Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 7, Episode 14 - High and Dry - full transcript

On this episode of
"Moonshiners"...

We almost got this, man.
I'm excited.

...The waterwheel of
Misfortune in north carolina...

Eyeball her in there.

Ohh!

It come out again.

...Keeping
The flame alive in tennessee...

That middle one
Has went out.

Damn it. This could
Cause the whole run to go south.

There goes a helicopter
Right yonder.

That's the coast guard.
That ain't good.



...And even in the gulf,
There's no escape from the law.

What the heck?

♪♪

♪ 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

♪♪

What you got?
It's 39 1/2,

So just do it
Just a touch.



In north carolina,

Josh and chuck
Are apply backwoods ingenuity

To build a waterwheel that'll
Power their moonshine operation

Through the oncoming
Cold weather.

It's getting cooler outside.

I need to heat my mash room

Because yeast goes dormant
When it gets cold,

And the way
I'm going to do that,

Me and chuck have started
Working on this waterwheel,

And we're going to make
Renewable energy off the creek.

We'll see.

Me and chuck got
A bunch of mash

Working off
Of this 175-gallon run

Of plum brandy
We promised to these bikers.

I can't afford
To screw this up.

After losing that
150 gallons of cherry bounce...

This ain't happening.
All my stuff is burning!

Look! Aah!

...This biker is giving me
Another chance to save my neck.

If I can just get it
All put together,

We could make moonshine
All winter long.

I don't like how
Woppy-jawed that is.

Oh, we going to straighten
It up with this.

"Woppy-jawed" means
Out of whack, you know?

Woppy-jawed is like this,
You know? A little bit off.

I think I may have been
Woppy-jawed

When I come out of the womb.

We almost got this, man.
I'm excited.

Most people would look at this
As a bunch of junk,

But I look it as a way
To renew some energy.

Pretty much everything
In this waterwheel is recycled.

I got some bicycle wheels,
Soup cans,

And a metal ring
Off my mother's table,

But basically,
If I have to abandon my site,

I don't have
This expensive generator

That I'm going to
Have to leave behind,

And I'm going to lose.

Eyeball her in there.Last one.

Ohh!

I'll kill you.

Did you see me?
I was like...

So, we finally got
This thing built.

It looks like something
Off a "Mad max" movie,

Looks kind of crazy,
But just crazy enough to work.

Hell, yeah.That's it right there.

That's it, buddy.You like it?

Yeah.

All right, so, basically,
What we have here,

This wheel spins
Because water falls

In the top
Of the cans there.

That energy turns the belt,
The belt turns the alternator,

And that goes to an inverter,
And, bam, we've got electricity.

Now that the waterwheel
Is built,

We could take it to the site

And get it set up during
This big run of plum brandy.

One man's junk is
Another man's treasure.

Hell, yeah.

♪♪

This stuff -- I hope it's ready.
I'm ready to run it.

Heck, yeah.

I'm optimistic.
I feel like it's going to be.

In cocke county,
Mark and digger are bringing in

Veteran shiner j.B. Rader

To help them run
Their enormous three-pot still.

Moonshine season windows are
Slamming shut on us in a hurry.

There's no time for error.

There's no time to wait.

If we're going to hit our goal,

This run of liquor
Has to be perfect.

We're coming in today.

The plan is to run
The muscadine rye.

We're kind of got
Our fingers crossed

That both of our mashes are done
Fermenting together.

We've got a rye mash,
And we've got a muscadine mash.

If the muscadine is not
Finished, then we can't run.

God, I smell it
Already.

Well, we got to conquer
And divide right here.

We don't want to run one
Without the other.

If the rye is ready
And the grape is not,

That's going to cause
Even more problems

Because that rye mash
Will sour and turn to vinegar

Before we know it.

I'm going to take a lid off
Of this rascal and just see.

♪♪

Deader than last
Year's calendar.

There we go.
Ready to run.

Let's see what this one
Looks like, digger.

Oh, yeah.

This one is
Through working.

Get you a little slurp
Of that, j.B.?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, ain't no fermentation
Left in it hardly.

No.
Well, digger, j.B.,

We ain't out
Of the weeds yet.

These are good.

If we're good on the rye,
You know, we're gold.

Please, please, rye,
Be ready.

Oh, yeah.

We got pump the goody
Over here.

We're fortunate in the fact
That both these mashes

Have finished in time.

It's coming to you,
Buddy.

Yes, it is.
I can feel it.

Oh, yeah.

We mashed in, in the pots,
So our rye is already there,

But we've got to pump these
Six barrels into the twins.

Here we go.

For their
Specialty muscadine rye,

Mark and digger will fill
Each of the 200-gallon pots

With grape mash
While the single 300-gallon pot

Will be filled with rye mash.

You know, seems like
We got lucky this time.

Hey, j.B.,
Line them up right there.

All that remains now,
We got to light this rascal up,

And if it produces any yield
Like we hope that it will...

There you go.

...Then, you know, that etches
Us closer to our season goal.

Big sloppy. She ain't pretty,
But she's got a good heart.

Things are headed in
The right direction for us.

Let's light
Big sloppy.

Come on!

Because the liquor
Will be vapor-blended,

They'll need to carefully
Monitor the heat

On each of the three pots
To be certain that the alcohol

Combines in
The correct proportion.

♪♪

Everything seems to be
Going our way for a change.

The mash is good, got them all
Three burning, making liquor.

This is what it's about
Right here right now.

Oh, it's looking good
On this end.

They're
Working perfect.

To ensure
Proper temperature regulation

For all three pots, each shiner
Is managing one of the burners.

We got to get the fruit flavor
And the rye flavor

Coming out
About the same, you know.

We don't want one
Overpowering the other one.

Oh, hell, j.B., I throwed
Your walking stick on the fire.

It's going to take a long
Time cook this liquor

Off these three pots,

But the payoff is
It's higher-dollar liquor.

Every one of these recipes,
About twice much work

Than there is on
Normal run of liquor.

We've got a shallow window
To deal with,

And we don't want
To screw this up.

Did you do that?

I figure the middle one's
Went out, digger.

Huh?

That middle one has went out.
Let's light it back up.

We're not sure what's going on
With big sloppy and her burner.

♪♪

-it come out again.
-damn it.

The vapors need
To converge together

In the thump keg, and they need
To be ready at the same time.

If we can't get big sloppy's
Burner to cooperate with us,

Then we're not going to get
Any rye flavor at all.

We can't have this,
I'm telling you.

Cut both them off!
Cut them all three off!

This ain't no good.

♪♪

♪♪

I'm ready to get this sassafras
Run, see what it taste like.

I know.
That first run was nasty.

In louisiana,
With only a couple of months

Left in the season,
Patti and david

Have sunk time and resources
Into a sassafras shine

That has yet to pay off.

That's the thing
About experimenting --

You don't ever know.

Now they're counting on

Adding their enhanced
Sassafras recipe

To the other flavors
They've stockpiled in order

To meet a looming 120-gallon
Order to the gulf of mexico

That could net them 18 grand.

Let's go check
The mash out.

Our first run of our sassafras
Did not turn out whatsoever.

It tasted terrible.

Well, cupcake,
Think it's ready?

Yeah, I smell it.

The first run,
Our sassafras mash

Was just sugar water and roots.

When we mash in this time,
We put corn in there,

Trying to get some of that
Little sweeter taste in there.

You got to experiment.

That don't work,
Try something else.

Ooh.Oh, yeah, it's ready.

Damn. Smell that?Mm-hmm.

It smells way better
Than the first one.

♪♪

That's good.
I think it's ready to run.

I do, too. Let's get that pump
And stuff up here.

Smells pretty good.
Might work.

You ready?
Okay, daddy.

♪♪

Dang. That's quick
This time.

We're going to be
Going down to the gulf

For this big 120-gallon sale
To one person.

We've got
A set-aside pair in mayhaw.

We're going to pair that
With this sassafras shine

To meet this order.

Okay, that's enough.

We've got to get
This sassafras run right

To finally get
This order done.

Put us a fire
Under it.

♪♪

Going to be a good one.

While we're
Letting these heat up,

We need to get
These buckets done.

All right.

We've come up
With this plan

As far as transporting
This shine down south.

I've got some of these
White 4-gallon buckets

That we're going to use
To put the shine in,

And then we're going
To set that bucket

Inside the 5-gallon bucket,
Put the lid on it,

Put a little bit of ice,
A little bit of shrimp.

We'll look like
We're delivering bait.

Look at that.Man, don't I look good?

Bait master.
Yeah.

"Best bait in the gulf."

We are the bait masters.

Starting to come out.

All right.
We getting them, girl.

Yeah, buddy.

You can smell
The sassafras.

Sassafras, it may pay off,
And it may not.

That's just the chance
You got to take

When you're a moonshiner.

Let's pour
The heads off.

Here, daddy,
Taste it.

♪♪

Pretty good.

That's going to
Be good there.

It's way better than
That first batch we done.

You can taste the corn
And the sassafras.

Give me a --
I want another drink.

This successful run
Of 10 gallons

Of sassafras liquor completes
Their 120-gallon order.

Looks good.
Looks professional, don't it?

Good idea, wasn't it?

Your best idea this year,
You know what it was?

Having me
As your partner.

So, we got to cool
All of them.

We ain't blending
Any rye.

We ain't blending nothing.

Hopes extinguished in tennessee.

God almighty.

♪♪

What's it doing?

It come out again.

We can't have this,
I'm telling you.

This could cause
The whole run to go south.

In tennessee, a faulty
Burner threatens to tank

Mark and digger's most critical
Run of the season.

Cut both them off!
Cut them all three off!

Winter's steady approach

Leaves little time
For second chances.

Failure to fix the burner
Not only means an end to the run

But would put their
Season goal out of reach.

Damn it.This ain't no good.

The problem with this burner
Not burning right is this rye

Is the most important factor
Of this run right here.

We've got to have
The right heat under this pot

To bring the right flavor
Of rye into this mix.

Don't cool that one.

We got to cool
All of them.

I'm scared to death
That just the muscadine,

Albeit it'll be good liquor,
And it'll taste good,

It's going to be
Too much like grappa.

We lose any vapor, ain't nothing
Going to be balanced no more.

We ain't blending any rye.

No, we ain't
Blending nothing.

We're spraying all these stills
Down to cool them down

So no more vapor comes off.

We let them go, all we're going
To do is waste our liquor.

So, we got to cool them back,
Try to get back to square one.

This point, this run is over.

Until we figure out what's
Going on with this one burner,

There's no sense
In going forward.

Let's bounce it on here and see
If it's got something in it.

Sometimes, they'll blow
Rust and debris up in them,

And it'll hang,
And it'll restrict them.

Put one of them wands in here,
And let's light this thing.

The solution to that is just
Simply to clean them out.

There you go.

-all right.
-looky there.

That's the way
It's supposed to burn.

We light it up
Outside of the still,

And it's burning fine.

There ain't hardly
Any orange at all.

♪♪

With burning propane,
Blue flames indicate

Complete combustion of the gas

And a heat output
Of 3,600 degree fahrenheit.

For shiners, red or yellow
Flames result in wasted gas

And only half of
The max temperature yield.

It looks great. We got
All the blue flame we need.

We ain't sure
What we done to it,

Don't really care
As long as it's working.

Come on.

That thing is
Putting out.

Let's light
These others up.

Let's get
To making some liquor

So that we ain't here
All night long.

Party time.

Whoo!
Whoo! Shoot low.

All right,
We're back in business.

Maybe it's just the fact that
They had a little rust in them.

Rust builds up on the
Inside of these things.

I smell
A lot of raw gas.

A lot of orange.

Damn it.
Hell, I can see it.

Looks like we're burning
Damn kerosene over here.

God almighty.

We don't understand it.

Burning by itself, it's fine,
But soon as we light

The other two,
The problem arises,

And, hell, we're
Back to square one.

Yeah.

He's right.

When that heat gets generating
Off of these other two stills,

It's starving this.

God dang it.
Are we that stupid?

No, we just
Got excited.

J.B. Recommends putting it
In from the other side,

Which that would put the oxygen
Intake out in fresh air.

Look at that, man.
It's burning like a new penny.

Yeah.

You know, it makes perfect sense

Now that j.B. Called
Our attention to it,

And that's what
We got him here for.

I didn't want him for his brawn,
I wanted him for his brain.

J.B., I guess, has kind of
Saved us here a little bit.

We're going to get these
Pots heated back up.

It's going to take us
A long time.

We'll be here up into the night.

What do you think, j.B.?

It won't be long.

Need to find
A new piece of felt.

You know, we've been keeping
A constant vigil on the burners,

And so far,
They're doing well.

They're all three operating
As they need to be.

♪♪

Do I see a predrip
Right there?

Yeah. Right.
There we go, boys.

We got liquor.

-we got liquor.
-hell, yeah.

We got liquor.

I'm going to fill that heads jug
Up a little heavy.

We've simply done
All we can do.

There's no reason
For this not to be

A premium,
Top-shelf liquor,

But you never know until
You put it in your mouth

And see what you got.

We're going for
The taste now, or I am.

It's time.
Have at it.

Damn. Give it to j.B.
Before he has a damn hissy fit.

That's probably
Some of the finest liquor

You'll ever taste
In your life.

Is he right?Yeah.

Let me have
A little taste.

It's good.
Wow.

It's like damn
Sweet and salty, ain't it?

Yeah, I couldn't be
Any happier right now.

This liquor is
Outstanding.

It's got the bite of the rye,
The taste of the muscadine.

They're distinctly separate.

The aroma is delightful.

It's right on the money.
That's what we were looking for.

This run netted mark and digger

80 gallons of muscadine rye

At the premium price
Of $150 a gallon.

That's a $12,000 sale,

But to meet their
High-output goal this season,

The team is still counting
On hired hand kelly

To keep the classic
Corn liquor flowing.

Yeah, I couldn't be
Any happier right now.

Between us making
Our premium liquors

And kelly
Pulling his weight,

We're going to meet that goal
No matter what it takes,

But we're going to check
On kelly and his production.

We got to see if he's
Keeping up to snuff with us.

Well, boys, it turned out to be
A successful run after all.

♪♪

I'm fixing to send it
To you, josh.

Let her rip, tater chip.All right.

On a cool,
Autumn night, josh and chuck

Are beginning the first
Of several runs

They'll need to fulfill their
175-gallon plum brandy order.

You getting anything?Oh, yeah.

So, me and chuck are making
This 175-gallon run

Of plum brandy
For these bikers,

And it's going
To be a hard road to hoe.

It's liable to take
Three, four days

To get all this liquor run off
And get it all ready to go.

All right,
This one is full.

Let's go ahead
And light this one.

♪♪

More than anything,
I need to deliver this moonshine

On time and in full.

I can't afford to have any more
Problems, any more hiccups.

If anything else happens,
I could lose my distributor,

And this dude is my meal ticket.

The mash is pumped. The fire
Is lit. We're cooking moonshine.

There's only one thing
To do right now,

And that is to get
This wheel up and running

And get some electricity going.

If we could just get this done
Before that starts cooking off,

We'll be in business.

Wintertime is creeping up
On us pretty fast,

And if we don't find a way
To heat this mash room,

Get this waterwheel going, we're
Going to be dead in the water.

♪♪

The waterwheel
Is going to enable me

To keep rolling year-round,

Keep supply to my bikers
And all my other customers.

I think you're better off
Where you was.

There you go.

In order to create
The water pressure

Needed to spin the waterwheel,

Josh has dammed off
The nearby creek,

Running 300 feet of pipe
To his still site.

Come out some more?No, you're good.

Just come up higher.

The tricky part is positioning
The pipe so that

The flowing water allows the
Wheel to spin at maximum rpms.

Go ahead
And put a screw in it.

Well, it's dark out.
It's wet. It's muddy.

Likely to slip, fell,
Broke my neck,

But we want to see
This wheel work.

We're dying
To see this wheel work.

Good god.

Least put that block
Up for me.

The block was
Under it.

The pipe is fixing
To come out, too.

That's all right.
I'll fix it in a second.

Just give me a second.

♪♪

Ah, the damn bit
Just fell out!

♪♪

I just
Lost the bit, man.

Screw them two
Together.

The *bleep* bit fell out
Of the drill gun, man!

I don't got another bit!
Aah!

♪♪

Keep your eyes out. I don't
Know nothing about this water.

I just seen a alligator.

In louisiana, shallow
Water means deep trouble.

I'm dragging.
We in less than 2 foot of water.

We in a bind
Right now, buddy.

The *bleep* bit fell out
Of the drill gun, man!

In north carolina,
A lost drill bit

Is the last drop
In the bucket.

I can't afford to have
Any more problems.

Now that it's getting
Cold weather,

It's important that I get
This mash room winterized.

I don't got another bit!
Aah!

Working with josh has
About got my hair

Pulled out of my damn head.

The water pipe
Broke all over me.

I got soaking wet.

This was
A little bit of a mess.

Well, there's
More packs over there.

I got another one here.

All right, get that dude
In there tight.

Here, tighten it down.

♪♪

Perfect. As long as
That's putting the 12 volts out,

13 volts out, that should
Charge the batteries enough

To keep
The system going.

I feel good about it.I love it, man.

Let's get back
To the still site?

Yeah.

She's probably
Boiling over.

This waterwheel is
Going to enable me

To create electricity off
The grid to heat this mash room.

Be there
In a little bit.

It takes for damn ever.

♪♪

Oh, there it is.

♪♪

Let's taste it.

♪♪

Ohh.

Ah!
That's stout.

That's good *bleep*,
Though.

That's plumb damn good
Is what it is.

That's a belly warmer.

Josh and chuck are running
Their still at maximum capacity.

This run will produce
55 gallons of plum brandy.

It's going to be a really
Long couple days,

But I'm feeling confident
That we're going to get

This 175 gallons of liquor made,
Get it to these bikers.

Now if I can just figure
Out how to haul it.

All right, one 5-gallon bucket
Down, however many to go.

Going to be
A long night.

Man, I'm telling you.

♪♪

♪♪

dang.

I'm going back
To the still site.

I'm going to try
To mash in again.

Short a partner
And short on time,

North carolina moonshiner mark
Is racing to meet

His season goal
By using the sour-mash technique

To produce one of the
Smoothest whiskey varieties

To come out of the mountains.

Yeah, I'll make one run.
It's a sweet-mash run.

It's good liquor.

It's almost drinkable.

Lot of people
Don't know it,

But it takes a second run
For it to turn to sour mash.

It's going to be a lot of work
Carrying all the water to it,

Sugar and malting it back in,
But sour-mash whiskey,

I can get twice as much alcohol
Out of these next runs.

Sweet mash refers to mash

That's been fermented
And distilled once.

That spent mash can be
Combined with sugar, water

And more yeast,
Then distilled again.

At this point, it's referred
To as sour mash,

Which can be recombined
With sugar, water, and yeast

After it's run, up to six times
Before it's thrown away.

Due to the build-up of residual
Yeast with each successive run,

Sour mash is said to produce

The smoothest
And highest-proof whiskeys.

Many of america's favorite
Whiskeys and bourbons

Are made exclusively
With sour mash.

It's smelling good now,
But this run right here

We're fixing to set up
Is what people want.

♪♪

But I got to really hurry.

The temperature
Is starting to drop.

When it gets so cold,
It'll just slow down so much,

It'll take twice as long
For it to work off.

And some more corn and sugar.

You know, in the past few weeks,
I've been on my own.

Mike, he had
To go separate ways.

You won't make as much liquor
By yourself

As you will with a partner.

My goal was 1,200 gallons.

Since I ain't got a partner,
I've cut back about 600 gallons,

And I've made just a little
Over 200 gallons so far.

It's a whole lot harder
To make moonshine by yourself,

Just slows everything down.

I don't know.
It's hard to do it all.

Even with a less ambitious goal,

Mark still has nearly
400 gallons to go

To meet his season quota,

And with fall already
In full swing,

He'll have to work around the
Clock to avoid a lean winter.

Hmm.

Got me a little buddy here.

Sitting down to get him
A drink of water,

Little bit
Of company right here.

Don't hardly ever see them
Anywhere in the spring,

But the fall time,
They go showing up.

Yeah, he needs to know how
To make a little liquor, too,

So we'll try to learn him.

He may be coming in here
To try to get him a drink.

You never know.

Only company he'll have today.

You stay right there.

♪♪

Got my sour mash set back up.

At least for six runs
On this barrel right here,

I won't have to change
My mash or nothing.

Yeah, I make my own malt.

I just sprout my corn
And dry it, grind it.

This makes a whole lot better
Liquor, better-tasting liquor.

This is what we want right here,
Good sour-mash whiskey.

I should get least 12 to
15 gallon out of this run.

We just going to run it.

We see how it turns out.

Wouldn't want to
Leave you up there.

You'd be stranded, wouldn't you.

He probably don't know it,
But I don't him a favor.

What I'm going to do is
Take him up here in this flat.

These tarpons have a rough time
Climbing these hills.

I'm going to take him up there
And see if he might go find him

A place to stay for the winter.

Maybe right here
Is a good place.

You just go the right way.

Hope I don't see you again
Till next fall.

♪♪

We got to travel
Down that river.

Get down there
And make that money.

Yep.

In northern louisiana,
Patti and david

Are meeting up
With their bootlegger, brandon.

He'll captain the boat
Transporting

Their 120 gallons of shine
Down to the gulf of mexico.

And we're going down
To the gulf.

There's a lot of cajuns,
And there's shrimp people.

You've got all kind of
Variety of people,

And when I go down there, I want
To take a new flavor every time,

So I'm excited to be able
To take the sassafras.

It just gets
A few more customers,

And it pleases
A lot more people.

Hey, man.
What's going on?

We're meeting brandon,
And we're going to start

Loading up our shine,
120 gallons' worth,

Put everything into the boat,

And then we're going to travel
All night down this river.

So, I think we'll be safe.
I don't know.

You know, you never know.

It's kind of dangerous
To be traveling it,

But to me, that's the best
Way to do it is at night.

You think you can fit this
In your boat?

We can fit that
In there.

Once we get all this going,
I'm not stopping

Until I get there
And get that out.

Brandon, he's kind of
Nervous about doing

This whole ordeal for us.

You know, I mean, he's got a lot
To lose just as well as we do,

But little extra what
He would lose is his whole boat.

Let's start
Loading it up.

All right.

But at the end of the day, he'll
Have a pretty good paycheck,

And we will, too, so just got
To look at it that way.

While brandon
Will pilot the boat,

He'll be relying
On patti and david

To help navigate the dangers
Of the river at night

As well as keep
An extra eye out for the law.

How many more we got?

Let's go ahead
And get it out of here.

We can get her
In the water now.

♪♪

All right, buddy.

All right, we good to go.
Let's get out of here.

♪♪

Starting near
The red river wildlife area,

Patti, david, and brandon
Will navigate down the red river

To the atchafalaya river,
Past morgan city,

Then through open marsh,
Past bateman island,

Into the open water
Of the gulf of mexico.

It's kind of dangerous
To be traveling at night.

Can't see logs floating,
You can't see alligators,

But to me, I think
It's the safest way for us

As far as not getting caught

With this many gallons
Of moonshine.

It's going to be
An all-nighter and then some.

♪♪

Got all my wood in.

Go up here and see
If my sour mash ready,

See if I can
Get started running.

Yeah, buddy.

Good shine.
All them gnats in there.

Deep in the woods
Of north carolina,

Mark returns to his still site
Ready to run a spirit

Favored by bourbon distillers --
Sour-mash whiskey.

Feels good.

Smells good.

Ought to be some good
Sour-mash whiskey today.

You can tell by the smell of it
It's what it's supposed to be.

Mike, we had to split up.

That slowed me down a lot.

The cool weather
Is coming quick.

I'm just going to have to
Really work hard

To get to my 600 gallons.

♪♪

I need everything to go good
From here on out

If I'm going to meet my goal.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Getting late in the season,
And I'm behind.

Need to run every drop
That I can run.

I don't know
What I'm going to get,

But I'm going to run all I can.

Just going to have to make
All I can make,

And that's all I can do.

Well, I got him sealed up now.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Hoo!
Gosh, I'm already running.

I better loosen up this fire.

Ah!
Too hot.

I'll just keep pulling it back
And slow my stream down.

That's the only way
You're going to get

Real good, smooth liquor
Is a good, slow stream.

Believe that's about right.

That's about enough
Throw away there.

♪♪

Yeah, this is always where
I get in trouble right here.

Gonna have to get me
A little taste here.

♪♪

Ah, boy. Ha!

Yep, that sour mash is working,
Buddy, I'll tell you.

Ahh.

See, my trouble,
When this right here hits me,

I'll be back for seconds.

I just like it.

I'd do a whole lot better
If I stayed out of it,

But I never have run any
Without drinking some of it.

Work as hard at it as I have,
You ought to be able to take him

A little drink or two,
Way I look at it.

This run here,
About 14, 15 gallon,

And I got another
Run under my belt.

I need to make
Just as many runs as I can.

It's been a good run here.

♪♪

♪♪

Different world down here.

Yeah.

Be glad when we get
This stuff off of us.

Me, too.

All through the night,
Patti, david, and brandon

Have been navigating
Louisiana's twisting waterways

For a big sale in the gulf.

50 miles of treacherous travel
Through the atchafalaya basin,

The largest wetlands
In the united states,

Still lay ahead.

Keep your eyes out and stuff.

I don't know nothing
About this water.

While the dark of night

Helps them stay under the radar,

It also obscures
The river's dangers

From hidden debris
To hostile wildlife.

Ooh *bleep*
I just seen a alligator.

He just went under.

He was right there --
About a 6-footer.

Probably done slipped
Over in that grass.

That's what I hate about
Traveling on the water at night.

♪♪

We in a bind
Right now, buddy.

I'm dragging.
We in less than 2 foot of water.

I'm in
1.1 foot of water.

Can you see?

No, I can't see
Nothing down.

We got to
Get out of this.

We been having to worry
About gators,

But now
We're having to worry

About landing
On top of sand?

♪♪

It looks like we in open water,
But you just don't know, do you?

Don't know. You see how quick
It slips up on you.

Mm-hmm.

I'm just trying to ease
Around real slow.

♪♪

How deep are we now?

I'm back in about
10 foot of water.

Be all right.

Starting to get a little
Daylight on us now, ain't it?

♪♪

Well, I'm just gonna kill the
Boat and just drift right here.

♪♪

Well, this is about time.
We finally here.

He's supposed to be
Flashing the lights.

Quite a few of them
Out here.

Yeah, I'd say.

I figured he'd be somewhere
Close in this area.

Yeah, that's him
Right there.

Let's go to him,
Get rid of this stuff.

All right, here we go.

♪♪

I hope you're right
About this guy.

If we feel
Uncomfortable about it,

There's plenty of water
To take off.

Keep your eyes out.

If something is going to happen,
I think it would happen here.

Can see a long way
On this water,

And they could be
Far away watching.

♪♪

There goes a helicopter
Right yonder.

That's the coast guard.
That ain't good.

No, it's not.
What the heck?

♪♪

Well, this rock, I don't know
What it is about it,

But it's always reminded
Me of a tombstone.

I'm going to see
If I can get him loaded.

Tombstone, one you buy,

Has always been
A little spooky to me.

I brought me some rope.

I'm going to try to tie
That thing off

And get it drug
Out of the creek,

And what I'm going
To try to do

Is just rig me up
A pulley system,

Stretch a rope good and tight

Between two trees
And tie my truck

And just let my
Truck pick it up.

Then I can back my truck up.

Now this rock, hope it's
A long time before I need it,

But really, fellow stays dead a
Whole lot longer than he lives.

I don't think it's nothing
To be scared of.

I just think folks enjoy life
While you're living.

That's about as good
As you can do.

I can get my name on him,
Year I was born.

I don't think
I'll put the next part.

I'll let somebody else
Handle that.

♪♪

That's the coast guard.
That ain't good.

No, it's not.

Here we are. We got a helicopter
Coming over us

And got to looking,
And it's coast guard.

In addition
To their other duties,

The u.S. Coast guard is charged
With enforcing maritime laws,

Granting them
The authority to track

And intercept liquor smugglers.

I got a lot to lose here.

♪♪

I got a lot to lose, too.

You just got
Shine to lose.

I got $18,000 to lose.

But $18,000
Won't buy this boat.

♪♪

Oh, lord.

I'm relieved that that coast
Guard, that he kept on going.

He didn't circle back around,
So hopefully,

They'll just mosey on by us.
I don't know.

We'll just see, but if we can
Get this unloaded off our boat,

You know, quick as we can,
The better off we'll be.

♪♪

Don't smile yet.
It ain't done.

♪♪

We made it.

-how y'all doing?
-pretty good. Y'all?

-we good.
-all pretty good.

Long haul.

120 gallons?

That's what we got.You got my money?

Yes, ma'am.All right.

♪♪

It's all there --
$18,000 like you said.

It sure is.

Let's start
Unloading this then.

♪♪

Hurry up
Every chance you can get.

-got it, brandon?
-got it.

Appreciate it.Thank y'all again.

All right,
Thank you, man.

Give us a call
If you need some more.

Will do.Got plenty.

♪♪

Whoo!Got it now. We good.

Thank you, brandon.You're welcome.

Papa, we did that,
Didn't we?

Ow!

Very good day for us. I mean,
It was a lot of hard work

And a lot of tense moments,

But, you know,
At the end of the day,

It was worth it all to have
That money in our pocket.

♪♪

♪♪

Kelly has got to understand,
You know,

That he's got to do it our way.
It's very important.

If we're going to sell this
As our liquor...

It's got to taste like it.

...It's got to taste
Like our liquor.

After a successful run
Of their muscadine rye,

Mark and digger need to devote
Attention to quality control

On their
Corn-liquor production.

Yeah, we're coming up here
To check on kelly.

He's been handling
Our corn production

For the last few weeks.

Everything seems
To be going well,

But a little quality control
Never hurts.

Everything good?As far as I know.

Can't tell
That there's nothing --

How'd you find anything?
You've camouflaged everything.

I have.

Mark and myself,
We've got caught up

In making these premium liquors
With three-pot operation,

And we've let our
Corn-liquor production lack.

Kelly is our shot in the arm,
If you will.

He's picking up slack.

You got any fire coals?

I usually run it through just to
Strain it with a handkerchief.

Well, we like to run ours
Over fire coal.

Simply because it takes
That little, tiny bit

Of that fusel oil
Out of it.

The activated carbon
And charcoal is

A natural filter, straining out
Harsh-tasting fusel oils

And other organic compounds

Attracted to the porous,
Absorbent carbon molecules.

Just a handful is all you need.

So, we just put that
In the funnel?

We just put that right
In your funnel.

There ain't no doubt
We know you can run liquor,

But, you know,
A lot of little extra pains

We take to separate ours from,
You know, the rest of the pack.

Right.

We've taught kelly everything we
Can about the way we make liquor

And the process we use
And our little techniques

That are a little bit
Different than most folks.

We've just got to stay
On top of it and make sure

That he doesn't try
To take any shortcuts

To speed up his process.

We've got liquor coming.

What it's look like?It looks like liquor.

I know it's slow,
And it's more time-consuming,

But it's worth it
In the long run.

Well, kelly is doing a good job,

But we're going to
Keep an eye on him

'cause we expect
Certain things from him

And because, when we're
Putting our name on it,

You can't leave out one step.

Every step has got
To be followed to a tee.

Let me and mark have
A little taste of it.

Try that and see what you think.
Boy, she's clear now.

She's clear as a --

Goodness.

Mm-hmm.

Got the good aroma.

You can smell that corn in it.

Hey, ain't nothing fancy.

It's just
Damn good corn liquor.

Hear, hear!
Hear, hear!

It's good.

By combining
Their premium liquor count

With kelly's
Corn shine production,

Mark and digger have come within
Sight of their season goal.

That's the flavor
We want, cuz.

I'm proud to put mark
And digger's name

Yep.

Kelly is holding up
His end of the bargain

On our
Corn-liquor production,

And these specialty liquors
We've done

Command a premium price.

Man, I don't think
That things could be

Any better for me and digger.

We feel very confident
We're going to hit

Our goal this season.

We get 15, 18 gallons like that
Twice a week, you're the man.

You'll be on our team.

-I'll be your hero.
-you are already.

Yes, you is.

♪♪

Next time on "Moonshiners"...

Come on, you bastard.

...Broke down
In tennessee...

I'm worried about getting
This liquor delivered right now.

Son of a bitch.

There's the law.

If you respected people
That made liquor,

You wouldn't be stepping in
In another county.

...A rival shiner caught dead
To rights in cocke county...

You just ain't getting
What we're trying to tell you.

There's people over here
That will do you bodily harm.

...And
In north carolina...

I come around this curve
And down a little straightaway.

I got some stash in the truck,
And lo and behold,

There's sitting the law.

...Moonshine and a chaser.

Hell, no!