charred flavor,
you've got to let,
you know, your alcohol sit
for two to four years.
That should give us
the best of both worlds.
But our goal is to make it
unaged aged alcohol.
I'm ready to rock and roll
with it, brother.
hell yeah.
-How's it going, boss man?
-What's up, josh?
How is everybody?
Good to see you guys.
arriving
in franklin county
after a 4-hour haul,
josh delivers
500 pounds of ripe fruit
to his shine partners,
eager to kick off
their season with a run
of strawberry brandy.
Boys, I've been through hell.
-Yeah?
-What do you mean hell?
Well, I joshed it up again.
Actually, the biggest damn
green strawberry I ever seen
in my life, josh.
Go back to the truck.
I'm expecting strawberries.
And lo and behold,
what we got, watermelons.
And then
I look a little closer
and there's pineapple.
Dang, josh.
You look like you done
skinned a gator!
Lord almighty!
Make me up a gator skin
boot right there.
Yes, sir.
I really truthfully think
that that would make
some good moonshine
right there.
Maybe if the cores
were out of it.
- I don't know
about that .
-They're awful dry.
They're about rotten.
Yeah, we tried a lot
of things over the years,
but alligator skin pineapple,
that's just not on our list.
What you got in mind, josh?
There's a family recipe
from back home
that's super famous
called the green lizard.
We make it out of
the watermelon, the rind,
everything.
Just smash it all up.
It really brings out
that watermelon flavor
if you'd use the rinds.
I remember seeing the adults
drinking green lizard
when I was a kid, you know?
And my dad passed
this recipe down, and that's
how I found out about it.
We're not gonna use any sugar.
When we run it,
we run it twice,
double distill it,
and it comes out so good.
This is only enough
for maybe one pot.
I don't know
how much this is going
to wind up being.
You know, we've built
this great big still site.
There's eight pots.
This looks like
a lot of watermelons.
That right there,
that's gonna mash
in one pot.
Look, man, this may
not be enough to mash in
all these stills,
but I think it'll bring
good money. It's going
to be good liquor.
-Ready to roll with it.
-I'm for it.
What do you think?
-Sounds good to me.
-We got it,
let's roll with it.
Now, how are you going
to plan on busting
all this stuff up?
-I got a smasher over there.
-Let's go check it out.
Josh is telling us that
he's got a special purpose
for these watermelons.
We're gonna make
a little higher-end liquor
this year
than what we made during
the pandemic.
Now, that everybody
is coming out of it,
it's gonna be like
the roaring '20s
all over again.
People are gonna be out,
they're gonna be
wanting to drink.
They're gonna
want to be celebrating.
We're gonna make sure
they celebrate with
our moonshine.
Basically,
this fits pretty tight
in there, okay?
And then
this goes on here, okay?
What do you mean?
Which way?
It'll go up here,
like this right here
and then attach to this,
okay?
And then that pushes it down
and smash everything.
Josh has got this thing.
It's basically the biggest
beer can crusher in the world.
He says we're gonna be able
to smash these watermelons
up with that.
Let's see what she'll do.
I ain't no rocket scientist,
but a hammer does
the same thing.
there we go.
-No.
-Lift up on it
and jerk it down.
Yeah, bring it up
and jerk.
We're having a slight problem
with this fruit crusher.
It's a little bit tougher
to get the rind busted down.
-Is it smashing 'em?
-Yeah, it's smashing 'em.
Smash. Keep on getting it.
that ain't gonna work.
damn, I thought
that was gonna do it.
It got a good start on it,
but that's about it.
Well, I don't like
how much work it is.
We've got these watermelons
in this masher.
We can't get
enough leverage on it.
It just...
It's not going to do it.
What if we put
a hydraulic ram on it?
You know, just hook it to
a battery and use a little...
Button up and down,
up and down?
I got a hydraulic arm
back here.
Kind of a ditch witch.
show me
what you talking about.
I have to see what you mean.
Let's see.
Where's that bastard at?
Back over yonder
beside that table.
I call it the ol' boneyard.
right here's
the hydraulic ram.
oh, no, no, no, no, no.
That's my damn
wood splitter, hoss.
-I think we can make
it work though.
-Check it out.
Y'all can't tear out
my wood splitter.
-It's got our handle.
-Yeah.
All we got to do
is unbolt it right here.
It's not even mine.
Whose is it?
It's been sitting here
for five years.
damn sounds like
it's his now.
Well, I can't watch this.
I can't watch it.
Go on, take it apart.
-For real?
-Yeah, for real.
Take it apart.
Henry, he's got
an old log splitter
and this suits
our purposes perfectly.
This thing's probably got
about a 20-ton cylinder on it,
and it's made to hook up
to a tractor.
And so what we'll do is
we're gonna make
this fruit smasher hydraulic.
We're gonna take it
and mount this up in a frame,
change that plate out
to what we got on our smasher
and put it right here.
Hook this to henry's tractor
and smash fruit
and let back up off of it.
so be gentle.
Be gentle.
This is where we're going
to put our fruit in.
We're going to come up
and build a frame up here,
over and down,
and then we're gonna take
this hydraulic cylinder
and mount it right here.
Perfect.
And then we'll hook it
to henry's tractor,
and when we pull the lever,
it's going to mash down
with about 20 tons of force.
All right. So, let's
fire us some metal
and let's put this baby
together.
a-ha!
There you go, buddy.
I don't know
what it is about welding,
but it puts josh
in this happy place.
I almost envision him in a...
In a meadow full of flowers
and, you know, birds singing,
bees flying by.
That's it, right after yonder.
And here josh is setting
the whole thing
on fire welding.
But you know what,
he's his happiest there.
And it does make good
to see josh happy.
Watch your fingers.
whoo!
- doggone.
-Yeah.
all right, tickle.
-We need the tractor now,
don't we?
-Yes, sir.
Hook your tractor to her.
She'll be good to go.
All right.
I'm gonna get this right here.
This part is punkin' up.
There you go, josh.
Stick it on down.
There you go.
look at that juice.
-wow! Oh, yeah, man!
That looks good.
-There you go!
now, that we've got
our fruit crusher going.
This thing not only
will mash watermelons,
it will mash anything
we need in it.
What's up, bryan?
I just got here
just in time for work, huh?
Just in time.
Now, it's time to mash in.
watch this right here.
hell, yeah.
son of a bitch.
Dude, you've done good,
brother.
oh, now,
only popcorn can find a place
like this where it's hell
to get in.
You ain't just
a whistling dixie, rader.
Well, today is the day
we're coming back to popcorn
and jb's last run site.
We're going to mash in
jb's all corn, no sugar mash.
All right, rader,
what do you want done next?
jb back in the day
was just a still hand.
But, today, jb is the boss,
we're listening to him.
Before we light a fire,
we got to
get up through yonder way
and get us a flow
of water started.
-Where'd you have that
hose run from?
-Up over there.
-Round this up here side.
-Do you run it
around this way?
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
There was two reasons
popcorn picked this spot.
look right here,
baby man.
We may be in business.
Number one, it was isolated.
Number two, it's got some
of the finest water
in the world
running 10 feet away.
This would be a
pretty good place
to run a hose
in the creek up there
and run it right over to it.
- you got water?
-Yeah, we got water.
Oh, it's cold, ain't it?
Hell yeah, it's cold.
there's one more thing
I got to do here before
we get started.
I've got something here
that popcorn gave me
before he died.
It's an irreplaceable
piece of history.
People just forgot about it
years ago
and it showed back up.
I will be damned.
Looky there, boys.
Popcorn gave that to me.
I asked him for it.
Six months
or eight months later,
he showed up at the house.
He said, "I brought
a few of that damn sign,"
and he doesn't want 'em.
He was notorious
for building signs
-and making signs.
-Oh, he loved
making signs.
He couldn't spell for .
It ain't worth two cents,
but I wouldn't trade it
for a damn rembrandt.
Well, it's time to quit
being reminiscent
and get to work.
Let's get after it.
There's the way I go now,
the dreaded tri-stream.
wake up in the morning,
and you're pissing
in three different directions.
Why don't you do the honors
and light this here burner
and warm this water up.
oh, yeah.
Yeah, it's lit good.
You want to get that water
kind of rolling a little bit
-before we add that corn.
-Oh, yeah.
-Corn?
-Corn.
The recipe that jb wants
is all corn and no sugar.
coarse ground white cornmeal.
when you do all grains,
you have to use quadruple
the amount of grain
in order to generate
enough starch
and natural sugars
to produce any volume at all.
-That thing is settled down?
-Yeah.
It ain't going down none
too fast,
but it might again when we
get this bucket in there.
Once it starts releasing,
the starches comes
into a clump,
that's when it'll burn.
So when we dump
all that corn in here,
we go flame out.
We've got to keep stirring.
We don't need no lumps.
We let this sit here from
the 210-degree temperature
it's at right now
till it gets down
to about 160.
Then we'll put
our magic dust in there
and let it do its work.
Here, you want to do
what I'm doing.
For a while there,
it reminds you of being
a teenager again.
I tell you, it feels just like
I'm stirring up
a dadgum giant bowl
of cornbread batter.
As we stir and
this corn's swelling back up,
all the sugars are coming out.
Look at it.
well, they're still
in long chains.
They just clump up,
and then it becomes
one big large mass,
just like cooking grits
or oatmeal.
I mean,
I love the way it looks,
but I never thought
I'd ever see any liquor mash
that looks like that.
if everything goes
the way it's supposed to,
that amylase
will break it down.
When it comes
to making all-grain liquor,
there's a secret weapon
that nobody
can survive without,
and that's amylase enzyme.
Get that whooped in.
Oh, we'll whoop it.
Hella fun.
It's like mixing cement.
The amylase is
a digestive aid basically.
It's in insect bellies,
it's in our bellies.
Well, you can already
see it's working.
In the name of simeon.
This amylase, basically,
it's a meat cleaver
for the sugar chains,
and it just chops
them up into smaller bites
that the yeast can take in
and convert into alcohol.
look at that, jb.
Look how it's done
loosened up.
It's making those sugars
-more accessible to yeast.
-Yeah, right.
-This is insane.
-All right.
No, it's science.
this is jb's run.
He come up with this,
and digger has learned
me something here so special,
I volunteered to do all
the bucketing over.
don't splash that
on your leg.
no, it'd be hot.
You talk about doing
that thumped keg walk,
you'll be doing
the burnt sack boogie.
"burnt sack boogie."
damn, don't want that.
You couldn't
even hardly shake it off
of the mash stick before.
And now it just...
It looks like mash
is supposed to look.
Boys, you've done great.
Let's don't jinx ourselves,
guys.
We ain't turned it
into liquor yet.
We gave it
a good healthy dose.
You can't never pitch
too much yeast.
-No.
-Looky here at this, jb.
-Yeah.
-What do you think of that?
Oh, yeah, that's one
good-looking mash.
-Now, we got to
make some liquor.
-Yeah.
-And make it 103.
-103.
That's an honest day's work.
-For half a day's wages.
-Yeah.
yeah,
I might give you a raise.
we're using
this watermelon smasher
and that stuff's
flying everywhere.
I'm talking about
if you mash down
and hold it down,
and it squirting dang
8-10 feet straight up.
I want to start
squeezing down,
slow down on it.
It works awesome
and it cuts our time down,
and this thing
has got a ton of power.
It's badass.
This stuff only got
to be busted up a little bit,
it ain't got to be real fine.
As long as this stuff's
broke up enough
to actually get it in there
and get juice out of it,
that's all we really need.
this baby here
is almost ready to put in
once I bring the water up
to about right here.
Then we're going
throw the yeast in it, baby.
Gonna make that green lizard,
brother.
as we're smashing
these watermelons,
I'm noticing that
we might fill four barrels up,
which is enough
for one small pot.
You know, we built
this great big still site.
There's eight pots.
The watermelon's gonna
make some good brandy.
It's just not gonna
make enough of it.
What's fixin' to happen here?
what we're gonna do here,
we're gonna kick
this yeast off before
we pour it in the tub.
We're taking a little bit
of warm water, we're taking
some of the mash bill.
And you'll see
that baby kick in.
We're not gonna add
any sugar at all
to our liquor.
We want this thing
to be all watermelon.
baby is working.
Get them in the barrels.
It's gonna make better liquor.
-Looks good.
-Yes, it does.
now that we've got
everything mashed in
and getting it working,
it's just a matter of waiting
for this stuff to work off.
When it gets ready,
we're gonna take this stuff
down to the still site
and, hopefully, we come out
with a great product.
Looky yonder.
Henry, this thing
is working like hell.
-Perfect.
-That's what we want
right there.
bettin' ol' davey's got
what we're looking for?
I'll bet if anybody stands
a chance, he's going
to have it.
jerry come up with
a good idea
about trying to run
some alcohol
in a wood barrel
so we can have
that aged charred flavors
through a clear alcohol.
Dave.
Mike and jerry.
Me and jerry, we are
mutual friend with
a guy named dave angel.
He owns a distillery here
in maggie valley.
So we need to go talk
to him and see if we can't get
a few barrels off of him
and try to work out
some kind
of price arrangement.
What we're looking for
is some good charred barrels.
-How many you needing?
-About three.
I just got done
emptying some about two,
three days ago,
so I got a few barrels here.
They were once used up
in kentucky to make bourbon,
so we've reused them
to make whiskey out of them.
They're made out
of american white oak.
That charred layer,
I tell you, the whiskey
I got out of here
had some nice vanilla
and caramel notes in it,
so that should come through.
We're looking to do
some top-quality small-batch
whiskeys this season.
People's got money.
They're ready to spend.
Economy's coming back
and people want
to spend that money.
They want good stuff.
I hear that.
-Here's another big question.
-Yeah.
What do you got
to have for these barrels?
Well, I'm gonna have
to replace them.
I think we can do $150 each.
I'd say that's pretty fair.
And I want me just a taste
of what that tastes like.
I'll tell you what we'll do.
We'll bring you
a bottle of our finest
for one of these barrels
and pay you for the other two.
How about that?
I think we could do that.
We'll call it
"experimental research"
for me.
How's that sound?
-Sounds like a deal to
me, brother.
-All right, brother.
I'll tell you what,
we're off to the races.
All we got to do is load
them on the truck,
get them to where we're going
and get started on these rigs.
Yeah, boy!
we got us some barrels.
man, it's a little
rough getting in here.
man, I tell you,
we're getting old, ain't we?
You're damn right.
hell, about that.
It beats the alternative.
Well, the day has come
to get in here early
in the morning,
get this mash pumped
over into the steel pot.
Oh, that smells good.
Today is the day,
we run jb's all-corn recipe.
Yeah, that one's ready, boys.
We come in, check the mash.
It's dead as
last year's calendar.
It's ready to run.
I'm going to set
this little fella right here.
So, this is
the general vicinity
-it's got to go.
-Yeah.
Well, we've got a bigger pot
than popcorn had.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
You might can set
the pot right here.
Yeah, that'd work.
We want to put
the still exactly
where popcorn had his.
Let's see how
it'll sit right there.
-Then that'd be real,
real close, jb.
-You're darn right.
It means a lot
to be back here.
It's fond memories.
It's changed a lot
since 20 years ago.
Popcorn, I'd say he's
looking down, thinking,
"what the hell
them boys are doing?"
finish up what
you're going to finish up.
I'm gonna build us
a little fire
so we can have some
coals cook on here directly.
All righty. Sounds good to me.
I'll work on putting
some mash in the pot.
This is just a small run,
so we're gonna do it
the same way that
the old man did it
back in the day.
We're just going to bucket it
from the mash barrel
to the still.
It's going to be
a lot different run,
but we want to do it
as close as we possibly could
to the original.
risk that falls down,
I'm going to rake it back
and get us
a bed of coals going.
I'll get us some...
Bacon going,
and I'll make us some
ramps and eggs.
All right.
That's what you call
ranch lettuce.
That's good stuff.
popcorn loved to cook
when he was making liquor.
His menu was limited,
but he liked to
flaunt his skills.
We're going to pay
homage to that as well,
but it'll be something
a little bit different.
We're gonna make
a big run of ramps and eggs
while we run
this liquor.
It's going to be delish.
digger is gonna feed
the heck out of us.
We're going to eat good.
Right there under is
some crispy bacon
and fried tater.
-Look what's going in there
next, rader.
-Mmm-mmm.
that's the main one there.
almost right.
that's the main ingredient.
I brought my old
cast iron skillet.
this kind of like
a mixed-up omelet.
-Yep, it is.
-Appalachian style.
appalachian omelet.
Yeah.
Honestly and truly,
this is our kind of chow.
This is...
This is what we love.
They all right?
You've outdone yourself.
This is as country cooking
as it gets.
This stuff is so good.
I mean, you almost
about got to lay down
to eat it.
well, we better get
some paste made.
You know, I never thought
in a million years
that we would ever
come back to this spot.
-A little more.
-Yeah.
But we thought it was,
you know, just lost to nature.
And probably
if jb hadn't brought us
up here,
it would have continued
to have been forgotten.
thank god,
jb's the paste master.
We're just trying
to live something
that we didn't get to live
20 years ago.
We're trying to
relive this thing through jb.
You know,
we're still fortunate.
We're blessed to have
jb with us here still.
-We're getting ready here,
boys.
-Yeah.
-We'll have liquor there,
sure enough, any time.
-Yeah.
Oh, we got liquor coming out.
- well, we do,
don't we?
- yeah.
better put this
ol' coon dodger in.
on hallowed ground
in maggie valley,
north carolina,
mark, digger, and jb
near completion on
the first damn run of liquor
anyone's made here
since popcorn sutton did his
last damn run of liquor
20 years ago.
Seeing this liquor run,
you know,
this... This is wonderful.
-We're gonna get it here,
ain't we, old buddy?
-Yeah.
we're up here
in a place that started
the rage of moonshine
with popcorn and jb.
I couldn't ask for
anything better to be sitting
in this spot right now
and liquor running out of
that worm.
-It's your liquor, jb,
you get the first holdin'.
-All righty.
-Oh, it smells good, digger.
-Oh, god.
It ain't no doubt.
Damn, you ain't never had
a whooping for holding
your breath, have you?
Glad I'm driving you
out of here.
-Here we go.
-What do you think?
Nailed it.
-You like it?
-Damn right I like it.
By god!
You know, 100% corn liquor.
Nothing even compares.
I mean, it's...
It's the best of the best.
I'm glad I got to do this
with you, rader.
I am too.
This still site.
This is hallowed ground.
I sense popcorn's presence
around here.
I miss him.
I could see him over
doing that thump keg walk.
-Yay!
-And here we go. And...
a lot of things are
special about today.
None more important than
the fact that we get
to be here with jb.
-We've made
three-and-a-half gallons.
-Yeah, but hell.
We get it all tempered up,
we'll have four.
Fine run on nothing
but grain though.
You're damn right.
-Out of
a little old pot like that.
-Hell yeah.
this liquor right here,
I'll temper it to 103,
and I'll put it in his hands.
It's his liquor.
-Jb, thank you, my brother.
-Yeah.
Rader...
-Yeah. Yeah.
-I love you, brother.
You know, moreover,
this wasn't
about making a big run
to have a lot of quantity.
We were about quality
and paying homage
to popcorn
and honor to jb.
Good and clear, too.
Some powerful stuff,
right there.
Yeah, that's powerful stuff.
I'm proud of
what we made today
and I think
popcorn would've been
proud of us.
it's looking good, y'all.
Tell you what,
it tastes pretty good,
but it's still got
a couple of days
left to work out.
Yeah, at least
a couple of days, I'd say.
Man, you want to just go on
ahead and get it down to
the still site,
let it finish working off?
Well, I've been thinking
about that.
You know...
Good run in and out
of a still site,
you're taking
a risk every single time
you hit the road.
Every time.
We got that site,
got a lot of money tied up.
We got stills here.
We've got worms here.
We've got an old site
that we used last year.
Why not we take it down
to the old site
and make this one run
and not have
to worry about losing
-the eight
we already got set up?
-Yeah.
I know it's a little more work
setting up a still and all,
but we've got big man
here with us.
It should be pretty easy.
We get set it up, we
get it running and get it out.
You want bryan
to set these in the truck?
-Yeah. Sounds good to me.
-Josh has been working out.
Here's your chance of
hauling that barrel in, boss!
And I believe we'll take
a kubota while
you're all flexing.
This is only gonna make
one still full of mash.
The risk is not justifiable
to endanger eight pots.
All right, pull it up some.
so, what we're going to do is
go back down
to one of our old still sites,
just set up a small pot
and we're gonna run this
green lizard there.
all right, nothing to it
but to do it.
these old damn stills
are a whole lot harder to load
than the big ones.
This still site,
it has served us well.
We've made
a lot of good liquor here.
We've done built a bridge
across the creek.
This still site,
it'll work just fine.
What we wanna do,
we'll split this stick.
That still come on out,
we're going to
do the same thing.
So go back a little bit more.
Maybe a little bit
more work bringing
in all this equipment
and setting up another
little still site.
But it's not like
we don't have the help
and the equipment
to do it with.
now, you all push back.
So, we'll kick out.
Come on, then.
That looks pretty good there.
Man, I'm all fired up
about this green lizard.
All right, there you go.
Josh's family handed it down
and telling us
how great it is.
We ready to make some
high-end liquor.
these watermelon rinds,
they've been in there
long enough.
We're going to drain
the solids out,
get it over into our pot
to finish fermenting.
And in the meantime,
we can get everything else
together
that we need to set this up
as a working still site.
That's it right there, boss.
It's full.
That's what we want.
Cover this baby up.
all right, let's get
the hell out of here.
Now, that we got
the mash in the still...
Let's roll.
...It's only going to be
a matter of a few days.
We're gonna be able
to come back down here
and run this thing.
Let's see if we can
get this barrel off
and get a core in it,
what do you think?
Something like that, bubba.
Me and jerry,
we're making a still out of
a wooden barrel.
-You got it?
-Oh, yeah.
Usually, it's done been
mashed in even before
we got a still completed,
because we got all these
barrels that laid out
in the woods.
In this case, we're
going to be mashing it
inside the still.
I'm just ready to get
this damn thing built
and get in the woods.
And I'm ready to get
a run done.
Heard that, man.
Basically, what
we're trying to do
is we're going to try to use
an american white oak barrel
to mash in and run.
And how we're gonna do
that is we're gonna put
a core
through the center
of this thing.
This metal core can heat it
from the inside out.
We can't just put a fire out
under the barrel.
It'll burn the barrel up.
smells like whiskey!
check that out.
yeah, well,
there's liquor in there.
We can bottle that up.
There's no damn way
I'm letting this go to waste.
We're going to go drain it out
and take us a snort of it
and keep it for later on.
what do you think? Hot?
It's good, by god.
But it's hot.
Let me try it.
God dang.
I'll tell you what, boy,
this whiskey it's strong
and it's got a really
good taste to it.
You can taste
the white oak barrel
coming through it all the way.
I mean, it's charred.
I believe we're
going to be in damn hot
with this charred barrel.
That's what we need
for this mash to potentially
have its flavor.
well, get to
rolling this core,
get her soldered up.
and we got to put this
right in that damn hole
right there.
And it's got to fit.
Yeah, I know.
Making a 4-inch core
about 36 inches long,
stick straight through
the middle of this barrel.
It's sealed, baby.
You know,
the most important thing
about this whole entire
build here
is getting this core
slammed through the center
nice and tight where
nothing's going to leak.
That's my biggest concern
with this whole rig
that we're going to sit here
and leak out mash out
before we ever
get a chance to run it.
There it is, right there.
That looks pretty good, mike.
Now that we got the core
through the barrel,
all we got to do is
flange one end's direction
with this hammer as we go.
That way, it's a perfect fit.
With the flange to it,
let's see what it looks like.
I am super excited
to get this thing
in the woods.
You know, to my knowledge,
I have never seen anything
like this done before.
And if it works out good,
it can be a whole new
stepping stone
for the moonshine industry.
looks good, don't it?
My only concern, I think
I need to solder this seam
a little bit more.
These flanges should be
air and watertight.
You can see it right there,
but I'll tell you, I'd like
to come on up with it.
And I noticed my solder joint
soldered good all the way up,
but I want to put just a
little more solder to kind of
ease on up with it up
toward that wood.
Let's do it.
Right. I am gonna solder it
from the inside.
Whoa!
dang it!
Oh, god!
they have ramps everywhere.
Oh, there's
plenty right there,
plenty more right there.
I might pick this little mess.
You get up around
west virginia,
they call them wild leeks.
We call them ramps.
They come up for
about three weeks out
of the year
and they're a delicacy.
These big clumps like this,
you've got to work for them.
They make you work at it.
And there's your prize
right there.
Fry you up a couple
of pounds of bacon,
throw them ramps in there
and you've got a meal fit
for a king,
and they are delicious.
But they'll make
your breath nuclear.
I guess that's why we
like them. That way,
nobody gets in your face.
I think I need
to solder this seam
a little bit more.
Let's do it.
I'm gonna solder it
from the inside.
Whoa!
Damn!
Oh, god!
stick the flame to it,
that bastard blows up
the side of my head,
burns my arm all up.
barrel blowed up
with alcohol in it.
I need something, I need...
I need something
to get on my arm.
It got me up all
the way down through here.
If my face would have been
one inch closer to that hole,
I'd be in a bad burn unit
some damn where right now.
That could have got somebody
damn killed right there.
I'm gonna be fine.
It's burnt, it's burnt up
and it come up the side
of my damn head.
We're just trying to get
the build done
and wasn't thinking.
Alcohol vapor is volatile.
When you put flame
to volatile vapor,
it's going to explode.
Me and mike just
poured a gallon of alcohol
in this thing.
I mean, we might as well have
poured gas out of this barrel.
This barrel could have
blown apart to shreds,
and this thing would have
splintered apart, lost eyes.
I mean, I'd even
hate to think
what would have happened.
Man, you all right?
I'm gonna make it, man.
That scared me to damn death,
I know that.
You know the crazy thing
about it is,
both of us is welders.
I don't know why
neither one of us
was thinking about this,
but here we are
in a damn hurry.
Building a damn still pot
that's already soaked
in alcohol vapors.
I'm beginning to think
me and jerry
both ain't nothing but
a bunch of dumbasses.
God almighty dang, man.
Look at that, man.
Flatter than a pancake, son.
Whoo!
well, that right there
prime damn example
of damn alcohol fumes
in a vacuum.
You know, the only damn thing
that's going through
my mind right now,
we're down on our luck.
We're broke.
We're on the other side
of the mountain.
Ain't nothing we can do now,
but start all damn over.
I'm beginning to think
our damn season's over
before it ever gets started.
straight back, all right.
That's it. Good.
all right, though!
Well, today's the day.
We're gonna run
the green lizard,
got to bring everything in
worms, caps,
all that expensive stuff.
She's ready?
Gonna make some money,
some green lizard, baby.
we've had a few
battles to fight.
First off, it was
supposed to be strawberry.
We managed
with the watermelons
and it filled up one
of our small pots.
All right.
By the time you split
a dollar up five ways,
don't no nobody got
enough money to buy anything.
We're going to have to go
a whole lot bigger this year.
We got to pump liquor
and keep it going.
We got to get us more fruit.
Oh!
I hate that freaking pump.
I mean, listen to it.
That pump is so loud,
you can hear it
for a quarter of a mile,
half a mile,
but we don't have to
run it very long,
just long enough
to fill that water box up.
All right.
Damn that pump's loud.
so we'll be firing
in a second.
go ahead
and fire that bitch up.
Don't pull that hose out.
Don't pull that hose out!
Hold on. Put that block
on that hose,
so it won't pull out.
There you go.
Lights, camera, action.
There you go.
Won't be long.
We'll have some
green lizard.
I tell you what,
it smells real good.
Hell yeah,
it's going to be good.
I am telling you.
-That better be good.
-It will be.
it's all lizard liquor.
A lizard liquor.
Yes, sir,
it's all lizard liquor.
Are you a lizard licker?
on a normal basis,
if somebody told me
something was called
green lizard, I wouldn't
want to drink it,
but I know what
went into this.
And, uh, hell, I'll drink
any liquor we make.
Where's your cap at?
We'll get some paste
made up, or something.
Baking cornbread.
They don't know it yet.
That's not too bad.
don't eat up the damn paste.
I'm really excited about
making the green lizard.
I think we oughta
go ahead and cap it off.
It's been steaming
for a few minutes now.
I grew up with it,
and the old-timers
would say,
"hey, take a drink
off of this stuff right here!
This'll put some
hair on your chest.
Either put it on
or take it off, warn.
I guarantee you.
This thing's good.
That's green lizard, baby.
That's what we want.
it's so good to get
outside again.
You know, we were
inside through the winter
and that was okay.
But there's nothing like
getting out in the woods,
setting up on a nice creek.
All that nice fresh air.
Here you go, bryan,
you need you some paste
over yonder?
-Yeah.
-All right, there you go.
Y'all got enough over yonder?
this stuff works awesome.
Somebody's coming
across the bridge.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
we up on a mountain
up here, ain't we, brother?
The heat's been on me
and j for a while,
we just crossed over
into north carolina.
We've got to
build something new.
I'm gonna solder it
from the inside.
Whoa!
oh, god!
Here, you wanna do what
I'm doing? For a while there,
it reminds you of being
a teenager again.
The recipe that jb wants
is all corn, no sugar.
Damn, you ain't never had
a whooping for holding
your breath, have you?
Glad I'm driving you
out of here.
That's the biggest damn
green strawberry
I ever seen in my life, josh.
This is only going to make
one still full of mash.
So what we're going to do
is go back down to one
of our old still sites
and we're gonna run it there.
Somebody's coming
across the bridge.
this is how
we make the moonshine!
- oh, my god.
would you look at that.
This is where you
and popcorn sutton
made his last run.
I never thought
we'd be up here thinking
about making a run of liquor.
in haywood county,
north carolina,
jb is leading
mark and digger to the site
where their friend and mentor,
popcorn sutton,
made his infamous last run.
Tennessee's home to us.
If we're gonna run liquor,
I'd rather run it
in my back door.
But right now,
that's not an option,
because the police
are back out in full force.
They are on their a-game
right now.
20 years.
It's been 20 years
right now, come July.
-Yeah, that's what we are,
it'll be 20 years.
-Yeah.
Jb, this is sacred ground.
You're damn right it is.
If there's a holy grail
of moonshine,
it's right here.
Wow.
this is where the rage
of moonshine began.
This is where popcorn sutton
did his video
the last run.
What little liquor
comes off of this,
the right people will
pay you $100 a gallon for it.
Popcorn,
he was the outlaw moonshiner.
I'm just doing this so
people can see how rough
an old moonshiner's life was.
He kept telling me,
"wish we could do a video
the way my granddaddy
and daddy had done it."
he said, "we're gonna keep
the moonshine tradition
going."
this is the last damn run
of liquor I'm gonna ever make.
I guess I'm letting you off.
They'll be glad of that 'cause
they won't have to watch me
no damn more.
he done it out
in the open too much.
That's the reason
he got caught,
'cause he got too bold.
If I hadn't quit when I did,
I'd have went to the pen.
Cold chills runnin'
over my arm.
I swear, it's just...
Yeah, you're darn right.
His spirit's here.
oh, yeah,
so something will go wrong.
That's exactly
what was going through
my mind.
look, here, the old furnace.
Yeah, we cooked on this.
Pot of beans
and fried potatoes.
Fried potato.
Boys, we ain't gonna
disturb none of this stuff.
No. Hell, no.
That'd be like jumping on
the statue of liberty
and cutting her ear off.
well, that's a fine stream.
yeah, it's good water.
Is this far enough
back from the law?
I think it ought to do it.
If this ain't far enough
out of the dadgum way,
-we deserve to be caught.
-Caught. Yeah, right.
with the fact
that law enforcement's
on our trail,
we need to exercise
all caution.
And, right now, we're just
gonna hang out over here
in north carolina a while.
-I'll tell you what, rader.
-Yeah.
Seeing how
you drug us in here,
this first run,
it's gonna be yours.
You tell us how you want it,
-we'll do whatever
you dictate.
-Okay.
You got anything in mind
you want to do?
Well, popcorn always said
something about
making some
pure corn, no sugar,
but he ain't never did do it.
Jb tells us that
popcorn always promised him
that they would do
an all-grain corn run,
no sugar.
I want just pure corn choice,
he always said
it was damn good,
but didn't produce much.
don't make a lot of it.
-No.
it'll get you about
a half the run of
what sugar would.
Yeah, yeah.
Pure corn, about 103 proof.
You know, we always knew
popcorn wanted to make
an all-grain run.
He always talked about it.
But the thing that it is,
popcorn didn't have
the patience.
Let's get down here
and get us
a plan ciphered out.
Yeah. We gotta round us up
some materials.
47 miles to get back out
and get something.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
well, jerry, it looks like
we've made it over
the mountain, buddy.
Look at these valleys.
Look at these mountains
on both sides.
Yeah, bud, it's beautiful
out here.
on the north carolina-
tennessee border
after a police raid
cleaned out a season's cache
of moonshine,
mike and jerry are slipping
across the state line
where they can operate
as relative unknowns.
The heat's been on me
and j for a while,
so we just crossed over
into north carolina.
We need to be in a place
we know we'll be safe
and can evade the law
or any other human coming in
and finding us.
So, where in the hell are we
going to look for a still
site out around here, buddy?
There should be a road
that turns off to the left.
You know, I mean,
some people would feel like
they're invading on somebody
else's territory, but to me,
it's neutral ground.
You know, we got to do
what we got to do.
If there's anybody else
over here that thinks we're
stepping on their toes,
we'll deal with it
when it comes to us.
Well, this is nice,
ain't it, jerry?
Sure is.
You know, we've been running
in tennessee for
the last two seasons.
You know, I think it's time,
with the heat we got going on,
we've got to figure out
something, and we got to
do it pretty quick.
What's that over yonder?
That's a damn flag over there.
That means somebody
put that there.
Somebody's been in here
clearing this out
-for some reason.
-It's a no-go.
That's just something
we can't have.
don't look too old, either.
No, it does not.
I'm not gonna put
our operation here.
Ain't happening.
We got to bust this place,
we got to move on.
You know, this area that
we're in right now, you know,
I know it really good.
It's not where I grew up,
but it's dang close.
It's a great little valley
to hide in, lots of woods.
This is not my domain.
Over in tennessee,
people know exactly
who me and jerry is.
You know,
here in north carolina,
we're just two regular guys.
It makes me feel
a little more comfortable,
a little more hid.
It's kind of under the radar.
Nice, some good-looking water
right down through here
coming out.
This is where the infamous
popcorn sutton's from.
He made a lot of liquor
over here, and he's got
a big name over here,
and I respect that.
But it's mine
and jerry's turn now.
We up on a mountain up here,
ain't we, brother?
This is a pretty place.
I guarantee.
I'll tell you what, man.
Me and jerry, we are struck
by the sheer beauty
of this place.
That's some big old timber in
here, ain't there, buddy?
sure is.
Away from civilization.
You know, the harder it is
for me and jerry
to get to where we're
gonna go to our still site,
the damn harder it is
for anybody else,
and especially the police.
Man, look at the waterfall
in there.
I say that right there
won't never dry up, will it?
That ought to give us
all the water we need.
think we can get
down there.
I don't know about getting
back up through here.
We got to get down to
the creek and taste the water.
I know it's fine water,
but I always like
to put my mouth on it.
You're tasting it wrong.
You got to get
your face in it.
you're gonna put
your mouth on it, ain't ya?
There you go.
Is that not good water
or what?
It's done that it's cold,
clean as it can be.
you know, this
water source right here,
coming down
the side of this mountain,
we shouldn't have no problem
having water all season
long and plenty of it.
What do you think about
this little spot
right in here?
I like being able to
see the water.
Yeah. Well, the closer we are
to the water, the better off
we gonna be, ain't we?
Yeah.
You know, I don't
want to haul that rig
and everything across
the mountain over here.
You take a chance
on getting caught with it.
So we got to do something.
I don't want to get caught
crossing down state lines
with something illegal
in the back of my truck.
That's a federal offense,
then.
So we've got to build
something new.
Well, what's your thoughts
on what we're gonna
run this year?
I ain't got no damn clue,
really.
From what I've been hearing
through the grapevine,
you know, people's getting
some money back
in their pocket now,
they're buying
high-end alcohol.
A lot of barrel-aged,
good, high-end whiskeys
and stuff is what
they're buying.
Everybody that I've talked
to are wanting high-end,
barrel-aged whiskey.
And they don't mind
paying for it.
And that stuff takes time.
That's something
we don't have, a lot of time.
We definitely don't have time
to start filling up barrels
'cause we've got to start
making money 'cause
we have none.
What if we had
the best of both worlds?
What if we actually ran
our liquor in a wooden barrel?
Run liquor out of
a wooden barrel?
-Yeah.
-A charred white oak barrel.
Yeah.
And how in the hell
are we gonna do that?
It's wood.
We're gonna just put
a core through it.
Still don't get hot.
It'll get hot, but--
all we're doing
is heating the steam.
We can mash right
in the barrel.
I'll just have
to draw it out and show you.
I just come up with an idea
I just don't think
nobody's ever tried.
I mean, who's going to try
to make a moonshine still
out of a wooden barrel?
Let's see what we got here.
-Here's our barrel, right?
-Right.
We come in here,
we cut us in a copper core
and we'll put heat to it
and all that heat
will come up this flute.
We're gonna try to put
that barrel-aged aroma
and taste into it
in the beginning
while we're doing our mash.
What we'll do is we'll stop us
-a couple of
pieces of pipe on top...
-Mmm-hmm.
...So the core itself
becomes part of the flue.
-Wood soaking all
that mash in.
-Mmm-hmm.
And then as we run it off,
we're gonna have
something that's going to be
essentially a charred taste,
but it's gonna be clear.
I think it's gonna give us
a flavor like none other
when this thing heats up.
Oh, it definitely will.
Usually, to get
that wood charred flavor,
you've got to let,
you know, your alcohol sit
for two to four years.
That should give us
the best of both worlds.
But our goal is to make it
unaged aged alcohol.
I'm ready to rock and roll
with it, brother.
hell yeah.
-How's it going, boss man?
-What's up, josh?
How is everybody?
Good to see you guys.
arriving
in franklin county
after a 4-hour haul,
josh delivers
500 pounds of ripe fruit
to his shine partners,
eager to kick off
their season with a run
of strawberry brandy.
Boys, I've been through hell.
-Yeah?
-What do you mean hell?
Well, I joshed it up again.
Actually, the biggest damn
green strawberry I ever seen
in my life, josh.
Go back to the truck.
I'm expecting strawberries.
And lo and behold,
what we got, watermelons.
And then
I look a little closer
and there's pineapple.
Dang, josh.
You look like you done
skinned a gator!
Lord almighty!
Make me up a gator skin
boot right there.
Yes, sir.
I really truthfully think
that that would make
some good moonshine
right there.
Maybe if the cores
were out of it.
- I don't know
about that .
-They're awful dry.
They're about rotten.
Yeah, we tried a lot
of things over the years,
but alligator skin pineapple,
that's just not on our list.
What you got in mind, josh?
There's a family recipe
from back home
that's super famous
called the green lizard.
We make it out of
the watermelon, the rind,
everything.
Just smash it all up.
It really brings out
that watermelon flavor
if you'd use the rinds.
I remember seeing the adults
drinking green lizard
when I was a kid, you know?
And my dad passed
this recipe down, and that's
how I found out about it.
We're not gonna use any sugar.
When we run it,
we run it twice,
double distill it,
and it comes out so good.
This is only enough
for maybe one pot.
I don't know
how much this is going
to wind up being.
You know, we've built
this great big still site.
There's eight pots.
This looks like
a lot of watermelons.
That right there,
that's gonna mash
in one pot.
Look, man, this may
not be enough to mash in
all these stills,
but I think it'll bring
good money. It's going
to be good liquor.
-Ready to roll with it.
-I'm for it.
What do you think?
-Sounds good to me.
-We got it,
let's roll with it.
Now, how are you going
to plan on busting
all this stuff up?
-I got a smasher over there.
-Let's go check it out.
Josh is telling us that
he's got a special purpose
for these watermelons.
We're gonna make
a little higher-end liquor
this year
than what we made during
the pandemic.
Now, that everybody
is coming out of it,
it's gonna be like
the roaring '20s
all over again.
People are gonna be out,
they're gonna be
wanting to drink.
They're gonna
want to be celebrating.
We're gonna make sure
they celebrate with
our moonshine.
Basically,
this fits pretty tight
in there, okay?
And then
this goes on here, okay?
What do you mean?
Which way?
It'll go up here,
like this right here
and then attach to this,
okay?
And then that pushes it down
and smash everything.
Josh has got this thing.
It's basically the biggest
beer can crusher in the world.
He says we're gonna be able
to smash these watermelons
up with that.
Let's see what she'll do.
I ain't no rocket scientist,
but a hammer does
the same thing.
there we go.
-No.
-Lift up on it
and jerk it down.
Yeah, bring it up
and jerk.
We're having a slight problem
with this fruit crusher.
It's a little bit tougher
to get the rind busted down.
-Is it smashing 'em?
-Yeah, it's smashing 'em.
Smash. Keep on getting it.
that ain't gonna work.
damn, I thought
that was gonna do it.
It got a good start on it,
but that's about it.
Well, I don't like
how much work it is.
We've got these watermelons
in this masher.
We can't get
enough leverage on it.
It just...
It's not going to do it.
What if we put
a hydraulic ram on it?
You know, just hook it to
a battery and use a little...
Button up and down,
up and down?
I got a hydraulic arm
back here.
Kind of a ditch witch.
show me
what you talking about.
I have to see what you mean.
Let's see.
Where's that bastard at?
Back over yonder
beside that table.
I call it the ol' boneyard.
right here's
the hydraulic ram.
oh, no, no, no, no, no.
That's my damn
wood splitter, hoss.
-I think we can make
it work though.
-Check it out.
Y'all can't tear out
my wood splitter.
-It's got our handle.
-Yeah.
All we got to do
is unbolt it right here.
It's not even mine.
Whose is it?
It's been sitting here
for five years.
damn sounds like
it's his now.
Well, I can't watch this.
I can't watch it.
Go on, take it apart.
-For real?
-Yeah, for real.
Take it apart.
Henry, he's got
an old log splitter
and this suits
our purposes perfectly.
This thing's probably got
about a 20-ton cylinder on it,
and it's made to hook up
to a tractor.
And so what we'll do is
we're gonna make
this fruit smasher hydraulic.
We're gonna take it
and mount this up in a frame,
change that plate out
to what we got on our smasher
and put it right here.
Hook this to henry's tractor
and smash fruit
and let back up off of it.
so be gentle.
Be gentle.
This is where we're going
to put our fruit in.
We're going to come up
and build a frame up here,
over and down,
and then we're gonna take
this hydraulic cylinder
and mount it right here.
Perfect.
And then we'll hook it
to henry's tractor,
and when we pull the lever,
it's going to mash down
with about 20 tons of force.
All right. So, let's
fire us some metal
and let's put this baby
together.
a-ha!
There you go, buddy.
I don't know
what it is about welding,
but it puts josh
in this happy place.
I almost envision him in a...
In a meadow full of flowers
and, you know, birds singing,
bees flying by.
That's it, right after yonder.
And here josh is setting
the whole thing
on fire welding.
But you know what,
he's his happiest there.
And it does make good
to see josh happy.
Watch your fingers.
whoo!
- doggone.
-Yeah.
all right, tickle.
-We need the tractor now,
don't we?
-Yes, sir.
Hook your tractor to her.
She'll be good to go.
All right.
I'm gonna get this right here.
This part is punkin' up.
There you go, josh.
Stick it on down.
There you go.
look at that juice.
-wow! Oh, yeah, man!
That looks good.
-There you go!
now, that we've got
our fruit crusher going.
This thing not only
will mash watermelons,
it will mash anything
we need in it.
What's up, bryan?
I just got here
just in time for work, huh?
Just in time.
Now, it's time to mash in.
watch this right here.
hell, yeah.
son of a bitch.
Dude, you've done good,
brother.
oh, now,
only popcorn can find a place
like this where it's hell
to get in.
You ain't just
a whistling dixie, rader.
Well, today is the day
we're coming back to popcorn
and jb's last run site.
We're going to mash in
jb's all corn, no sugar mash.
All right, rader,
what do you want done next?
jb back in the day
was just a still hand.
But, today, jb is the boss,
we're listening to him.
Before we light a fire,
we got to
get up through yonder way
and get us a flow
of water started.
-Where'd you have that
hose run from?
-Up over there.
-Round this up here side.
-Do you run it
around this way?
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
There was two reasons
popcorn picked this spot.
look right here,
baby man.
We may be in business.
Number one, it was isolated.
Number two, it's got some
of the finest water
in the world
running 10 feet away.
This would be a
pretty good place
to run a hose
in the creek up there
and run it right over to it.
- you got water?
-Yeah, we got water.
Oh, it's cold, ain't it?
Hell yeah, it's cold.
there's one more thing
I got to do here before
we get started.
I've got something here
that popcorn gave me
before he died.
It's an irreplaceable
piece of history.
People just forgot about it
years ago
and it showed back up.
I will be damned.
Looky there, boys.
Popcorn gave that to me.
I asked him for it.
Six months
or eight months later,
he showed up at the house.
He said, "I brought
a few of that damn sign,"
and he doesn't want 'em.
He was notorious
for building signs
-and making signs.
-Oh, he loved
making signs.
He couldn't spell for .
It ain't worth two cents,
but I wouldn't trade it
for a damn rembrandt.
Well, it's time to quit
being reminiscent
and get to work.
Let's get after it.
There's the way I go now,
the dreaded tri-stream.
wake up in the morning,
and you're pissing
in three different directions.
Why don't you do the honors
and light this here burner
and warm this water up.
oh, yeah.
Yeah, it's lit good.
You want to get that water
kind of rolling a little bit
-before we add that corn.
-Oh, yeah.
-Corn?
-Corn.
The recipe that jb wants
is all corn and no sugar.
coarse ground white cornmeal.
when you do all grains,
you have to use quadruple
the amount of grain
in order to generate
enough starch
and natural sugars
to produce any volume at all.
-That thing is settled down?
-Yeah.
It ain't going down none
too fast,
but it might again when we
get this bucket in there.
Once it starts releasing,
the starches comes
into a clump,
that's when it'll burn.
So when we dump
all that corn in here,
we go flame out.
We've got to keep stirring.
We don't need no lumps.
We let this sit here from
the 210-degree temperature
it's at right now
till it gets down
to about 160.
Then we'll put
our magic dust in there
and let it do its work.
Here, you want to do
what I'm doing.
For a while there,
it reminds you of being
a teenager again.
I tell you, it feels just like
I'm stirring up
a dadgum giant bowl
of cornbread batter.
As we stir and
this corn's swelling back up,
all the sugars are coming out.
Look at it.
well, they're still
in long chains.
They just clump up,
and then it becomes
one big large mass,
just like cooking grits
or oatmeal.
I mean,
I love the way it looks,
but I never thought
I'd ever see any liquor mash
that looks like that.
if everything goes
the way it's supposed to,
that amylase
will break it down.
When it comes
to making all-grain liquor,
there's a secret weapon
that nobody
can survive without,
and that's amylase enzyme.
Get that whooped in.
Oh, we'll whoop it.
Hella fun.
It's like mixing cement.
The amylase is
a digestive aid basically.
It's in insect bellies,
it's in our bellies.
Well, you can already
see it's working.
In the name of simeon.
This amylase, basically,
it's a meat cleaver
for the sugar chains,
and it just chops
them up into smaller bites
that the yeast can take in
and convert into alcohol.
look at that, jb.
Look how it's done
loosened up.
It's making those sugars
-more accessible to yeast.
-Yeah, right.
-This is insane.
-All right.
No, it's science.
this is jb's run.
He come up with this,
and digger has learned
me something here so special,
I volunteered to do all
the bucketing over.
don't splash that
on your leg.
no, it'd be hot.
You talk about doing
that thumped keg walk,
you'll be doing
the burnt sack boogie.
"burnt sack boogie."
damn, don't want that.
You couldn't
even hardly shake it off
of the mash stick before.
And now it just...
It looks like mash
is supposed to look.
Boys, you've done great.
Let's don't jinx ourselves,
guys.
We ain't turned it
into liquor yet.
We gave it
a good healthy dose.
You can't never pitch
too much yeast.
-No.
-Looky here at this, jb.
-Yeah.
-What do you think of that?
Oh, yeah, that's one
good-looking mash.
-Now, we got to
make some liquor.
-Yeah.
-And make it 103.
-103.
That's an honest day's work.
-For half a day's wages.
-Yeah.
yeah,
I might give you a raise.
we're using
this watermelon smasher
and that stuff's
flying everywhere.
I'm talking about
if you mash down
and hold it down,
and it squirting dang
8-10 feet straight up.
I want to start
squeezing down,
slow down on it.
It works awesome
and it cuts our time down,
and this thing
has got a ton of power.
It's badass.
This stuff only got
to be busted up a little bit,
it ain't got to be real fine.
As long as this stuff's
broke up enough
to actually get it in there
and get juice out of it,
that's all we really need.
this baby here
is almost ready to put in
once I bring the water up
to about right here.
Then we're going
throw the yeast in it, baby.
Gonna make that green lizard,
brother.
as we're smashing
these watermelons,
I'm noticing that
we might fill four barrels up,
which is enough
for one small pot.
You know, we built
this great big still site.
There's eight pots.
The watermelon's gonna
make some good brandy.
It's just not gonna
make enough of it.
What's fixin' to happen here?
what we're gonna do here,
we're gonna kick
this yeast off before
we pour it in the tub.
We're taking a little bit
of warm water, we're taking
some of the mash bill.
And you'll see
that baby kick in.
We're not gonna add
any sugar at all
to our liquor.
We want this thing
to be all watermelon.
baby is working.
Get them in the barrels.
It's gonna make better liquor.
-Looks good.
-Yes, it does.
now that we've got
everything mashed in
and getting it working,
it's just a matter of waiting
for this stuff to work off.
When it gets ready,
we're gonna take this stuff
down to the still site
and, hopefully, we come out
with a great product.
Looky yonder.
Henry, this thing
is working like hell.
-Perfect.
-That's what we want
right there.
bettin' ol' davey's got
what we're looking for?
I'll bet if anybody stands
a chance, he's going
to have it.
jerry come up with
a good idea
about trying to run
some alcohol
in a wood barrel
so we can have
that aged charred flavors
through a clear alcohol.
Dave.
Mike and jerry.
Me and jerry, we are
mutual friend with
a guy named dave angel.
He owns a distillery here
in maggie valley.
So we need to go talk
to him and see if we can't get
a few barrels off of him
and try to work out
some kind
of price arrangement.
What we're looking for
is some good charred barrels.
-How many you needing?
-About three.
I just got done
emptying some about two,
three days ago,
so I got a few barrels here.
They were once used up
in kentucky to make bourbon,
so we've reused them
to make whiskey out of them.
They're made out
of american white oak.
That charred layer,
I tell you, the whiskey
I got out of here
had some nice vanilla
and caramel notes in it,
so that should come through.
We're looking to do
some top-quality small-batch
whiskeys this season.
People's got money.
They're ready to spend.
Economy's coming back
and people want
to spend that money.
They want good stuff.
I hear that.
-Here's another big question.
-Yeah.
What do you got
to have for these barrels?
Well, I'm gonna have
to replace them.
I think we can do $150 each.
I'd say that's pretty fair.
And I want me just a taste
of what that tastes like.
I'll tell you what we'll do.
We'll bring you
a bottle of our finest
for one of these barrels
and pay you for the other two.
How about that?
I think we could do that.
We'll call it
"experimental research"
for me.
How's that sound?
-Sounds like a deal to
me, brother.
-All right, brother.
I'll tell you what,
we're off to the races.
All we got to do is load
them on the truck,
get them to where we're going
and get started on these rigs.
Yeah, boy!
we got us some barrels.
man, it's a little
rough getting in here.
man, I tell you,
we're getting old, ain't we?
You're damn right.
hell, about that.
It beats the alternative.
Well, the day has come
to get in here early
in the morning,
get this mash pumped
over into the steel pot.
Oh, that smells good.
Today is the day,
we run jb's all-corn recipe.
Yeah, that one's ready, boys.
We come in, check the mash.
It's dead as
last year's calendar.
It's ready to run.
I'm going to set
this little fella right here.
So, this is
the general vicinity
-it's got to go.
-Yeah.
Well, we've got a bigger pot
than popcorn had.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
You might can set
the pot right here.
Yeah, that'd work.
We want to put
the still exactly
where popcorn had his.
Let's see how
it'll sit right there.
-Then that'd be real,
real close, jb.
-You're darn right.
It means a lot
to be back here.
It's fond memories.
It's changed a lot
since 20 years ago.
Popcorn, I'd say he's
looking down, thinking,
"what the hell
them boys are doing?"
finish up what
you're going to finish up.
I'm gonna build us
a little fire
so we can have some
coals cook on here directly.
All righty. Sounds good to me.
I'll work on putting
some mash in the pot.
This is just a small run,
so we're gonna do it
the same way that
the old man did it
back in the day.
We're just going to bucket it
from the mash barrel
to the still.
It's going to be
a lot different run,
but we want to do it
as close as we possibly could
to the original.
risk that falls down,
I'm going to rake it back
and get us
a bed of coals going.
I'll get us some...
Bacon going,
and I'll make us some
ramps and eggs.
All right.
That's what you call
ranch lettuce.
That's good stuff.
popcorn loved to cook
when he was making liquor.
His menu was limited,
but he liked to
flaunt his skills.
We're going to pay
homage to that as well,
but it'll be something
a little bit different.
We're gonna make
a big run of ramps and eggs
while we run
this liquor.
It's going to be delish.
digger is gonna feed
the heck out of us.
We're going to eat good.
Right there under is
some crispy bacon
and fried tater.
-Look what's going in there
next, rader.
-Mmm-mmm.
that's the main one there.
almost right.
that's the main ingredient.
I brought my old
cast iron skillet.
this kind of like
a mixed-up omelet.
-Yep, it is.
-Appalachian style.
appalachian omelet.
Yeah.
Honestly and truly,
this is our kind of chow.
This is...
This is what we love.
They all right?
You've outdone yourself.
This is as country cooking
as it gets.
This stuff is so good.
I mean, you almost
about got to lay down
to eat it.
well, we better get
some paste made.
You know, I never thought
in a million years
that we would ever
come back to this spot.
-A little more.
-Yeah.
But we thought it was,
you know, just lost to nature.
And probably
if jb hadn't brought us
up here,
it would have continued
to have been forgotten.
thank god,
jb's the paste master.
We're just trying
to live something
that we didn't get to live
20 years ago.
We're trying to
relive this thing through jb.
You know,
we're still fortunate.
We're blessed to have
jb with us here still.
-We're getting ready here,
boys.
-Yeah.
-We'll have liquor there,
sure enough, any time.
-Yeah.
Oh, we got liquor coming out.
- well, we do,
don't we?
- yeah.
better put this
ol' coon dodger in.
on hallowed ground
in maggie valley,
north carolina,
mark, digger, and jb
near completion on
the first damn run of liquor
anyone's made here
since popcorn sutton did his
last damn run of liquor
20 years ago.
Seeing this liquor run,
you know,
this... This is wonderful.
-We're gonna get it here,
ain't we, old buddy?
-Yeah.
we're up here
in a place that started
the rage of moonshine
with popcorn and jb.
I couldn't ask for
anything better to be sitting
in this spot right now
and liquor running out of
that worm.
-It's your liquor, jb,
you get the first holdin'.
-All righty.
-Oh, it smells good, digger.
-Oh, god.
It ain't no doubt.
Damn, you ain't never had
a whooping for holding
your breath, have you?
Glad I'm driving you
out of here.
-Here we go.
-What do you think?
Nailed it.
-You like it?
-Damn right I like it.
By god!
You know, 100% corn liquor.
Nothing even compares.
I mean, it's...
It's the best of the best.
I'm glad I got to do this
with you, rader.
I am too.
This still site.
This is hallowed ground.
I sense popcorn's presence
around here.
I miss him.
I could see him over
doing that thump keg walk.
-Yay!
-And here we go. And...
a lot of things are
special about today.
None more important than
the fact that we get
to be here with jb.
-We've made
three-and-a-half gallons.
-Yeah, but hell.
We get it all tempered up,
we'll have four.
Fine run on nothing
but grain though.
You're damn right.
-Out of
a little old pot like that.
-Hell yeah.
this liquor right here,
I'll temper it to 103,
and I'll put it in his hands.
It's his liquor.
-Jb, thank you, my brother.
-Yeah.
Rader...
-Yeah. Yeah.
-I love you, brother.
You know, moreover,
this wasn't
about making a big run
to have a lot of quantity.
We were about quality
and paying homage
to popcorn
and honor to jb.
Good and clear, too.
Some powerful stuff,
right there.
Yeah, that's powerful stuff.
I'm proud of
what we made today
and I think
popcorn would've been
proud of us.
it's looking good, y'all.
Tell you what,
it tastes pretty good,
but it's still got
a couple of days
left to work out.
Yeah, at least
a couple of days, I'd say.
Man, you want to just go on
ahead and get it down to
the still site,
let it finish working off?
Well, I've been thinking
about that.
You know...
Good run in and out
of a still site,
you're taking
a risk every single time
you hit the road.
Every time.
We got that site,
got a lot of money tied up.
We got stills here.
We've got worms here.
We've got an old site
that we used last year.
Why not we take it down
to the old site
and make this one run
and not have
to worry about losing
-the eight
we already got set up?
-Yeah.
I know it's a little more work
setting up a still and all,
but we've got big man
here with us.
It should be pretty easy.
We get set it up, we
get it running and get it out.
You want bryan
to set these in the truck?
-Yeah. Sounds good to me.
-Josh has been working out.
Here's your chance of
hauling that barrel in, boss!
And I believe we'll take
a kubota while
you're all flexing.
This is only gonna make
one still full of mash.
The risk is not justifiable
to endanger eight pots.
All right, pull it up some.
so, what we're going to do is
go back down
to one of our old still sites,
just set up a small pot
and we're gonna run this
green lizard there.
all right, nothing to it
but to do it.
these old damn stills
are a whole lot harder to load
than the big ones.
This still site,
it has served us well.
We've made
a lot of good liquor here.
We've done built a bridge
across the creek.
This still site,
it'll work just fine.
What we wanna do,
we'll split this stick.
That still come on out,
we're going to
do the same thing.
So go back a little bit more.
Maybe a little bit
more work bringing
in all this equipment
and setting up another
little still site.
But it's not like
we don't have the help
and the equipment
to do it with.
now, you all push back.
So, we'll kick out.
Come on, then.
That looks pretty good there.
Man, I'm all fired up
about this green lizard.
All right, there you go.
Josh's family handed it down
and telling us
how great it is.
We ready to make some
high-end liquor.
these watermelon rinds,
they've been in there
long enough.
We're going to drain
the solids out,
get it over into our pot
to finish fermenting.
And in the meantime,
we can get everything else
together
that we need to set this up
as a working still site.
That's it right there, boss.
It's full.
That's what we want.
Cover this baby up.
all right, let's get
the hell out of here.
Now, that we got
the mash in the still...
Let's roll.
...It's only going to be
a matter of a few days.
We're gonna be able
to come back down here
and run this thing.
Let's see if we can
get this barrel off
and get a core in it,
what do you think?
Something like that, bubba.
Me and jerry,
we're making a still out of
a wooden barrel.
-You got it?
-Oh, yeah.
Usually, it's done been
mashed in even before
we got a still completed,
because we got all these
barrels that laid out
in the woods.
In this case, we're
going to be mashing it
inside the still.
I'm just ready to get
this damn thing built
and get in the woods.
And I'm ready to get
a run done.
Heard that, man.
Basically, what
we're trying to do
is we're going to try to use
an american white oak barrel
to mash in and run.
And how we're gonna do
that is we're gonna put
a core
through the center
of this thing.
This metal core can heat it
from the inside out.
We can't just put a fire out
under the barrel.
It'll burn the barrel up.
smells like whiskey!
check that out.
yeah, well,
there's liquor in there.
We can bottle that up.
There's no damn way
I'm letting this go to waste.
We're going to go drain it out
and take us a snort of it
and keep it for later on.
what do you think? Hot?
It's good, by god.
But it's hot.
Let me try it.
God dang.
I'll tell you what, boy,
this whiskey it's strong
and it's got a really
good taste to it.
You can taste
the white oak barrel
coming through it all the way.
I mean, it's charred.
I believe we're
going to be in damn hot
with this charred barrel.
That's what we need
for this mash to potentially
have its flavor.
well, get to
rolling this core,
get her soldered up.
and we got to put this
right in that damn hole
right there.
And it's got to fit.
Yeah, I know.
Making a 4-inch core
about 36 inches long,
stick straight through
the middle of this barrel.
It's sealed, baby.
You know,
the most important thing
about this whole entire
build here
is getting this core
slammed through the center
nice and tight where
nothing's going to leak.
That's my biggest concern
with this whole rig
that we're going to sit here
and leak out mash out
before we ever
get a chance to run it.
There it is, right there.
That looks pretty good, mike.
Now that we got the core
through the barrel,
all we got to do is
flange one end's direction
with this hammer as we go.
That way, it's a perfect fit.
With the flange to it,
let's see what it looks like.
I am super excited
to get this thing
in the woods.
You know, to my knowledge,
I have never seen anything
like this done before.
And if it works out good,
it can be a whole new
stepping stone
for the moonshine industry.
looks good, don't it?
My only concern, I think
I need to solder this seam
a little bit more.
These flanges should be
air and watertight.
You can see it right there,
but I'll tell you, I'd like
to come on up with it.
And I noticed my solder joint
soldered good all the way up,
but I want to put just a
little more solder to kind of
ease on up with it up
toward that wood.
Let's do it.
Right. I am gonna solder it
from the inside.
Whoa!
dang it!
Oh, god!
they have ramps everywhere.
Oh, there's
plenty right there,
plenty more right there.
I might pick this little mess.
You get up around
west virginia,
they call them wild leeks.
We call them ramps.
They come up for
about three weeks out
of the year
and they're a delicacy.
These big clumps like this,
you've got to work for them.
They make you work at it.
And there's your prize
right there.
Fry you up a couple
of pounds of bacon,
throw them ramps in there
and you've got a meal fit
for a king,
and they are delicious.
But they'll make
your breath nuclear.
I guess that's why we
like them. That way,
nobody gets in your face.
I think I need
to solder this seam
a little bit more.
Let's do it.
I'm gonna solder it
from the inside.
Whoa!
Damn!
Oh, god!
stick the flame to it,
that bastard blows up
the side of my head,
burns my arm all up.
barrel blowed up
with alcohol in it.
I need something, I need...
I need something
to get on my arm.
It got me up all
the way down through here.
If my face would have been
one inch closer to that hole,
I'd be in a bad burn unit
some damn where right now.
That could have got somebody
damn killed right there.
I'm gonna be fine.
It's burnt, it's burnt up
and it come up the side
of my damn head.
We're just trying to get
the build done
and wasn't thinking.
Alcohol vapor is volatile.
When you put flame
to volatile vapor,
it's going to explode.
Me and mike just
poured a gallon of alcohol
in this thing.
I mean, we might as well have
poured gas out of this barrel.
This barrel could have
blown apart to shreds,
and this thing would have
splintered apart, lost eyes.
I mean, I'd even
hate to think
what would have happened.
Man, you all right?
I'm gonna make it, man.
That scared me to damn death,
I know that.
You know the crazy thing
about it is,
both of us is welders.
I don't know why
neither one of us
was thinking about this,
but here we are
in a damn hurry.
Building a damn still pot
that's already soaked
in alcohol vapors.
I'm beginning to think
me and jerry
both ain't nothing but
a bunch of dumbasses.
God almighty dang, man.
Look at that, man.
Flatter than a pancake, son.
Whoo!
well, that right there
prime damn example
of damn alcohol fumes
in a vacuum.
You know, the only damn thing
that's going through
my mind right now,
we're down on our luck.
We're broke.
We're on the other side
of the mountain.
Ain't nothing we can do now,
but start all damn over.
I'm beginning to think
our damn season's over
before it ever gets started.
straight back, all right.
That's it. Good.
all right, though!
Well, today's the day.
We're gonna run
the green lizard,
got to bring everything in
worms, caps,
all that expensive stuff.
She's ready?
Gonna make some money,
some green lizard, baby.
we've had a few
battles to fight.
First off, it was
supposed to be strawberry.
We managed
with the watermelons
and it filled up one
of our small pots.
All right.
By the time you split
a dollar up five ways,
don't no nobody got
enough money to buy anything.
We're going to have to go
a whole lot bigger this year.
We got to pump liquor
and keep it going.
We got to get us more fruit.
Oh!
I hate that freaking pump.
I mean, listen to it.
That pump is so loud,
you can hear it
for a quarter of a mile,
half a mile,
but we don't have to
run it very long,
just long enough
to fill that water box up.
All right.
Damn that pump's loud.
so we'll be firing
in a second.
go ahead
and fire that bitch up.
Don't pull that hose out.
Don't pull that hose out!
Hold on. Put that block
on that hose,
so it won't pull out.
There you go.
Lights, camera, action.
There you go.
Won't be long.
We'll have some
green lizard.
I tell you what,
it smells real good.
Hell yeah,
it's going to be good.
I am telling you.
-That better be good.
-It will be.
it's all lizard liquor.
A lizard liquor.
Yes, sir,
it's all lizard liquor.
Are you a lizard licker?
on a normal basis,
if somebody told me
something was called
green lizard, I wouldn't
want to drink it,
but I know what
went into this.
And, uh, hell, I'll drink
any liquor we make.
Where's your cap at?
We'll get some paste
made up, or something.
Baking cornbread.
They don't know it yet.
That's not too bad.
don't eat up the damn paste.
I'm really excited about
making the green lizard.
I think we oughta
go ahead and cap it off.
It's been steaming
for a few minutes now.
I grew up with it,
and the old-timers
would say,
"hey, take a drink
off of this stuff right here!
This'll put some
hair on your chest.
Either put it on
or take it off, warn.
I guarantee you.
This thing's good.
That's green lizard, baby.
That's what we want.
it's so good to get
outside again.
You know, we were
inside through the winter
and that was okay.
But there's nothing like
getting out in the woods,
setting up on a nice creek.
All that nice fresh air.
Here you go, bryan,
you need you some paste
over yonder?
-Yeah.
-All right, there you go.
Y'all got enough over yonder?
this stuff works awesome.
Somebody's coming
across the bridge.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.