Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 7, Episode 1 - Snake Bitten - full transcript
Tim Smith has a visitor from his outlaw past, Mark and Digger get a sign from above in Tennessee, and Josh's favorite still hand has a brush with death.
♪♪
♪♪
Yeah. I consider it
A true blessing to be born
In these appalachian mountains.
This is where our forefathers
Hammered out a living
By whatever means necessary.
That meant making
A little homemade liquor.
It's very difficult
To be a moonshiner.
I'm trying to push the envelope
And move forward
Into the future.
I was at the still even
Before I can even remember.
It's a way of life for me.
Everybody here
Knows what I do.
They just don't talk about it.
This is our business,
And this is our heritage,
And this is going
To carry that life cycle
On to the next generation.
Moonshining
Is a cutthroat business.
When you're breaking the law,
There's nothing fair,
But it's just in our blood.
America was born on moonshine.
It's early spring in appalachia.
The days teem with life,
And the nights with fire.
Tiny blazes dot the hillsides,
Eyes into a hidden world
Where the only currency
Is your word,
And the unwritten rules are as
Old as the mountains themselves.
Those select few
Who can brave the wilderness,
Survive the backwoods
Gamesmanship, stay out of jail,
And keep the heritage
Liquor flowing,
Earn the name moonshiner.
Looks like
We got some company.
The long arm
Of the law reaches virginia.
They've been trying to
Arrest me for years.
He's got to be up to something.
In tennessee, a sign from above.
Are you *bleep* me?
Cutie pie!
And there's venom
In north carolina.
It's a copperhead.
Son of a bitch!
I'm sorry, baby.
♪ no one can hold me down ♪
♪ or make me change my ways ♪
♪ so don't waste your breath
Sayin' ♪
♪ crime never pays ♪
♪ goin' for a ride ♪
♪ runnin' to survive ♪
♪ when you're livin'
Outside the law ♪
♪ we're livin'
Outside the law ♪
This is how
We make the moonshine!
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
♪♪
Right now we're on our way
To this killer still site.
It's got good,
Fresh spring water
Right out of the side
Of the mountain.
It's real hard to get to.
That's a good thing
And a bad thing.
On the piedmont plateau,
A lone shiner
Traverses the backwoods
In search of a new location
To expand his craft.
When I was a kid,
I used to come up in here
On four-wheelers a lot.
We used to have to worry
About the train
When we rode up in here,
But, hell,
It don't come no more.
Josh is looking
For the rare site
That has three
Specific qualities --
Access to pure,
Mountain spring water,
Thick overhead coverage,
And seclusion from
The outside world.
Son of a bitch,
Another damn tree.
This year I want to make
As much moonshine as I can.
If I could just make
1,100 gallons, I'd be happy.
I plan on making my family
Recipe, the cherry bounce,
Because you get to charge
More money for it.
Holy *bleep*
♪♪
It don't look like
There's no way around this.
I think we're just
*bleep* out of luck.
It's too hard to get to,
And I ain't cutting no trees
Because anybody will know
I've been in here.
It's just too much damn trouble.
Josh is no stranger
To roadblocks.
Last season, after his shine
Reserves went up in flames
And he lost his finger
In an accident,
Josh looked to an old friend
For a new start.
-what's going on, big chuck?
-hey, man. What's going on?
That thing is flying,
Ain't it?
Josh and chuck
Winterized an old mill
To run shine year round.
Hey, hey, hey.
Somebody is here.
Who the *bleep*
Is that?
But just when things
Were looking up...
It's gonna cost us $8,000.
You've lost
Your *bleep* mind.
...The bottom
Dropped out once again.
Big chuck has gone back
To just being retired now,
And it's just too much work
For a 63-year-old man.
The spot at the railroad tracks
Just ain't gonna work,
But I still got one more idea.
I'm just gonna go where
My buddy, red dog's family,
Is known for making moonshine
On the side
Of the mountain, here.
I went to school
With his daughter.
I'm gonna go see
If he knows any good spots,
Somewhere where we can
Get good spring water.
I don't normally step outside
Of my inner circle
Of people that I trust.
If you bring people in that
You don't know
And you don't trust,
You never know what can happen.
Hey, there, josh.
What are you doing
Up in here?
I've been making liquor.
I got a pretty good setup,
But I've about
Exhausted all my spots,
And I don't have anywhere
To go right now.
So I was wondering
If you knew any spots
I might could make
A little setup.
I don't know.
You don't have police
Following you, do you?
Well, you've known me
My whole life.
I wouldn't pull no
*bleep* like that.
I just need a place to,
Dang, make some shine.
I've been knowing
Red dog my whole life.
I knew that he made liquor back
On these banks back in the day,
But it's just one
Of those things
That you kind of
Keep to yourself.
Well, if he says no,
I'm completely *bleep*
I'm fresh out of ideas.
I remember that time you got hit
In the top of the head
With a baseball when you
Was playing little league.
It didn't addle your brain
Forever, did it?
I don't remember that.
I do.
I remember it well.
You was crazy
When you was that tall.
I know a spot, maybe.
Has it got that water?
Oh, yeah.
Do I know the ones
That taught you
To make this moonshine?
Did you know old barney?
Oh, yeah.
I knew him well.
Played music with him
Back in the day.
He taught me about
All the secrets.
Yeah? He sure know
How to drink it.
I've known josh since
He was in diapers.
As long as he keeps
His mouth shut,
I'll help him
Any way that I can.
I hear it running.
This flows right out
Of the mountain?
It never runs dry.
It's got pretty good
Air cover.
Yes, it does.
If you let me set up in here,
I'll keep you supplied.
I'll give you
All you can drink.
How do you know how much
I can drink?
Finding a well-hidden
Still site is key
To a moonshiner's survival.
The cat and mouse game
Between law enforcement
And shiners began in 1791,
When in an effort to pay off the
Debt from the revolutionary war,
President george washington
Levied a tax on all alcohol.
Tax collectors were sent
To extract money from farmers
Who refused to pay.
This sparked a tit for tat,
Which culminated
In several agents
Being tarred and feathered.
The situation quickly spiraled
So out of control
That
President washington, himself,
Had to lead a militia
Of 13,000 men
To suppress the insurrection.
220 years later,
Law enforcement is more vigilant
Than ever with
Backwoods distillers
Who evade uncle sam.
Agents say they seized
65 gallons of moonshine.
In the last decade,
There have been more than 15,000
Moonshine-related arrests,
With penalties
Including crippling fines,
Property seizures,
And jail time.
Yet, year after year,
Thousands of shiners risk it all
To carry on their
Ancestral tradition.
♪♪
You know, back in the day,
We was trading moonshine
For just about everything.
Eggs and bacon and bread.
Hell, you could trade enough
For a car if you needed to.
In virginia,
Former outlaw tim smith
Is building his legal moonshine
Empire piece by piece.
Today, he needs gravel
For the road to his distillery.
We're gonna go
To the rock ground.
Said they got in
The gravels over there.
If they like moonshine,
We may make a deal.
♪♪
I want to trade that box
Of moonshine for the gravel.
Is that okay?
All right.
20 tons of gravel.
That's a good deal, right?
Well, you know, last season
I thought I was busy,
But it's more busy
Than ever now.
Last season...
All right, now.
Set it down.
...Tim began construction
On his dream distillery,
But the project went belly-up
After his largest order
Was canceled.
I got almost $2 million
Worth of moonshine
That is just sitting right here.
With bankruptcy looming,
Tim created a new product
And saved his brand.
Let's talk numbers.
All right.
I like it.
Now, with orders picking up,
Tim needs to finish
His expansion
So he can run
At maximum capacity.
-well, what do you think, j.T.?
-gonna spread some gravel?
Yeah.
Finally, huh?
J.T. Is coming of age.
He's doing a whole lot of work
Around the distillery.
I'm trying to build something
For my son to take over.
J.T. Does not have to do it,
But this is our business,
And this is my goal
Is to keep him motivated
Getting into this thing.
Let's see what this thing
Looks like, here.
Look like
We got some company.
-company?
-uh-huh.
-how you doing?
-all right.
I'm looking
For mr. Tim smith.
Well, as soon as I turned and
Looked, I recognized the guy.
It's abc agent jesse tate.
Jesse tate is one
Of the most feared
And respected lawmen
In the state of virginia,
And he's been hunting
The smith family for decades.
I'm a special agent with
The virginia department
Of alcohol beverage control.
Throughout tim's
Outlaw career in the backwoods,
Agent tate was on his heels
Every step of the way.
I want to see him go to the
Penitentiary for what they do.
Well, well,
You look familiar.
Yeah.
So do you.
What in the world
Is going on here, man?
We're looking at the guy
Who's arrested my brother,
Arrested my dad,
Arrested my uncle.
You know, he's been trying
To arrest me for years.
What's he trying to do?
He's got to be up to something.
Just thought I'd come by
And see you.
-yeah? Okay.
-yeah.
What do you want
To see me about?
Well, this.
♪♪
All right, bud.
We ought to be in a little
Bit better shape
Starting out this season.
We ought to be.
You know, we didn't break
That old steamer down.
It's just a matter
Of cleaning it up,
Getting us
A little masher going.
Deep in the great
Smoky mountains,
Two veteran shiners already have
A leg up on the competition.
We just try us out a little
Corn run, get started,
Get the barrels
All cleaned out.
Mark and digger are on their way
To mash in day one,
An advantage afforded to them
Because their site is still
Set up from last year.
Last season, mark and digger
Produced premium flavors
Such as hazelnut rum,
Cranberry shine
And their revolutionary
Mountain gin.
They're willing to pay
$500 a gallon.
The two veteran shiners
Had their best season ever,
Pumping out 928 gallons
Of handcrafted liquor.
Son of a bitch.
Is this getting heavier,
Or are we just getting
Older and fatter?
Yeah.
We're ready to go.
I mean, we got a still set up.
That's put us ahead of the game.
We should be able to make
1,100 gallons of liquor.
That might be closer
To retirement for us.
That's deer.
There must have been more
Wind up in here hit
Than we thought.
Wow.
Didn't have no idea
It blew like this.
Last winter, a big part
Of the smokies
Suffered a lot of devastation
Due to a big fire.
We've got
An all-out firefight
Continuing this morning
In the town of gatlinburg,
Tennessee.
We had severe
Drought conditions.
That added with unprecedented
Hurricane winds,
It was the perfect storm.
14 people perished,
And 14,000 others
Were evacuated
When an arsonist's
Match unleashed
Mother nature's wrath.
Fortunately, we didn't
Suffer any fire damage,
But we've had some
Terrible winds up here.
The deeper I get in,
The more leaves I see
And more branches.
A lot of branches down.
Hey.
Look over yonder
At them trees down.
Holy moly.
It snapped that
Like a twig.
Oh, hell.
Are you *bleep* me?
I wish I was, but...
*bleep*
Coming up....
I want to say another 10
To 15 minutes.
...The shine is flowing
In the blue ridge mountains.
Oh, that's still hot.
And in north carolina,
It's life or death.
It will be okay, baby.
Daddy is hurrying.
This is insane.
Back in tennessee,
Mark and digger
Are combing through
The wreckage after mother nature
Dropped a 20-ton poplar tree
On their still site.
I ain't never in my life.
I mean, it didn't
Just break this.
It uprooted
The whole thing.
We've got a full-grown
Poplar that's 60 foot high
Right through the middle
Of our still.
It couldn't be no more square
Right in the middle.
It's right across
That arm on the cap
On that second mash barrel.
It's now going to take
Mark and digger
At least 2 weeks
To set back up,
Which if spent shining,
Could have netted them up
To $15,000 in profit.
You know,
Working in the woods,
You face difficulties
All the time,
But we certainly
Didn't plan on coming in
And finding this monster tree
Laying across our still.
Is the pot salvageable?
This is okay, I believe,
Unless that arm, there,
Is kind of monkeyed up.
It's monkeyed up, flat.
Right now, we got to get
Our small stuff out of here,
Bring us some saws, and fuel
And oil in, and cut the tree.
Then we'll get this
Still out of here
And try and see
If it can be salvaged.
-you got that all right?
-I got it.
It will be dragging
The ground the time
I get to the road, but...
It is a pretty big hiccup,
But we're not laying under
That tree with that still.
That may have been
The end of one of us.
You know, the mountain giveth,
But the mountain
Will taketh, too.
♪♪
♪♪
So we're gonna go back to
The same site we had last year.
It was a good place
To run, and...
On the tennessee,
Carolina border, mark and mike
Are heading back to last year's
Still site.
Last season...
...Mark split up
With his long-time carolina
Shine partners,
Jeff and lance.
He joined forces
With a new still hand
In eastern tennessee...
My granddaddy run liquor.
It's been in my family
For 100 years.
...And the profits
Began to flow.
♪♪
It looks our furnace...
Yeah.
Ain't nobody been here.
There any left in it?
Whoo!
There we go.
That's the life of
A moonshiner's season,
Right there, plenty of water.
We got us a full pot coming.
All right.
Moonshine starts by
Mixing water, sugar and yeast
With any fruit or grain,
In this case, corn.
The combination, known as mash,
Is left to ferment
For about a week,
During which time the sugar
And starch in the mash
Convert to alcohol.
The fermented mash is then
Heated in the first chamber
Of the still,
Known as the pot.
The heat vaporizes
The alcohol from the mash,
Causing it
To rise up into the cap,
Then out through a pipe
Called the arm,
And over to the thump keg, where
Any residual water is deposited.
The purified alcohol vapor
Then moves through
Another arm to the condenser,
Where it's cooled back
Into liquid moonshine.
This season, I'd like to make
At least 1,200 gallons.
It's one of the reasons
I teamed up with mike.
He did good work.
All right, buddy.
That will work.
Put our pot in,
Fix the furnace,
And hook the worm up,
We'll be good to go.
Yeah, boy.
Now, we've mashed
In one more time, son.
Next thing, we'll just
Work our way over
To the flakes, there.
♪♪
Look like
We got some company.
-company?
-uh-huh.
Back in virginia,
There's a ghost
From tim's outlaw past,
Abc agent jesse tate.
What do you want
To see me about?
Well, this.
This is a legal distillery
That we built in here.
Well, that's a 4,000-gallon
Pot still, there.
4,000 gallons.
It's good
To see a legal one.
Yeah.
I've seen a lot of
Illegal ones in my day.
Yeah.
Yeah, I bet you have.
Why is he here?
I know it's got to be bad.
You know, what's he
Trying to do?
He's got to be
Up to something.
So I heard that
You was big legit...
-yeah. Yeah.
-...And going strong...
-yeah. Yeah.
-...And I retired.
Oh, you retired?
When I retired, I said I was
Gonna ride up and see you...
Okay.
...Kind of sit down and talk
To you a little bit.
Tell you what drove me
All these years,
And you can
Kind of tell me
What drove you
All these years.
He tells me he's retired.
I really think,
In the back of my mind,
That, you know,
I won this contest, here.
When he was trying to arrest me
When I was illegal
He never could,
And now that I'm legal,
He never will.
Over the years the guys
That did it illegally,
Well, they were
Trying to survive.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
It didn't change the fact
That it was still illegal...
That's right.
...And they could
Get caught for it.
That's right.
I agree on your side.
I understand you had a job,
But I'm also looking at,
You know, the revenue
That was gained.
Even though the money
Was created illegally,
But you look at there's a lot
Of houses that was bought,
And a lot of kids
Went to college
Because that was that extra
Income that they made
Because the regular
Infrastructure is not there.
I came down here to let
Him know why I did my job,
And I also want to hear
What drove him.
I certainly understand
Why he did what he did,
And I wish him
The best of luck.
Just glad to see it work
Out for you, man.
-okay. All right.
-good seeing you.
Don't let him work
You too hard.
Nope.
Well.
Well, that was a shock.
I'm telling you.
Hmm.
This season on "Moonshiners"...
-there we go.
-holy *bleep*
Moonshining is not easy.
Come on.
Easy.
If it was, then everybody
In the world would be doing it.
I ain't changed
A whole lot.
Today's not about
Making a big sale.
Today is about making a deal
That's gonna
Pay us all season.
I really don't want
The absinthe.
I don't care what
You do with it.
We need to build a bigger
Platform in the trees.
See these four?
This year it's gonna be
Out of sight, out of mind.
This season,
We're going to run two
Of our most popular
Moonshines -- mayhaw and pear.
There's no doubt in my mind
That this is groundbreaking.
A three-pump still.
This is the kraken.
So I got this idea.
So this is
Where you come in.
What was I thinking
Bringing a woman in the woods?
By god, that's liquor.
-whoo!
-we got water.
Get right there and I'll tell
You when you get it right.
I'm doing what
You're telling me.
God dang.
Watch the snakes.
Holy.
So this is happening right now.
Look at my trailer.
My stuff is burning.
Please get the fire
Department, man.
♪♪
I don't know how you got two
Headlights out
At the same time.
I don't know.
It's kind of funny.
Well, this one is broke.
If you got a light out,
That means you going
To get pulled over.
If you get pulled over,
And you got something
In the truck,
Then you in trouble.
In culpeper, virginia,
After the run-in
With jesse tate, tim and j.T.
Are taking a break
From the moonshine grind.
Seeing jesse tate really
Brought back those memories
Of being illegal
In the woods,
And I really want j.T.
To really appreciate,
You know, those roots
And where I came from.
You know what me
And your papa would do
When we couldn't
Do nothing else?
What did you all do?
We'd go ride around
And find another still site.
You know
What we ought to do?
We ought to go ride around
And find some places.
Okay.
So you can start
Thinking the way
I was thinking
When I was at your age.
Well, you know, every year
I set some kind of goal in mind,
And, you know, where can
We go in the future?
This year I'm thinking about
Taking him on a road trip.
We're gonna go back
To where I come from,
Back to pittsylvania county,
Back to franklin county,
And let him meet some
Of the old moonshiners,
And that way he can get
A little taste
Of what the real moonshine
Is in the backwoods.
He may even help me understand
What is out there now,
What's going on right now.
My dad and your papa,
We always carried a sample...
Yeah.
...So when we run
Into somebody,
We'll give them
A little taste.
See what
They think about it.
We'll see what
They think about it,
But also,
If they got something,
They gonna give us
A little taste of it, too.
Mm-hmm.
That way we can compare,
And we'll just make sure
We're on top of our game.
I feel like, kind of, nervous.
You know, I don't know exactly
What we're gonna get into,
But I am looking forward
To taking this road trip.
Put that headlight on.
Let's see if it works.
-all right.
I want to see if we did
Anything, here.
I'm trying to build a legal
Legacy of a moonshiner,
And I'm trying to leave
Something for j.T.
That he can carry on.
I want him to get it, that
This is where we come from.
Yeah.
We got headlights.
♪♪
♪♪
Yeah.
High on the tennessee
Blue ridge,
Mark and mike's mash
Has been fermenting for 7 days
And should be ready to run.
I've got a buyer
Lined up already,
And it's just the first
Of the season.
He's wanting 25
Gallons of liquor.
Oh, yeah.
It's ready.
May have to make a couple runs,
But me and mark got
To make that happen.
There she flies, buddy.
Mark, I believe we're
About full enough.
We're up to the cake
On her, now.
All right.
Me and mark, we work
Real good together.
We, pretty much, got a good
Game plan going on,
And we help each other,
And everything just
Goes pretty smooth.
All right, bud.
Sounds good.
That looks like
We're running, buddy.
You want to pull that
Fire back a little?
Yeah.
I'll go ahead and get them
Pads bowed out.
On a 100-gallon still,
The first
Pint and a half of shine
To run off contains
Poisonous methanol
And is thrown away.
Yeah.
It's running good.
Yeah. Let's take us
A good horn of it.
Wow.
-still hot.
-yeah.
I tell you what, bud.
It tastes good.
Yeah.
We've got a good run
Of liquor,
And we're looking to get roughly
15 gallons of good whiskey.
You ready?
-yeah.
Now I've got 25 gallons
To get sold out by next week.
That's a little short
Notice, you know,
But we need to hurry up,
Get in here, get the re-mash in
So we can get that
25 gallons to my customer.
Last one of the night
Right there, son.
♪♪
♪♪
Making moonshine ain't
All sunshine and butterflies.
It's a lot of damn hard work,
And it's really
A lot of hard work
When you're doing it
By yourself.
We gonna take this
Over to red dog's.
We're gonna get...
What's the deal with that?
You trying to tell me
You want some more jerky?
Let's see.
Look.
I'm sorry, baby.
In north carolina,
Josh finally
Has a well-hidden sight
To set up his still
And is one step closer
To getting his season
Off the ground.
I'm just glad to be
Getting back up and going,
So it feels pretty good to be
Setting my spot up, here.
Come on, cutie pie.
Cutie pie has been with me
For, like, 13 years.
She's an old-timer
At this point.
Cutie pie has really been
The only person
That stuck by my side.
This is josh's 11th shine season
With the brains
Of the operation, cutie pie.
How about it, cutie pie?
You gonna help me tote
Some of this stuff in here?
That's my best friend.
There can only be one cutie pie.
We just about got us
A still site.
You hear that?
Get down, get down.
♪♪
That's damn red dog.
You scared the *bleep*
Out of me.
What are you doing
Letting an old man like me
Sneak up on you?
Man, this is
Some kind of operation.
Fixing to be.
You doing all this
By yourself?
Unfortunately.
You want to help?
I'm a little old
For one this big.
You won't help me
Make no shine, huh?
No. I don't need to risk
Getting in trouble again.
You need a young guy
To come in.
You can teach him
The ropes.
I need two or three,
Where I can sit back.
Fine, then.
Two or three you could trust
And depend on
Might be the problem.
Finding any you can trust
And depend on.
See, that's the problem.
How soon will you have it
Dug out and level and ready?
I'll have this in by
The end of the evening.
I want to build, like,
A overhang over all this,
About 16-by-18
Or something.
I can probably help you
With that.
I got this old lumber.
Some of it
We might can use.
We'll drag some out
And see what you think.
Be careful.
It's got nails in it.
I think we'll find some usable
Stuff down in there.
Cutie pie!
You see her, dog?
Yeah.
She's right over here.
She's holding her leg up.
*bleep*
What's the matter, cutie pie?
Oh *bleep*
It's a copperhead.
Son of a bitch!
We got to go to the vet.
♪♪
You okay, cutie pie?
I'm sorry, baby.
It will be okay, baby.
Daddy is hurrying.
Cutie pie!
It's a copperhead.
We got to go to the vet.
On interstate 26,
Josh is in a desperate
Race against the clock.
Get cutie pie to a vet where she
Can get antivenom serum,
Or she dies.
As soon as we walked in to the
Vet, the vets took one look
At cutie pie,
And rushed her into I.C.U.
We'll need to make an assessment
As far as the physical site.
Will she need antivenom?
I don't have it.
Western carolina
Has antivenom.
They are
About 20 minutes away.
-*bleep*
-all right.
Good luck.
No, no. We're good.
Yeah, cheers.
Be safe.
♪♪
If something happens
To cutie pie,
I don't know what
I'm gonna do.
I'm freaking the *bleep*
Out, man.
I've had a couple of dogs
Get copperhead bit,
And they lived through it,
But they were younger.
She is freaking
Breathing like crazy.
It looks bad to me.
♪♪
-digger.
-huh?
I tell you what
We got to do now, buddy.
We got to keep an eye out
For each other
On these widow-makers.
-oh, yeah.
In tennessee, mark and
Digger are cleaning up
What's left of their site
After a 60-foot tree
Smashed their still.
Well, it isn't any
Secret that mine
And digger's goal
Is to make liquor,
But today we've got to
Clear off this old still
And see what we've got.
Let me gas this rascal up.
Fuel that puppy up.
Well, any moonshiner that ever
Hopes to be halfway successful,
You can't let these
Obstacles deter you at all.
If you're gonna be
In this line of work
And choose mother nature
As your opponent,
You have to work with her.
Boy, something about a chain saw
Makes you feel like you
Got six nuts
Instead of two, don't it?
Yeah. Especially since
I'm down to one.
You have to learn to adapt
And be resourceful.
This is what moonshiners have to
Do if they're gonna survive.
We're used to being thrown
Curves on a daily basis.
You go, hercules.
Oh, yeah.
That's too boogered up.
Look at that.
Look at it. It's warped
The whole damn thing up.
Well, we know
The lids are killed.
We know the frame
Is killed.
We can't fix that.
-I can't weld it that good.
It's damaged beyond repair.
There ain't enough bailing wire
And duct tape
In the redneck world to get us
Back on our feet with this.
If we try to spend a lot of time
Fixing this rascal,
Then we're just that
Much farther behind.
Yeah.
We got to come up
With a plan.
We got to make liquor.
I got a little something
I've been studying about,
And I'm thinking I want
To run a three-barrel still.
-really?
-three pots at one time.
You're saying the two twins
That we've already got...
Yep.
...And the great big one
In the middle.
Yep.
I don't know that
I can build that.
As far as we know, a three-pot
Still ain't never been used.
We've certainly never seen one.
Digger hopes to double
His and mark's production
By adding a third
300-gallon pot
To their existing
400-gallon two-pot system.
Alcohol vapors from mash
Being cooked simultaneously
In the three pots
Will travel down an arm,
Meeting at a junction box,
Or manifold, where
The vapors will blend
Before heading out
To the thump keg and condenser.
The benefits of this
Additional pot are two-fold.
First, with the added capacity,
A 700-gallon still will
Nearly double their yield
To 90 gallons per run,
Which can fetch mark and digger
About $13,500 in profits.
Next, blended liquors
Can be created
By putting different
Varieties of mash
In the still's three pots.
This technique is said to create
Smoother, subtler blends.
Can you imagine how much time
It's gonna take?
I've seen you build a cap
At nothing,
Half a day, in and out.
You can do it.
I got faith in you.
All right.
I don't know what I've
Let you talk me into.
You know, the great thing
About this is not only
Are we gonna increase
Our level of production,
It's gonna open us up
To a few more recipes.
I say we either sell
This son of a bitch,
Give it to somebody
Or put it in the scrap pile.
Let's just keep him for just
Dumb sentimental reasons.
Just a reminder how bad
*bleep* can get in the woods.
Yeah.
♪♪
Make a lot of liquor,
Sell a lot of liquor,
Make a lot of damn money.
That's what I like to do.
Over on the tennessee
Border, mark and mike
Need to run 10 gallons of shine
To complete their first
Order of the season.
When you've got buyers
Already lined up
Wanting your liquor
Before it's ever made,
You're doing something good.
Our first run yielded
15 gallons,
And we were real
Tickled about that,
So we don't see any problem
Why we can't get
25 gallons by next week.
You got any more
Buyers lined up?
Yeah. We got a lot of people
That buy liquor.
Well, we can get rid of
About anything we make.
Yeah.
I can guarantee that.
What the hell
Is that all about?
God, almighty.
No, sir.
No.
Construction equipment
Near mark and mike's site
Could mean logging
Companies are advancing
On their secluded
Piece of paradise.
Yep.
Uh-oh.
No. They starting to push
A road in here.
I've got a buyer lined up that
Wants 25 gallons by next week,
And I've got to make
That happen,
And I can't afford
To lose a customer.
What in the hell?
Coming up,
Josh's trusted companion
Is in the fight of her life.
She's too old for this.
She's my best friend.
We've got this big, old
Tree that the good lord
Saw fit to put right through
The middle of our still.
We're gonna make use
Of it the best way we can.
Historically, our predecessors
In this business,
Whatever hand they were
Dealt in the woods,
That's what they worked with.
We've got our coffee table.
I like to prefer that
As a bar.
Whiskey pusher.
We'll have to build a shelf
Under it now.
Put it in under?
Let's skedaddle,
Or do you want me
To leave you sitting there,
And you'll be there
When I come back tomorrow?
No. I need you to carve me
A recliner.
Oh, my god.
What in the hell?
Back on the tennessee border,
Mark and mike have a client
Expecting 25 gallons
Of moonshine by next week,
But their still site
Has been destroyed.
Oh, my god.
They've tore it all to hell,
Ain't they?
All of our mash is turned
Over, poured out.
*bleep*
What the hell are we
Gonna do now, son?
Everything's ruined.
All this hard work
We've done done.
I mean,
It's demolished.
Look at that furnace.
The only thing you can think is,
"What do we do now?"
Ain't my fault.
It ain't your fault.
No. No.
I know that.
It's just something
That happened.
I understand that 100%,
But, I mean,
How long do you think
It would take us to build
Another still site?
I can't do that.
You know what?
I, basically, I've
Promised this guy
25 gallons by next week,
And I've got to get it.
I understand that.
I know you can't help it,
But a handshake
Is a man's word.
I ain't never let nobody down,
And I don't intend to.
You know, I've got
A family to feed.
I've got to get
Some liquor sold.
Look, if you get
The still site set up,
I've got a still
At the house
I can just go
Set up and run.
Right.
All right, buddy.
♪♪
♪♪
Come on, people.
In north carolina,
Josh and red dog
Are racing to save
Cutie pie's life.
We were uncovering that lumber
Pile out by the cabin,
And a copperhead
Hit her on the leg,
And she hasn't moved since.
The way she's breathing
Is just freaking me
The *bleep* out, man.
She's stiff as a board.
State troopers hang out
Down here all the time.
They'll just have to follow
My ass to the vet.
I ain't pulling over for them.
Now, you're slinging
Her around, man.
Ease up.
It kind of worries me the way
Her tongue hangs out.
Come on, people.
I'm afraid she might have
A heart attack or something,
The way she's breathing.
Am I going right,
Or left, or straight?
You go straight,
Didn't he say?
Ah *bleep*
I don't know, man.
My brain ain't working.
When something
Like this happens,
There's about a million things
That run through your mind
In just about 2 seconds.
Life is short, man.
We forget how short it is.
We get all caught up in our work
And everything we're doing,
And sometimes we forget
About the small things,
The simple things that
Really make life great.
♪♪
Just open the door,
And I'll be right back.
Golly.
She's crapping herself, and it
Scares the *bleep* out of me.
My best friend.
She's too old for this.
That's what scares me
The most about it.
She's in bad shape,
Ain't she?
She's in trouble.
Cutie pie is a small dog,
And a copperhead
Can produce a lot of venom.
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
You got to get right here.
I can't stand over there
And see what
You're wanting me to do.
...A family on the brink
In north carolina...
I'm gonna slap the *bleep*
Out of you in a minute.
I'm doing what
You're telling me.
We're gonna have to bring in
Outside help
To build this stand.
...Thick as thieves
In kentucky...
I don't want to come
Across as threatening,
But if anybody finds out
Where I'm running liquor,
I'm dead in the water.
This is jail time.
*bleep* damn it.
...In tennessee,
Best laid plans go awry...
This is insane.
*bleep* damn it.
It ain't meant to be.
...And cutie pie
Desperately clings to life.
Having to walk away and
Just leave her on that table,
It kills me.
♪♪
Yeah. I consider it
A true blessing to be born
In these appalachian mountains.
This is where our forefathers
Hammered out a living
By whatever means necessary.
That meant making
A little homemade liquor.
It's very difficult
To be a moonshiner.
I'm trying to push the envelope
And move forward
Into the future.
I was at the still even
Before I can even remember.
It's a way of life for me.
Everybody here
Knows what I do.
They just don't talk about it.
This is our business,
And this is our heritage,
And this is going
To carry that life cycle
On to the next generation.
Moonshining
Is a cutthroat business.
When you're breaking the law,
There's nothing fair,
But it's just in our blood.
America was born on moonshine.
It's early spring in appalachia.
The days teem with life,
And the nights with fire.
Tiny blazes dot the hillsides,
Eyes into a hidden world
Where the only currency
Is your word,
And the unwritten rules are as
Old as the mountains themselves.
Those select few
Who can brave the wilderness,
Survive the backwoods
Gamesmanship, stay out of jail,
And keep the heritage
Liquor flowing,
Earn the name moonshiner.
Looks like
We got some company.
The long arm
Of the law reaches virginia.
They've been trying to
Arrest me for years.
He's got to be up to something.
In tennessee, a sign from above.
Are you *bleep* me?
Cutie pie!
And there's venom
In north carolina.
It's a copperhead.
Son of a bitch!
I'm sorry, baby.
♪ no one can hold me down ♪
♪ or make me change my ways ♪
♪ so don't waste your breath
Sayin' ♪
♪ crime never pays ♪
♪ goin' for a ride ♪
♪ runnin' to survive ♪
♪ when you're livin'
Outside the law ♪
♪ we're livin'
Outside the law ♪
This is how
We make the moonshine!
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
♪♪
Right now we're on our way
To this killer still site.
It's got good,
Fresh spring water
Right out of the side
Of the mountain.
It's real hard to get to.
That's a good thing
And a bad thing.
On the piedmont plateau,
A lone shiner
Traverses the backwoods
In search of a new location
To expand his craft.
When I was a kid,
I used to come up in here
On four-wheelers a lot.
We used to have to worry
About the train
When we rode up in here,
But, hell,
It don't come no more.
Josh is looking
For the rare site
That has three
Specific qualities --
Access to pure,
Mountain spring water,
Thick overhead coverage,
And seclusion from
The outside world.
Son of a bitch,
Another damn tree.
This year I want to make
As much moonshine as I can.
If I could just make
1,100 gallons, I'd be happy.
I plan on making my family
Recipe, the cherry bounce,
Because you get to charge
More money for it.
Holy *bleep*
♪♪
It don't look like
There's no way around this.
I think we're just
*bleep* out of luck.
It's too hard to get to,
And I ain't cutting no trees
Because anybody will know
I've been in here.
It's just too much damn trouble.
Josh is no stranger
To roadblocks.
Last season, after his shine
Reserves went up in flames
And he lost his finger
In an accident,
Josh looked to an old friend
For a new start.
-what's going on, big chuck?
-hey, man. What's going on?
That thing is flying,
Ain't it?
Josh and chuck
Winterized an old mill
To run shine year round.
Hey, hey, hey.
Somebody is here.
Who the *bleep*
Is that?
But just when things
Were looking up...
It's gonna cost us $8,000.
You've lost
Your *bleep* mind.
...The bottom
Dropped out once again.
Big chuck has gone back
To just being retired now,
And it's just too much work
For a 63-year-old man.
The spot at the railroad tracks
Just ain't gonna work,
But I still got one more idea.
I'm just gonna go where
My buddy, red dog's family,
Is known for making moonshine
On the side
Of the mountain, here.
I went to school
With his daughter.
I'm gonna go see
If he knows any good spots,
Somewhere where we can
Get good spring water.
I don't normally step outside
Of my inner circle
Of people that I trust.
If you bring people in that
You don't know
And you don't trust,
You never know what can happen.
Hey, there, josh.
What are you doing
Up in here?
I've been making liquor.
I got a pretty good setup,
But I've about
Exhausted all my spots,
And I don't have anywhere
To go right now.
So I was wondering
If you knew any spots
I might could make
A little setup.
I don't know.
You don't have police
Following you, do you?
Well, you've known me
My whole life.
I wouldn't pull no
*bleep* like that.
I just need a place to,
Dang, make some shine.
I've been knowing
Red dog my whole life.
I knew that he made liquor back
On these banks back in the day,
But it's just one
Of those things
That you kind of
Keep to yourself.
Well, if he says no,
I'm completely *bleep*
I'm fresh out of ideas.
I remember that time you got hit
In the top of the head
With a baseball when you
Was playing little league.
It didn't addle your brain
Forever, did it?
I don't remember that.
I do.
I remember it well.
You was crazy
When you was that tall.
I know a spot, maybe.
Has it got that water?
Oh, yeah.
Do I know the ones
That taught you
To make this moonshine?
Did you know old barney?
Oh, yeah.
I knew him well.
Played music with him
Back in the day.
He taught me about
All the secrets.
Yeah? He sure know
How to drink it.
I've known josh since
He was in diapers.
As long as he keeps
His mouth shut,
I'll help him
Any way that I can.
I hear it running.
This flows right out
Of the mountain?
It never runs dry.
It's got pretty good
Air cover.
Yes, it does.
If you let me set up in here,
I'll keep you supplied.
I'll give you
All you can drink.
How do you know how much
I can drink?
Finding a well-hidden
Still site is key
To a moonshiner's survival.
The cat and mouse game
Between law enforcement
And shiners began in 1791,
When in an effort to pay off the
Debt from the revolutionary war,
President george washington
Levied a tax on all alcohol.
Tax collectors were sent
To extract money from farmers
Who refused to pay.
This sparked a tit for tat,
Which culminated
In several agents
Being tarred and feathered.
The situation quickly spiraled
So out of control
That
President washington, himself,
Had to lead a militia
Of 13,000 men
To suppress the insurrection.
220 years later,
Law enforcement is more vigilant
Than ever with
Backwoods distillers
Who evade uncle sam.
Agents say they seized
65 gallons of moonshine.
In the last decade,
There have been more than 15,000
Moonshine-related arrests,
With penalties
Including crippling fines,
Property seizures,
And jail time.
Yet, year after year,
Thousands of shiners risk it all
To carry on their
Ancestral tradition.
♪♪
You know, back in the day,
We was trading moonshine
For just about everything.
Eggs and bacon and bread.
Hell, you could trade enough
For a car if you needed to.
In virginia,
Former outlaw tim smith
Is building his legal moonshine
Empire piece by piece.
Today, he needs gravel
For the road to his distillery.
We're gonna go
To the rock ground.
Said they got in
The gravels over there.
If they like moonshine,
We may make a deal.
♪♪
I want to trade that box
Of moonshine for the gravel.
Is that okay?
All right.
20 tons of gravel.
That's a good deal, right?
Well, you know, last season
I thought I was busy,
But it's more busy
Than ever now.
Last season...
All right, now.
Set it down.
...Tim began construction
On his dream distillery,
But the project went belly-up
After his largest order
Was canceled.
I got almost $2 million
Worth of moonshine
That is just sitting right here.
With bankruptcy looming,
Tim created a new product
And saved his brand.
Let's talk numbers.
All right.
I like it.
Now, with orders picking up,
Tim needs to finish
His expansion
So he can run
At maximum capacity.
-well, what do you think, j.T.?
-gonna spread some gravel?
Yeah.
Finally, huh?
J.T. Is coming of age.
He's doing a whole lot of work
Around the distillery.
I'm trying to build something
For my son to take over.
J.T. Does not have to do it,
But this is our business,
And this is my goal
Is to keep him motivated
Getting into this thing.
Let's see what this thing
Looks like, here.
Look like
We got some company.
-company?
-uh-huh.
-how you doing?
-all right.
I'm looking
For mr. Tim smith.
Well, as soon as I turned and
Looked, I recognized the guy.
It's abc agent jesse tate.
Jesse tate is one
Of the most feared
And respected lawmen
In the state of virginia,
And he's been hunting
The smith family for decades.
I'm a special agent with
The virginia department
Of alcohol beverage control.
Throughout tim's
Outlaw career in the backwoods,
Agent tate was on his heels
Every step of the way.
I want to see him go to the
Penitentiary for what they do.
Well, well,
You look familiar.
Yeah.
So do you.
What in the world
Is going on here, man?
We're looking at the guy
Who's arrested my brother,
Arrested my dad,
Arrested my uncle.
You know, he's been trying
To arrest me for years.
What's he trying to do?
He's got to be up to something.
Just thought I'd come by
And see you.
-yeah? Okay.
-yeah.
What do you want
To see me about?
Well, this.
♪♪
All right, bud.
We ought to be in a little
Bit better shape
Starting out this season.
We ought to be.
You know, we didn't break
That old steamer down.
It's just a matter
Of cleaning it up,
Getting us
A little masher going.
Deep in the great
Smoky mountains,
Two veteran shiners already have
A leg up on the competition.
We just try us out a little
Corn run, get started,
Get the barrels
All cleaned out.
Mark and digger are on their way
To mash in day one,
An advantage afforded to them
Because their site is still
Set up from last year.
Last season, mark and digger
Produced premium flavors
Such as hazelnut rum,
Cranberry shine
And their revolutionary
Mountain gin.
They're willing to pay
$500 a gallon.
The two veteran shiners
Had their best season ever,
Pumping out 928 gallons
Of handcrafted liquor.
Son of a bitch.
Is this getting heavier,
Or are we just getting
Older and fatter?
Yeah.
We're ready to go.
I mean, we got a still set up.
That's put us ahead of the game.
We should be able to make
1,100 gallons of liquor.
That might be closer
To retirement for us.
That's deer.
There must have been more
Wind up in here hit
Than we thought.
Wow.
Didn't have no idea
It blew like this.
Last winter, a big part
Of the smokies
Suffered a lot of devastation
Due to a big fire.
We've got
An all-out firefight
Continuing this morning
In the town of gatlinburg,
Tennessee.
We had severe
Drought conditions.
That added with unprecedented
Hurricane winds,
It was the perfect storm.
14 people perished,
And 14,000 others
Were evacuated
When an arsonist's
Match unleashed
Mother nature's wrath.
Fortunately, we didn't
Suffer any fire damage,
But we've had some
Terrible winds up here.
The deeper I get in,
The more leaves I see
And more branches.
A lot of branches down.
Hey.
Look over yonder
At them trees down.
Holy moly.
It snapped that
Like a twig.
Oh, hell.
Are you *bleep* me?
I wish I was, but...
*bleep*
Coming up....
I want to say another 10
To 15 minutes.
...The shine is flowing
In the blue ridge mountains.
Oh, that's still hot.
And in north carolina,
It's life or death.
It will be okay, baby.
Daddy is hurrying.
This is insane.
Back in tennessee,
Mark and digger
Are combing through
The wreckage after mother nature
Dropped a 20-ton poplar tree
On their still site.
I ain't never in my life.
I mean, it didn't
Just break this.
It uprooted
The whole thing.
We've got a full-grown
Poplar that's 60 foot high
Right through the middle
Of our still.
It couldn't be no more square
Right in the middle.
It's right across
That arm on the cap
On that second mash barrel.
It's now going to take
Mark and digger
At least 2 weeks
To set back up,
Which if spent shining,
Could have netted them up
To $15,000 in profit.
You know,
Working in the woods,
You face difficulties
All the time,
But we certainly
Didn't plan on coming in
And finding this monster tree
Laying across our still.
Is the pot salvageable?
This is okay, I believe,
Unless that arm, there,
Is kind of monkeyed up.
It's monkeyed up, flat.
Right now, we got to get
Our small stuff out of here,
Bring us some saws, and fuel
And oil in, and cut the tree.
Then we'll get this
Still out of here
And try and see
If it can be salvaged.
-you got that all right?
-I got it.
It will be dragging
The ground the time
I get to the road, but...
It is a pretty big hiccup,
But we're not laying under
That tree with that still.
That may have been
The end of one of us.
You know, the mountain giveth,
But the mountain
Will taketh, too.
♪♪
♪♪
So we're gonna go back to
The same site we had last year.
It was a good place
To run, and...
On the tennessee,
Carolina border, mark and mike
Are heading back to last year's
Still site.
Last season...
...Mark split up
With his long-time carolina
Shine partners,
Jeff and lance.
He joined forces
With a new still hand
In eastern tennessee...
My granddaddy run liquor.
It's been in my family
For 100 years.
...And the profits
Began to flow.
♪♪
It looks our furnace...
Yeah.
Ain't nobody been here.
There any left in it?
Whoo!
There we go.
That's the life of
A moonshiner's season,
Right there, plenty of water.
We got us a full pot coming.
All right.
Moonshine starts by
Mixing water, sugar and yeast
With any fruit or grain,
In this case, corn.
The combination, known as mash,
Is left to ferment
For about a week,
During which time the sugar
And starch in the mash
Convert to alcohol.
The fermented mash is then
Heated in the first chamber
Of the still,
Known as the pot.
The heat vaporizes
The alcohol from the mash,
Causing it
To rise up into the cap,
Then out through a pipe
Called the arm,
And over to the thump keg, where
Any residual water is deposited.
The purified alcohol vapor
Then moves through
Another arm to the condenser,
Where it's cooled back
Into liquid moonshine.
This season, I'd like to make
At least 1,200 gallons.
It's one of the reasons
I teamed up with mike.
He did good work.
All right, buddy.
That will work.
Put our pot in,
Fix the furnace,
And hook the worm up,
We'll be good to go.
Yeah, boy.
Now, we've mashed
In one more time, son.
Next thing, we'll just
Work our way over
To the flakes, there.
♪♪
Look like
We got some company.
-company?
-uh-huh.
Back in virginia,
There's a ghost
From tim's outlaw past,
Abc agent jesse tate.
What do you want
To see me about?
Well, this.
This is a legal distillery
That we built in here.
Well, that's a 4,000-gallon
Pot still, there.
4,000 gallons.
It's good
To see a legal one.
Yeah.
I've seen a lot of
Illegal ones in my day.
Yeah.
Yeah, I bet you have.
Why is he here?
I know it's got to be bad.
You know, what's he
Trying to do?
He's got to be
Up to something.
So I heard that
You was big legit...
-yeah. Yeah.
-...And going strong...
-yeah. Yeah.
-...And I retired.
Oh, you retired?
When I retired, I said I was
Gonna ride up and see you...
Okay.
...Kind of sit down and talk
To you a little bit.
Tell you what drove me
All these years,
And you can
Kind of tell me
What drove you
All these years.
He tells me he's retired.
I really think,
In the back of my mind,
That, you know,
I won this contest, here.
When he was trying to arrest me
When I was illegal
He never could,
And now that I'm legal,
He never will.
Over the years the guys
That did it illegally,
Well, they were
Trying to survive.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
It didn't change the fact
That it was still illegal...
That's right.
...And they could
Get caught for it.
That's right.
I agree on your side.
I understand you had a job,
But I'm also looking at,
You know, the revenue
That was gained.
Even though the money
Was created illegally,
But you look at there's a lot
Of houses that was bought,
And a lot of kids
Went to college
Because that was that extra
Income that they made
Because the regular
Infrastructure is not there.
I came down here to let
Him know why I did my job,
And I also want to hear
What drove him.
I certainly understand
Why he did what he did,
And I wish him
The best of luck.
Just glad to see it work
Out for you, man.
-okay. All right.
-good seeing you.
Don't let him work
You too hard.
Nope.
Well.
Well, that was a shock.
I'm telling you.
Hmm.
This season on "Moonshiners"...
-there we go.
-holy *bleep*
Moonshining is not easy.
Come on.
Easy.
If it was, then everybody
In the world would be doing it.
I ain't changed
A whole lot.
Today's not about
Making a big sale.
Today is about making a deal
That's gonna
Pay us all season.
I really don't want
The absinthe.
I don't care what
You do with it.
We need to build a bigger
Platform in the trees.
See these four?
This year it's gonna be
Out of sight, out of mind.
This season,
We're going to run two
Of our most popular
Moonshines -- mayhaw and pear.
There's no doubt in my mind
That this is groundbreaking.
A three-pump still.
This is the kraken.
So I got this idea.
So this is
Where you come in.
What was I thinking
Bringing a woman in the woods?
By god, that's liquor.
-whoo!
-we got water.
Get right there and I'll tell
You when you get it right.
I'm doing what
You're telling me.
God dang.
Watch the snakes.
Holy.
So this is happening right now.
Look at my trailer.
My stuff is burning.
Please get the fire
Department, man.
♪♪
I don't know how you got two
Headlights out
At the same time.
I don't know.
It's kind of funny.
Well, this one is broke.
If you got a light out,
That means you going
To get pulled over.
If you get pulled over,
And you got something
In the truck,
Then you in trouble.
In culpeper, virginia,
After the run-in
With jesse tate, tim and j.T.
Are taking a break
From the moonshine grind.
Seeing jesse tate really
Brought back those memories
Of being illegal
In the woods,
And I really want j.T.
To really appreciate,
You know, those roots
And where I came from.
You know what me
And your papa would do
When we couldn't
Do nothing else?
What did you all do?
We'd go ride around
And find another still site.
You know
What we ought to do?
We ought to go ride around
And find some places.
Okay.
So you can start
Thinking the way
I was thinking
When I was at your age.
Well, you know, every year
I set some kind of goal in mind,
And, you know, where can
We go in the future?
This year I'm thinking about
Taking him on a road trip.
We're gonna go back
To where I come from,
Back to pittsylvania county,
Back to franklin county,
And let him meet some
Of the old moonshiners,
And that way he can get
A little taste
Of what the real moonshine
Is in the backwoods.
He may even help me understand
What is out there now,
What's going on right now.
My dad and your papa,
We always carried a sample...
Yeah.
...So when we run
Into somebody,
We'll give them
A little taste.
See what
They think about it.
We'll see what
They think about it,
But also,
If they got something,
They gonna give us
A little taste of it, too.
Mm-hmm.
That way we can compare,
And we'll just make sure
We're on top of our game.
I feel like, kind of, nervous.
You know, I don't know exactly
What we're gonna get into,
But I am looking forward
To taking this road trip.
Put that headlight on.
Let's see if it works.
-all right.
I want to see if we did
Anything, here.
I'm trying to build a legal
Legacy of a moonshiner,
And I'm trying to leave
Something for j.T.
That he can carry on.
I want him to get it, that
This is where we come from.
Yeah.
We got headlights.
♪♪
♪♪
Yeah.
High on the tennessee
Blue ridge,
Mark and mike's mash
Has been fermenting for 7 days
And should be ready to run.
I've got a buyer
Lined up already,
And it's just the first
Of the season.
He's wanting 25
Gallons of liquor.
Oh, yeah.
It's ready.
May have to make a couple runs,
But me and mark got
To make that happen.
There she flies, buddy.
Mark, I believe we're
About full enough.
We're up to the cake
On her, now.
All right.
Me and mark, we work
Real good together.
We, pretty much, got a good
Game plan going on,
And we help each other,
And everything just
Goes pretty smooth.
All right, bud.
Sounds good.
That looks like
We're running, buddy.
You want to pull that
Fire back a little?
Yeah.
I'll go ahead and get them
Pads bowed out.
On a 100-gallon still,
The first
Pint and a half of shine
To run off contains
Poisonous methanol
And is thrown away.
Yeah.
It's running good.
Yeah. Let's take us
A good horn of it.
Wow.
-still hot.
-yeah.
I tell you what, bud.
It tastes good.
Yeah.
We've got a good run
Of liquor,
And we're looking to get roughly
15 gallons of good whiskey.
You ready?
-yeah.
Now I've got 25 gallons
To get sold out by next week.
That's a little short
Notice, you know,
But we need to hurry up,
Get in here, get the re-mash in
So we can get that
25 gallons to my customer.
Last one of the night
Right there, son.
♪♪
♪♪
Making moonshine ain't
All sunshine and butterflies.
It's a lot of damn hard work,
And it's really
A lot of hard work
When you're doing it
By yourself.
We gonna take this
Over to red dog's.
We're gonna get...
What's the deal with that?
You trying to tell me
You want some more jerky?
Let's see.
Look.
I'm sorry, baby.
In north carolina,
Josh finally
Has a well-hidden sight
To set up his still
And is one step closer
To getting his season
Off the ground.
I'm just glad to be
Getting back up and going,
So it feels pretty good to be
Setting my spot up, here.
Come on, cutie pie.
Cutie pie has been with me
For, like, 13 years.
She's an old-timer
At this point.
Cutie pie has really been
The only person
That stuck by my side.
This is josh's 11th shine season
With the brains
Of the operation, cutie pie.
How about it, cutie pie?
You gonna help me tote
Some of this stuff in here?
That's my best friend.
There can only be one cutie pie.
We just about got us
A still site.
You hear that?
Get down, get down.
♪♪
That's damn red dog.
You scared the *bleep*
Out of me.
What are you doing
Letting an old man like me
Sneak up on you?
Man, this is
Some kind of operation.
Fixing to be.
You doing all this
By yourself?
Unfortunately.
You want to help?
I'm a little old
For one this big.
You won't help me
Make no shine, huh?
No. I don't need to risk
Getting in trouble again.
You need a young guy
To come in.
You can teach him
The ropes.
I need two or three,
Where I can sit back.
Fine, then.
Two or three you could trust
And depend on
Might be the problem.
Finding any you can trust
And depend on.
See, that's the problem.
How soon will you have it
Dug out and level and ready?
I'll have this in by
The end of the evening.
I want to build, like,
A overhang over all this,
About 16-by-18
Or something.
I can probably help you
With that.
I got this old lumber.
Some of it
We might can use.
We'll drag some out
And see what you think.
Be careful.
It's got nails in it.
I think we'll find some usable
Stuff down in there.
Cutie pie!
You see her, dog?
Yeah.
She's right over here.
She's holding her leg up.
*bleep*
What's the matter, cutie pie?
Oh *bleep*
It's a copperhead.
Son of a bitch!
We got to go to the vet.
♪♪
You okay, cutie pie?
I'm sorry, baby.
It will be okay, baby.
Daddy is hurrying.
Cutie pie!
It's a copperhead.
We got to go to the vet.
On interstate 26,
Josh is in a desperate
Race against the clock.
Get cutie pie to a vet where she
Can get antivenom serum,
Or she dies.
As soon as we walked in to the
Vet, the vets took one look
At cutie pie,
And rushed her into I.C.U.
We'll need to make an assessment
As far as the physical site.
Will she need antivenom?
I don't have it.
Western carolina
Has antivenom.
They are
About 20 minutes away.
-*bleep*
-all right.
Good luck.
No, no. We're good.
Yeah, cheers.
Be safe.
♪♪
If something happens
To cutie pie,
I don't know what
I'm gonna do.
I'm freaking the *bleep*
Out, man.
I've had a couple of dogs
Get copperhead bit,
And they lived through it,
But they were younger.
She is freaking
Breathing like crazy.
It looks bad to me.
♪♪
-digger.
-huh?
I tell you what
We got to do now, buddy.
We got to keep an eye out
For each other
On these widow-makers.
-oh, yeah.
In tennessee, mark and
Digger are cleaning up
What's left of their site
After a 60-foot tree
Smashed their still.
Well, it isn't any
Secret that mine
And digger's goal
Is to make liquor,
But today we've got to
Clear off this old still
And see what we've got.
Let me gas this rascal up.
Fuel that puppy up.
Well, any moonshiner that ever
Hopes to be halfway successful,
You can't let these
Obstacles deter you at all.
If you're gonna be
In this line of work
And choose mother nature
As your opponent,
You have to work with her.
Boy, something about a chain saw
Makes you feel like you
Got six nuts
Instead of two, don't it?
Yeah. Especially since
I'm down to one.
You have to learn to adapt
And be resourceful.
This is what moonshiners have to
Do if they're gonna survive.
We're used to being thrown
Curves on a daily basis.
You go, hercules.
Oh, yeah.
That's too boogered up.
Look at that.
Look at it. It's warped
The whole damn thing up.
Well, we know
The lids are killed.
We know the frame
Is killed.
We can't fix that.
-I can't weld it that good.
It's damaged beyond repair.
There ain't enough bailing wire
And duct tape
In the redneck world to get us
Back on our feet with this.
If we try to spend a lot of time
Fixing this rascal,
Then we're just that
Much farther behind.
Yeah.
We got to come up
With a plan.
We got to make liquor.
I got a little something
I've been studying about,
And I'm thinking I want
To run a three-barrel still.
-really?
-three pots at one time.
You're saying the two twins
That we've already got...
Yep.
...And the great big one
In the middle.
Yep.
I don't know that
I can build that.
As far as we know, a three-pot
Still ain't never been used.
We've certainly never seen one.
Digger hopes to double
His and mark's production
By adding a third
300-gallon pot
To their existing
400-gallon two-pot system.
Alcohol vapors from mash
Being cooked simultaneously
In the three pots
Will travel down an arm,
Meeting at a junction box,
Or manifold, where
The vapors will blend
Before heading out
To the thump keg and condenser.
The benefits of this
Additional pot are two-fold.
First, with the added capacity,
A 700-gallon still will
Nearly double their yield
To 90 gallons per run,
Which can fetch mark and digger
About $13,500 in profits.
Next, blended liquors
Can be created
By putting different
Varieties of mash
In the still's three pots.
This technique is said to create
Smoother, subtler blends.
Can you imagine how much time
It's gonna take?
I've seen you build a cap
At nothing,
Half a day, in and out.
You can do it.
I got faith in you.
All right.
I don't know what I've
Let you talk me into.
You know, the great thing
About this is not only
Are we gonna increase
Our level of production,
It's gonna open us up
To a few more recipes.
I say we either sell
This son of a bitch,
Give it to somebody
Or put it in the scrap pile.
Let's just keep him for just
Dumb sentimental reasons.
Just a reminder how bad
*bleep* can get in the woods.
Yeah.
♪♪
Make a lot of liquor,
Sell a lot of liquor,
Make a lot of damn money.
That's what I like to do.
Over on the tennessee
Border, mark and mike
Need to run 10 gallons of shine
To complete their first
Order of the season.
When you've got buyers
Already lined up
Wanting your liquor
Before it's ever made,
You're doing something good.
Our first run yielded
15 gallons,
And we were real
Tickled about that,
So we don't see any problem
Why we can't get
25 gallons by next week.
You got any more
Buyers lined up?
Yeah. We got a lot of people
That buy liquor.
Well, we can get rid of
About anything we make.
Yeah.
I can guarantee that.
What the hell
Is that all about?
God, almighty.
No, sir.
No.
Construction equipment
Near mark and mike's site
Could mean logging
Companies are advancing
On their secluded
Piece of paradise.
Yep.
Uh-oh.
No. They starting to push
A road in here.
I've got a buyer lined up that
Wants 25 gallons by next week,
And I've got to make
That happen,
And I can't afford
To lose a customer.
What in the hell?
Coming up,
Josh's trusted companion
Is in the fight of her life.
She's too old for this.
She's my best friend.
We've got this big, old
Tree that the good lord
Saw fit to put right through
The middle of our still.
We're gonna make use
Of it the best way we can.
Historically, our predecessors
In this business,
Whatever hand they were
Dealt in the woods,
That's what they worked with.
We've got our coffee table.
I like to prefer that
As a bar.
Whiskey pusher.
We'll have to build a shelf
Under it now.
Put it in under?
Let's skedaddle,
Or do you want me
To leave you sitting there,
And you'll be there
When I come back tomorrow?
No. I need you to carve me
A recliner.
Oh, my god.
What in the hell?
Back on the tennessee border,
Mark and mike have a client
Expecting 25 gallons
Of moonshine by next week,
But their still site
Has been destroyed.
Oh, my god.
They've tore it all to hell,
Ain't they?
All of our mash is turned
Over, poured out.
*bleep*
What the hell are we
Gonna do now, son?
Everything's ruined.
All this hard work
We've done done.
I mean,
It's demolished.
Look at that furnace.
The only thing you can think is,
"What do we do now?"
Ain't my fault.
It ain't your fault.
No. No.
I know that.
It's just something
That happened.
I understand that 100%,
But, I mean,
How long do you think
It would take us to build
Another still site?
I can't do that.
You know what?
I, basically, I've
Promised this guy
25 gallons by next week,
And I've got to get it.
I understand that.
I know you can't help it,
But a handshake
Is a man's word.
I ain't never let nobody down,
And I don't intend to.
You know, I've got
A family to feed.
I've got to get
Some liquor sold.
Look, if you get
The still site set up,
I've got a still
At the house
I can just go
Set up and run.
Right.
All right, buddy.
♪♪
♪♪
Come on, people.
In north carolina,
Josh and red dog
Are racing to save
Cutie pie's life.
We were uncovering that lumber
Pile out by the cabin,
And a copperhead
Hit her on the leg,
And she hasn't moved since.
The way she's breathing
Is just freaking me
The *bleep* out, man.
She's stiff as a board.
State troopers hang out
Down here all the time.
They'll just have to follow
My ass to the vet.
I ain't pulling over for them.
Now, you're slinging
Her around, man.
Ease up.
It kind of worries me the way
Her tongue hangs out.
Come on, people.
I'm afraid she might have
A heart attack or something,
The way she's breathing.
Am I going right,
Or left, or straight?
You go straight,
Didn't he say?
Ah *bleep*
I don't know, man.
My brain ain't working.
When something
Like this happens,
There's about a million things
That run through your mind
In just about 2 seconds.
Life is short, man.
We forget how short it is.
We get all caught up in our work
And everything we're doing,
And sometimes we forget
About the small things,
The simple things that
Really make life great.
♪♪
Just open the door,
And I'll be right back.
Golly.
She's crapping herself, and it
Scares the *bleep* out of me.
My best friend.
She's too old for this.
That's what scares me
The most about it.
She's in bad shape,
Ain't she?
She's in trouble.
Cutie pie is a small dog,
And a copperhead
Can produce a lot of venom.
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
You got to get right here.
I can't stand over there
And see what
You're wanting me to do.
...A family on the brink
In north carolina...
I'm gonna slap the *bleep*
Out of you in a minute.
I'm doing what
You're telling me.
We're gonna have to bring in
Outside help
To build this stand.
...Thick as thieves
In kentucky...
I don't want to come
Across as threatening,
But if anybody finds out
Where I'm running liquor,
I'm dead in the water.
This is jail time.
*bleep* damn it.
...In tennessee,
Best laid plans go awry...
This is insane.
*bleep* damn it.
It ain't meant to be.
...And cutie pie
Desperately clings to life.
Having to walk away and
Just leave her on that table,
It kills me.