Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 2, Episode 6 - Prophecy Fulfilled - full transcript

Tonight on "Moonshiners"...

Not good.
Not good at all.

Ugh! I can't believe
I just *bleep* did that!

*bleep* damn!

I need this
To make my first run,

And once I make my first run,
I can pay you.

All right.

We got water,
Brother.

No.

This ain't good.

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.

With orders piling up,
Jeff and mark hatched a plan

For a second still site
To run more shine,

But jeff's had to make
The ultimate sacrifice

And do what no shiner
Ever wants to do --

Call in the family for backup.

He's recruited his wife, lynn,

To help purchase
The key ingredient, barley.

You know...

Me and jeff met
When we was teenagers,

Up in the mountains
Of north carolina.

Moonshining --
It's a part of our lives.

Jeff's dad
And his grandfather done it,

And mom was a moonshiner.

She done it to survive on.

Jeff follows
The old moonshiner's practice

Of buying supplies
From a variety of sources.

Today, they're getting
Their ingredients at a store

Well off the beaten path.

Going to the store
And picking up the supplies.

You just have to
Be really careful.

Everybody watches.

How are you doing?Woman: good. How are you?

You have to really watch
What you're doing.

300 miles to the north,

Tickle is breaking away
From tim,

Scrambling to build his own
Tax-free fortune.

Armed with howard
As a still hand,

His first stop out the gate
Is picking up metal sheets

To construct their
Virginia submarine still.

Does that look like
It's gonna work?

Well, I need something
That I can nail through.

Yeah. Yeah, that looks like
That's gonna work,

'cause I'm gonna try
To form it and, you know...

That's a lot of stainless
Steel for an individual.

It kind of set off some bells
In my head,

But what he does with it
Is his business.

Metal's expensive, and I
Got to start making some money.

I mean, this is peak
Moonshining season right now,

And we
Are behind the eight ball.

I'm looking to take home $1,000
To $1,500 per run,

And that's the whole reason
I'm in this game.

Jeff and mark have
Moonshine orders stacking up,

But with barley in hand,
They're ready to start working

On their alternative
Shine recipe, scotch.

It's brutal out here.

Everywhere you see the brown,
The orange on the map --

This is where
We're talking about

Some extreme heat going on.

The heat wave producing

Record-high temperatures,

Combined with
The severe drought,

Has nearly wiped out
This year's corn crop.

Although rain has been plentiful
In the carolina mountains,

A nationwide drought
Is threatening corn prices.

Due to a short supply, jeff
And mark need to come up with

An alternative moonshine recipe,
And fast.

Made with a secret family recipe

Passed down
From jeff's scottish ancestors,

Barley scotch not only takes
Longer to prepare

Than traditional corn whiskey,

But it's also
A lot more labor-intensive.

The first step
Is to soak the barley.

If they can hold off
Some orders,

Jeff and mark will be able
To keep the costs down,

Saving everyone money
In the long run.

120 miles to the southwest...

...Josh and bill
Are less than 24 hours away

From the start of
The plum hollow music festival.

Despite countless days
Of constant fighting

And tens of thousands
Of dollars,

They're finally close

To fulfilling their mentor
Barney's lifelong dream

Of a fully operational
Underground still.

But for that to happen,

They still
Need to cover the site,

Making it completely
Undetectable to the law

And concertgoers
That will soon be standing

On these hallowed grounds.

I just wish
We had some help.

I think this thing
Will hold the bobcat.

Don't you?

I think I don't
Want to test it just yet.

Today's our last day
Before the festival.

If everything
Goes just right today,

We should get
All our dirt pushed around

And the roof covered.

We got a lot to do

And a very short amount of time
To do it in.

We cut it to the last minute.

To hell with this.
I'm gonna try the bob.

I pulled it back
Just a little bit right there.

Where's that coming from?

Not good.
Not good at all.

Coming up...

God!

I can't believe
I just *bleep* did that!

*bleep* damn!

I just made a fatal mistake

On the last day of our project.

We ain't got none of this
High-tech equipment here --

No lifts or nothing. We just
Working on some wobbly ladders.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, j.T.

I know you're wanting $500
For this thing.

Once I make my first run,
I can pay you.

All right.

Not good.
Not good at all.

Back at the still site,

Josh has shredded
The waterproof covering.

God!

With the festival
Less than 24 hours away,

The timing couldn't be worse.

If they can't
Conceal the hole in time,

They'll be caught red-handed.

*bleep* damn!

I can't believe
I just *bleep* did that!

*bleep* damn!

I just made a fatal mistake

At the very end of the day

On the last day of our project
Before the festival.

I'm under so much pressure of
Getting this done and being --

I just...Ohh!

I can't see straight
Right now.

I'm so *bleep* pissed off,
I can't hardly breathe.

Normally, josh is a surgeon
With his machine.

Today, he snagged
Our waterproofing membrane,

Ripped it up,
And we're running out of time.

So there's not
Too many other options

Except for dig it out
A little bit

And see if we got to fix it
And keep on moving forward.

What are we gonna do
To fix that?

I don't know.

We got to get it dug out first,
See what it looks like.

All my hard work --
It was kind of like, you know,

A slap in the face or
A kick in the nuts or something.

It just sent me over the edge.

Yeah,
Let's take five.

With tickle out of the picture,

Tim is forging ahead
On his distillery,

With his son j.T. At his side.

I have no idea
Where tickle's at,

But, you know,
He's got to do his thing,

And right now,
We're moving right along.

But there's
Heavy lifting to be done,

So tim calls up an old friend,
Still bill,

To help move things along.

Hey, tim,
How you doing?

I'm glad to see you.Yeah, man.

Been a long time, eh?

Been a while.
Been a while.

Put the block under it.

Whoa-ho!Wait a minute, now.

Last year,
Still bill came through

When tim hit a roadblock.

Yeah, see that?Oh, yeah.

Me and j.T.'s
Running a little shorthanded.

We're working on
Our little project here.

I went ahead and called bill,
And he just, johnny-on-the-spot,

Showed right up, right on time.

And you can see
That this big 24-foot truss

Is gonna be a job
For three people.

It's manual labor here.

We ain't got none of this
High-tech equipment here --

No lifts or nothing.

We just working on
Some wobbly ladders.

I got this up here.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, j.T.

From the highest point
Of the structure,

It's a 16-foot drop
Onto a concrete foundation,

And tim knows all too well

Whether you're building a legal
Distillery or an illegal one,

The dangers don't change.

Let me jump down in it.

Last season, while
Building an illegal structure,

Tickle found out just
How dangerous this job can be.

Watch, watch,
Watch, watch!

Three broken ribs made it
A lesson he'll never forget.

The cause and the remedy
Was one in the same.

Tim is working
With a bare-bones crew

Under intense pressure.

He's got to finish the project
By midseason

If he ever hopes
To start making moonshine.

He's already got $20,000
Of his own money invested,

Not to mention the $200,000 bond

He'll need to put up
In the next two months.

So far, so good --
Nobody got killed yet.

See that plane flying over?

I'm just worried about
If somebody finds out

About my backup plan.

In north carolina,
Jeff and mark are making headway

On their special brew,
Barley scotch moonshine.

The process is as old
As the dirt they stand on.

Jeff and mark
Will lay out the barley

On two large sheets
Of old burlap.

The burlap works
To create a moist environment

For a quick sprout of the seeds.

After sitting out in the sun
For several days,

The barley
Will be fully sprouted

And ready for the next phase
Of the process.

While jeff and mark press on,

120 miles away,
Two moonshiners hit the wall.

I'm really hoping
And praying we get 'er done

Before the festival.

But after shredding
The waterproof membrane,

Josh has hit a new low.

With less than a day
Before the festival,

Bill knows
There's only one person

Who could put josh at ease.

We've been under
A load of stress,

So I suggested
We go to somewhere

I know we could
Both clear our minds.

We're gonna go see barney.

Josh and bill's mentor
Barney barnwell

Had his own plans
Of building an underground still

Cut short by a serious illness.

Barney passed away in 2011

And never got a chance
To finish his underground still.

So josh and bill decided to turn
Barney's dream into reality.

I was still
In kind of a transitional period

When I first started
Hanging out with barney.

I had some anger issues in my
Life about 20 or so years ago.

One of his greatest attributes

Was helping people
Find their purpose,

And he was instrumental
In helping get me pointed back

In the right direction.

Figure he'd like what
We're doing down in the hole.

How many times do you think
He would have yelled at me

Digging out everything
So perfectly?

He'd have done cussed me out
And ran me off, wouldn't he?

What's really crazy is he
Told me all this would happen.

The prophesy fulfilled.

He's dancing right now.

I'd give anything
If he was here today.

Let's get back to work.

Coming up...

This is something
You ain't gonna learn

In shop class --
That's for sure.

That right there
Is gonna go down

As one of the all-time dumbest
Things that I've ever done.

If I could whip my own ass,
I would.

Once I make my first run,
I can pay you.

After time
In the north carolina sun,

Jeff and mark's barley
Is nearly sprouted.

But as they get ready
To turn it into barley scotch...

Jeff's having second thoughts
About letting his wife, lynn,

And son lance
Run the second still site.

While getting supplies,
Lynn already risked

A run-in with the law,

But actually brewing
With their son lance

Is a whole new level of danger,

One that could land
The entire family behind bars.

Okay.

If I do have to step in there

Or if lance has to step in there
And help out,

Jeff will make sure
That we're safe.

You know,
This is not our first rodeo.

We -- we've done this
Before.

All right.

Tickle and his
Novice still hand, howard,

Turn and burn.

They need to start building if
They plan on running any shine.

Before you can even
Make any moonshine,

You got to learn
How to build a still.

Stand it up.

You can have all the knowledge
In the world about making a run,

But if you don't know
How to build a still,

You can't make moonshine.

You know,
They'd make a nice picnic table,

But they make
An even better pot.

Hard to make money
With a picnic table.

That's right.

The still tickle is building
Is a virginia favorite --

The submarine-pot still.

It's made by tacking sheet metal

Around the edges
Of two oval-shaped wooden sides

And holds enough mass to produce
About 70 gallons of moonshine.

That's $10,000
Tax-free dollars per run.

Tickle's had the
Training for years and years now

With tim,
And tim is known for his liquor.

We've got it pretty close
To centered on there.

He learned from the best.

We might as well run with that
Because I'd be dumb not to.

All right.

They didn't teach me this
In shop class, brother.

No, no.

This is something you ain't
Gonna learn in shop class --

That's for sure.

My daddy had always
Been into carpentry --

Did anything
That needed to be done

Carpentry-wise around the house,
He did.

But this is really
The first one of these

I've ever made by myself.

Without tim,
I wouldn't have this knowledge.

It makes it harder
When I'm the one

That's got to know
All these things,

And I'm still
Learning about this myself.

And I'm gonna drink a beer
And watch you work.

You do got to make sure
You get it right

'cause if you don't,
Then your pot's gonna leak,

And a leaking pot
Don't make no alcohol.

With just six hours
Until the festival,

Josh and bill
Are digging themselves out

Of yet another mess.

I can't believe
I *bleep* did that!

If the tear in the
Waterproof membrane is too deep,

They'll have no time to repair
And camouflage their still site.

God!

But like
Their late friend barney,

They're determined
To see it through.

Got about a 2'x2' little chunk
Taken out,

But we'll get something
Back on it.

I think we can fix it.

That right there is gonna
Go down in the history books

As one of the all-time dumbest
Things that I've ever done --

Not thedumbest
But one of the dumbest.

I know I ain't never seen you
That mad.

No, you ain't.

If I could whip my own ass,
I would.

Well, it turned out that
It was a relatively small hole

That was fairly easy to fix,

So I may have overreacted
To the situation just a bit.

I kind of let my emotions
Override my ass.

Right now, from the air,
Our hole looks like red dirt.

If we throw some grass on it,
From an aerial view,

It's like
It never even happened.

Our hole
Is covered up!

Ohh.

At least we got our hole
Covered up,

And after all we've been
Through, I'll take that.

Here's to long life
Of this project.

Bl-bl-bl, ooh-aah!

That's good.
Mmm.

With their pot nearly complete,

Tickle and howard are still
Seeking out a copper cap.

You just stay out here,
All right?

It's the most expensive
Part of the still,

And moonshiners are finicky
About who makes it

Because variations
In the cap's shape and size

Can affect the quantity
Of the liquor it produces.

I'm doing all right, man.

I know you're wanting $500
For this thing.

I need just
To make my first run,

And once I make my first run,
I can pay you.

I know copper prices are -- are
Way through the roof right now,

But, I mean, you know --
You know me.

It won't be no problem.

I tell you what -- I'm putting
Mine in half-gallon jugs.

I guarantee you
About four of those.

On top of the $500.
Sound good to you?

All right, you won't have to
Worry about that.

Thank you.

Coming up...

That still is poisonous.

You can see plain as day
That it's rusty water.

It ain't -- it ain't me.

While jeff, mark, and jim tom

Wait for their barley to sprout,

They have a plan
To make some quick cash

With the last
Of their corn mash.

During the warm summer nights,

Their town turns out
For a dance.

It's a time-worn tradition,

Which has existed since
The community was first settled.

It's also the perfect time
To sell booze

To the local residents
Thirsty for shine.

Pfffff!

When a batch of mash
Is done fermenting,

It contains about 88% water
And 12% alcohol,

But in order
To get high-proof moonshine,

The shiner needs to distill
The alcohol from the mash.

Water boils
At 212 degrees fahrenheit,

While alcohol boils
And vaporizes at 173 degrees.

The moonshiner simply
Heats his fermented mash up

Until all the alcohol
Is vaporized out of it.

The water is conveniently
Left behind in the pot,

And distillation is complete.

Yeah. Whew.

Back in south carolina,

The long-anticipated music
Festival has finally arrived,

And for josh and bill,

It all comes down
To this moment.

We got people
Coming in the festival.

There's campers,
Rvs pulling in,

Tents being popped up --
Everybody getting set up.

Although
The still site is finally built

And covered,
There remains one last task.

They need to get rid of barney's
Old, rusted-out still

To make room for
Their new carolina steam still.

One thing that we can definitely
Agree on --

This is not
The right piece of equipment

That anybody needs
To be making liquor on.

Definitely not.

You can see plain as day
That it's rusty water.

That still is poisonous

'cause you get iron and stuff
In your body.

Stainless or copper
Is the way to go.

But I'm ready
To get it out of here.

Well, then, let's bust it down
And drain that liquid.

There you go.

Is it coming out now?

Yeah,
Here it comes.

If we would have started this
Two weeks ago,

When I suggested it, we wouldn't
Be doing it right now.

We're at crunch time.

We'll still be lucky to
Pull it off before the festival.

You see that rust
Coming out of there?

Look at that.
Man, that's --

It's a good example

Of why liquor should never
Be made in carbon steel barrels.

Look at that rust.

Whew.

Got that one out,
And I was glad to see it go.

We got another rig.

We're gonna get it down in the
Hole, and we got to do it quick.

Time's running out.

Damn, bill.

Oh, god, that popped me
Right in the nose,

Like a monkey
Screwing a football.

The festival's open,
And we got this big,

Stainless beauty
Sitting out in the open...

Easy.

...And -- and people driving by.

We're trying to get this thing
Put underground

As quick as we can,
Before anybody else sees it.

On back.
Whoo!

With only minutes
Before festivities begin...

Easy, easy.

...They'll need
To move cautiously

To avoid any suspicion.

Let's get the rest of them
Up here.

Ohh.

It's in the hole.

The festival's here.

The band was loading in while
We were hauling our stuff off.

I mean,
And we cut it down to minutes.

Barney sure
Would be proud.

He would have already had
Some mash running somewhere.

He would.

What we're doing here
Is a lot bigger

Than just building
An underground liquor still.

This was barney's last project,

And it was something
That barney wanted to do

And that he physically
Wasn't able to complete.

Barney's gone,
But this project stands.

This rookie team
May be relieved...

...But they fell short
Of their larger goal --

To have shine brewing
Before the festival.

When we
Get this thing a-rolling,

Then we're gonna be working
100 gallons of mash.

To pull it off,
They'll have to dig even deeper

Into their pockets.

It's gonna cost us a fortune
To make that much --

I know. That's -- that's a lot
Of -- that's a lot of corn.

That's a lot of sugar.

I'm ready
To make it happen.

Good enough.

In graham county,
North carolina,

Three generations of moonshiners

Gear up to proof and bottle
Their shine for the local dance,

A great last-minute opportunity
To bring in some extra bucks

With their remaining
Corn whiskey.

Like all
Great american traditions,

The art of moonshining
Is passed on from one generation

To the next.

Jim tom taught jeff,
And together,

They're passing that wisdom on
To jeff's son lance.

Under jim tom's watchful eye,

Lance takes aim to make sure
That final proof is perfect.

The time-honored
Moonshine tradition

Is to use the lids
Of the mason jars

To gauge how much water
Is needed

To proof down the whiskey,
One capful at a time.

The framework
For tim's legal distillery

Is nearly complete,

But before the roof goes up,
He must reinforce the trusses.

How you doing?

Well...What -- what do you mean
Something's going on?

Yeah?

Well, I'm up here.
I've been on the build.

I don't what's --
What's going on down there.

I ain't been down your road
In -- in a long time.

I had a run-in with
This guy about a year ago.

Oh, looky here.

We got somebody trying
To block us on the bridge.

Mm.

I was looking for a creek
To set up a still,

And he was
A little bit aggressive.

I don't know
Nothing about it.

I'm trying to build
My legal distillery here.

My name is tim.

Tim?Yeah.

My name is tim.
Charles. Okay.

Yeah, I think we -- we saw each
Other once upon a time there.

I don't -- I don't want to
Cause no problems

With no neighbors
Or nothing.

Well, I -- it ain't --
It ain't me.

It sounds like somebody's trying
To set up a moonshine still

On his creek bank, and --
And he don't like it.

I hope
It works out for you.

Okay.
All right.

I believe he means business,
And I understand, too.

You know, it's his property, and
He wants people to respect it.

You know, if somebody
Goes down there

And they don't get permission,
Good luck.

Tickle and howard
Have reached a milestone --

A completed still ready to be
Placed deep into the woods.

This is tickle's first operation
Without tim

And howard's last stop before
Entering the outlaw brotherhood.

Under the cover of night,

Hidden deep in a thicket
Of pine trees...

Tickle and howard
Must work quickly and nimbly.

Now is not the time
To tempt fate.

There's the crown jewel,
Baby.

This is the moneymaker.

300 miles to the south...

Jeff and mark
Are readying themselves

For what they hope
Will be a prosperous night.

Moonshine has been sold here

Since the community
Was first settled.

You know...

When a state forbids

The sale of alcohol
In a certain county,

It's known as a dry county.

Back in 1933,
When prohibition was repealed,

Some sleazy politicians
Found a way

To work both sides of the law.

By making a county dry,

A politician
Created an alcohol shortage,

Driving up
The bootleggers' profits,

While appearing to serve the
Morals of the local preachers.

The politicians
Found a win-win situation,

Which lined their coffers
With bootlegger kickbacks.

Today, 1 in 9 counties
Across the u.S. Is dry,

Creating a tax-free black market
For bootleggers and moonshiners.

We got water,
Brother.

We got to get all the sides
Good and wet.

So we about need
To fill this bitch up.

Just about, yeah.

Suddenly,
Everything goes bust.

Got a little bit of a leak
Right there.

She's dripping.

Dripping just
A little bit.

That don't worry you none, man?

You know, when I see leaks,
I get to worry.

No, especially on
A brand-new pot.

To a novice shiner like howard,

A leak signals
A sobering defect.

It's just odd to me.
You know what I'm saying?

I wouldn't expect this.

Oh, no,
No, no, no.

That's not
Leaking bad at all.

Unlike stills made of copper,

Wooden-sided submarine pots
Require an extra step

Before they can be used.

Once the pot
Is filled with water,

The wood will slowly expand
To create a watertight seal.

All the wood will expand,
And everything's gonna be great.

No.

As tickle and howard
Were filling their pot,

Their water pump
Unexpectedly failed.

A simple pull of the rip cord
Should get them back on track.

Mnh-mnh.

That ain't good.

The pull string broke on it.

Right now, it's a -- it's
A pretty big setback to me --

Something that's a minor fix,
But I'm out here in the woods.

I ain't got all my tools.

So I guess you could say
I'm dead in the water,

So to speak,
'cause I have no water.

I know how to do this, you know?

So I don't know why I'm
Running into all these setbacks.

Without the proper
Tools to fix their pump,

They have no choice
But to conceal their site

And head home.

Kind of murphy's law --

Anything that can go wrong
Will go wrong.

And here lately,
That's been my luck.

Next time on "Moonshiners"...

This ain't
How we left this thing.

Somebody done
Uncovered this pot.

They could be sitting in the
Woods right now, waiting on us.

Let's get
The hell out of here.

I'm riding down the road

Just knowing
That we're gonna get pulled over

Or somebody's
Gonna see our still.

Oh *bleep*

You nervous?

More nervous
That I have you out here.