Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 3, Episode 14 - Liquid Courage - full transcript

Narrator:
Tonight on "Moonshiners"...

Time's run out
For josh and bill.

Bill: we owe the man
For the liquor in the truck.

If this batch fails,
I don't know what I'm gonna go.

Jeff and mark face rough waters.

Jeff: you better hang on to them
There, mark.

It'll drag you off.

Narrator: deputy sheriff chuck
Has a shiner in his sights.

Have you heard anything
About any moonshining

Going on over there?

And the chase is on in kentucky.



Tickle: holy *bleep*

Man: this is how
We make the moonshine!

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Narrator:
Moonshine season is ending.

It's the final shot
For shiners to cash in

Before old man winter
Comes calling.

For some,
The season has brought fortune.

For others, new partnerships.

While others
Just hope to get out alive.

[ gunshot ]

In north carolina,
Two shiners have just finished

Their biggest run of the year.

Jeff: well, there she goes.
It's running.

Jeff and mark have faced
Constant obstacles this season,



And, over the past week,

Mother nature reigned havoc
On the region.

[ thunder crashes ]

Rain.

Let's see if we can
Get all this stuff out of here

And get started selling.

Yeah, it's a lot of liquor
To run.

Whoa, whoa.

The road's gone, mark.

Road's gone.

The only access road
Down the mountain is gone,

Leaving mark and jeff
In a bind.

What we gonna do?

I don't know.

Mark, how we gonna
Get this out of here?

We can't
Get around the slide.

It's a long ways to carry it.Yeah.

Heavy, too.Yep.

It'd be a lot of trips
With that many buckets.

The only other option
I know

Is we can take it down
The river around it.

This ain't
Gonna be fun, though.

Take that down the creek,
It's gonna be cold and wet.

Have to be careful
And not fall.

We get wet all over,

We'll freeze to death
Before we get out of here.

It's the only way
I know to do it.

Yeah.

I'd rather do a lot more work
And not get caught.

Me, too.

Let's hunt us
An easy place to get in

And see what we can do.

Mark: we come in the slide
In the road,

And there ain't
No way around it,

So just put it
In five-gallon buckets

And just try to float
The moonshine down the river.

[ sighs ]

I'm gonna try this
And see how it works.

Narrator: alcohol is less dense
Than water,

Meaning it weighs less
Per gallon.

As a result,
The buckets of shine

Should stay afloat
Down the river.

You better hang on to them
There, mark.

It'll drag you off.

A few miles away,
The law is closing in.

Sheriff's deputy chuck

Is chasing down
A rock-solid lead --

A vin number
From a burned-out car.

Chuck: we're gonna
Go talk to this guy

About his vehicle there
And see what he knows about it.

If he denies anything in it,

That kind of leads me to believe
He's involved somehow.

You just have to start
With whatever you got,

And sometimes it's not much,

But you just keep
Tailing it backwards,

And oftentimes
You'll eventually get there.

He'll either talk to me
About it or he won't.

How you doing?

Good.
What's going on?

I'm looking for wayne.

Is that you?

Yeah, that's me.

I come over here
To talk to you

About a little
Gold-colored saturn

I found over there
In graham county.

Run the vin on it.

It come back
To a car lot,

And I talked to
The car-lot owner over there,

And he said
That he'd sold that car to you.

Yeah, I bought it
About two months ago,

And I thought
I could fix it,

But it was just too far gone,
And had some fellas come by,

And they said
They would like to have it.

They was gonna get parts
Or something off of it,

So they come
And picked it up.

They said
They'd junk it out,

And they actually done me
A favor by hauling it off, so...

It got junked out,

It's junked out
All over the place over there.

It's been blowed up
Or something.

It's scattered all through
The woods over there.

Blowed up?

Yeah, that seems to be
What's happened to it.

Have you heard anything

About any moonshining
Going on over there?

Nah, I don't know nothing
About no moonshining.

Don't know nothing
About that?

No.

All right.

I'm gonna be continuing
Investigation on this

For a little while.

If I have
Any more questions,

It's all right if I come back
And talk to you again?

Yeah, come on back.
Got nothing to hide.

All righty.

All right.

That's the way to be,
Ain't it?

I try to be, anyway.

Well, I appreciate it.
See ya.

He seems to be
Trying to distance his self

From that vehicle in any way,

So I wouldn't say he's lying,

But I think he knows
More than he's telling.

He may be involved in it.

Narrator: in south carolina,
Two shiners are under the gun.

Josh:
Well, as luck would have it,
Somebody took a shot at us,

And we lost all kind of liquor.

And we went into
A financial hole.

Narrator: josh and bill still
Owe their moonshine supplier

$1,200 in cash.

Paying him off
Depends on this final run.

Oh! There it comes.
There it comes.

It almost looks like
Creamed corn.

If it fails, they'll have made
Some dangerous enemies.

We're gonna
Get this transferred.

Oh! Oh!

What are you doing?

I'm making a mess
Is what I'm doing.

We got some
Smoked barley malt

That we're throwing
In this one.

Once the barley sprouts,
It acts as a natural yeast.

That's just the basics
Of making beer.

All right.
Let's do this.

Right on.
Want to grab the bobcat?

We'll slide these babies
Down the hill.

Josh:
Right now, we're just trying to
Get all this money back

And just recoup
A little bit of it

So we can
Keep our operation going.

Narrator: in mississippi,

A swamp shiner
Is back on the water.

I got a lot riding on this run,

Because this is the one
I've been shooting for

For a long time.

Narrator: mike's on the verge of
The biggest sale of his career,

With a major
New orleans distributor.

I think I'm gonna start stepping
Things up a little bit.

You think you could move
A little bit more down here?

I can supply
Whatever you need.

All right.

I got to make sure I don't make
Any mistakes on this run,

'cause all the moonshine I've
Got is gonna be on this boat.

Narrator: mike's plan is to
Travel down the main channel

Of the pearl river
And into lake pontchartrain.

From there, he'll use
The new orleans industrial canal

To enter the shipping lanes
Of the mississippi river,

Where he'll hand the shine off
To his contact.

But first, he has to pick up
The rest of his shine from shot.

[ motor whirring ]

How you doing, shot?
You been here long?

Doing all right.
I ain't been here too long.

You about ready
To load up?

Yeah.
Let's load it up.

I hope
You don't need it.

I hope not.

You don't never know.

Be careful. You got
A good bit of weight there.

I know.

We don't want to have to

Dig it out of the bottom
Of the river.

No.

I'll be back
Quick as I can.

Okay.

Got a lot of things out here
That I have to watch for.

There's game wardens out here
At certain times.

Got to be really careful.

Man: hey!

Hey!

Come on!

Hey!

Narrator: coming up...

Are you ready for me
To pump this down there to you?

Yeah,
I got it ready to go.

...The pressure is rising
For josh and bill.

And tickle and chico
Are sitting ducks.

Oh, my god, man.

Tickle: we stuck now.
We got to go right to them.

Narrator:
In mississippi, mike's making

The final bootleg run
Of his season.

I'm a little nervous
About this run.

I've made the run
With this little boat before

But never
With this much shine

That I'm gonna be hauling
This time.

Narrator: he's moving
24 gallons of moonshine

Down the mississippi river to
New orleans in broad daylight.

To avoid suspicion
From law enforcement,

He stashed the shine
In gas cans.

Man: hey!

Mike: what's wrong?

Nothing to worry about.

You're out of gas, huh?

I got some gas.

You're welcome.

Just off riding.

All right.
I'll get out of your way.

Man: take care!

You, too.
See you later.

Narrator: mike's avoided
Raising suspicions...This time.

But he'll need to be
More careful

As he nears his destination.

In kentucky, tickle, chico,
And tyler's new partnership

Is yielding results.

Oh, yeah.
She's clear as a bell.

They've just completed
Their first run of moonshine.

It's tim's liquor.

It's carrying on tradition,
But it is also making money.

But they won't be
Selling this shine locally.

Tickle: tim -- he can't have
His own legal liquor

In the state of virginia,

So the people
Are still wanting it.

I'm wanting to keep his legacy
Alive with his illegal liquor.

Narrator: they're going to
Sell it as tim's recipe,

And it should make a killing
In the territory left to tickle.

Tyler: we got to get this liquor
To virginia

And get it up there
Where tickle can get it gone.

Here's something
To cover that up with.

We'll hide them.

Here's no way that you're gonna
Be able to run illegal liquor

Without taking
Some kind of risk.

So if you ain't taking no risk,
You're not gonna make no money.

60 gallons.

Tickle: 60 gallons.
That's a pretty decent run.

60 gallons
Of high-proof liquor

Ought to make about
75 or 80 gallon

After we get it
All proofed down.

After we get it proofed down.
Yeah.

Yeah, it's gonna make
A whole lot more.

That's what I'm talking about.
Let's get the hell out of here.

Let's do it.

I'm at the point in my life,
I need the extra money.

This could be
My lucky break that I need

To finally make it easier on me.

Narrator:
Getting caught crossing any one
Of several state lines

On the 450-mile trip
Back to virginia

Will mean federal charges
And jail time.

That's a pretty good hike --
Virginia down through here.

Tickle: it is.
We got a long ways to go.

You think
We're all right, or...?

I mean, you know, you got to be
Careful bootlegging.

I know tyler -- he knows these
Roads right here real good.

So do you.

They all new to me.

Narrator:
Further east, josh and bill
Have their hopes pinned on

A last run of shine.

Let's take a look
At them.

They owe $1,200 to a shiner
With a reputation for violence,

And his patience
Is wearing thin.

[ sighs ]

Whoa!

You can get high
Off them fumes.

God.

[ slurps ]

It's working good.
That's turning to beer already.

You feel good about that?

Yes, sir.

I'm ready.

Right on.
Let's go run our hoses.

They've come up
With an ingenious plan

To speed the process

Of transferring the 55 gallons
Of mash to the still.

Let me get this thing
In the barrel.

Let's get it some juice.

Bill: we've got our mash

That's been working
In these two barrels over here.

We've got this other barrel.

We're gonna fill it up
With our mash.

Josh: ready?
Bill: oh, yeah.

Get it pressurized.

See if we can get this mash
Pumped down the hill.

Gonna be a little bit easier

Than dragging 5-gallon buckets
In the woods,

And we hope it's gonna work.

Basically the reason
We're doing this right now

Is 'cause our site's
Way the hell over there.

And without having to actually
Carry our mash over there,

We decided we're gonna pipe it
Over there.

Bill, I'm filling this thing up
With air.

We're gonna
Take this water hose

That's about
500 feet or so long,

And we're gonna run it
To our spot over there.

Then we add air to this,
Turn our spigot on,

And it pumps our mash
Right into our mash can.

Are you ready for me
To pump this down there to you?

Yeah, I got it ready to go.

All right.
I'm gonna turn it on.

Right on. Right on.

Ha ha.

This is probably the best batch
Of mash that we've ever made.

Alcohol content's good.

I don't see any way
That we're not gonna be able

To make a good run
Off this stuff.

Narrator: in north carolina,
Mark and jeff are up the creek.

They need to get their moonshine
Off the mountain

To make their final sales
Of the season.

But with their access road
Destroyed,

Their only transport option
Is to float the shine downriver.

The creek is swollen
From the heavy rains,

And the fast water is
Threatening to take their shine.

Without help,
Mark and jeff could lose

Thousands of dollars'
Worth of liquor.

Coming up...

Mike's in over his head.

Mike: and this is one of
The creepiest-looking places

You ever saw in your life.

Narrator: and jeff and mark
Go chasing waterfalls.

Narrator:
Just outside new orleans,

A shiner is on the biggest
Bootleg run of his career.

Mike: it's been a long trip.

I got to meet a guy up here
Somewhere, offload all this.

Narrator:
Mike is moving 24 gallons
Of shine hidden in gas cans

To a wholesaler in the big easy.

Now I got to get my money
And head back home.

Narrator: the closer he gets
To the hand-off,

The harder it is
To keep a low profile.

He just entered an area closely
Watched by law enforcement --

The new orleans
Industrial canal.

Completed in 1923,
This 5½-mile-long waterway

That connects lake pontchartrain
To the mississippi river

Has been used by bootleggers
Traveling down the mississippi

And rumrunners coming in
From the gulf of mexico

Since its creation.

Because of
Heavy shipping traffic,

The canal is patrolled

By both the n.O.P.D.
And the coast guard.

I'm just about down here
To the mouth of the river,

Pulling up to an old,
Abandoned factory

That got destroyed
In hurricane katrina.

I'm supposed to
Meet my buyer here.

Narrator: many of the businesses
Along the waterway

Were badly damaged
By hurricane katrina

And still remain abandoned.

Mike: this is where my buyer
Wanted to meet.

I've got no choice but to
Hang around until he gets here.

Narrator: as a result,

It's become
A favorite access route

For all variety of smugglers.

Mike: come on, fella.
Don't make me wait all evening.

Narrator:
Where there are smugglers,

There's sure to be coast guard.

Mike: come on, man. Come on.

No telling what kind of people
Hang out here in the evening.

It'll be dark pretty soon.

Narrator:
650 miles to the north,

Time is almost up
For josh and bill.

Josh:
How's it looking, man?

Bill: I say we're ready

To crank her up again.Right on.

They're brewing a batch of shine
To pay a $1,200 debt.

They only have time and supplies
For one more run this season,

So failure is not an option.

Right on, man.

Josh: we're really tight.
We owe this man the money.

He's liable to whip our ass,

So we don't want to
Burn a bridge,

And we definitely don't want to
Have to fight nobody.

God, I hope
This works out.

Bill:
She's about ready.

She's already heating up.

Man, we should start
Seeing liquor on that other end

In no time.

Oh, yeah.
It's in the worm now.

Josh: we're about
To make some moonshine

For the last time this season.

I'm really nervous
That it's gonna work.

I guess we'll just have to see.

We've got no choice

But for this to just
Turn out flawlessly, man.

I mean,
If this batch fails,

I don't know
What I'm gonna do.

I'm just ready to get it run
And get it sold,

Recoup
Some of this money.

Hell, man.

Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!

It smells good.

Got a real good bead
On it.

Let's get a taste
Of this stuff.

[ coughs ]
Whoo-hoo-hoo.

It's pretty good.
It's stout, though.

Man, it's about time

We made something worth drinking
And worth selling.

Ha ha!

It goes all the way down
Before it burns.

Josh:
Today we made good liquor.

Today was a really good step
In the right direction.

That is good.

Finally!

Thank you, lord.

Now there's only
One thing to do,

And that's sell moonshine.

Narrator:
One state to the north,

Jeff and mark are in a bind.

Jeff: you better hang on
To them there, mark.

It'll drag you off.

Their plan is
To float their shine downriver,

But it's not a two-man job.

There ain't no way two of us
Can handle them.

We'll have to get us somebody
To help us here.

With no other options,

They've had to bring in
Outside help.

Let's go see if we can
Get this stuff down the river.

If we go around,
We'll catch them down there.

I'm about just ready
To bust some keister in here.

Get ready.

Okay.

You ready?

Okay, mark.
Send them on!

Here they come.Okay.

Those ones, they's worth
A whole lot of money.

Catch the rope there.

I got it.

We're gonna lose them
If we don't watch it.

Hang on.

Hold steady, boy.

Hold that. Wait.
Get it, jeff.

Narrator:
Meanwhile, in kentucky...

Tickle, chico, and tyler
Are moving 60 gallons of shine

On back roads
All the way to virginia.

Tyler: I know these back roads
Pretty good,

But once we
Get out of this area,

I'm not real familiar
With what's going on up there.

I just hope everything
Will be good to go.

Narrator:
If all goes according to plan,

They'll be selling shine to
Tim's old customers within days.

Tyler:
Between these two vehicles,

We got enough liquor
To put us all in jail.

So we want to make sure we're on
The lookout for the law.

That's a pretty good hike --
Virginia down through here.

Tickle: it is.

The main thing
Is obey the speed limits,

You know, obey all the laws
On the road.

Don't give them no reason
To even look at you twice.

Right. Right.

You ever drove a car
On a boat?

Well, I ain't ever hauled
No liquor across a ferry.

That's for sure.

We can get on this boat,
Ride across, call it a day.

We'll get out to the other side
And make tracks.

It's a little different

Than when I've ever
Hauled liquor before,

But, you know,
It is what it is.

Welcome to kentucky.

God *bleep*

Man. Oh, hell.

I hope them jars is covered up
Good in the back of the truck.

We stuck now.
We can't go nowhere.

Just act cool and calm.

Narrator: coming up...

Josh and bill push their luck.

[ sighs ]

And the law uncovers
A moonshine gold mine.

Narrator: in north carolina,

Jeff and mark are struggling
To get their shine downriver...

...And into the hands
Of jeff's son lance

And his wife, lynn.

$500.

You know,
We sacrificed one barrel

To get the rest of them out.

Mark: [ chuckling ]
Yeah, a little bit.

Narrator:
To avoid more mishaps,

They carry the remaining buckets
Around the waterfall on foot.

Jeff: crap. Wait.
Handle come off of that.

Tough, ain't it, mike?

Mike: it's tough.

Mark: I'll get ahold of
The bottom one.

You walk that top one down
And come in at the bank with it.

We got it.

I got these.
You can take them in.

Narrator: the remaining shine

Will fetch around 7 grand
On the open market.

Mark:
We can make money other ways,

But I don't think
There's any better way

To make money than what we do.

Jeff: we've about made it.

Making moonshine is probably
The most exciting thing I do.

I know if I get caught,
I'm going to jail,

But, still yet,
I love to make it.

And when you get by with it,

It's just a feeling that
You can't explain, you know?

As long as time lasts,

I'd say there will be somebody
In these mountains

Making moonshine.

Narrator: 625 miles
To the south in new orleans,

Mike is in deep.

Mike: come on, man.
Let's get this over with.

Narrator: he's on track to meet
With the new orleans buyer.

Mike: I think this is my man.
I hope it is.

Narrator:
Mike is right to be worried.

This is one of
The heaviest patrolled waterways

In the country.

Mike: yeah, that's him.
I see him now.

This is the run that I've been
Trying to make for a long time.

Brought this guy just what
I said I would bring him.

I think I'm gonna be able

To take care of these people
Down here.

They buy a lot of moonshine,
And they like what I produce.

Maybe things will get better
From here.

Moonshine is something
That people love.

It's part of america.
It's part of our history.

There's just some kind of
A mystery to moonshine.

I don't know what it is,
But everybody likes it.

Narrator: back up north,
Sheriff's deputy chuck

Is dealing with the fallout
Of a moonshine war.

Chuck: there's pieces of it
All over the place.

It looks like it's been
Blowed up for some reason.

I don't know
Why anybody would do that

Unless it's just
To get back at somebody.

Narrator: all season long,
His c.I. Has fed him tips,

And they keep panning out.

The intel could be coming
From a rival moonshiner

Or someone
With a personal vendetta.

Either way, if the tip's good,
The law will take it.

Back in kentucky,
Tickle, chico, and tyler

Are moving 60 gallons
Of moonshine into virginia,

But they've run into
What could be a trap.

Just act cool and calm.

Tyler:
This is the last thing we need

Going across this river
With a load of liquor

And the damn law sitting
On the bank on the other side.

We stuck now.
We got to go right to them.

Hell, ain't neither one of us
Got a seat belt on.

It's too late
To snag them now.

They'll pull us over
For sure.

Tyler: damn.

[ beeping ]

That one's pulling out, man.

*bleep*

Narrator: coming up...

Chuck gets eyes
On north carolina moonshiners.

I used to be a rock climber

Until I got shot in the kneecap,

And that sort of
Took that out of the equation.

You know, I used to do
All kind of things

A lot more than I do now.

But when I got shot in my knee
And I blew my --

Well, first,
I blew this knee out,

And then I got shot
In this knee.

Plus, I broke this kneecap
In half.

So the whole water-skiing,
Rock climbing,

Snowboarding, skiing, all
That stuff has kind of just --

I can't really, really
Do it anymore.

I kind of have to just kind of
Know when to say no.

You know what I mean?

Narrator: in south carolina...

Josh and bill are working
Overtime, just to break even.

Josh: this run was crucial.
We owe out all this money.

Hopefully, we make a big lick,
We get it paid off.

Narrator: their fuel tank
Has been cleaned, repaired,

And filled with fresh shine.

We don't know
Anything about this.

Just hopping into it.

We're building our base
For our operation.

I just want to make sure
We don't get burned on this.

Josh:
I do not want to be out here
Peddling corks and gallons

To every tom, dick,
And harry.

But we're broke.

We owe the man
For the moonshine.

We're about to go under.

We have to do
What we have to do.

Narrator: their fuel tank
Was shot once before,

So they'll need to be
On high alert.

[ sighs ]

Here he comes.

What's going on, man?

Appreciate it, man.

Bill:
Man, it worth a damn selling
A gallon at a time to people.

We got to get away from this.

Oh, here's that guy.

How's it going, man?

Appreciate it, man.

See you next time.

Bill:
We've been through some trials
And tribulations this season,

But we might have some pretty
Good options in the future --

Where we're gonna get rid of
Our liquor.

Josh: hell, yeah, that's the way
It's done right there, dawg.

This run --
It put wind in our sails.

It gave us the drive
That we needed to continue on.

I'm just hoping and praying

That this was the turnaround
On our luck.

I love moonshine.

It has, like,
A mystique about it.

It has a past,
And our country was made on it.

If I got locked up,
I'd be making moonshine in jail.

Narrator:
350 miles to the northwest,

Tickle, chico, and tyler
Are trying to move their shine

From kentucky and into virginia.

Tyler: damn.

But the law has other plans.

Damn, that one's
Pulling out, man.

Tickle: oh *bleep*

There's lights back there
Behind tyler.

*bleep*
He done pulled over.

[ sighs ]
That went around.

Son of a bitch.
They running up on us.

Pull on over.

*bleep*

Oh *bleep*
They going on by.

Son of a bitch.

That's what
I'm talking about.

Oh, my god.

We need to
Get off this road

And get out of this area
Right now.

There's something
About that

That just don't
Sit right with me.

That was close,
Too close.

I hate to wish
Anything bad on anybody,

But I'm sure glad it was
That feller instead of us.

*bleep* man.
That's luck.

Look, man,
My *bleep*hole

Darn near bit a hole
In your seat.

I ain't gonna lie to you.

Chico: well,
In situations like this,

You can always
Look up and say,

"The good lord
Was shining on me."

[ laughs ]

Narrator:
As the sun sets on appalachia,
Another shining season ends.

Some are riding high.

We'll start you
With 10 cases, sir.

We'll make a phone call,
And we'll get it in here.

All right.

Let's put it together.Okay.

Narrator:
Some are laying low.

When you take that air cleaner
Out right there now,

I've got an air hose
Over there.

You probably want to
Just kind of blow it out.

Some found redemption.

Hey, man.

Here's some money.

Some beat all the odds.

Jeff: yeah.

But the law
Isn't done with them yet.

Right over in there
Is the drop-off point.

Should get a good shot of them
Coming out of the vehicle.

Could possibly
Get a license plate

Or something of that nature,
You know.

We'll come back...

See what we got on.