Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 2, Episode 12 - Last Shiner Standing - full transcript

Tonight on the season
Finale of "Moonshiners"...

I'm like --
Dude, dude, dude!

The gas -- it might blow!

I got to go.

I'm in a world of trouble.

I need money and I need it bad.

We have been worked
To *bleep* death.

I'm sick and tired,
And I am broke.

I got enough liquor
In the truck already

To send me to jail
In federal penitentiary.

Step out of the vehicle.



Fire!

Moonshine is a part
Of our history.

It exists, but it doesn't,
Almost like a myth.

I'm america's
Most-wanted moonshiner.

That's not a good feeling
To be wanted by the law.

I live on the edge of anarchy.

Police! Search warrant!

It's very hard
To catch moonshiners.

Let's skedaddle.

They're very smart.

There can only be one chief.

I'm wondering if we're gonna
Pull this thing off.

Uh-oh.

Golly, that's good.



We could supply
The whole world with moonshine,

And everybody would be happy.

If you really love your country,

You're gonna have to
Love moonshine.

The end of moonshine season

Is just around the corner.

For deputy sheriff chuck,

That means he needs a bust
And fast.

A confidential informant
Has tipped him off

To a black s.U.V. Moving
Large quantities of moonshine

From a nearby mountain lake.

Chuck staked out the roads
Leading to and from the lake

And spotted a potential perp.

Now he's moving in
For the takedown.

Busting moonshiners
Is tricky work.

For the arrest to stick,

Chuck needs to catch them
Mid-brew.

If he approaches too quickly
And they flee,

The entire season's
Investigation

Will go down the toilet.

The law is swooping in

And making busts
All over the south.

Whether it's in a garage
Or out in the woods,

No moonshiner is safe.

In virginia, tickle is on
A late-night mission of his own.

It's really late at night.

It's about 3:00 in the morning.

I'm picking this liquor up
For tim to haul it,

Because right now I need money
And I need it bad.

Tim's remaining stash
Of moonshine

Is tickle's last chance

To bring in the cash he needs
This season.

Tim moved his premium shine
Into a hay bale,

Right off a busy road.

Sold on the black market,

It could pull
Upwards of 10 grand.

Now tickle is faced
With the dangerous task

Of retrieving the jugs
That tim hid in plain sight.

Let's get this done.

Oh, yeah.

Most expensive bale of hay
Around here.

Man, that's somebody coming
Down the road right now.

It don't take
But the wrong person riding by

To see me doing this.

I'm in a world of trouble.

I got enough liquor
In the truck already

To send me to jail
In federal penitentiary.

300 miles to the south...

High in
The great smoky mountains

Of north carolina,

The leaves are changing color,

Which signals moonshine season
Is coming to an end.

For veteran shiners
Jeff and mark,

The pressure is on.

Their livelihoods depend
On them brewing enough shine

To get them through
The cold mountain winter.

Jeff once again needs his wife,
Lynn, and son, lance,

To man a second still.

In addition, he's called upon
Legendary moonshiner jim tom

To run a third.

It'll be jim tom's
First solo run in many years.

120 miles to the southwest...

...Rookie moonshiners
Josh and bill

Have had an up-and-down season.

Oh, my god.

Their effort to build
An underground still

As a tribute to their mentor,
Barney,

Turned out to be
One disaster after another.

Got mold growing everywhere.

But they've never given up.

I think we need to cut a hole
In the roof right there.

It'll create a draw,

And we'll have
Constant fresh air

Flowing through here
No matter what.

All right, bill.

You about ready
To fire this thing up?

Yep.

The water's full.
The batch barrels are full.

Let's fire it.

All right.

After their first
Successful run,

They've been determined
To finish the season strong

And earn back
All the cash they lost.

*bleep*

The approaching final plum
Hollow festival of the year

Will give josh and bill
The best shot they have

At being made
Financially whole again.

For that to happen,

They need this to be
The best run

Of their young careers
As moonshiners.

Right on. We got fire.

Running the burner
Wide open and unregulated

With this much propane
Is a dangerous proposition,

But josh and bill
Have no choice.

Looks good.

I'll be ready
To get this thing boiling.

We got both mash tons full.

140 gallons --

We should be looking at least
30, 35 gallons of liquor, then,

Coming off this run.

I'm ready to make
Some major money back.

Yeah.

Jim tom is preparing
The third still

For the final run of the season.

Although he has
60 years' experience,

He's out of practice.

So he'll be running
A smaller copper-pot still

Fueled by propane.

Over the years,

Jim tom has had more run-ins
With the law than he can count.

The threat of being captured

Is a reality
That he takes seriously.

Mark has the treacherous task
Of patrolling for intruders

On both sides
Of the mountain ridge.

Whoo!

Coming up...

What's the best way
To haul moonshine in a camper?

Moonshine on tap.

Gives a whole new meaning
To running moonshine.

Dude, dude, dude!

The gas -- it might blow!

Ow! *bleep* dang it!

With the last of
Tim's shine in his possession,

Tickle now must devise a plan
To sell the liquor

Under the radar of the law.

You let me know
Where it's at,

And I'll figure out
A way to move it.

And I don't have
Nothing to do with it.

No.

I'm looking at going out and
Hauling a bunch of moonshine.

But if cops was to get on me,
I'm dead in the water.

Here's how we do this.

To my knowledge,
It's never been done before.

I got to thinking about,

What's the best way
To haul moonshine in a camper?

I got plenty of cabinets
And stuff to haul it in,

But somebody could see that.

If we pull all this out
From here,

Here's what I got.

This right here
Is a freshwater tank.

It holds 75 gallons of water.

But it can also hold
A whole lot of moonshine,

And who's ever gonna think
To look for moonshine

In the storage tank
Of a camper?

Nobody.

I can take a quart,
A jug, anything.

All I got to do is
Cut the faucet off.

I have hot and cold
Running moonshine.

Moonshine on tap.

Gives a whole new meaning
To running moonshine.

Pretty ingenious plan.

Fixing to make
The first delivery of the day.

Hello?
I'm en route right now.

I'm not far from you.

I'll let you know when I'm
Right on top of you, okay?

This is a big opportunity for me

Because I can
Actually make the money

That I've lost over this season.

I can pay the people that I owe,

And it's also putting money
In tim's pocket.

Things are looking up.

As long as I obey
The speed limit,

I can't see where
There will be any problems.

In the mountains
Of north carolina,

Jeff has fired up
One of three still sites

He'll be running simultaneously

In the effort to brew
A huge payload of shine

Before the season ends.

Just over the ridge,

Jeff's son and wife
Are prepping site number two.

Nearby, jim tom
Is getting ready to brew.

Ka-bang! Ka-bang! Ka-bang!

Now that tim has cut all ties

To the world
Of illegal moonshine,

He's focusing all his attention
On legally producing liquor.

His distillery
Is almost complete,

And the next step
Is creating a bottle and label.

I'm looking
At these bottles here

Of all different brands
And makes of moonshine,

Trying to figure out
How can I make a bottle

That I'm really
Not copying somebody else?

And then I got to do a label
To go on that bottle

That, you know, meets
The government's standards.

That's the big thing.

The warning label,
That's another legal hurdle.

Tim learned from spencer

That getting the label right
Is tricky business.

All this
Has to be approved.

So, you need to start
On this early.

You do.

I'm used to this --
You know, the mason jar.

I want it to stand out
So people know that,

"Hey, this is
Tim smith's moonshine,

And we're gonna buy that one."

You know, I like this bottle.

Round and then up.

You know, making the moonshine
Is not the problem.

It's just getting all of this
Approved by the government

And then getting something
That somebody's gonna buy.

I don't know.
It's just, you know...A sketch.

After a landslide of setbacks,

Things are finally starting
To look up for these beginners.

She's starting to rock, man.
She's bumping.

Zhuh-zhuh-zhuh-zhuh-zhuh!

Their still
Is running full steam,

And for the first time
This season,

They'll be able to run all night

And yield
A serious batch of shine.

That one there
Is right at 178.

It ain't gonna be long now.

I love that. Tears my nerves up
When it goes to rumbling around

And hopping around
And jumping around

And then spitting out
Some liquor on that end.

To reach the pressure and
Temperature required to brew,

The steamer still requires
Mechanical precision.

Every seal and every joint
Must be airtight.

There it comes!

That's liquor.

Meanwhile, in north carolina...

Jeff and mark's
Three still sites

Are fired up and ready to brew.

Ooh!

Ooh!

Hot dog!

Hit pay dirt.Finally!

We've been through so much
In this project.

It feels so good
To see it coming together.

Today couldn't be a better day.

We've definitely come
A long way.

Yeah.

I'm happier
Than a pig in *bleep*

I'm like --
Dude, dude, dude!

*bleep*

Coming up...

That's our liquor.
That's our money

Damn going straight up
In the air, man.

For the first time all season,

Josh and bill's steamer still
Is running at full capacity,

Producing a potent batch
Of shine.

Beautiful sight.

But just as their worries
Subside,

Disaster strikes.

I'm like --

Dude, dude, dude!

The gas -- it might blow!

*bleep*

Ow!

*bleep*
Dang, that's hot!

The steam pressure
Necessary to produce alcohol

Has caused one
Of the valve seals to burst.

You put that right there.

This is really unusual
To have this much welding

On a big steamer still

With this much piping
And this many barrels

'cause it's difficult
To work with.

We just blew
The *bleep* seal.

Middle of the run, man.

The seal blew out on our still.

It's one of the worst things
That could've possibly happened.

Don't seem like we're gonna
Be able to bust off a good run

To save our lives.

We're sitting
On 140 gallons of mash.

That's our liquor.
That's our money

Damn going straight up
In the air, man.

Nothing we can do
About it tonight.

We've spent too much energy
On this thing.

It's time to walk away from it
For now.

I *bleep* up.

Two years,
And I'm done *bleep* with this.

We're just gonna have to
Tear it apart

Sometime in the next couple days
And see what's wrong with it --

Whether I need
A new gasket or whatever.

We'll fix it one way or another,

But I was kind of hoping
To have some shine ready

For the festival.

It didn't work out.

It's the story of our lives.

Back in north carolina,

Things are going well
For veteran moonshiner jim tom.

Ugh!

His still
Is pumping out fresh shine.

Ooh.

It's mark's job

To make sure no one is lurking
In the woods.

Customers are waiting,

So he checks the progress
With jim tom.

So he knows how much longer
He needs to brew,

Jim tom tests the shine's proof.

The potency
Will fall off quickly

As he nears the end of the run.

On each side of the ridge,

Moonshine is also flowing
For jeff, lynn, and lance.

But smoke from jeff's still

And thinning cover
From the trees

Makes them more vulnerable
To the law than ever.

Now that he has the last
Of tim's moonshine loaded,

Tickle is setting out
To deliver the goods

To a large network of customers
He recently set up.

In order to reduce his risk
Of getting caught,

He wants to unload it all
In one day.

Fixing to make the first
Delivery of the day.

All I got to do is pull up,

Fill it right up
From the faucet,

And there we go.

It might not be the way
Tim would have done this,

But I see this being
The safest way

And the most profitable way
Of getting rid of this liquor.

Kind of surprised
That I come up with it,

But necessity is
The mother of invention here.

You kind of feel like
The ice-cream man, you know?

Kids get the ice cream.
Parents get the moonshine.

Back in north carolina,

Jim tom is first
To finish his run.

Now all that's left to do
Is bottle up the shine.

Jim tom fashions a piece
Of string into a carrier,

An old moonshining trick

That will allow him to haul
All of his shine in one trip.

With many arrests
Notched in his belt,

Jim tom won't be partaking
In the riskiest activity --

Transporting the product
To customers.

He'll stash his jugs
For jeff and mark

At a drop point in the woods.

This marks the end
Of his 60th moonshine season.

Coming up...

I'm sick, tired,
And I am broke.

We have been worked
To *bleep* death.

There's nothing

Anywhere in the process
Of making liquor that's easy.

Mark, jeff, lance, and lynn

Are finishing up
Their last run of the season.

With jim tom already completing
His final run,

All they need to do
Is finish strong

By selling off this last batch.

Then they'll be set
For the winter.

Deputy sheriff chuck

Has persistently worked
This case from all angles,

And his hard-boiled
Detective work is paying off.

Now he's onto
To what he believes

Is a full-scale moonshine
Operation in these woods.

Tickle has gone
On a cross-county spree.

He's selling tim's coveted
Moonshine to eager customers.

And so far,
He's made out like a bandit.

Instead of somebody
Having to meet me

Or come out late at night,

They're actually having
The moonshine delivered to them.

Tell you what,
It's been a long day so far,

But it's been
A very productive day.

That's my goal --

To get it done,
And get it done quick.

Tickle has leftover
Product in his water tank,

So he gets the word out that
He's open for walk-up business.

Since he has no idea who might
Approach for a fill-up,

He's charging top dollar.

It makes for serious profits,
But it comes with serious risks.

How's it going?

Pretty good.
How about you?

Thank you.
All right.

Doing all right?

Yeah, I'm doing good.

All right.
All right.

You got something for me?

I got something good
For you, girl.

Oh, good man.

I'll tell you,
This stuff's going fast.

That's what I want.

Thank you, sir.

You're welcome.
Come on back.

I believe
Tim is gonna be surprised

When I get everything sold

And even more surprised when
I bring in more money for it

Than what we had thought
We was gonna get for it.

The end of moonshine season

Also signals the year's final
Plum hollow music festival,

But rookies josh and bill won't
Be enjoying the celebration.

Their prized steamer still
Unexpectedly blew to pieces...

I'm like --

...Putting an end
To their moonshine operation

And the hope for one final run.

Out of money, time, and luck,

They only have their late friend
Barney to turn to now.

I'm sick and I am tired
And I am broke.

We have been worked
To *bleep* death.

There's nothing

Anywhere in the process
Of making liquor that's easy.

I wished he was here

To give us the pointers
That we need

To not have any more screw-ups.

Barney was my best friend.

He was tough
As a piece of wet leather.

He always had
Something whipping him down.

His ditch washed out.

Hell, he was hobbling
Around on a broken foot,

Trying to make runs by himself.

And every time
He just got beat down,

He'd hop right back up.

That's something
We got from him,

And every time,
We'd pick ourselves up,

Dust it off,
And plug on through.

And barney had his last couple
Strokes in the hospital.

Me and josh sat with him,

Just being there for him
In his last days.

He passed on peacefully.

It was a horrible
But also beautiful moment.

Sad day when barney barnwell
Left this earth.

Right now, I'm just ready
To go down here to the festival,

Drink a few drinks
In barney's name.

In north carolina,

Jeff has been anxiously waiting
For his wife and son to arrive

With their fresh batch of shine,

While deputy sheriff chuck

Has picked up his best clue
Of the season.

Transporting moonshine

Carries a hefty penalty
In north carolina,

And these shiners aren't
Nearly as safe on the open road

As they are in the woods.

Deputy sheriff chuck
Is quickly closing in.

He's just steps
Behind his target.

G-4-10,
I'm gonna be 10-61 with...

He radios in an apb
With a vehicle description --

A black s.U.V.
Possibly carrying moonshine.

G-4-10, I'm gonna be 10-61

With north carolina 28.

Chuck is quickly closing in.

He's just steps behind
His target,

A black s.U.V.
Possibly carrying moonshine.

Back in virginia,

Tim is hoping
He made the right choice

Trusting tickle to sell
His last stash of moonshine.

He needs every last cent

To make his legal distillery
A reality.

Tim! I got one quart
Of moonshine left.

What'd you do
With all the other moonshine?

I sold it.

Okay, well, good.

Oh, yeah.

I got a stack of $100 bills
Right there for you.

Oh, hell yeah.I got a lot of money.

You must have got more money
For it than I thought.

I put it in the freshwater tank
On my camper.

You poured the moonshine
Over in the tank.

And I could run it
Right out of the faucet

And fill
Every mason jar up.

I got hot and cold
Running moonshine.

This right here just
Proves that a good friendship

And somebody
That's trustworthy --

You can't just let go of
Because of a disagreement.

I'm glad we could help
Each other out.

I value your friendship
Very much.

That's something
I don't take lightly.

Well, I do, too.

I'm not sure
How he pulled it off,

But it really brings
The friendship back together.

Even though we've had
Our misunderstandings,

The whole year's
Been a learning experience.

So, you keep that
And you put it up on your mantel

And when you think you done got
Too big for your damn britches,

You look back
At that quart of moonshine

And realize
Where you came from.

All right, be good.

We'll see, tim.
Thank you.

I'm gonna continue on
The way I am.

I can't see it for me
Any other way.

This is where I was born
And raised,

And this is where I'm staying.

In south carolina,

Josh and bill hoped
The season-ending music festival

Would be the coronation
Of their success as moonshiners.

Even though
Their final run failed,

They hold their heads high

And make an end-of-season toast
To barney

In the place where it all began.

Come on. Come on.

Anybody
That's ever run liquor knows

Nothing about it that's easy.

You notice it don't smell
Like mold down here no more?

I don't see no mold,
Neither.

It was real moldy right
In this area right here, too.

Between the ventilation shaft
And a mildewcide,

We got that black mold
Licked, man.

It's finally mold free.

That means that we can come back
To this hole...

Wintertime.

...And brew liquor
All year long.

Everybody else
Gonna be sitting around

With cold mash barrels.

We're gonna be up underground
All winter long.

We're back in business.

This whole project
Has been a test on time,

Our money, our livelihoods,
And our relationship.

But every time,
We pick ourselves up,

Dust it off,
And plug on through.

This is to barney.
To barney.

I think barney
Will be really proud of us.

I wished he was here
To see it right now.

Ohh!

That one's for you,
Cutie pie.

We're finally done working.

For now.

I'm ready to go enjoy
The festival, man.

All the damn work we done
To come down to this.

Nobody knows what's going on

Up under that man
On that stage, man.

Here's to us, brother.

Whoo!

It's been
Kind of a wild ride,

But I think, in the end,

We're gonna have something
To be proud of here.

All good things come
To those who wait.

Deputy sheriff chuck
Has been trailing a suspect,

Keeping a safe distance,

Waiting for just
The right moment to pounce.

Jeff and mark
Are out of their element,

On the road,
Crisscrossing the county,

Making moonshine drops.

To avoid being caught together,

They take separate vehicles

And keep ample distance
Between them.

After decades
Of working in the woods,

Tim has a rare opportunity

That may finally get
His moonshine on store shelves.

I just arrived in atlanta,
Georgia.

I got a phone call from a guy

Who is very interested
In my moonshine brand.

I'm trying
Not to get too excited.

I'm trying to stay calm.

In this shirt,
I have my secret weapon.

This is what I been preparing
To show.

I think I got the best moonshine
In the world,

So it should be the most
World-famous moonshine.

A lot of years, I've been
Searching for the right people

To make it happen.

If everything fits good,
This could be today.