Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 2, Episode 4 - Storm's a Brewing - full transcript

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Tonight on "Moonshiners"...

If it rains,
It's really gonna mess us up.

Not ifit rains,
Whenit rains.
It's gonna rain.

Well, we got to do something
To make money.

Did that really happen?

Yes, sir,
That really happened.

Oh, my god.

This is
A major catastrophe.

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.

Deep in the heart
Of north carolina...

...Moonshiners jeff and mark
Have just finished

Their first distilling run
Of the season,

But they're nowhere near
Where they should be,

And customers are waiting.

With a run like this,

A shiner could be looking at
A $1,000 payday, tax-free.

As soon as jeff drops off
This batch of shine,

He and mark will need to
Get right back to brewing.

Jeff and mark
Deliver most of their shine

Through secret drop
And pickup locations

All over the county.

Only the buyer and seller
Know exactly where they are.

It's a game of chess

Which keeps all distribution
Hidden from the law.

It could be said that,
Between 1810 and 1830,

America was sloshed.

They were the heaviest
Per-capita drinking years

In u.S. History.

During this time,

The average american
Consumed the equivalent

Of 7.1 gallons
Of pure alcohol a year.

That's nearly 1,000 shots
Of liquor

For every man, woman, and child
Over 15 years of age.

Up in virginia,

Tim and tickle's partnership
Has hit a rough patch.

Now tickle's going rogue,

Trying to come up with
An alternative source of funds

For their legaldistillery.

Me and tim, we just kind of
Had us an argument.

I'm not happy about that.

We've been friends
For a long time, you know?

Our friendship goes back
For years.

We've been making moonshine
Together for a long time.

I really do want
To go legal with tim, you know?

That way, we're not taking
A risk of getting in trouble,

But I'm thinking on it,
You know,

And trying to figure out a way
To make this better.

A few miles away,

Tim has found a location

To hide his backup stash
Of moonshine.

It's worth over $10,000,
Tax-free.

But transporting it
Is a whole other ballgame.

I got to look
At this tobacco field

And see if it's,
You know, a safe location.

I don't want to get in
And get stuck.

I want to have two or three
Different ways to go in and out.

Tim already scouted
The location during the day.

Next step is to do a dry run
At night

To ensure he knows
Every inch of the place,

In case the law comes knocking.

Yeah.

Yeah, I like this
Right in here.

I can just kind of
Run straight through here

If I had to get out.

I mean, it's always good just to
Have a back-up plan, you know,

Kind of know where
Everything's at in the dark.

That's the advantage
That you got

Over the guys
That's chasing you.

They don't know where they at,

And they don't know
Where they going.

Meanwhile, tickle's
Got his own thing going.

He wants to surprise tim
By coming back

With one of
The critical components

Of moonshine production --

Jugs to bottle their shine.

He's made arrangements
For a secret pickup.

Oh, yeah, that's what
I'm looking for right there.

Supposed to have left me
Some jugs over here.

To top-notch lawmen
Like deputy sheriff chuck,

Jugs are a red flag

That there's moonshine activity
In the area.

All right.

The biggest thing you want
To worry about is a dead end,

You know, just, roadblocks.

If you got somebody behind you,
I don't want to be backing up.

I can shoot down through here.

I can just cut out through here,

And I can just follow these
Plants right here, you know,

Something, like, right on
The edge of a tree line.

Yeah, see, if you go up here,
You kind of get stuck.

I can't afford any mistakes.
I'm on the edge of going legal.

One little mistake
Could just mess up everything.

I'm gonna have to go back.

The next day,
Back in south carolina,

Josh and bill continue

Their enormous
Underground still project --

So large,
It could yield thousands a week

Once it's fully up and running.

In less than two weeks,

The stage above their site
Will host a music festival,

But with all their struggles,

They still don't have an ounce
Of booze to show for it.

Though frustrated,
Josh and bill press on.

It's exactly what their friend
And legendary moonshiner

Barney barnwell
Would have wanted.

He was a teacher.
He was a mentor.

Right now, barney would be
Jumping up and down,

Chomping at the bit
For us to get this done.

The posts and beams
Are finally set,

Which means they can move on
To the next critical step --

The roof.

Any mistakes made during
The roof design or construction

Could lead to a lethal collapse.

Come on.

Good girl.

Well, right now, we're fixin'
To go get some metal.

The metal is for the decking
For the roof.

It's gonna be our ceiling,

And it's what's
Gonna hold all our dirt up.

Absolutely, it has to be
Really strong metal

To hold all that dirt up.

It's gonna be
Supporting our lives.

Yeah,
This is five right here.

How many are we gonna get?
Six?

How many
Was we getting?

Um,
I need to calculate.

240, 30.

Calculations like these
Have to be perfect.

36.

This is the foundation
Of their roofing system.

There needs to be enough metal

To protect the still site
From being flooded.

Ow! God, help.

Yeah.

400 miles to the northeast,

Tim's next step
Is to camouflage his moonshine.

His plan is simple,
But effective --

Hide the stash in plain sight.

We're gonna move these jugs
Of moonshine I got,

And I can put it
In the back of the truck,

Stack it up on end,

But I don't have a tailgate
On the truck,

So I got to put something
In there to hide it with.

So, I can get some hay,

And that'll
Kind of cover things up.

But it's not just the abc
Tim needs to worry about.

Neither tickle nor his family
Can find out what he's up to.

My idea of hiding stuff

Is just putting it
Right in front of people's face.

You know, if you go out here,
And you're trying to hide it

In locked buildings
And stuff like that, you know,

It's just too obvious that way.

It's just real easy to get to
And get out real fast,

And if you keep moving,

It's a little bit harder
To get caught that way.

Meanwhile, jeff, mark,
And jim tom press on.

With moonshine orders piling up,

They need to
Continue brewing shine

To get the cash rolling in.

To catch moonshiners,
The authorities keep watch

For people
Transporting large quantities

Of sugar and corn.

Jeff and mark
Need to rip and run.

Coming up...

We're way behind.

We're probably
About a month behind.

I don't know where tickle's at,
But right now, I need him here.

The national weather service
Posted a flash-flood watch.

Big front moving in.

It's gonna be on us
For, like, three days.

Damn, man.

If the rain comes

Before we get this thing
Waterproofed,

It's probably gonna come in
And wash us all away.

It's gonna ruin everything.

Grab that side.

Back at the still site,
Josh and bill unload the metal,

Then realize
There's another problem.

Ahh, damn.

Is that one shorter?

That one isshorter.

Not only do we not have
Enough metal,

We don't have
The right-size metal.

Josh and bill
Have reached a critical point

In their underground
Still construction --

The roof.

Corrugated steel sheets
They've purchased

Will be placed over the site's
Wooden beam structure,

Then a layer of canvas
Painted with sealant

Will provide weatherproofing.

When the sealant is dried,
10 tons of dirt and rock

Will completely camouflage
The mash room below.

This ingenious setup
Should keep their operation dry

And allow them to brew shine
Year-round.

Damn it.

A shortage of metal could be
The least of their worries,

Since another problem
Is brewing on the horizon.

Having picked up
Their sugar and corn,

Jeff and mark
Make a last-minute run into town

To pick up a few remaining
Supplies before they brew.

Nearby, deputy sheriff chuck
Refuses to give up.

He's got hundreds
Of square miles

Of wooded area to patrol.

300 miles to the north...

...Tim and his son, j.T.,

Have been working since dawn
On their distillery...

...But tickle's a.W.O.L.

What is it?

It's level.

You know,
I told tickle yesterday,

"Be here at 7:00 a.M.
This morning,"

But now it's after 10:00 --
10:30.

Stillhaven't seen tickle.

We're way behind. We're probably
About a month behind.

I think he was out a little bit
Too late last night.

If I don't
Get the building built,

They can't
Get the distillery going.

The last couple of weeks,
He's slow to show up

And a little bit sluggish
When he's working.

I don't know where tickle's at,

But right now, I need him here
So we can get done.

Big front moving in.

It's gonna be on us
For like three days.

It starts -- it's starting
Like tomorrow after lunch.

Looks like
It's gonna start todayat lunch.

Still looking at
Some heavy rain in the area,

And those showers
And thunderstorms

Are pushing to the northeast.

You see the areas of red

Indicating
The stronger radar return.

Damn, man.

If it rains,
That's really gonna mess us up.

Not ifit rains,
Whenit rains.
It's gonna rain.

Since 1700,

Over 410 tropical cyclones
Hit the carolinas,

Resulting in over 1,400 deaths.

Moonshiners who tend
To occupy remote locations

Far from help

Were often left for dead.

The most famous storm
To hit moonshine country

Is the great appalachian storm
Of 1950.

It was the hurricane katrina
Of its day.

The combination of three
Storm systems collided --

A massive snowfall

Mixed with one of
The most widespread wind storms

Ever to hit the south.

It dropped five feet of snow,
And in some places,

Temperatures plummeted
To 26 degrees below zero.

For those caught in its path,

It meant
The end of moonshine season.

Josh and bill
Are now in a race against time

To get their underground
Still site covered

Before a front
Rolls through the area.

There's a danger that
The same thing is gonna happen

To this underground site

That happened
To barney's underground site.

We're not gonna let that happen.

The last underground still
That barney had on the farm,

It flooded out the entire
Underground still site there.

Throw it.

We got a front coming in,
Covering the entire southeast.

It's gonna be dumping down
About three inches of rain

On top of us
In the next 48 hours,

So we're getting a roof
On this thing.

It's time
To quit messing around.

Because they didn't
Get the correct amount of metal,

Josh and bill are forced
To come up with another plan

To keep their still site dry.

We got enough?

We need something
Running down the outside.

We're gonna tarp it up,
Figure out something

Just to keep the water out
For tonight.

We might see a little bit
Of dribblies inside,

But we're in the dry,
Brother.

Let's drink a beer.

It's time.

Phew.

400 miles to the northeast,

A different kind of storm
Is brewing.

Tim forges ahead solo.

Five hours later,
Look who shows up.

I'm ready to quit now.

Right now, it's hot.
I'm burning up.

I've been out here all day long.
Tickle shows up five hours late.

I can't have that.

What the hell's he got
In the back of the truck?

I just about want to tell him,
I don't need no tickle.

What's going on, tim?

Trying to
Get the building built.

Check it out.

Yeah, I see.
You got a load of jugs in there.

This ain't low-key,

Riding around in a truck
With 800 jugs in the back.

I ain't ready
For no jugs yet.

Well, we got to do something
To make money.

You'll have to set up
Something illegal, then.

Exactly.

I been telling ya,

That's what's gonna
Have to make the money
To pay for this thing.

I'm telling you,
We ain't gonna do that.

And who's supposed to be
Helping me finish the concrete

And get the gravel right
And get the form built

And get the roof on?
Who's gonna do that?

I've been wondering
The same thing

The whole time
I been building this --

Who's gonna help me
Do it?

I'm still the boss man.

Somebody
Got to lead the way here.

Tim's my friend.

We're pretty much like family,

And it kind of hurts my feelings
A little bit

To know that I'm considered only
A helper and nota partner.

Tickle.

That's the problem
We got right now, is tickle.

He thinks
He knows what he's doing,

But he hasn't had
Enough time yet

To know what he's doing
On his own.

He's really just
Gonna bring the trouble on him.

Coming up...

That's not good.

I felt very confident

That it was gonna be dry
Down there this morning.

I was not even thinking that
There were holes in that tarp.

I'm thinking maybe getting
Somebody else to help.

You know what? I'm thinking
About getting somebody else
To help me do this, too.

And you're gonna get somebody
Else to help you get in jail.

Tim's been working solo
On the distillery all day.

Now tickle shows up,
Five hours late,

With the last thing
Tim needs --

Jugs.

Man, I can have
All the damn jugs I want.

And you're gonna be
In jail.

You know, you see that stuff,

It kind of
Makes you think about it.

I mean,
There's guys getting five years

For first-time convictions.

I mean, five years,
That's a lot.

The smell of yeast and alcohol
Filled the air

As deputies carried out
Bottle after bottle

From the shed
Where authorities said

The homeowners
Made illegal liquor.

Trip after trip,

Deputies carried out
Bottles and jugs

Filled with the brown liquid,

Some flavored
With strawberries and bananas.

Somebody probably already
Saw you with them jugs.

Helicopters is out there.
Airplanes is out there.

They gonna say,
"Hey, look for anybody

With a bunch of jugs
In the back of their truck."

They know
What you're doing.

You're getting ready
To make a lot of moonshine.

And you know
What that means, too?

It means everybody gonna call
And want some damn moonshine.

I'm thinking about getting
Somebody else to help me.

You know what? I'm thinking
About getting somebody else
To help me do this, too.

And you're gonna get somebody
Else to help you get in jail.

I get the concrete poured.This is gonna make the money.

I get the concrete poured,
And then I'm gonna be done.

The whole reason we done it,
It makes the money.

I understand
That he's going legal right now,

And he's not willing
To take the chance,

But this is the only way I see

For more money
To come into this project,

And somebody's got to step up
And do it.

I'll come and visit ya,
A'ight?

The next day,
400 miles to the southwest,

An early rain
Has preceded the looming storm.

Morning.

What's up, buddy?

We finished up yesterday.

We got all our long beams set.

We got it covered up good.

We got the metal decking on it
And threw the tarps up,

But the rain got here
Before we did today.

Hopefully, we got it
Covered up well enough,

We're not looking at
A swamp down there.

God almighty.

I felt very confident

That it was gonna be dry
Down there this morning.

I was not even thinking that
There were holes in that tarp.

We really needed something
Better than that right there.

The leak in the tarp
Is a major issue.

If any additional rainwater
Accumulates in the walls,

It increases the likelihood
Of a cave-in

That could bury them alive.

Maybe we could go ahead
And set these beams

And throw the metal pieces
Across through here,

And then
Throw another tarp over it?

We got a bunch of other stuff
To do in the dry over there.

If we could just get a tarp
On top of what we got,

It'll quit
Coming down on us.

I'm ready to get this roof on
And be done with it.

That's gonna take us three hours
In the mud.

It'll take us
10 minutes

To throw that other tarp
On top of it.

We get it in the dry.Fine, fine.

And where we're not getting
Stuff pelted on our heads,

We can finish the project
Somewhere.

I want to put the metal up,

But my hard-headed friend
Over here

Wants to do it his way.

I'm sick of arguing.

It's really tough
Sometimes to let somebody go,

And it's dangerous
To let somebody go.

If you have a person
Working for you as a stillhand,

That guy knows
Where the still is at.

He knows
How the operation works.

He knows
How many people is involved.

Anyway,
He knows a lot of inside points,

And if that guy's mad, you know,
Cause some problems for ya.

What happens is,
The guy's running around

Trying to
Get his business started,

He slips up and starts talking
To the wrong guy.

This business, you really need
To know who you're talking to.

If you got trust,
It's about like having love.

You can't buy it.
You got to earn it.

Once everyone
Has that trust in each other,

No one else can get inside.

People will die for ya.

After discovering
Holes in their tarp,

Josh and bill try to prevent
Any additional water damage

By adding a second tarp
And the remaining metal...

...But time is running out.

The storm is only 50 miles away,
And it's intensifying.

Just an hour ago,
The national weather service

Posted a flash flood watch
That runs through late tonight.

Those stronger storms,
Heavier downpours

May cause
Some localized flooding.

Hurry up.

If the rain comes before
We get this thing waterproofed

And in the dry,

Then it's probably gonna come in

And wash us all away.

It's gonna ruin everything.

It's a last-ditch effort
With the storm closing in.

You all right?That's all right.

We'll get up.
We'll keep on going.

The skies are pretty dark.

Got about an hour left
Of daylight.

Not even sure if what we got's
Gonna really keep out the rain

That's expected
To come down today.

Phew.

Moving forward.

Coming up...

Jeff and mark now have
All the ingredients they need

To make another run,

But they'll need to brew nonstop

In order to catch up
On unfilled orders.

They decide to bring in jim tom
To help make up for lost time...

Mm!

Mm.

...But tonight,

They're racing against
More than a delivery deadline.

Mother nature is on the loose
And heading their way.

There is more rain on the way.

We still have a flash-flood
Watch that's in effect

For parts of north carolina
And also the northern up state.

The ground is saturated,

And the heavy rain associated
With some of the storms

Could still cause some creeks
And streams to rise.

To make matters worse,
Jeff and mark's still

Is near several water sources
That could flood.

A flood could wipe out
Their entire operation.

Yep!

Jeff and mark make the call.

They're standing their ground.

If they wait another day,

They could be losing out on
Thousands of tax-free dollars.

During moonshine season,
Mark and jeff ferment 24/7.

This batch has been fermenting
For days, ready to go.

Okay.

Jeff and mark have a unique way
Of fermenting their mash.

Unlike most moonshiners,
They don't use yeast.

They use sprouted corn,
Which contains a natural yeast.

Here's how it works.

A bag of dried corn is placed
In a stream or creek

For two or three days,
During which time,

The water
Causes the corn to sprout.

Once the corn sprouts
Reach a length of two inches,

They're removed from the water,
Dried and ground.

The ground corn is then mixed
With water and sugar, heated,

And then left to ferment.

This process
Is called "Mashing-in".

After several days,

The mash is now ready
To distill.

Proponents of this method

Believe it's well worth
The wait,

As it's said to produce
The smoothest-tasting moonshine.

But with a still made entirely
Of highly conducive copper,

Lightning is the last thing
A shiner wants to face.

Normally,
Brewing during a lightning storm

Would be
Completely out of the question,

But jeff and mark
Have no other option.

Water leaking into the mash
Could spell disaster.

Now that the strained mash
Is in the transport barrels,

They have to get to the still
Site as quickly as possible

And start brewing.

Once they've arrived,
There's no time to waste.

Strained mash
Is siphoned into the pot.

Yeah.

If it rains hard...

In addition to property damage
Felt for days or weeks,

A bad storm can give rise
To environmental changes

That harm moonshiners
For months or years.

When a string of storms
In 1986

Dumped acid rain
Down the appalachian mountains,

The resulting runoff
Killed aquatic life,

Damaged vegetation,

And dramatically altered
Ph levels

In rivers, lakes, and streams.

Not only did this prematurely
End moonshine season,

But affected productivity
For several seasons to come.

Once the mash is in the pot
And the fire is going,

There's no turning back.

If they stop now,

They could lose
Their entire batch.

If they keep going,

Rainwater could leak
Into the still,

Diluting their mash
And seriously compromising

The quality
Of their final product.

This is their worst nightmare.

Mark grabs a metal sheet
To try and protect the pot.

The danger is only compounded
By the fact

That the giant copper pot could
Act as a big lightning rod.

At this point,
They are risking their lives

For this batch of moonshine.

Yeah.

Even though the storm
Continues to rage around them,

Jeff, mark, and jim tom
Push forward.

This is an important batch
For them to complete,

But the odds against them
Are mounting.

Mark stokes the fire

While jeff waits for the whiskey
To start running.

Mark stokes an extra-hot fire

To compensate
For the cooling effect

The rainwater is having
On the still.

It's important that they check
The proof of the whiskey first.

They won't be able to sell
A batch of low-proof liquor.

The worst possible outcome --
Low-proof liquor.

Yeah.

This could not have come
At a worse time.

With orders due,

Thousands of dollars
Could be lost.

There's too much at stake
To quit now.

120 miles to the southwest,

The massive storm front

Continues to pound
South carolina.

Despite the heavy rainfall,
Josh and bill are confident

That their still site
Will remain dry.

Oh, my god.

That's not good.

Did that
Really happen?

Yes, sir.
That really happened.

I knew we should have
Framed it in yesterday!

And I told you,
"Let's frame it in!"

I'm ready
To put these posts and beams in

And just throw them pieces
Of metal on there, tarp it off,

And be done with it.Man, that's gonna take --

That's gonna take us
Three hours in the mud.

"Let's finish our framing!"
"But no, let's jump over here!"

This ain't happening.

This ain't happening.

We didn't frame it in.

We kind of butted heads
On doing that yesterday,

And I really wished we hadn't.

Oh, my god.
This is a major catastrophe.

This is like the worst-case
Scenario right here,

Other than this thing
Catching on fire

And burning to the ground.

Bill gambled and lost big.

The next time I say let's
Do something a certain way,

That's because
I have a certain plan,

And I want to stick
To my plan.

Man, don't --

I don't want my plan to be
Jerked around anymore.

We couldn't agree on that.
We couldn't --

Well,
I don't give a *bleep*

If I say I want it done,
I want to do it this way,

I designed it that way.
That's the way I want to do it.

I wanted to run boards
At all four points

And put a piece of metal
Across the center.

How would that
Have not been good?

It wouldn't be
On the ground right now.

No, we wouldn't have to
Dig it out.

Well, then,
Why argue with me?

I ain't arguing.

We still got to dig it,
Either way.

No sense in arguing.

We wouldn't be
Dealing with this

If you would have just let me
Frame it in the other day.

We can't fix the other day.
Let's do it today.

We got eight inches
Of standing water down there.

I mean, this pretty much
Throws this project

At a dead standstill
Until we figure out

What we're gonna do
With the damn water.

We got 300 gallons of water
We got to pump out of here.

Next time on "Moonshiners"...

There's supposed to be a creek
Right around here.

You know, I'm out here sweating.

Tickle should be out here
Helping me.

I don't see water
Flowing through this stream.

I see money flowing
Through this stream.

He's gonna get into
Something over his head.

Push!

Josh, you got to
Pick it up further.

I'm walking away
For a little while

'cause
I'm about to get pissed.

We really need this
To be a high-proof batch.

If not,
We're back to square one.

A long time of running,
And I ain't never off guard.

I just keep my eyes open.