Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 7, Episode 6 - Legends of the Shine - full transcript
Mark and Digger test yeast strains on a new shine recipe. Tim and JT visit moonshine legends. Mark Rodgers sets up a new still site without a partner. Sondra and Chico start their season with a run of strawberry banana brandy.
Digger:
Mark and I, we're not afraid
To try something different.
That's what I love about our
Brand of making moonshine.
We've got no confines.
We experiment.
We adapt and overcome.
We've got a reputation of being
The forefront of moonshine,
And we mean to uphold it.
Narrator: creating authentic
Appalachian moonshine
Has long been a process
Of trial and error.
Those who innovate
While respecting tradition
Continue to push
The craft forward
And guarantee its survival.
I found us
A microscope.
See how good our yeast
Are doing.
Getting granular in tennessee.
Different yeasts
For different type mashes.
Exactly.
A friendship fractures
On the blue ridge.
All right.
I'm ready.
Narrator: and there's fire
In the sky in kentucky.
Wow.
♪ 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 ♪
Man: this is how
We make the moonshine!
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
Move that still
Out of our way.
Yeah.
Don't hit that.
Narrator:
In the blue grass state,
Moonshiners chico and sondra
Have tapped
Their carpenter friend,
Terry, to add a second level
To their tree platform.
-thank you.
-all right. Ready?
Chico: after we built this
Massive platform,
Still it's not enough room.
So we need a second level.
It's not a good
Situation to be in.
I keep spending money
And putting in time and labor.
I got to get liquor in jars.
If I wanted to do this *bleep*
Man, I'd start building
Tree stands for a living.
Narrator:
After constructing a platform
Suspended from the trees...
Little tight up here,
Isn't it?
...Chico and sondra
Soon discovered a mistake
In their calculations
That will cost them time.
That's not enough room.
Sondra:
What are we going to do?
Right on her.
You got it.
Make sure I don't get one
Of your fingers in there.
As a moonshiner it's always a
Concern anybody seeing my site,
But terry helped us
Build the deck itself.
He's not going to say anything.
He's going to keep this
Under his hat,
And at the end of all this,
I'll make sure
He's well taken care of.
All right.
Good.
-are you guys done yet?
-almost.
We have been doing this
For three weeks now.
This is taking forever.
You know, we want
To get shining.
I feel like a moonshiner
Without a job
Because I'm just standing around
At a construction site,
Basically.
Just think about
What color curtains
You're going to hang up.
I hope we can get
This done in one day
And it doesn't turn
Into a long build.
Like, we're behind already.
We need to get running liquor.
-pretty tall up there.
-hell, yeah, that's tall.
This is up here.
It's actually a good
Lookout point
For people coming in on us.
We can see through those woods
From that vantage point
Better than anybody
On the ground
Can even think
About seeing us.
Perfect.
That's badass.
Yeah.
I mean, ain't nobody else
Got a setup
Like this
Out in the woods.
Mnh-mnh.
I'm happy, man.
-yeah.
-tickle me to death.
All right.
The last thing I need to do
Is get some more camouflage up
Pretty quick because
We're trying to be hidden.
Sondra:
This is a long way to fall.
Oh, it is a long fall.
Think people will look up?
Not if we get it
Covered, I don't.
We finally got
The second level finished.
It's done.
After we finish
Camouflaging this,
The next step we've got to take
Is getting water up
In this massive tree stand
That we've built.
And then we can start
Putting mash in barrels.
All right.
What now?
I think we need to get
The camo netting...
-yeah. Uh huh.
-...And break up the bottom.
But I have to start putting
Some money back in my pocket.
The camouflaging stuff
Is awesome
But, I mean,
We're losing days.
Sondra: you know,
To me, this site needs
A lot more camouflaging before
I feel 100% confident in it,
And I'd like to camouflage
A little bit more,
But he is right,
We've got to get liquor going.
The further you get away,
The further it goes away.
It's not.
You're not going to look up
There for any reason whatsoever.
That's the main
Objective.
♪♪
♪♪
Patty boy, have I got
A surprise for you.
What are you
Up to here, puss?
I found us a microscope, see how
Good our yeasts are doing.
See what we can do
With this sucker.
Narrator: in tennessee, at the
Tip of the spear of innovation,
Mark and digger are trying
To optimize their yield
By applying a little science.
What exactly are you
Trying to figure out, puss?
We might just happen
To stumble across something
That tells us
Which ones of our yeasts
Are going to work
A little better, you know?
Different yeasts
For different type mashes?
Exactly.
Mark gets a phone call
From a guy
That's been a good customer
Over the years.
He wants 30 gallons
Of cantaloupe moonshine.
I've never made mush melon
Moonshine in my life.
With fruits,
There's so much can go wrong
With the fermentation,
And I think this microscope
Might help us.
Narrator:
After removing the residual flux
From their three-pot still...
...Mark and digger finally
Tasted sweet success
With their vanilla maple shine.
Yeah, boy.
The duo are now diverting
Their attention
To a specialty order
For cantaloupe shine.
I'm right here
Seeing yeast split.
They're propagating.
Yeah.
Digger: I'm no microbiologist
By any means.
I know a little bit
About yeast.
We can watch which yeasts
Perform better
With different sugars
In this cantaloupe
Because adding the wrong yeast
Can ruin the whole run.
Narrator:
From pot-distilled moonshine
To beer and wine,
Yeast has been the vital
Component in alcohol production
For over 9,000 years.
Categorized as a fungus,
Yeast is a living
Single-celled microorganism
Which grows everywhere
In the environment,
But strains used
In alcohol production
Are grown on the skin of fruit.
During fermentation,
Yeast is added
To a grain or fruit-based mash.
Enzymes in the yeast break down
The sugar in the mash,
Converting it into ethanol
And carbon dioxide gas.
Once the alcohol content of the
Mash reaches around 12%,
The yeast dies off,
Completing fermentation.
Different strains of yeast
Have varying effects
On the flavor, complexity,
And alcohol content
Of the finished product.
How could you tell if this yeast
Will work better with,
Say, the cantaloupe-based
Mash?
By how quickly
They reproduce.
I mean, they're working
Like mad men.
Digger:
We've got this strain of yeast
That we've used before
With fruit mashes.
We've been looking at it
Under the microscope.
Hopefully, if the yeasts
Work out on this cantaloupe,
We'll get a quick fermentation
And be ready to make
Liquor pretty quick.
You know, ain't liquor-making
Come a long way
Since the old timers
Were just simply putting them
Little packets
Of bread yeast in it?
And they'd probably laugh
Their ass off at us.
They would be entitled
To that.
♪♪
J.T.: you got somebody else
In mind that we going to go see?
Tim: we're going to go
See old amos law,
One of the biggest kingpins
Probably in the east coast.
Narrator: tim and j.T.
Are on the road again,
Headed for the next stop
On their search for the roots
Of franklin county moonshine.
Amos law,
One of the most legendary,
Most famous moonshiners
In all of franklin county.
Maybe in the whole
United states.
Controlling millions of dollars,
He was the big
Al capone of moonshining.
These were really
Rough guys back in the day.
Some of them died.
Some of them got shot,
And amos survived.
You know you're in moonshine
Country when you got corn
On both sides of the road.
We are taking
A little bit of risk,
And this is why we decided
To go in the day time.
I don't want him to, like,
Pull out the gun or nothing.
Better be careful, somebody
Come around that curve,
We don't want to
Get trapped.
Just stop right here.
-is that him down there?
-I'd say so.
Looking for amos law.
-yeah.
-how you doing?
Doing good?
Good to see you.
My son, j.T. Here.
Been a long time.
-yeah.
My daddy used to buy
A whole lot of liquor from you.
-yep.
-I don't know if you know,
But I got a brand
Called climax moonshine now.
I took my dad's recipe
And I went legal.
-oh, yeah.
-with j.T. Meeting amos law,
I really want him to see
How big you can become
And how fast you can fall.
It's an exciting law
Being an outlaw
And being in this business,
But then you get sent to prison,
You get separated
From your family,
And everything just
Collapses around you.
Well what's the biggest
Operation you ever had?
Hmm.
Making you about
3,000 gallons of liquor.
-yeah.
-a week?
Yeah.
A week.
I make 300 gallons a week
In a legal, big distillery,
And we got 10 employees
Out here working.
So you got to make sure
You got the customers ready,
Waiting in line for it.
Well you ain't just one of
The boys, you the head man.
Yeah.
Uh huh.
The talk with amos, he spent
A lot of time behind bars
And a lot of time
Being on the run from the law.
Well-known
In the papers and all,
But that's not
The kind of well-known
I want to be popular for.
Well we trying
To stay out of jail.
I'm trying to show j.T. There's
Old ways of making moonshine.
You got to get something good,
You got to stay to it,
You got to make it right.
That's what you've done
All these years.
You got to make it right.
Tim: I know how it is.
I grew up illegal moonshining,
Looking over your shoulder
Or looking behind you.
This is why I went legal.
This outlaw thing,
It's a really tough life.
I really want j.T.
To not go on that path.
Well, amos, it's been
Nice talking to you.
Yeah.
You, too.
I think we learned
A little bit,
And I think j.T.
Learned a little bit.
But we got something
That you can't buy.
Oh, yeah.
Tim: I really, truly feel like,
You know,
If you don't come
From this business,
You didn't grow up
In this business,
You got a long ways to go.
I have it, my dad had it,
And j.T. Has it, too.
-yeah. Good talking with you.
-nice to see you.
-we'll be back.
-all right.
Narrator: coming up...
-okay, we don't have water.
-what?
Sondra: no water.
...Dry as a bone in kentucky.
Why don't we have water?
We'll see what
Cantaloupe liquor tastes like.
And in tennessee,
A real nowhere mash.
There ain't a bit
Of alcohol to it.
It stopped fermenting,
So I'm worried about this thing
Producing.
♪♪
Come on, archie.
Come on.
Narrator: in north carolina,
Mark is weeks into hacking
A polished still site
Out from the rugged terrain.
After their original site
Was demolished
By a construction crew...
Oh, my god!
...Mark and his partner, mike,
Decided to divide and conquer.
While mike ran on his own
To fulfill their first order
Of the season,
Mark created a permanent site
Deeper in the woods.
Narrator: the completed trough
Will carry water
From a nearby stream
Into the still site.
♪♪
♪♪
Come on, archie.
Let's go.
♪♪
♪♪
Tim:
Man, it's raining!
You know what today is,
Don't you?
Today is the day
That you play dominoes.
J.T.:
Play dominoes?
When it's raining, you can't do
Nothing else outside.
Well I thought that's when
You drink the moonshine,
When it rains,
And you make it when it's dry?
Well, I didn't say nothing
About not drinking.
Narrator: on rain-soaked roads
In southwest virginia,
Tim and j.T. Are on their way
To meet another
Franklin county
Moonshine legend.
I ain't seen him
In a long time.
Hell, he's about
90 years old by then.
Cecil is probably the oldest
Still-living moonshiner
That I know of,
And he really had developed
A name for himself.
I mean, at an early age, he was
Producing a lot of moonshine
And making the best moonshine
In franklin county.
And only three years ago,
He was arrested for moonshining.
So at 85 years old.
That just shows you
If it's in your blood,
You're not going to stop.
All right.
Sun shine.
About the time we get over
To cecil's house,
It's going to be
Nice and pretty.
Now these guys up here make
Moonshine all over the place.
They used to have
A cemetery,
But they didn't have
No people buried in it.
They had moonshine
Buried in it.
The whole operation
Was up under there.
J.T.: man.
Narrator: from secret rooms
Behind false walls
To reinforced
Subterranean chambers
Hidden beneath trap doors,
Moonshiners have long employed
An arsenal of ingenious methods
Of hiding their stills
From the law,
Ratcheting up a cat and mouse
Game that spanned decades.
In 1979, atf agents discovered
What would prove to be
One of the most audacious
Hiding schemes of all time.
On the short hill a few
Hundred feet from a county road,
A moonshiner named
David philpott
Bulldozed a large hole
In the ground
Then covered it with a false
Roof of sod and grass,
Creating a fake cemetery,
Complete with headstones
Made from cinder blocks
And landscaping
Of shrubs and flowers.
Below ground, he placed
18 800-gallon pots
Capable of cranking out 1,500
Gallons of shine every week.
J.T.: all right.
This one right here?
Tim: this is it.
Turn in right there.
Tim: when j.T. Was younger,
Moonshining was
Just a part of life.
I don't think he really got it.
So going back and meeting
The old timers,
He can get the feel of it
And bring that back
To the legal side,
And I think he'll be
One motivated individual.
How you doing, cece?
I ain't seen you since
The last time I saw you.
How you doing? J.T.
And you mr. Love, too, huh?
Yeah? Love.
So, you didn't haul
No liquor, did you?
-yeah.
-did you haul liquor, too?
-yeah.
-yeah.
I thought j.T. Come around
And talk to these old timers,
Maybe something will rub off
On him or something.
Well, I mean,
Just the little bit
I grew up in,
It's hard work,
And I know today,
People don't know that.
-yeah.
-yeah.
All right.
Put it all in together?
So you put all your grain
In at one time
And put
The hot water to it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tim: cecil, he really, you know,
Set the standard
For a lot of guys
Back in the day.
It takes guts, really, to,
You know, tell the boss man
That you got a better idea,
You got to better way
To do things
And innovate
To make things happen.
And I want j.T. To do the same.
Yeah.
Narrator: coming up...
...It's time to shine
In north carolina.
To me, this is the most
Nerve-racking moment.
Narrator:
And dire straits in kentucky.
If this doesn't work, we have to
Come up with a different plan.
Chico: yep.
♪♪
Did he teach y'all
How to do the moonshine?
Narrator: back in virginia,
Tim and j.T. Are face-to-face
With cecil and clarence love,
Two of the state's oldest
And most prolific makers
Of backwoods liquor.
3,000 gallons a day?
I'm legal now, you know,
And I don't make
3,000 gallons a day.
What about these different types
Of moonshine you made?
Yeah. Right.
I know it is.
You reckon j.T. Going to be
A good moonshiner?
Yeah.
I really admire cecil.
As early at 16 years old, he
Decided he was going to go out,
Start making his own moonshines.
He wasn't afraid
To do his own thing.
After visiting
All these different places,
I learned a lot
And I got some real good ideas
For my legal operation.
I'm ready to head back
To culpepper.
So I think j.T. Understands
It's hard work,
And you can have
A little fun at it, too.
That's when you got to
Fire it back up then.
Tim:
I want j.T. To learn from cecil.
I want him to take initiative.
He's got to make
His own bold moves,
And he's got to get out there
And he's got to do his thing.
That's the way
He's got to make his mark
On this whole moonshine world.
Well, it was good
Talking to y'all.
-yeah. Yeah.
-I appreciate everything.
-we'll be back to see you.
-all right.
Appreciate it.
♪♪
♪♪
What in the world...
Damn canta-mush melon liquor?
It's what it is.
I don't give a *bleep*
To try it, do you?
Digger: ah, hell,
It's something new.
I ain't never made liquor
Out of mush melons.
Narrator:
In the great smoky mountains,
Mark and digger are preparing
To mash in a moonshine first.
Ain't nothing better
Than two big melons, is there?
Little asymmetrical
There.
You want to turn the pump on
Or you want me to?
I will.
Mark: an old customer of ours,
He wants mush melon liquor.
Traditionally, everybody
Made corn liquor.
Well, the moonshining
Industry today is changing.
People want different things.
They want different flavors.
Very difficult to be
A moonshiner,
And it's even more difficult
To be a good moonshiner.
That creek is
Still plenty big.
Yeah, I wish it stayed
Like that all the time,
Makes a lot of fuss.
-yes. It does.
You can't hear nobody
Sneaking up on you,
But they can't hear
Them burners, either.
Oh, that's clean
As a whistle.
Ain't nothing in there
But clear water.
I'm going to
Sugar that in.
Digger: we don't know much
About cantaloupe,
And we don't know
If it'll make good liquor,
But we've been doing this
For going on 30 years.
If you stay static in your
Craft, no matter what it is,
You're never going
To advance any further.
I feel like,
If we learn something new,
Hey, we've done something.
Mark: I ain't got no idea
What it'll taste like.
It could be really
Something good,
And if it turns out that it is,
Why, it's just another
Arrow in our quiver.
Well, it smells good.
-yeah. It do.
You'll have you a damn straw
In it in a minute.
[ imitates power drill
Whirring ]
Mark: I don't know.
It'll be something else.
Damn near lost a thumb
On that one.
Well, they're getting
Slicker, ain't they?
You going to
Do it again?
♪♪
Yonder it comes.
That will cool that mash off.
Did you give any forethought
About whatever kind of yeast
We need
For this in here?
-yeah.
-you got it?
That yeast we got going,
The slow-acting one?
-yeah.
-that's the one that we used
In our apples before,
For our rye apple.
Digger:
When it comes to rye apple,
I buy our yeast
And I bloom it myself.
Comes in on the back end,
Don't it?
-yeah. It does.
-makes it sweet.
Man,
That's outstanding.
See now, this yeast here,
It's our slower,
Longer fermenting yeast,
And that's because,
As fruit rots,
It still continues to ferment
And we need the yeast to be able
To stand up through that time
And give some more flavor.
Well, we're ready to cover
This up and let it go to work.
I don't know
So much about this.
We don't have any experience
With cantaloupe.
We've got it with apples.
The sugar structures
Are similar,
But we think
If this yeast works,
We're going to bring the best
We can to the table.
Mark:
Who'd have ever think it, puss?
Mush melon liquor.
I ain't a thinking about it
Until it's done.
♪♪
♪♪
Don't fall.
Yeah, this will work.
-yeah?
-deep and cold.
Narrator: up in kentucky,
With their platform
In the trees complete,
Chico and sondra
Must now overcome
One more obstacle -- gravity.
We got to get the water
Out of that creek...
-yep.
-...Into that stand.
Chico: we've been here for weeks
Building this platform,
Money is leaving,
Time is leaving.
We got to start putting money
Back in our pockets.
If we don't start getting
Running here pretty quick,
It's going to be
Another half season wasted.
But before we start
Putting mash in barrels,
We've got one more hurdle
We've got to cross.
We've got to get water
Pumping into the stand.
We got to run pipe 100 foot from
The creek, and then straight up.
That's work for any pump.
We don't have to
Bury this very deep.
It's just got to be covered
So it doesn't get cracked.
Sondra: okay.
This is it.
This is all we have to do
Before we can mash in
And then start making money.
That'll work.
Start covering it up.
Every day
I don't smell propane,
I don't hear that copper rocket,
Time is leaving.
I mean, look around, man, it's
Dead middle of shine season.
I should have been a plumber.
Yeah, you got enough crack
Hangs out all the time,
You probably
Should have been.
Smart ass.
I take pride
In carrying on the heritage
And culture of moonshining,
But the reason I'm in these
Woods fighting bugs is money.
You think we should have done,
Like, a test run
Before we buried
All this?
You've got no faith?
I'm slightly nervous
That the pump will not be
Strong enough
To pump the water.
-easy.
-does that work?
-yep.
-we'll see.
I hope I'm wrong, but we're just
Going to charge forward
And try it out.
All right, keep this hose
As straight as you can.
Sondra:
Okay. I got you.
All right.
I don't know about you,
But to me,
This is the most
Nerve-racking moment so far.
Because if this
Doesn't work,
We have to come up
With a different plan.
Yep.
[ pump whirring ]
Got a prime.
We know that.
No, the hose is moving,
That's water.
-water.
-I got to go.
Chico: well, you need to
Go up there and see
What's pumping
Them barrels.
Sondra: okay.
We don't have water.
-what?
-no water.
Chico: I can't get water
In the barrels.
I can't get water in the still.
Without water, we're done.
No water.
Why don't we have water?
Okay.
We don't have water.
-what?
-no water.
Narrator:
Back in the blue grass state,
It's an uphill battle
As chico and sondra
Struggle to get water
Up to their mash barrels.
Chico:
Every time we do something
To make it easier on us
Through the course of the year,
It seems like I always bite
Off more than I can chew.
It must have a clog in it
Somewhere in this pipe.
Blow in it,
See what happens.
[ exhales heavily ]
Do it again.
[ exhales heavily ]
Yeah.
All right.
Got water?
No.
I got air.
It's pushing air out?
Yeah.
Suck on it.
[ coughs ]
What about water?
-*bleep* you. Yeah.
-we got water?
-we got water.
-all right.
Start filling barrels.
Sondra:
I'm, like, super excited.
Our water is good,
We got this thing built.
We get to mash in today.
Chico: all right.
Go get strawberries.
We're going to start
This season off
With strawberry banana brandy.
Please don't fall.
I have been getting
Phone calls for weeks now,
And I have orders to fill.
Last year, chico and I opened up
To this customer base
That's been untapped,
And that's the women market.
We had such great success
With the watermelon crawl
Last year in the fall crawl.
This year, we want to kind
Of keep that train going.
Chico: how did I get hooked
Into this part?
Because you love me.
Yeah.
All right, you going to
Put it together?
Yeah.
This is sondra's wheelhouse.
She's the boss
When it comes to what we need
To put into our mash.
Everybody has got
Their own way of doing this.
I've got the way
That works for me.
The water temperature has got
To be above 90 degrees
To break down sugar.
The water temperature has to be
Below 90 or it kills my yeast.
I heat up my water and break
Down my sugar in small batches,
I dump it on top of cool water
In the mash barrels
To get it down
To the temperature where
The yeast will start.
All right.
Last barrel.
I finally got my mash started.
I finally got to use my still.
Look at the head
On that one.
Sondra: I know.
I finally got to hear yeast
Working, you know?
I still just can not wait until
I get that first jar of liquor.
What are we going to do
While we wait?
I'm going home.
I don't know
What you're doing.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: in north carolina,
Mark prepares for his first
Solo run of the season.
I'm proud of it.
Narrator: when mash reaches
10% to 12% alcohol,
The density
Of the liquid changes,
Causing any solids
That were floating on top
To sink to the bottom.
The signal that
It's ready to run.
♪♪
♪♪
I'm going to
Dump this out.
Narrator: mark's 14-gallon run
Of corn whiskey will net him
$1,400 and bring his and mike's
Season total to 39 gallons.
Hershey, you ready to go?
♪♪
♪♪
So, here
In an hour or two,
We'll see what cantaloupe
Liquor tastes like.
Narrator: over in tennessee,
Mark and digger
Are looking to add a new flavor
To their already
Impressive line up.
Me and old digger,
We're coming in today,
We're going to run this
Cantaloupe mash.
We've never done it before,
But we gave our word
To this customer,
And we're committing
Our word and our reputation.
It might be
Delicious, digger.
I smell that mash.
-it smells good.
Digger: we don't know much
About cantaloupe,
As far as liquor goes.
We know we both like to eat it.
The fruit taste comes through,
It's going to be dandy liquor.
Look how
The cap's dropped,
Got a little fruit still
Floating on on the top of it.
Yeah.
It's ready to go.
Got the...
No.
Hey, man, that's sweeter
Than damn molasses.
Man, it still tastes
Cantaloupe-y,
But there ain't a bit
Of alcohol taste to it.
Digger: it ain't finished.
It's sweeter than molasses
And what sweet equals in a mash
Is it's not finished.
It means that it never did start
Or it got stuck,
It stopped fermenting.
So we're dead in the water.
The gist of the matter
Is right now, we're done.
Narrator: coming up...
Sondra: this is the first
Run of the season.
We're ready to start
Making money.
Narrator: ...A thirst
For success in kentucky.
Jim tom: ♪ they took me down
To nashville ♪
♪ I stayed all night ♪
Narrator:
Moonshiner/crooner jim tom has
A catalog of toe-tapping tunes
As legendary as his shine.
♪ whiskey, whiskey, whiskey ♪
♪ come on out,
I'm a craving whiskey ♪
♪ with my spout ♪
♪ oh, down in the mountains
Of tennessee ♪
♪ me and martin digger
Was happy as could be ♪
♪ oh, I told old sal
To look right here ♪
♪ she said jim tom,
Bring me a beer ♪
♪ I'm on my way ♪
[ laughter ]
Let's act like
I knock hell out of you.
It's working on you,
Too, ain't it?
Dang right.
♪ oh, me, my wife
And a stump-tail dog ♪
♪ crossed the creek
On a hickory log ♪
♪ the log was slick
And she fell in ♪
♪ lost the willy jug again. ♪
That's what
I'm talking about.
[ both laugh ]
♪♪
Mark: there ain't a big
Of alcohol taste to it.
No.
But, man, that's sweeter
Than damn molasses.
Narrator: back in tennessee,
Stalled mash has foiled
Mark and digger's first run
Of their new cantaloupe shine.
Yeast has died.
It's stuck.
Something has
Killed it dead.
You know, right now, we're still
In the midst of summer.
It's still good and hot.
You know, this yeast it,
It ought to work
Good day and night.
But, you know,
Something happened,
And we've got to address it
And we've got to go forward.
Can we not
Heat it back up?
We put the same yeast, it's
Probably going to kill it again.
Whatever is in that
Cantaloupe killed that yeast,
So we got to come up
With something different.
That's what you do,
Ain't it?
The only other option we got is,
I've got a yeast
It's supposed to give
20% to 24% alcohol by law.
Is that the one in that jug
That we just kept
Putting the sugar in it?
And aerating it,
Yeah, stirring it up.
We got to do that
That way?
Yeah, we'll have to do it
The same way,
That's the way
It's got to be done.
Digger: I've got a high gravity
Beer yeast.
I've saved it for an experiment,
But maybe now is the time.
Our reputation is
On the line here, puss.
Well, we're going to have to get
The hell out of here
And get that yeast.
We gave our word
To this customer
That we would try
To make this liquor,
But we don't know
If we can kick start it or not.
We still got to turn
The fermentation,
Which is going to
Take additional time.
And if we fail to do
What we say we'll do,
Then our word is not worth
A warm cup of piss.
Cap her off
And let's go.
♪♪
♪♪
Sondra: oh.
Chico: creeping in here easy
Like that is not bad.
Narrator: under cover
Of the kentucky night,
Chico and sondra
Are putting liquor in jars
For the first time this season
With their run of
Strawberry banana brandy.
It is so quiet
Back here.
Sondra: this is the first
Run of the season.
We have a 20-gallon
Order to fill,
So we're going to have to
Make more than just one run.
This will get our new flavor out
There, this strawberry banana,
And we're ready
To start making money.
-all right.
-I'm ready.
You know you're not
Going to siphon it.
I really don't want to.
I've had bad
Experiences with that.
Hand it up.
Here you go.
Sorry, babe.
Your hair is shiny.
Shut your mouth
Right now.
Chico: the strawberry banana
Is a little bit
Out of the box for me.
The watermelon is on point.
Can't nobody
Even compete with that.
But sondra throws these
Unorthodox plans at me,
And I pull them off.
It's getting
Awful cold.
Yes. Yes.
It's on.
Yeah.
The water works.
Yeah. It's started.
All right.
Whenever you're ready.
Chico: this is the inlet,
The cold water.
This goes on the bottom
So you pump the cold water
From bottom to top
So it gradually cools it,
Just like a worm box.
That's what makes my still
So much more efficient.
Narrator:
Combining all the elements
Of a traditional pot still,
In chico's set up,
The pot, cape and cap
Are replaced by a pot
That narrows
Into a metal collar.
A second chamber sitting above
The collar functions
As the doubler.
The pipe extending away from
The still contains a copper tube
That's surrounded by cold,
Flowing water,
And serves as the condenser.
With its small footprint,
High efficiency,
And ease of mobility,
It's an illegal shiner's
Dream come true.
Hey. Look.
That's heads.
We need to catch that.
That's perfect.
First of the year.
It's clean, too.
Oh, this is
My favorite part.
Here, let me dump those.
Bye, heads.
Sondra:
Best feeling in the world --
First run of the year.
This is my favorite part
Every year, you know?
We've spent so much time
Getting here.
Now we just need to fill these
Jars throughout the night,
Then we'll be good.
-it's getting clearer.
-yes. It is.
Clear, clear.
Do you...
You smell the banana
In there?
The bananas, man.
You want to taste it?
Open it up
And get you a snort.
Wow.
Oh, yeah.
It's going to warm you up.
You can taste,
You can still taste the...
Yeah. It's warm.
It's really refreshing.
You can taste the strawberries,
The bananas.
It's light. It's crisp.
It's perfect for summer.
I think you'll be impressed.
Tell me what you think.
Got my nose running.
Yeah.
It's good, mama.
You done it again.
You put in on paper
And I put it in jars.
It's going to be, like, 120,
We need to still proof it back.
That's enough proof to knock
A man's legs out from under him.
You know, it's good for
Production to have high proof.
You know, we can proof it down
And maybe scrounge
A few more jars out of a run.
Wow.
Narrator: chico and sondra's
First run of their premium
Strawberry banana brandy
Will yield 30 gallons,
Netting the couple $4,500.
Not bad for a hard day's night.
Chico: I still got to work
On my mash game to get...
My proof needs to be
Consistent with 100 proof,
But for first run of the season,
We come out swinging, man.
I mean, it's as good
As we could ask for.
High five.
Hey, that's too high.
Just come back.
High five.
Narrator:
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
An heirloom unearthed
In virginia...
-look at that!
-it looks like an antique.
The still goes all the way back
To chuck's great grandfather.
We can do a little experiment,
As long as we keep it legal.
Narrator:
...Poker face at the bargaining
Table in tennessee...
We told you
$200 a gallon.
I'm still thinking
About $150.
We got to be firm
On the price.
...And a lethal menace
In louisiana.
-that's a cottonmouth!
-god almighty!
I got to kill that thing.
Mark and I, we're not afraid
To try something different.
That's what I love about our
Brand of making moonshine.
We've got no confines.
We experiment.
We adapt and overcome.
We've got a reputation of being
The forefront of moonshine,
And we mean to uphold it.
Narrator: creating authentic
Appalachian moonshine
Has long been a process
Of trial and error.
Those who innovate
While respecting tradition
Continue to push
The craft forward
And guarantee its survival.
I found us
A microscope.
See how good our yeast
Are doing.
Getting granular in tennessee.
Different yeasts
For different type mashes.
Exactly.
A friendship fractures
On the blue ridge.
All right.
I'm ready.
Narrator: and there's fire
In the sky in kentucky.
Wow.
♪ 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 ♪
Man: this is how
We make the moonshine!
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
Move that still
Out of our way.
Yeah.
Don't hit that.
Narrator:
In the blue grass state,
Moonshiners chico and sondra
Have tapped
Their carpenter friend,
Terry, to add a second level
To their tree platform.
-thank you.
-all right. Ready?
Chico: after we built this
Massive platform,
Still it's not enough room.
So we need a second level.
It's not a good
Situation to be in.
I keep spending money
And putting in time and labor.
I got to get liquor in jars.
If I wanted to do this *bleep*
Man, I'd start building
Tree stands for a living.
Narrator:
After constructing a platform
Suspended from the trees...
Little tight up here,
Isn't it?
...Chico and sondra
Soon discovered a mistake
In their calculations
That will cost them time.
That's not enough room.
Sondra:
What are we going to do?
Right on her.
You got it.
Make sure I don't get one
Of your fingers in there.
As a moonshiner it's always a
Concern anybody seeing my site,
But terry helped us
Build the deck itself.
He's not going to say anything.
He's going to keep this
Under his hat,
And at the end of all this,
I'll make sure
He's well taken care of.
All right.
Good.
-are you guys done yet?
-almost.
We have been doing this
For three weeks now.
This is taking forever.
You know, we want
To get shining.
I feel like a moonshiner
Without a job
Because I'm just standing around
At a construction site,
Basically.
Just think about
What color curtains
You're going to hang up.
I hope we can get
This done in one day
And it doesn't turn
Into a long build.
Like, we're behind already.
We need to get running liquor.
-pretty tall up there.
-hell, yeah, that's tall.
This is up here.
It's actually a good
Lookout point
For people coming in on us.
We can see through those woods
From that vantage point
Better than anybody
On the ground
Can even think
About seeing us.
Perfect.
That's badass.
Yeah.
I mean, ain't nobody else
Got a setup
Like this
Out in the woods.
Mnh-mnh.
I'm happy, man.
-yeah.
-tickle me to death.
All right.
The last thing I need to do
Is get some more camouflage up
Pretty quick because
We're trying to be hidden.
Sondra:
This is a long way to fall.
Oh, it is a long fall.
Think people will look up?
Not if we get it
Covered, I don't.
We finally got
The second level finished.
It's done.
After we finish
Camouflaging this,
The next step we've got to take
Is getting water up
In this massive tree stand
That we've built.
And then we can start
Putting mash in barrels.
All right.
What now?
I think we need to get
The camo netting...
-yeah. Uh huh.
-...And break up the bottom.
But I have to start putting
Some money back in my pocket.
The camouflaging stuff
Is awesome
But, I mean,
We're losing days.
Sondra: you know,
To me, this site needs
A lot more camouflaging before
I feel 100% confident in it,
And I'd like to camouflage
A little bit more,
But he is right,
We've got to get liquor going.
The further you get away,
The further it goes away.
It's not.
You're not going to look up
There for any reason whatsoever.
That's the main
Objective.
♪♪
♪♪
Patty boy, have I got
A surprise for you.
What are you
Up to here, puss?
I found us a microscope, see how
Good our yeasts are doing.
See what we can do
With this sucker.
Narrator: in tennessee, at the
Tip of the spear of innovation,
Mark and digger are trying
To optimize their yield
By applying a little science.
What exactly are you
Trying to figure out, puss?
We might just happen
To stumble across something
That tells us
Which ones of our yeasts
Are going to work
A little better, you know?
Different yeasts
For different type mashes?
Exactly.
Mark gets a phone call
From a guy
That's been a good customer
Over the years.
He wants 30 gallons
Of cantaloupe moonshine.
I've never made mush melon
Moonshine in my life.
With fruits,
There's so much can go wrong
With the fermentation,
And I think this microscope
Might help us.
Narrator:
After removing the residual flux
From their three-pot still...
...Mark and digger finally
Tasted sweet success
With their vanilla maple shine.
Yeah, boy.
The duo are now diverting
Their attention
To a specialty order
For cantaloupe shine.
I'm right here
Seeing yeast split.
They're propagating.
Yeah.
Digger: I'm no microbiologist
By any means.
I know a little bit
About yeast.
We can watch which yeasts
Perform better
With different sugars
In this cantaloupe
Because adding the wrong yeast
Can ruin the whole run.
Narrator:
From pot-distilled moonshine
To beer and wine,
Yeast has been the vital
Component in alcohol production
For over 9,000 years.
Categorized as a fungus,
Yeast is a living
Single-celled microorganism
Which grows everywhere
In the environment,
But strains used
In alcohol production
Are grown on the skin of fruit.
During fermentation,
Yeast is added
To a grain or fruit-based mash.
Enzymes in the yeast break down
The sugar in the mash,
Converting it into ethanol
And carbon dioxide gas.
Once the alcohol content of the
Mash reaches around 12%,
The yeast dies off,
Completing fermentation.
Different strains of yeast
Have varying effects
On the flavor, complexity,
And alcohol content
Of the finished product.
How could you tell if this yeast
Will work better with,
Say, the cantaloupe-based
Mash?
By how quickly
They reproduce.
I mean, they're working
Like mad men.
Digger:
We've got this strain of yeast
That we've used before
With fruit mashes.
We've been looking at it
Under the microscope.
Hopefully, if the yeasts
Work out on this cantaloupe,
We'll get a quick fermentation
And be ready to make
Liquor pretty quick.
You know, ain't liquor-making
Come a long way
Since the old timers
Were just simply putting them
Little packets
Of bread yeast in it?
And they'd probably laugh
Their ass off at us.
They would be entitled
To that.
♪♪
J.T.: you got somebody else
In mind that we going to go see?
Tim: we're going to go
See old amos law,
One of the biggest kingpins
Probably in the east coast.
Narrator: tim and j.T.
Are on the road again,
Headed for the next stop
On their search for the roots
Of franklin county moonshine.
Amos law,
One of the most legendary,
Most famous moonshiners
In all of franklin county.
Maybe in the whole
United states.
Controlling millions of dollars,
He was the big
Al capone of moonshining.
These were really
Rough guys back in the day.
Some of them died.
Some of them got shot,
And amos survived.
You know you're in moonshine
Country when you got corn
On both sides of the road.
We are taking
A little bit of risk,
And this is why we decided
To go in the day time.
I don't want him to, like,
Pull out the gun or nothing.
Better be careful, somebody
Come around that curve,
We don't want to
Get trapped.
Just stop right here.
-is that him down there?
-I'd say so.
Looking for amos law.
-yeah.
-how you doing?
Doing good?
Good to see you.
My son, j.T. Here.
Been a long time.
-yeah.
My daddy used to buy
A whole lot of liquor from you.
-yep.
-I don't know if you know,
But I got a brand
Called climax moonshine now.
I took my dad's recipe
And I went legal.
-oh, yeah.
-with j.T. Meeting amos law,
I really want him to see
How big you can become
And how fast you can fall.
It's an exciting law
Being an outlaw
And being in this business,
But then you get sent to prison,
You get separated
From your family,
And everything just
Collapses around you.
Well what's the biggest
Operation you ever had?
Hmm.
Making you about
3,000 gallons of liquor.
-yeah.
-a week?
Yeah.
A week.
I make 300 gallons a week
In a legal, big distillery,
And we got 10 employees
Out here working.
So you got to make sure
You got the customers ready,
Waiting in line for it.
Well you ain't just one of
The boys, you the head man.
Yeah.
Uh huh.
The talk with amos, he spent
A lot of time behind bars
And a lot of time
Being on the run from the law.
Well-known
In the papers and all,
But that's not
The kind of well-known
I want to be popular for.
Well we trying
To stay out of jail.
I'm trying to show j.T. There's
Old ways of making moonshine.
You got to get something good,
You got to stay to it,
You got to make it right.
That's what you've done
All these years.
You got to make it right.
Tim: I know how it is.
I grew up illegal moonshining,
Looking over your shoulder
Or looking behind you.
This is why I went legal.
This outlaw thing,
It's a really tough life.
I really want j.T.
To not go on that path.
Well, amos, it's been
Nice talking to you.
Yeah.
You, too.
I think we learned
A little bit,
And I think j.T.
Learned a little bit.
But we got something
That you can't buy.
Oh, yeah.
Tim: I really, truly feel like,
You know,
If you don't come
From this business,
You didn't grow up
In this business,
You got a long ways to go.
I have it, my dad had it,
And j.T. Has it, too.
-yeah. Good talking with you.
-nice to see you.
-we'll be back.
-all right.
Narrator: coming up...
-okay, we don't have water.
-what?
Sondra: no water.
...Dry as a bone in kentucky.
Why don't we have water?
We'll see what
Cantaloupe liquor tastes like.
And in tennessee,
A real nowhere mash.
There ain't a bit
Of alcohol to it.
It stopped fermenting,
So I'm worried about this thing
Producing.
♪♪
Come on, archie.
Come on.
Narrator: in north carolina,
Mark is weeks into hacking
A polished still site
Out from the rugged terrain.
After their original site
Was demolished
By a construction crew...
Oh, my god!
...Mark and his partner, mike,
Decided to divide and conquer.
While mike ran on his own
To fulfill their first order
Of the season,
Mark created a permanent site
Deeper in the woods.
Narrator: the completed trough
Will carry water
From a nearby stream
Into the still site.
♪♪
♪♪
Come on, archie.
Let's go.
♪♪
♪♪
Tim:
Man, it's raining!
You know what today is,
Don't you?
Today is the day
That you play dominoes.
J.T.:
Play dominoes?
When it's raining, you can't do
Nothing else outside.
Well I thought that's when
You drink the moonshine,
When it rains,
And you make it when it's dry?
Well, I didn't say nothing
About not drinking.
Narrator: on rain-soaked roads
In southwest virginia,
Tim and j.T. Are on their way
To meet another
Franklin county
Moonshine legend.
I ain't seen him
In a long time.
Hell, he's about
90 years old by then.
Cecil is probably the oldest
Still-living moonshiner
That I know of,
And he really had developed
A name for himself.
I mean, at an early age, he was
Producing a lot of moonshine
And making the best moonshine
In franklin county.
And only three years ago,
He was arrested for moonshining.
So at 85 years old.
That just shows you
If it's in your blood,
You're not going to stop.
All right.
Sun shine.
About the time we get over
To cecil's house,
It's going to be
Nice and pretty.
Now these guys up here make
Moonshine all over the place.
They used to have
A cemetery,
But they didn't have
No people buried in it.
They had moonshine
Buried in it.
The whole operation
Was up under there.
J.T.: man.
Narrator: from secret rooms
Behind false walls
To reinforced
Subterranean chambers
Hidden beneath trap doors,
Moonshiners have long employed
An arsenal of ingenious methods
Of hiding their stills
From the law,
Ratcheting up a cat and mouse
Game that spanned decades.
In 1979, atf agents discovered
What would prove to be
One of the most audacious
Hiding schemes of all time.
On the short hill a few
Hundred feet from a county road,
A moonshiner named
David philpott
Bulldozed a large hole
In the ground
Then covered it with a false
Roof of sod and grass,
Creating a fake cemetery,
Complete with headstones
Made from cinder blocks
And landscaping
Of shrubs and flowers.
Below ground, he placed
18 800-gallon pots
Capable of cranking out 1,500
Gallons of shine every week.
J.T.: all right.
This one right here?
Tim: this is it.
Turn in right there.
Tim: when j.T. Was younger,
Moonshining was
Just a part of life.
I don't think he really got it.
So going back and meeting
The old timers,
He can get the feel of it
And bring that back
To the legal side,
And I think he'll be
One motivated individual.
How you doing, cece?
I ain't seen you since
The last time I saw you.
How you doing? J.T.
And you mr. Love, too, huh?
Yeah? Love.
So, you didn't haul
No liquor, did you?
-yeah.
-did you haul liquor, too?
-yeah.
-yeah.
I thought j.T. Come around
And talk to these old timers,
Maybe something will rub off
On him or something.
Well, I mean,
Just the little bit
I grew up in,
It's hard work,
And I know today,
People don't know that.
-yeah.
-yeah.
All right.
Put it all in together?
So you put all your grain
In at one time
And put
The hot water to it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tim: cecil, he really, you know,
Set the standard
For a lot of guys
Back in the day.
It takes guts, really, to,
You know, tell the boss man
That you got a better idea,
You got to better way
To do things
And innovate
To make things happen.
And I want j.T. To do the same.
Yeah.
Narrator: coming up...
...It's time to shine
In north carolina.
To me, this is the most
Nerve-racking moment.
Narrator:
And dire straits in kentucky.
If this doesn't work, we have to
Come up with a different plan.
Chico: yep.
♪♪
Did he teach y'all
How to do the moonshine?
Narrator: back in virginia,
Tim and j.T. Are face-to-face
With cecil and clarence love,
Two of the state's oldest
And most prolific makers
Of backwoods liquor.
3,000 gallons a day?
I'm legal now, you know,
And I don't make
3,000 gallons a day.
What about these different types
Of moonshine you made?
Yeah. Right.
I know it is.
You reckon j.T. Going to be
A good moonshiner?
Yeah.
I really admire cecil.
As early at 16 years old, he
Decided he was going to go out,
Start making his own moonshines.
He wasn't afraid
To do his own thing.
After visiting
All these different places,
I learned a lot
And I got some real good ideas
For my legal operation.
I'm ready to head back
To culpepper.
So I think j.T. Understands
It's hard work,
And you can have
A little fun at it, too.
That's when you got to
Fire it back up then.
Tim:
I want j.T. To learn from cecil.
I want him to take initiative.
He's got to make
His own bold moves,
And he's got to get out there
And he's got to do his thing.
That's the way
He's got to make his mark
On this whole moonshine world.
Well, it was good
Talking to y'all.
-yeah. Yeah.
-I appreciate everything.
-we'll be back to see you.
-all right.
Appreciate it.
♪♪
♪♪
What in the world...
Damn canta-mush melon liquor?
It's what it is.
I don't give a *bleep*
To try it, do you?
Digger: ah, hell,
It's something new.
I ain't never made liquor
Out of mush melons.
Narrator:
In the great smoky mountains,
Mark and digger are preparing
To mash in a moonshine first.
Ain't nothing better
Than two big melons, is there?
Little asymmetrical
There.
You want to turn the pump on
Or you want me to?
I will.
Mark: an old customer of ours,
He wants mush melon liquor.
Traditionally, everybody
Made corn liquor.
Well, the moonshining
Industry today is changing.
People want different things.
They want different flavors.
Very difficult to be
A moonshiner,
And it's even more difficult
To be a good moonshiner.
That creek is
Still plenty big.
Yeah, I wish it stayed
Like that all the time,
Makes a lot of fuss.
-yes. It does.
You can't hear nobody
Sneaking up on you,
But they can't hear
Them burners, either.
Oh, that's clean
As a whistle.
Ain't nothing in there
But clear water.
I'm going to
Sugar that in.
Digger: we don't know much
About cantaloupe,
And we don't know
If it'll make good liquor,
But we've been doing this
For going on 30 years.
If you stay static in your
Craft, no matter what it is,
You're never going
To advance any further.
I feel like,
If we learn something new,
Hey, we've done something.
Mark: I ain't got no idea
What it'll taste like.
It could be really
Something good,
And if it turns out that it is,
Why, it's just another
Arrow in our quiver.
Well, it smells good.
-yeah. It do.
You'll have you a damn straw
In it in a minute.
[ imitates power drill
Whirring ]
Mark: I don't know.
It'll be something else.
Damn near lost a thumb
On that one.
Well, they're getting
Slicker, ain't they?
You going to
Do it again?
♪♪
Yonder it comes.
That will cool that mash off.
Did you give any forethought
About whatever kind of yeast
We need
For this in here?
-yeah.
-you got it?
That yeast we got going,
The slow-acting one?
-yeah.
-that's the one that we used
In our apples before,
For our rye apple.
Digger:
When it comes to rye apple,
I buy our yeast
And I bloom it myself.
Comes in on the back end,
Don't it?
-yeah. It does.
-makes it sweet.
Man,
That's outstanding.
See now, this yeast here,
It's our slower,
Longer fermenting yeast,
And that's because,
As fruit rots,
It still continues to ferment
And we need the yeast to be able
To stand up through that time
And give some more flavor.
Well, we're ready to cover
This up and let it go to work.
I don't know
So much about this.
We don't have any experience
With cantaloupe.
We've got it with apples.
The sugar structures
Are similar,
But we think
If this yeast works,
We're going to bring the best
We can to the table.
Mark:
Who'd have ever think it, puss?
Mush melon liquor.
I ain't a thinking about it
Until it's done.
♪♪
♪♪
Don't fall.
Yeah, this will work.
-yeah?
-deep and cold.
Narrator: up in kentucky,
With their platform
In the trees complete,
Chico and sondra
Must now overcome
One more obstacle -- gravity.
We got to get the water
Out of that creek...
-yep.
-...Into that stand.
Chico: we've been here for weeks
Building this platform,
Money is leaving,
Time is leaving.
We got to start putting money
Back in our pockets.
If we don't start getting
Running here pretty quick,
It's going to be
Another half season wasted.
But before we start
Putting mash in barrels,
We've got one more hurdle
We've got to cross.
We've got to get water
Pumping into the stand.
We got to run pipe 100 foot from
The creek, and then straight up.
That's work for any pump.
We don't have to
Bury this very deep.
It's just got to be covered
So it doesn't get cracked.
Sondra: okay.
This is it.
This is all we have to do
Before we can mash in
And then start making money.
That'll work.
Start covering it up.
Every day
I don't smell propane,
I don't hear that copper rocket,
Time is leaving.
I mean, look around, man, it's
Dead middle of shine season.
I should have been a plumber.
Yeah, you got enough crack
Hangs out all the time,
You probably
Should have been.
Smart ass.
I take pride
In carrying on the heritage
And culture of moonshining,
But the reason I'm in these
Woods fighting bugs is money.
You think we should have done,
Like, a test run
Before we buried
All this?
You've got no faith?
I'm slightly nervous
That the pump will not be
Strong enough
To pump the water.
-easy.
-does that work?
-yep.
-we'll see.
I hope I'm wrong, but we're just
Going to charge forward
And try it out.
All right, keep this hose
As straight as you can.
Sondra:
Okay. I got you.
All right.
I don't know about you,
But to me,
This is the most
Nerve-racking moment so far.
Because if this
Doesn't work,
We have to come up
With a different plan.
Yep.
[ pump whirring ]
Got a prime.
We know that.
No, the hose is moving,
That's water.
-water.
-I got to go.
Chico: well, you need to
Go up there and see
What's pumping
Them barrels.
Sondra: okay.
We don't have water.
-what?
-no water.
Chico: I can't get water
In the barrels.
I can't get water in the still.
Without water, we're done.
No water.
Why don't we have water?
Okay.
We don't have water.
-what?
-no water.
Narrator:
Back in the blue grass state,
It's an uphill battle
As chico and sondra
Struggle to get water
Up to their mash barrels.
Chico:
Every time we do something
To make it easier on us
Through the course of the year,
It seems like I always bite
Off more than I can chew.
It must have a clog in it
Somewhere in this pipe.
Blow in it,
See what happens.
[ exhales heavily ]
Do it again.
[ exhales heavily ]
Yeah.
All right.
Got water?
No.
I got air.
It's pushing air out?
Yeah.
Suck on it.
[ coughs ]
What about water?
-*bleep* you. Yeah.
-we got water?
-we got water.
-all right.
Start filling barrels.
Sondra:
I'm, like, super excited.
Our water is good,
We got this thing built.
We get to mash in today.
Chico: all right.
Go get strawberries.
We're going to start
This season off
With strawberry banana brandy.
Please don't fall.
I have been getting
Phone calls for weeks now,
And I have orders to fill.
Last year, chico and I opened up
To this customer base
That's been untapped,
And that's the women market.
We had such great success
With the watermelon crawl
Last year in the fall crawl.
This year, we want to kind
Of keep that train going.
Chico: how did I get hooked
Into this part?
Because you love me.
Yeah.
All right, you going to
Put it together?
Yeah.
This is sondra's wheelhouse.
She's the boss
When it comes to what we need
To put into our mash.
Everybody has got
Their own way of doing this.
I've got the way
That works for me.
The water temperature has got
To be above 90 degrees
To break down sugar.
The water temperature has to be
Below 90 or it kills my yeast.
I heat up my water and break
Down my sugar in small batches,
I dump it on top of cool water
In the mash barrels
To get it down
To the temperature where
The yeast will start.
All right.
Last barrel.
I finally got my mash started.
I finally got to use my still.
Look at the head
On that one.
Sondra: I know.
I finally got to hear yeast
Working, you know?
I still just can not wait until
I get that first jar of liquor.
What are we going to do
While we wait?
I'm going home.
I don't know
What you're doing.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: in north carolina,
Mark prepares for his first
Solo run of the season.
I'm proud of it.
Narrator: when mash reaches
10% to 12% alcohol,
The density
Of the liquid changes,
Causing any solids
That were floating on top
To sink to the bottom.
The signal that
It's ready to run.
♪♪
♪♪
I'm going to
Dump this out.
Narrator: mark's 14-gallon run
Of corn whiskey will net him
$1,400 and bring his and mike's
Season total to 39 gallons.
Hershey, you ready to go?
♪♪
♪♪
So, here
In an hour or two,
We'll see what cantaloupe
Liquor tastes like.
Narrator: over in tennessee,
Mark and digger
Are looking to add a new flavor
To their already
Impressive line up.
Me and old digger,
We're coming in today,
We're going to run this
Cantaloupe mash.
We've never done it before,
But we gave our word
To this customer,
And we're committing
Our word and our reputation.
It might be
Delicious, digger.
I smell that mash.
-it smells good.
Digger: we don't know much
About cantaloupe,
As far as liquor goes.
We know we both like to eat it.
The fruit taste comes through,
It's going to be dandy liquor.
Look how
The cap's dropped,
Got a little fruit still
Floating on on the top of it.
Yeah.
It's ready to go.
Got the...
No.
Hey, man, that's sweeter
Than damn molasses.
Man, it still tastes
Cantaloupe-y,
But there ain't a bit
Of alcohol taste to it.
Digger: it ain't finished.
It's sweeter than molasses
And what sweet equals in a mash
Is it's not finished.
It means that it never did start
Or it got stuck,
It stopped fermenting.
So we're dead in the water.
The gist of the matter
Is right now, we're done.
Narrator: coming up...
Sondra: this is the first
Run of the season.
We're ready to start
Making money.
Narrator: ...A thirst
For success in kentucky.
Jim tom: ♪ they took me down
To nashville ♪
♪ I stayed all night ♪
Narrator:
Moonshiner/crooner jim tom has
A catalog of toe-tapping tunes
As legendary as his shine.
♪ whiskey, whiskey, whiskey ♪
♪ come on out,
I'm a craving whiskey ♪
♪ with my spout ♪
♪ oh, down in the mountains
Of tennessee ♪
♪ me and martin digger
Was happy as could be ♪
♪ oh, I told old sal
To look right here ♪
♪ she said jim tom,
Bring me a beer ♪
♪ I'm on my way ♪
[ laughter ]
Let's act like
I knock hell out of you.
It's working on you,
Too, ain't it?
Dang right.
♪ oh, me, my wife
And a stump-tail dog ♪
♪ crossed the creek
On a hickory log ♪
♪ the log was slick
And she fell in ♪
♪ lost the willy jug again. ♪
That's what
I'm talking about.
[ both laugh ]
♪♪
Mark: there ain't a big
Of alcohol taste to it.
No.
But, man, that's sweeter
Than damn molasses.
Narrator: back in tennessee,
Stalled mash has foiled
Mark and digger's first run
Of their new cantaloupe shine.
Yeast has died.
It's stuck.
Something has
Killed it dead.
You know, right now, we're still
In the midst of summer.
It's still good and hot.
You know, this yeast it,
It ought to work
Good day and night.
But, you know,
Something happened,
And we've got to address it
And we've got to go forward.
Can we not
Heat it back up?
We put the same yeast, it's
Probably going to kill it again.
Whatever is in that
Cantaloupe killed that yeast,
So we got to come up
With something different.
That's what you do,
Ain't it?
The only other option we got is,
I've got a yeast
It's supposed to give
20% to 24% alcohol by law.
Is that the one in that jug
That we just kept
Putting the sugar in it?
And aerating it,
Yeah, stirring it up.
We got to do that
That way?
Yeah, we'll have to do it
The same way,
That's the way
It's got to be done.
Digger: I've got a high gravity
Beer yeast.
I've saved it for an experiment,
But maybe now is the time.
Our reputation is
On the line here, puss.
Well, we're going to have to get
The hell out of here
And get that yeast.
We gave our word
To this customer
That we would try
To make this liquor,
But we don't know
If we can kick start it or not.
We still got to turn
The fermentation,
Which is going to
Take additional time.
And if we fail to do
What we say we'll do,
Then our word is not worth
A warm cup of piss.
Cap her off
And let's go.
♪♪
♪♪
Sondra: oh.
Chico: creeping in here easy
Like that is not bad.
Narrator: under cover
Of the kentucky night,
Chico and sondra
Are putting liquor in jars
For the first time this season
With their run of
Strawberry banana brandy.
It is so quiet
Back here.
Sondra: this is the first
Run of the season.
We have a 20-gallon
Order to fill,
So we're going to have to
Make more than just one run.
This will get our new flavor out
There, this strawberry banana,
And we're ready
To start making money.
-all right.
-I'm ready.
You know you're not
Going to siphon it.
I really don't want to.
I've had bad
Experiences with that.
Hand it up.
Here you go.
Sorry, babe.
Your hair is shiny.
Shut your mouth
Right now.
Chico: the strawberry banana
Is a little bit
Out of the box for me.
The watermelon is on point.
Can't nobody
Even compete with that.
But sondra throws these
Unorthodox plans at me,
And I pull them off.
It's getting
Awful cold.
Yes. Yes.
It's on.
Yeah.
The water works.
Yeah. It's started.
All right.
Whenever you're ready.
Chico: this is the inlet,
The cold water.
This goes on the bottom
So you pump the cold water
From bottom to top
So it gradually cools it,
Just like a worm box.
That's what makes my still
So much more efficient.
Narrator:
Combining all the elements
Of a traditional pot still,
In chico's set up,
The pot, cape and cap
Are replaced by a pot
That narrows
Into a metal collar.
A second chamber sitting above
The collar functions
As the doubler.
The pipe extending away from
The still contains a copper tube
That's surrounded by cold,
Flowing water,
And serves as the condenser.
With its small footprint,
High efficiency,
And ease of mobility,
It's an illegal shiner's
Dream come true.
Hey. Look.
That's heads.
We need to catch that.
That's perfect.
First of the year.
It's clean, too.
Oh, this is
My favorite part.
Here, let me dump those.
Bye, heads.
Sondra:
Best feeling in the world --
First run of the year.
This is my favorite part
Every year, you know?
We've spent so much time
Getting here.
Now we just need to fill these
Jars throughout the night,
Then we'll be good.
-it's getting clearer.
-yes. It is.
Clear, clear.
Do you...
You smell the banana
In there?
The bananas, man.
You want to taste it?
Open it up
And get you a snort.
Wow.
Oh, yeah.
It's going to warm you up.
You can taste,
You can still taste the...
Yeah. It's warm.
It's really refreshing.
You can taste the strawberries,
The bananas.
It's light. It's crisp.
It's perfect for summer.
I think you'll be impressed.
Tell me what you think.
Got my nose running.
Yeah.
It's good, mama.
You done it again.
You put in on paper
And I put it in jars.
It's going to be, like, 120,
We need to still proof it back.
That's enough proof to knock
A man's legs out from under him.
You know, it's good for
Production to have high proof.
You know, we can proof it down
And maybe scrounge
A few more jars out of a run.
Wow.
Narrator: chico and sondra's
First run of their premium
Strawberry banana brandy
Will yield 30 gallons,
Netting the couple $4,500.
Not bad for a hard day's night.
Chico: I still got to work
On my mash game to get...
My proof needs to be
Consistent with 100 proof,
But for first run of the season,
We come out swinging, man.
I mean, it's as good
As we could ask for.
High five.
Hey, that's too high.
Just come back.
High five.
Narrator:
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
An heirloom unearthed
In virginia...
-look at that!
-it looks like an antique.
The still goes all the way back
To chuck's great grandfather.
We can do a little experiment,
As long as we keep it legal.
Narrator:
...Poker face at the bargaining
Table in tennessee...
We told you
$200 a gallon.
I'm still thinking
About $150.
We got to be firm
On the price.
...And a lethal menace
In louisiana.
-that's a cottonmouth!
-god almighty!
I got to kill that thing.