Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 8, Episode 11 - Hundred Proof High Season - full transcript
Tracking down an old-time bootlegger, Mark and Digger uncover treasures Popcorn Sutton left behind. In debt, Mike and Daniel engineer a split pot still to upgrade their shine, and its price. Patti and David convert pontoons into a...
♪♪
On this episode of
"Moonshiners"...
That's *bleep* heavy.
...The sweet smell
Of moonshine
Can bring more
Than paying customers...
Two cubs.
Damn. The mama --
She's a damn big one.
They're coming this way.
...The school
Of backwoods homesteading
Is in session...
Ow! Gah!
All right, chuck,
What do you think?
Let's start pumping.
...And in virginia, scaling up
Tickle's double-rye recipe
Puts tim's engineering skills
On the line.
Any time you're running
A new still,
You don't know really
What it's gonna do.
This is how we make
The moonshine!
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
-well, puss, today's the day.
-yep.
Long time before we see
Any benefit from it, though.
Ain't it?
Well, maybe we won't need it
'til then.
In the backwoods
Of tennessee, mark and digger
Invest their expertise
In a batch of shine
That will have
Some big long-term payoff.
Let's get some water going,
Puss.
While we looking for
Popcorn's lost stash of liquor,
Pam sutton kind of
Put us to thinking, you know,
That we need to create something
Of our own for the future,
And we decided, you know,
"Why not barrel age
Some of our liquor?"
You feel any water
Coming, puss?
Like a cow pissing
On a flat rock.
Older liquor gets,
The more people will pay for it.
That's a known fact.
There's enough water
In that one.
Higher-dollar bourbons
Can sell for $300 and $400
For a 750-milliliter bottle.
I'm hoping there's
Will be worth that.
Hell, something
Happens to us,
Our women --
They'll have a little...
-have a little something.
-...A nest egg, you know?
They can blow it all
On their new man.
Boy, I'd hate for some
Son of a bitch
To spend all my liquor money
That I worked so hard to make.
Wouldn't you?On some gigolo.
Oh, damn.
Let's light it up.
Let it start heating up.
Damn, that was easy.
All right.
Let's get this other one.
That looks damn nice
Right there.
For it to be classified
As bourbon,
It's got to have 51% or more
Corn in the meal.
We're gonna be
Way over that.
The corn will be about 60%.
Then we're gonna have
A little rye in it
And flake barley.
Oh, yeah.
Barley gives it a good,
Earthy, nutty tone.
We ain't made no liquor out of
That in a long, long time.
No, we ain't.
I think it'll be a good mix.
Along with the oaky flavor
Of the barrel,
Once it's aged
Its minimum of three years,
I think it's gonna
Come through real good.
It ought to have
A hell of a flavor.
Oh, yeah.
This all goes good, this ought
To make a good yield, too --
I mean, all the grain.
We can put plenty
Of sugar in it.
Yep.
Ruh-roh, raggy.
I lost my pecker.
Your pecker in the dirt.
I find my pecker in the dirt
Quite often.
Let's move on
To the next one.
The reason we're mashing
In the pots is,
We can get
Each distillation separate,
And it'll blend
In the thump keg.
Be some of the finest
Liquor that's ever been.
That's what popcorn said
About every run.
Every run he run --
"Finest liquor.
It's gonna be some of the best
Liquor you've ever seen."
Usually when we make our liquor
And get it jarred up,
We realize cash dividends
Immediately.
This is not gonna work
That way.
Barrel aging our liquor,
You know --
It'll increase in value in time
Just like
A retirement account does.
The wood of barrel, you know --
It's like the interest
That causes the increase
In the value of this liquor.
That ought to be
Some fine liquor, baby man.
Be some of the finest liquor
That's ever been.
401 liquor there,
Puss.
401.
Yeah, 401 liquor.
♪♪
Mm-hmm.
Sun's shining,
Good and cool.
Yeah, that's pretty level,
Ain't it?
♪♪
Two counties to the southwest
In the mountains
Of north carolina,
Mark and huck are building a
Greenhouse to malt their corn.
Instead of using
Straight cracked corn,
Some moonshiners prefer to malt,
Or sprout, their own corn
Before mashing in.
Gosh, yeah.
Yeah, that'd be
Good enough.
You got it?
How we gonna cut this off,
Mark?
Yeah.
Right here
Is a piece of wire.
Had a piece of wire
Laying here,
Put me two handles on it.
Let mark heat that pipe up.
I'm gonna put it up there
And see if we can just cut it.
I believe that'll cut it.
One way to find out,
Ain't there?
Try it and see.
-ready?
-I'm ready.
See if it works.
-it's cutting it, ain't it?
-yeah.
All right.
Just take the torch off.
Gonna melt your tape.
Oh, yeah.
Lookee there.
Burn our greenhouse down.
Ow! Gah!
- hey, mark, that's hot.
- yeah, boy.
We got the frame down,
Got the plastic spread around.
It's stretched out pretty tight.
I believe it will.
That looks
Real good to me.
That'll hold a lot of corn,
Won't it?
The enzymes in
Sprouted corn will help speed
The process of fermentation
With natural yeast.
Moonshiners claim that
It's the surefire way
To make hangover-free liquor.
A lot of times,
If you leave it too thick,
It'll mold on you.
Won't it?
Yep.
Won't be no danger
Of that a-molding, will it?
All we got to do is just wait
On that now, ain't it?
Yeah.
♪♪
So you think we're gonna
Get to run today, huh?
Yeah, we should be able
To run today.
We better take us
A few jars down with us.
I think I can only carry
One of these.
I think we got a couple more
Down there anyway.
80 miles north of
The kentucky-tennessee border,
With 2 gallons already stashed,
Donnie and teresa are set
To run the remainder
Of a 10-gallon order.
Today's a big day for us.
We got a buyer
And got a sale set up.
He's wanting 10 gallons.
Well, the still is
Still here.
That's a good sign.
10 gallons for us is,
You know -- it's a big order.
Still got water,
Don't we?
Plenty of water.
We're gonna have to
Save every drop
That we make
And by the time we temper it,
And hopefully we got enough
To fill the order.
Ugh.
Check our mash. Yeah.
You taste it this time
And see if it's sweet or sour.
-it's good and sweet.
-good and sweet?
When it works off,
It's supposed to get sour.
Son of a bitch.
In their first run
Of the season,
The cool nighttime temperatures
In the cave
Stopped
Their mash fermentation.
Oh, it's definitely sour.
They solved the problem
By wrapping the barrel
With mylar insulation, which
Keeps the yeast warm and active.
Now we get to get the mash
From the barrel to the pot.
This is gonna take
Forever.
Well, we ain't got
No choice.
If we was in
A different location,
We could run
A lot more whiskey.
It's a really good spot.
It's just hard to get in
And out of,
But that's one reason
We picked this
'cause we didn't want anybody
To find our location.
But, you know,
Everything we do down here,
We got to do it right
The first time.
We are in a risky business,
But we don't have to look
Over our shoulder
And worry about somebody coming
Into us or finding us so easy.
♪♪
This right here is
Our bag ends.
This is tail ends
From the last run,
Gonna put it in
The thumper.
When the steam comes over
And goes back into the thumper,
Believe it or not, this will
Actually raise the proof of it.
-looks good to me.
-it looks good.
You done a good job.
So what's next?
Well, what's next is
An old moonshiner's tradition.
We got to sit and wait.
Sitting around the still --
You know,
It's an old tradition.
Just, you know,
Hurry up and wait.
The old-timers -- they would sit
And just tell stories,
And, you know,
I would love to hear
Some of the stories
That they told.
Yeah, my grandpa --
His own brother
Turned him in one time.
I think what happened was,
My grandpa's brother --
He got caught making whiskey,
And to get out of trouble,
He told on my grandpa,
But he got word back,
And, you know,
They didn't catch him.
I'm sure that created
A little tension at
The family reunion.
Oh, I'm sure it did.
It's 178.
It'll be
A few more minutes.
There we go.
This is the heads
And the foreshots coming off.
You don't want to
Drink this.
Here. Hold this.
This right here
Is a proofing parrot.
It'll tell us the proof
Of the alcohol as it's running,
And we don't have
To keep checking it.
So the alcohol is
Coming out of the worm,
Flows down
Into this parrot.
Right. I got my hydrometer
Where I can proof it
The whole time
It's running.
As you can see right now,
It's 160 proof coming out.
Here you go.
This is the foreshots
And the heads.
It's running pretty good here,
And hopefully by the time
We run it and get it tempered,
We'll have enough for him.
After tempering down
To 100 proof,
They'll have 8 gallons
From this run --
Enough to complete the 10-gallon
Order for their upcoming sale.
Last quart!
Gonna try
That yoke thing?
Yeah, let's see
If it'll even work.
We got this antique yoke here,
And we're gonna hang
The jars off of it.
-got it?
-yeah.
And we're gonna try to pack
This whiskey up this hill.
Now we're about to get
To the fun part.
You all right?
I'm okay for now.
When we get over here,
I'll take the other jug.
Yeah, you know, this cave --
You know,
It's been hard all the way.
Want me to go in front?
Yeah, you go in front.
- But it's actually working.
- You know, I'm surprised.
You may have to help me
Over this rock right here.
Oh, *bleep*!
Oh.
Are you kidding me?
The damn rope broke on it.
Pretty frustrating.
He should've checked the strings
On that yoke.
We lost a jug of whiskey.
It's a big setback.
You know, we're gonna be
Short on our order.
I'm not sure how this guy
Is gonna react.
You know, hopefully
He'll still take what we have.
100 damn dollars
Down the drain.
We're going from a 20-gallon
Recipe to a 2,000-gallon recipe.
Tim is forced to
Improvise on a whole new scale.
You really gonna use
A bathroom scale?
♪♪
How old is this grinder,
Chuck?
So old nobody knows.
It look like it's been sitting
Here longer than I am old.
Let's go see
If it gonna work.
In culpeper, virginia,
Tim, chuck, and j.T.
Are finally ready to mash in
Their first batch
Of double-rye moonshine.
-that gonna work?
-yeah, that's good right there.
But before grinding the rye,
They've got to figure out
Exactly how much they need
For this inaugural batch.
Chuck, we got to figure out
How much comes out
In so many seconds.
We're going from a 20-gallon
Recipe to a 2,000-gallon recipe.
We already calculated
How many pounds we need --
600 pounds.
But when the machine
Is just throwing that out,
You don't know
How much it yields.
All right.
What we do -- we hold a bucket
Under there, turn it on,
And then we're gonna see
How many seconds
It takes
To fill that bucket up.
-okay.
-y'all ready?
All right.
I'm ready.
Set.
Now go!
So we came up the idea
Of getting a bucket full
To see,
"How long does it take?"
Then we'll weigh the bucket,
You know,
And multiply that to calculate
The 600 pounds.
All right.
13 seconds.
-13 seconds is that bucket.
-yeah.
And then we'll see
How much that bucket weighs.
All right.
You really gonna use
A bathroom scale to weigh?
Well, we got to get it
On a flat surface.
Oh, let's --
No, let's do the j.T. Method.
Right there.
All right, j.T.,
You get on the scale.
Well, you're 140.
Now how much you weigh?
Oh, 160? Easy.
20 pounds.
There's 20 pounds
In that bucket?
-yeah.
-and we need 600 pounds.
How many pounds?
How many seconds?
Can you calculate that,
Chuck, in your head?
How many buckets we need?
We need...
We need 20 pounds.
30 buckets.
So how many seconds
Is that?
13 times 30?
-yeah.
-go ahead and start it up.
-you ready?
-yeah, go!
By steadily feeding
The grinder for 390 seconds,
Or 6 1/2 minutes,
Tim, chuck, and j.T.
Can simultaneously grind
And measure out the 600 pounds
Of rye they need for their mash.
All right, chuck,
That's about all it needs.
Now we need to bring
That auger up.
Then we can take it over there
And dump it.
-yep.
-all right. Let's do that.
We got this big grain auger
That we normally use
For the big silos.
It goes up in the air
Like 30, 40 feet,
But the thing is
Like 80 feet long.
It runs with a tractor,
So it takes another tractor
To power it.
All right. We're gonna have
Three tractors
Running at the same time.
So we're gonna have rye
Coming out,
Malted barley,
Corn coming in there,
And we're gonna get the auger
Going into the tank.
Chuck, you get that
One going first.
Cut that on!
I'm gonna try
A little bit of corn!
We got the rye going in
On that end,
Got the corn and barley
Going on this end.
The combination of all going
Together up to the cook tank.
Shut it off!
There you go!
-how's it look, tim?
It's looking good, chuck.
We ground it.
We mashed it together.
I'm gonna put the yeast in,
And once that yeast starts
Activating and starts working,
It's gonna start
Producing alcohol.
We'll just wait
Until this gets ready,
And once it's ready,
Then we're gonna shoot it
Over to the still
And start it up.
I think it looks good
For a first-time batch.
♪♪
We need to get a corn mill,
Corn grinder.
I run across a guy
That had one.
One state south
In north carolina,
Mark and huck are looking to
Trade a few gallons of moonshine
In exchange for a grain mill
So they can grind
The malted corn for their mash.
I believe we can use that.
Don't you?
It's better to have
Everything on-site
So you don't have to run out
And then run back in.
That really throws us behind,
You know?
We don't really want to do that.
Phew.
What'd you do?
Agh!
You don't ride
Your little bush over.
Move it
Just a little bit.
-where you going, mark?
-agh!
♪♪
All right.
You're clear of all the bushes.
Agh!
A little aggravating,
But it'll be worth it.
Yeah.
Yeah, we're gonna put it
On top of there. Ain't we?
-yeah.
-it'll be perfect.
Mark is carving out
A shelf from a fallen tree,
Which he'll use
To anchor the corn mill.
I want the motor
Over here.
If you'll just pick it up
And go that way...
There you go.
I'm gonna put a little
5-horsepower motor on there.
Try it out?
-yeah.
Let's try it.
Give it some corn.
Mark and huck are
Testing the grinder
To ensure that it works
As intended.
Yeah, try that.
If we grind that up,
That'd make some real
Liquor, wouldn't it?
You could sit there
And let it idle,
And it'd do a lot in a day.
You know it?
We'll grind a lot of malt
In a day's time -- a lot.
Smells good, don't it?
I'll just have to try to
Explain to him what happened,
And hopefully
He'll understand.
A day late and a gallon short
Can mean a brief career
As an outlaw shiner.
I know.
I did have it,
But I dropped
A gallon of it.
That sounds like a you problem,
Buddy, not mine.
But, you know,
I'll just have to try
To explain to him
What happened,
And hopefully
He'll understand.
Well, I've known
This guy all my life,
But, you know, I've seen him
Fight several times
When we was in school.
He's nobody
To fool around with.
He's got a short temper.
In lee county, kentucky,
Donnie and teresa are showing up
To the sale a gallon short
After breaking a jug
In transport.
He may be fine with it.
He may be really upset
And not take any of it.
You know, I just hope
He's satisfied with it
'cause, you know,
Normally if I tell someone
I'm gonna do something,
I do it.
He's got customers himself,
So it's a domino effect.
Bootlegging,
It's why you do it --
To make the money --
But it's the biggest risk.
I've known this guy all my life,
But he's unpredictable,
And I'm not sure
How he's gonna react.
I'm gonna let donnie do most
Of the talking in this deal
And just have his back.
Moonshiners
Can be like snakes.
You back them in a corner,
And you never know
What might happen.
I hear a car coming.
Howdy.
-hey. What's going on?
Got your stuff here.
Here.
Taste it and see
If you want what I got.
♪♪
I got a little problem,
Though.
I only got nine gallons.
I know.
I did have it,
But I dropped
A gallon of it.
What you want to do?
You want it or not?
Thank you. I'll make it
Up to you somehow.
I don't want to lose you
As a customer.
Moonshine is money.
It's just the same as taking
A $100 bill
And setting it on fire
And burning it.
I got to make up
For that somehow.
♪♪
♪♪
Well, we'll get over here
And check this stuff out, mark.
In north carolina, mark and huck
Are returning
To their greenhouse
To see if their current batch
Of corn has malted.
Oh, it's perfect.
Good corn malt --
You don't want to let it start
Budding out and turning green.
If it gets
A little green shoot on it,
That would actually
Be the corn stalk
Starting right there,
And that's gonna kind of leave
A weird taste in your liquor.
Once the corn is dried,
Mark and huck
Run it through the grinder.
Get this ground,
We'll mash
That barrel in up there.
♪♪
Yeah.
It's good we don't have
To go out to settlement
To do this, ain't it?
No more.
Make it right here
And grind it right here
And save
A lot of road time.
Sunday's ready to be
Changed out, is it?
Yeah.
Well, here goes
The sugar, mark.
-yeah.
-we don't have to heat this up.
We'll just let it
Work off.
And once you run it through
That still, it's all cooked,
Then on your second run,
You're ready to go.
Here comes the malt,
Mark.
Well, I'm glad we built
That greenhouse, mark.
Oh, yeah, it does.
No.
We'll let that work off
And run it through the still,
And then we'll start making
Some good stuff out of that.
You bet.
♪♪
♪♪
Ain't no trouble getting
This rascal in here, digger.
I know what'll happen.
I'll hit one of these rocks,
And it'll stub it up,
And my damn nut
Will go south.
Well, at least it won't
Be both of them.
Three counties northeast,
Mark and digger
Lay the groundwork
For big returns on
A long-term investment
In aged bourbon.
410,
Retirement money.
Reckon we'll live long enough
To enjoy it?
we hope so.
We can't just run out here
Willy-nilly
And throw our money
In the bank.
The government would be
On our doorstep
Wanting to know where
We came up with this money.
Check this here mash.
Our only hope is to put some
Of this liquor in oak barrels
And age it and let that
Aging process be our interest.
Oh, that's good
And bitter.
That corn there's got
A little alkie-hol on it.
We're banking on
Big money for it.
All right. Let's light some fire
And get to making liquor.
Mm!
We're making
A triple-grain liquor
With corn, barley, and rye.
I ain't gonna put 'em on
Too hot.
We'll crank them up
After we get to tasting it.
We've got some fine mash here.
If it'll cook off the right way,
We'll have some good liquor.
That thing looks like
It's sitting up higher
Than it was.
Maybe.
Ground might have
Swoled up, too.
We got to bring this
Whole business back.
You're *bleep* me.
-*bleep* damn it.
-we got a little bit.
We can come on back
A little bit.
You know, every time
That we come out here,
And we try to put big sloppy
And the twins together...
Whoa!
...And it seems that
She wants to fight us
More and more every time.
Maybe we took the wrong route
To putting them together.
*bleep* damn it.
We go through this
Every time,
Trying to line this *bleep*
Up every time.
Damn...
You need
A longer one, don't you?
I need a damn shot
In the head.
This thing -- it looks like
A damn disgruntled octopus.
Here's another one.
Can't make no liquor
Without a liquor still.
We get a little frustrated
From time to time with it,
But it'll get put together.
It'll go in place.
I mean --
Oh, dang!
You found that sharp spot,
Didn't you?
-yeah.
-shake it off there, boss.
Just a matter
Of waiting, ain't it?
Yep.
Oh, *bleep* daddy.
Mark, wait.
God almighty.
That's a cub.
There'll be a mama
Somewhere.
Two cubs. Damn.
Damn. There's the mama,
And she's a damn big one.
Look right yonder.
-oh, yeah.
Oh, *bleep* daddy.
Mark, wait.
God almighty.
That's a cub.
There'll be a mama
Somewhere.
Two cubs. Damn.
Damn. There's the mama,
And she's a damn big one.
Look right yonder.
-oh, yeah.
We've had trouble with bears
In the past
Getting in our mash barrels,
And, man, a big swipe
With a bear claw --
They will just destroy
These copper pots.
They're going
The other way now.
We got to keep
Our eyes peeled.
They'll be back
In here on us.
Lookee here, puss.
Don't that make you feel
Better already?
That ought to be
Plenty of heads.
Pour them out.
We're just gonna collect it
In this copper catch basin.
It holds like
10, 11 gallons at a time.
You want to ladle up
A little sip?
Get a little taste.
That's dandy.
What do you taste
More than anything?
I get that malt corn
Right off the bat.
Oh, that malt corn.
That is -- damn.
It comes in there
Like a gangbuster.
It's so good you almost
Got to lay down to drink it.
Your tongue will slap
Your brains out, it's so good.
All right.
Here we go.
Let's get way up on it
Before we spill a lot.
We'll dump it over
Into a clean blue barrel,
And as we dump it,
As it progressively gets weaker,
The proof starts dropping, and
It will kind of temper itself.
We're gonna hit
105, 110.
That's what's we're after.
Mark and digger's run yields
53 gallons of whiskey
Ready to age.
After storing it in
A charred-oak barrel
For three years,
It will fetch a minimum
Of $300 to $400 per quart,
But the price should
Dramatically increase
With each passing year.
-there we go.
-lay it to it.
It won't take long to
Fill this barrel up.
With it being
This fine of liquor,
We want to put it in a vessel
That it's meant to be in,
A white-american-oak cask.
It's been charred,
And it's got
A really heavy toast in it.
It'll impart a lot of
Mellow flavor to it,
And it'll give it a good,
Deep honey color.
We're gonna have to roll it over
This big log up here.
If we take her down,
Need a damn dozer
To get it out.
Well, it'll be
A sight quicker, maybe.
♪♪
♪♪
So what's with
Those metal cans in the back?
They're actually
Old pop containers.
You know,
They're stainless steel.
I'm still so damn mad from
Breaking that glass, you know,
I had to come up
With something else.
How much will they hold?
Well, they'll hold
Up to 5 gallons apiece.
Eight counties to the north in
Daniel boone national forest...
Take this over the hill.
...Donnie and teresa
Found a solution
To their breakage problem.
Next order of business
Is to run a batch of sour mash
And deliver it to the customer
Who was shorted a gallon.
I don't want to be known
As someone
That don't keep their word
'cause around here,
You know,
That's all you have.
I can't afford to lose
Any customers or any sales.
This buyer may be upset,
But he took my word
That I'd make it up to him,
And you better believe
That I will.
This is the whiskey
That we ran yesterday,
And we're gonna take
The old mash
And mash it back
Into a barrel.
It makes sour mash,
And with sour-mash whiskey,
It's gonna be
A whole lot smoother tasting.
Plus it'll make
A whole lot more.
It'll make twice as much.
See what your temperature
Is over there.
We're at 90.
All right.
That's where we want it to be.
The reason why is,
If you put it in too hot,
It's gonna kill the yeast bed
That's in the mash barrel.
Okay.
A lot of people --
They run their mash one time.
Then they throw it away.
I like to run mine
At least five times.
You just put your slop back in
From the run before
And add sugar,
And that's all you have to do.
If you look in here now,
You can actually see it
Bubbling just a little bit.
You see, the yeast
Is still alive,
And once we add
This to it and sugar,
It will take
Right back off working,
And within another week,
It'll be ready to run.
They'll restart another batch
By adding hot water and sugar
To the used mash solids
In the barrel.
Shiners can use this technique,
Called remashing,
Up to five times
Before the mash solids
Are completely spent
And need to be discarded.
Moonshining --
It's a way of life for me.
Just pour it in slow,
And I'll stir it as it goes in.
I actually do it
To make a living.
You know, if I don't make it
During the summer,
You know,
I'll go hungry this winter.
All right.
I need to pour
The rest of it in there.
We started up behind,
And it's really gonna be tough
To make up the difference.
Once we get done, you know,
Pouring the sugar in there,
I need to take the bags
And burn them.
It's a moonshiner's
Tradition.
We've had setback after setback.
Temperature -- we ran into
Problems with that...
Keep going.
...Back there
Getting the water,
Getting the product
Out of there,
But we'll work it.
Here.
Tear you a little strip.
Now light it.
You know, what we're doing here
Is destroying the evidence.
If the revenuers came in here,
And they seen the sugar
And the still
And everything all together,
You know, they're gonna know
We're making whiskey.
Yep. That's part of
Being a moonshiner.
♪♪
♪♪
So what
Do you think, huh?
I mean, the cap has gone
And sunk down.
You can't even see it.
It's putting off
A lot of alcohol.
I can tell you that.Yeah.
One state east in virginia,
Tim's about to begin
A large-scale run
Of the double-rye recipe
Tickle and j.T. Developed
Last year.
We're gonna do two birds
With one stone here.
We're gonna take care
Of the double-rye recipe
That j.T. And tickle
Came up with.
And then we're actually
Gonna christen the still
That's never been run before.
Are you guys ready?
Let's go, huh?
You know,
We started two years ago
Building the building,
Expanding.
This is, like, the biggest
Condenser worm I ever built.
We built
A 4,000-gallon pot still,
Trying to expand
The climax brand here.
It's not really
All about the money.
I'm carrying on my father's
Heritage is what I'm doing.
I'm passing it on.
My son, hopefully, is gonna
Follow in my footsteps.
We're breaking history,
And, you know,
We're just kind of excited
About it,
But we had a lot of money and
A lot of time put in this thing.
If it doesn't pay off, I mean,
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
That one's going to
The still?
Yeah, this one goes
To the still.
So we got everybody else
Closed and him open.
All right, chuck,
What do you think?
Let's start pumping.
Any time you're running
A new still,
You don't know really
What it's gonna do.
We test run it some,
But this is the first time
We actually run it with alcohol.
♪♪
Hello. Oh, my.
What have they brought?
Lassiter is my daughter-in-law.
We got you
A new baby chair to rock.
This old rocking chair
Was my mother's
And her mother's before hers.
This is for
Your new baby.
Charlie's almost 2,
And little caroline
Will be coming along
In december.
But we got a little bundle
Of whiskey under there.
Oh, my.
The rocking motion
Keeps it stirred,
And it'll char
A lot quicker.
It'll come in handy
When caroline starts teething.
Rub it on her gums.
Out of your glass, you know,
When you're drinking.
Grandbabies like to play,
And she can go ahead
And get up in there
And be playing.
Lookee here.
She's done aging our liquor,
Digger.
She's a moonshiner
At that young age
And ain't got a clue about it.
As the days shorten
On moonshine season,
Mark and digger
Are halfway to their season goal
With 580 gallons.
Mark is approaching
His midway point with 290,
While donnie and teresa struggle
To catch a break with 136.
♪♪
Well, me and you
Start putting
A big bunch of money
In the bank,
We'll have the infernal
Revenue service on us so quick,
We won't know
What's going on.
Hell yeah.
Damn barrel probably
Weighs 500 pounds.
How is two of us
Gonna get it out?
In tennessee, mark and digger
Have put whiskey to cask.
Over the next decade,
Its value will increase 16-fold.
Easy.
God almighty.
Yeah, I got all I can get.
Ease her on.
Ease her on.
Ah.
Dag damn.
Now like you,
I'm down to one nut now.
Oh, I'm down to none.
We don't really have
Much retirement put up
In our line of work,
So we've come up with what
We're calling our 401 --
401 whiskey, so to speak.
When it's there,
It's got to stay there.
We got to
Leave it there.
We just have to learn
More discipline
Than we've had in the past.
It'll be barreled up
A minimum of three years.
It's really incredible
What this liquor may be worth
When it matures,
So we're gonna start
Putting a little something
For our future.
Oh, it's sloshing
Pretty in there.
Put it there.
Down. Ah.
This is our
Very first installment.
First deposit.
We know how much money
This is worth,
And it's hard to leave it here
And not sell it.
If we had a row of them
From here to the wall...
And three high.
...We'd be good to go
For the rest of our lives.
Yeah.
And every year
That it sits there,
It's gonna be worth
A little bit more money.
It should be some of
The best liquor
That's ever been in the world.
-mwah!
-I ain't going that far.
Well, I do
Your dirty work for you.
♪♪
♪♪
All right, chuck,
What do you think?
Let's start pumping.
One state north,
A year and a half in the making,
It's the moment of truth
For tim.
Will j.T. And tickle's
Double-rye recipe
Be the next big thing
Or the next big flop?
Oh, it's looking good
Right now.
It's corkscrewing
All the way to the bottom.
I'm gonna go check
For leaks.
You never know.
This is a big project.
You know, it's not making
A little, small batch
In the woods here.
Looks good underneath.
We're making
A 2,000-gallon batch
That we hopefully
Gonna make a brand
And sell it on a legal market.
We got temperature gauges here
In the different tanks
That are in the room.
So you can see that
We're at 27 degree centigrade.
Of course, it's hard for me
To think in centigrade,
So tim and I
Got a cheat sheet,
And we're looking for
78 degrees.
Then we should see whiskey.
All we got to do is
Sit around and wait now.
This is when you start thinking
About something else then.
Yeah.
This whole double-rye recipe,
You know,
Was created by tickle and j.T.
Right now, it's me and j.T.
And chuck,
But it would be better if tickle
Was right here beside us
Helping us re-create this thing
As originally planned.
A job making moonshine?
My partner?
Mm-hmm.
-yeah, I can deal with that.
-okay.
Tickle's back in jail --
Has been in jail
For a while now.
Bl-2!
You know, as soon as
Tickle gets out,
I'm gonna be ready
To pick him up,
You know, as always.
You know, you don't
Let your friend down.
I've been knowing tickle
For a long time,
And I just basically miss him.
She's getting there,
Chuck.
We're up to 74 already.
Yeah, we got alcohol vapors
Coming out of there.
Go cut it back.
By the time you get it cut off,
It's gonna be there.
It's running, chuck.
This season, we got into
This double-rye recipe.
It's got to be right.
That's all there is to it,
'cause if not,
We've lost a whole lot of time
And a lot of money.
You got the boiler
Turned down low?
-yeah.
-real low?
Real low, but I could go
A little lower.
Go lower, chuck.
Got to go slow and cold.
My dad always said,
"Run it slow and cold,"
So he was meaning that
The condenser had to be cold,
And then the still --
You want to monitor that.
You don't want to
Run it too fast
'cause your moonshine will have
A real strong bite to it.
I'm checking the proof right
Here when it just come over,
Which is 180 proof right now,
But this is no good.
This is the heads.
The new still boasts
A separate tank
To collect the heads.
When it starts to run hearts,
The flow is switched
To a different tank
So there's no
Cross-contamination.
Well, this the first jar
Of heads right there.
I wouldn't want to drink
Too much of that.
It's a brand-new still.
-yeah.
All the brand-new pipe,
Tubing, copper
From the cap
To the double and that.
This is cleaning fluid.
You know, a still
Running this big --
I don't know how long
It's gonna run before
We get the heads
Out of the system.
You know, it could take hours.
I don't know.
It's still heads.
You can tell.
It's got that oily texture
To it.
♪♪
-look at that, chuck.
-what you got?
-well...
-got a good jar?
That's hearts.
That's in the hearts
Right there is what that is.
Mmm.
-well, what you think, tim?
Well, I think --
I think we're looking at
Probably one of the best jars
Of rye moonshine ever made.
It's just the first batch
Of rye that we've run.
You know, we still got to work
On getting the taste profile
Dialed in,
Getting the still dialed in.
You know, so it's just
The beginning of this thing.
Man, that is good
Right there.
Does it taste like you think
It ought to taste like?
That's double-rye
Right there.
Making it and creating
A taste profile --
That's one thing.
-it's good.
-whoo.
The hardest part is to go out
And market this brand
On the legal market
And try to compete with some of
The other big guys out there.
You know how much
That jar cost us?
We're gonna have to sell
A lot of them
To get the cost down
Per jar.
This is probably
The most expensive jar
I've ever had in my hands.
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
Well, what part of
The country are you from?
upper end of cosby.
-that's cop county.
-that's cop county.
...Crossing the line
In sevier county...
You know damn well
That's gonna
Stir up
Another hornet's nest.
It's the most complicated setup
We've ever had to deal with.
Better hope
This works, boys.
I'm gonna slap the piss
Out of you if it don't.
...A big-time purchase
Leads to buyer's regret...
God almighty.
It's got damn grease in it.
I ain't believing
This damn...
This will cripple us.
I went to our spot
Right up in there.
...And devising
A clever trap to snag a thief.
-it's moving.
-yes, it is.
Well, well, well.
Get your hand away
From that gun.
On this episode of
"Moonshiners"...
That's *bleep* heavy.
...The sweet smell
Of moonshine
Can bring more
Than paying customers...
Two cubs.
Damn. The mama --
She's a damn big one.
They're coming this way.
...The school
Of backwoods homesteading
Is in session...
Ow! Gah!
All right, chuck,
What do you think?
Let's start pumping.
...And in virginia, scaling up
Tickle's double-rye recipe
Puts tim's engineering skills
On the line.
Any time you're running
A new still,
You don't know really
What it's gonna do.
This is how we make
The moonshine!
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
-well, puss, today's the day.
-yep.
Long time before we see
Any benefit from it, though.
Ain't it?
Well, maybe we won't need it
'til then.
In the backwoods
Of tennessee, mark and digger
Invest their expertise
In a batch of shine
That will have
Some big long-term payoff.
Let's get some water going,
Puss.
While we looking for
Popcorn's lost stash of liquor,
Pam sutton kind of
Put us to thinking, you know,
That we need to create something
Of our own for the future,
And we decided, you know,
"Why not barrel age
Some of our liquor?"
You feel any water
Coming, puss?
Like a cow pissing
On a flat rock.
Older liquor gets,
The more people will pay for it.
That's a known fact.
There's enough water
In that one.
Higher-dollar bourbons
Can sell for $300 and $400
For a 750-milliliter bottle.
I'm hoping there's
Will be worth that.
Hell, something
Happens to us,
Our women --
They'll have a little...
-have a little something.
-...A nest egg, you know?
They can blow it all
On their new man.
Boy, I'd hate for some
Son of a bitch
To spend all my liquor money
That I worked so hard to make.
Wouldn't you?On some gigolo.
Oh, damn.
Let's light it up.
Let it start heating up.
Damn, that was easy.
All right.
Let's get this other one.
That looks damn nice
Right there.
For it to be classified
As bourbon,
It's got to have 51% or more
Corn in the meal.
We're gonna be
Way over that.
The corn will be about 60%.
Then we're gonna have
A little rye in it
And flake barley.
Oh, yeah.
Barley gives it a good,
Earthy, nutty tone.
We ain't made no liquor out of
That in a long, long time.
No, we ain't.
I think it'll be a good mix.
Along with the oaky flavor
Of the barrel,
Once it's aged
Its minimum of three years,
I think it's gonna
Come through real good.
It ought to have
A hell of a flavor.
Oh, yeah.
This all goes good, this ought
To make a good yield, too --
I mean, all the grain.
We can put plenty
Of sugar in it.
Yep.
Ruh-roh, raggy.
I lost my pecker.
Your pecker in the dirt.
I find my pecker in the dirt
Quite often.
Let's move on
To the next one.
The reason we're mashing
In the pots is,
We can get
Each distillation separate,
And it'll blend
In the thump keg.
Be some of the finest
Liquor that's ever been.
That's what popcorn said
About every run.
Every run he run --
"Finest liquor.
It's gonna be some of the best
Liquor you've ever seen."
Usually when we make our liquor
And get it jarred up,
We realize cash dividends
Immediately.
This is not gonna work
That way.
Barrel aging our liquor,
You know --
It'll increase in value in time
Just like
A retirement account does.
The wood of barrel, you know --
It's like the interest
That causes the increase
In the value of this liquor.
That ought to be
Some fine liquor, baby man.
Be some of the finest liquor
That's ever been.
401 liquor there,
Puss.
401.
Yeah, 401 liquor.
♪♪
Mm-hmm.
Sun's shining,
Good and cool.
Yeah, that's pretty level,
Ain't it?
♪♪
Two counties to the southwest
In the mountains
Of north carolina,
Mark and huck are building a
Greenhouse to malt their corn.
Instead of using
Straight cracked corn,
Some moonshiners prefer to malt,
Or sprout, their own corn
Before mashing in.
Gosh, yeah.
Yeah, that'd be
Good enough.
You got it?
How we gonna cut this off,
Mark?
Yeah.
Right here
Is a piece of wire.
Had a piece of wire
Laying here,
Put me two handles on it.
Let mark heat that pipe up.
I'm gonna put it up there
And see if we can just cut it.
I believe that'll cut it.
One way to find out,
Ain't there?
Try it and see.
-ready?
-I'm ready.
See if it works.
-it's cutting it, ain't it?
-yeah.
All right.
Just take the torch off.
Gonna melt your tape.
Oh, yeah.
Lookee there.
Burn our greenhouse down.
Ow! Gah!
- hey, mark, that's hot.
- yeah, boy.
We got the frame down,
Got the plastic spread around.
It's stretched out pretty tight.
I believe it will.
That looks
Real good to me.
That'll hold a lot of corn,
Won't it?
The enzymes in
Sprouted corn will help speed
The process of fermentation
With natural yeast.
Moonshiners claim that
It's the surefire way
To make hangover-free liquor.
A lot of times,
If you leave it too thick,
It'll mold on you.
Won't it?
Yep.
Won't be no danger
Of that a-molding, will it?
All we got to do is just wait
On that now, ain't it?
Yeah.
♪♪
So you think we're gonna
Get to run today, huh?
Yeah, we should be able
To run today.
We better take us
A few jars down with us.
I think I can only carry
One of these.
I think we got a couple more
Down there anyway.
80 miles north of
The kentucky-tennessee border,
With 2 gallons already stashed,
Donnie and teresa are set
To run the remainder
Of a 10-gallon order.
Today's a big day for us.
We got a buyer
And got a sale set up.
He's wanting 10 gallons.
Well, the still is
Still here.
That's a good sign.
10 gallons for us is,
You know -- it's a big order.
Still got water,
Don't we?
Plenty of water.
We're gonna have to
Save every drop
That we make
And by the time we temper it,
And hopefully we got enough
To fill the order.
Ugh.
Check our mash. Yeah.
You taste it this time
And see if it's sweet or sour.
-it's good and sweet.
-good and sweet?
When it works off,
It's supposed to get sour.
Son of a bitch.
In their first run
Of the season,
The cool nighttime temperatures
In the cave
Stopped
Their mash fermentation.
Oh, it's definitely sour.
They solved the problem
By wrapping the barrel
With mylar insulation, which
Keeps the yeast warm and active.
Now we get to get the mash
From the barrel to the pot.
This is gonna take
Forever.
Well, we ain't got
No choice.
If we was in
A different location,
We could run
A lot more whiskey.
It's a really good spot.
It's just hard to get in
And out of,
But that's one reason
We picked this
'cause we didn't want anybody
To find our location.
But, you know,
Everything we do down here,
We got to do it right
The first time.
We are in a risky business,
But we don't have to look
Over our shoulder
And worry about somebody coming
Into us or finding us so easy.
♪♪
This right here is
Our bag ends.
This is tail ends
From the last run,
Gonna put it in
The thumper.
When the steam comes over
And goes back into the thumper,
Believe it or not, this will
Actually raise the proof of it.
-looks good to me.
-it looks good.
You done a good job.
So what's next?
Well, what's next is
An old moonshiner's tradition.
We got to sit and wait.
Sitting around the still --
You know,
It's an old tradition.
Just, you know,
Hurry up and wait.
The old-timers -- they would sit
And just tell stories,
And, you know,
I would love to hear
Some of the stories
That they told.
Yeah, my grandpa --
His own brother
Turned him in one time.
I think what happened was,
My grandpa's brother --
He got caught making whiskey,
And to get out of trouble,
He told on my grandpa,
But he got word back,
And, you know,
They didn't catch him.
I'm sure that created
A little tension at
The family reunion.
Oh, I'm sure it did.
It's 178.
It'll be
A few more minutes.
There we go.
This is the heads
And the foreshots coming off.
You don't want to
Drink this.
Here. Hold this.
This right here
Is a proofing parrot.
It'll tell us the proof
Of the alcohol as it's running,
And we don't have
To keep checking it.
So the alcohol is
Coming out of the worm,
Flows down
Into this parrot.
Right. I got my hydrometer
Where I can proof it
The whole time
It's running.
As you can see right now,
It's 160 proof coming out.
Here you go.
This is the foreshots
And the heads.
It's running pretty good here,
And hopefully by the time
We run it and get it tempered,
We'll have enough for him.
After tempering down
To 100 proof,
They'll have 8 gallons
From this run --
Enough to complete the 10-gallon
Order for their upcoming sale.
Last quart!
Gonna try
That yoke thing?
Yeah, let's see
If it'll even work.
We got this antique yoke here,
And we're gonna hang
The jars off of it.
-got it?
-yeah.
And we're gonna try to pack
This whiskey up this hill.
Now we're about to get
To the fun part.
You all right?
I'm okay for now.
When we get over here,
I'll take the other jug.
Yeah, you know, this cave --
You know,
It's been hard all the way.
Want me to go in front?
Yeah, you go in front.
- But it's actually working.
- You know, I'm surprised.
You may have to help me
Over this rock right here.
Oh, *bleep*!
Oh.
Are you kidding me?
The damn rope broke on it.
Pretty frustrating.
He should've checked the strings
On that yoke.
We lost a jug of whiskey.
It's a big setback.
You know, we're gonna be
Short on our order.
I'm not sure how this guy
Is gonna react.
You know, hopefully
He'll still take what we have.
100 damn dollars
Down the drain.
We're going from a 20-gallon
Recipe to a 2,000-gallon recipe.
Tim is forced to
Improvise on a whole new scale.
You really gonna use
A bathroom scale?
♪♪
How old is this grinder,
Chuck?
So old nobody knows.
It look like it's been sitting
Here longer than I am old.
Let's go see
If it gonna work.
In culpeper, virginia,
Tim, chuck, and j.T.
Are finally ready to mash in
Their first batch
Of double-rye moonshine.
-that gonna work?
-yeah, that's good right there.
But before grinding the rye,
They've got to figure out
Exactly how much they need
For this inaugural batch.
Chuck, we got to figure out
How much comes out
In so many seconds.
We're going from a 20-gallon
Recipe to a 2,000-gallon recipe.
We already calculated
How many pounds we need --
600 pounds.
But when the machine
Is just throwing that out,
You don't know
How much it yields.
All right.
What we do -- we hold a bucket
Under there, turn it on,
And then we're gonna see
How many seconds
It takes
To fill that bucket up.
-okay.
-y'all ready?
All right.
I'm ready.
Set.
Now go!
So we came up the idea
Of getting a bucket full
To see,
"How long does it take?"
Then we'll weigh the bucket,
You know,
And multiply that to calculate
The 600 pounds.
All right.
13 seconds.
-13 seconds is that bucket.
-yeah.
And then we'll see
How much that bucket weighs.
All right.
You really gonna use
A bathroom scale to weigh?
Well, we got to get it
On a flat surface.
Oh, let's --
No, let's do the j.T. Method.
Right there.
All right, j.T.,
You get on the scale.
Well, you're 140.
Now how much you weigh?
Oh, 160? Easy.
20 pounds.
There's 20 pounds
In that bucket?
-yeah.
-and we need 600 pounds.
How many pounds?
How many seconds?
Can you calculate that,
Chuck, in your head?
How many buckets we need?
We need...
We need 20 pounds.
30 buckets.
So how many seconds
Is that?
13 times 30?
-yeah.
-go ahead and start it up.
-you ready?
-yeah, go!
By steadily feeding
The grinder for 390 seconds,
Or 6 1/2 minutes,
Tim, chuck, and j.T.
Can simultaneously grind
And measure out the 600 pounds
Of rye they need for their mash.
All right, chuck,
That's about all it needs.
Now we need to bring
That auger up.
Then we can take it over there
And dump it.
-yep.
-all right. Let's do that.
We got this big grain auger
That we normally use
For the big silos.
It goes up in the air
Like 30, 40 feet,
But the thing is
Like 80 feet long.
It runs with a tractor,
So it takes another tractor
To power it.
All right. We're gonna have
Three tractors
Running at the same time.
So we're gonna have rye
Coming out,
Malted barley,
Corn coming in there,
And we're gonna get the auger
Going into the tank.
Chuck, you get that
One going first.
Cut that on!
I'm gonna try
A little bit of corn!
We got the rye going in
On that end,
Got the corn and barley
Going on this end.
The combination of all going
Together up to the cook tank.
Shut it off!
There you go!
-how's it look, tim?
It's looking good, chuck.
We ground it.
We mashed it together.
I'm gonna put the yeast in,
And once that yeast starts
Activating and starts working,
It's gonna start
Producing alcohol.
We'll just wait
Until this gets ready,
And once it's ready,
Then we're gonna shoot it
Over to the still
And start it up.
I think it looks good
For a first-time batch.
♪♪
We need to get a corn mill,
Corn grinder.
I run across a guy
That had one.
One state south
In north carolina,
Mark and huck are looking to
Trade a few gallons of moonshine
In exchange for a grain mill
So they can grind
The malted corn for their mash.
I believe we can use that.
Don't you?
It's better to have
Everything on-site
So you don't have to run out
And then run back in.
That really throws us behind,
You know?
We don't really want to do that.
Phew.
What'd you do?
Agh!
You don't ride
Your little bush over.
Move it
Just a little bit.
-where you going, mark?
-agh!
♪♪
All right.
You're clear of all the bushes.
Agh!
A little aggravating,
But it'll be worth it.
Yeah.
Yeah, we're gonna put it
On top of there. Ain't we?
-yeah.
-it'll be perfect.
Mark is carving out
A shelf from a fallen tree,
Which he'll use
To anchor the corn mill.
I want the motor
Over here.
If you'll just pick it up
And go that way...
There you go.
I'm gonna put a little
5-horsepower motor on there.
Try it out?
-yeah.
Let's try it.
Give it some corn.
Mark and huck are
Testing the grinder
To ensure that it works
As intended.
Yeah, try that.
If we grind that up,
That'd make some real
Liquor, wouldn't it?
You could sit there
And let it idle,
And it'd do a lot in a day.
You know it?
We'll grind a lot of malt
In a day's time -- a lot.
Smells good, don't it?
I'll just have to try to
Explain to him what happened,
And hopefully
He'll understand.
A day late and a gallon short
Can mean a brief career
As an outlaw shiner.
I know.
I did have it,
But I dropped
A gallon of it.
That sounds like a you problem,
Buddy, not mine.
But, you know,
I'll just have to try
To explain to him
What happened,
And hopefully
He'll understand.
Well, I've known
This guy all my life,
But, you know, I've seen him
Fight several times
When we was in school.
He's nobody
To fool around with.
He's got a short temper.
In lee county, kentucky,
Donnie and teresa are showing up
To the sale a gallon short
After breaking a jug
In transport.
He may be fine with it.
He may be really upset
And not take any of it.
You know, I just hope
He's satisfied with it
'cause, you know,
Normally if I tell someone
I'm gonna do something,
I do it.
He's got customers himself,
So it's a domino effect.
Bootlegging,
It's why you do it --
To make the money --
But it's the biggest risk.
I've known this guy all my life,
But he's unpredictable,
And I'm not sure
How he's gonna react.
I'm gonna let donnie do most
Of the talking in this deal
And just have his back.
Moonshiners
Can be like snakes.
You back them in a corner,
And you never know
What might happen.
I hear a car coming.
Howdy.
-hey. What's going on?
Got your stuff here.
Here.
Taste it and see
If you want what I got.
♪♪
I got a little problem,
Though.
I only got nine gallons.
I know.
I did have it,
But I dropped
A gallon of it.
What you want to do?
You want it or not?
Thank you. I'll make it
Up to you somehow.
I don't want to lose you
As a customer.
Moonshine is money.
It's just the same as taking
A $100 bill
And setting it on fire
And burning it.
I got to make up
For that somehow.
♪♪
♪♪
Well, we'll get over here
And check this stuff out, mark.
In north carolina, mark and huck
Are returning
To their greenhouse
To see if their current batch
Of corn has malted.
Oh, it's perfect.
Good corn malt --
You don't want to let it start
Budding out and turning green.
If it gets
A little green shoot on it,
That would actually
Be the corn stalk
Starting right there,
And that's gonna kind of leave
A weird taste in your liquor.
Once the corn is dried,
Mark and huck
Run it through the grinder.
Get this ground,
We'll mash
That barrel in up there.
♪♪
Yeah.
It's good we don't have
To go out to settlement
To do this, ain't it?
No more.
Make it right here
And grind it right here
And save
A lot of road time.
Sunday's ready to be
Changed out, is it?
Yeah.
Well, here goes
The sugar, mark.
-yeah.
-we don't have to heat this up.
We'll just let it
Work off.
And once you run it through
That still, it's all cooked,
Then on your second run,
You're ready to go.
Here comes the malt,
Mark.
Well, I'm glad we built
That greenhouse, mark.
Oh, yeah, it does.
No.
We'll let that work off
And run it through the still,
And then we'll start making
Some good stuff out of that.
You bet.
♪♪
♪♪
Ain't no trouble getting
This rascal in here, digger.
I know what'll happen.
I'll hit one of these rocks,
And it'll stub it up,
And my damn nut
Will go south.
Well, at least it won't
Be both of them.
Three counties northeast,
Mark and digger
Lay the groundwork
For big returns on
A long-term investment
In aged bourbon.
410,
Retirement money.
Reckon we'll live long enough
To enjoy it?
we hope so.
We can't just run out here
Willy-nilly
And throw our money
In the bank.
The government would be
On our doorstep
Wanting to know where
We came up with this money.
Check this here mash.
Our only hope is to put some
Of this liquor in oak barrels
And age it and let that
Aging process be our interest.
Oh, that's good
And bitter.
That corn there's got
A little alkie-hol on it.
We're banking on
Big money for it.
All right. Let's light some fire
And get to making liquor.
Mm!
We're making
A triple-grain liquor
With corn, barley, and rye.
I ain't gonna put 'em on
Too hot.
We'll crank them up
After we get to tasting it.
We've got some fine mash here.
If it'll cook off the right way,
We'll have some good liquor.
That thing looks like
It's sitting up higher
Than it was.
Maybe.
Ground might have
Swoled up, too.
We got to bring this
Whole business back.
You're *bleep* me.
-*bleep* damn it.
-we got a little bit.
We can come on back
A little bit.
You know, every time
That we come out here,
And we try to put big sloppy
And the twins together...
Whoa!
...And it seems that
She wants to fight us
More and more every time.
Maybe we took the wrong route
To putting them together.
*bleep* damn it.
We go through this
Every time,
Trying to line this *bleep*
Up every time.
Damn...
You need
A longer one, don't you?
I need a damn shot
In the head.
This thing -- it looks like
A damn disgruntled octopus.
Here's another one.
Can't make no liquor
Without a liquor still.
We get a little frustrated
From time to time with it,
But it'll get put together.
It'll go in place.
I mean --
Oh, dang!
You found that sharp spot,
Didn't you?
-yeah.
-shake it off there, boss.
Just a matter
Of waiting, ain't it?
Yep.
Oh, *bleep* daddy.
Mark, wait.
God almighty.
That's a cub.
There'll be a mama
Somewhere.
Two cubs. Damn.
Damn. There's the mama,
And she's a damn big one.
Look right yonder.
-oh, yeah.
Oh, *bleep* daddy.
Mark, wait.
God almighty.
That's a cub.
There'll be a mama
Somewhere.
Two cubs. Damn.
Damn. There's the mama,
And she's a damn big one.
Look right yonder.
-oh, yeah.
We've had trouble with bears
In the past
Getting in our mash barrels,
And, man, a big swipe
With a bear claw --
They will just destroy
These copper pots.
They're going
The other way now.
We got to keep
Our eyes peeled.
They'll be back
In here on us.
Lookee here, puss.
Don't that make you feel
Better already?
That ought to be
Plenty of heads.
Pour them out.
We're just gonna collect it
In this copper catch basin.
It holds like
10, 11 gallons at a time.
You want to ladle up
A little sip?
Get a little taste.
That's dandy.
What do you taste
More than anything?
I get that malt corn
Right off the bat.
Oh, that malt corn.
That is -- damn.
It comes in there
Like a gangbuster.
It's so good you almost
Got to lay down to drink it.
Your tongue will slap
Your brains out, it's so good.
All right.
Here we go.
Let's get way up on it
Before we spill a lot.
We'll dump it over
Into a clean blue barrel,
And as we dump it,
As it progressively gets weaker,
The proof starts dropping, and
It will kind of temper itself.
We're gonna hit
105, 110.
That's what's we're after.
Mark and digger's run yields
53 gallons of whiskey
Ready to age.
After storing it in
A charred-oak barrel
For three years,
It will fetch a minimum
Of $300 to $400 per quart,
But the price should
Dramatically increase
With each passing year.
-there we go.
-lay it to it.
It won't take long to
Fill this barrel up.
With it being
This fine of liquor,
We want to put it in a vessel
That it's meant to be in,
A white-american-oak cask.
It's been charred,
And it's got
A really heavy toast in it.
It'll impart a lot of
Mellow flavor to it,
And it'll give it a good,
Deep honey color.
We're gonna have to roll it over
This big log up here.
If we take her down,
Need a damn dozer
To get it out.
Well, it'll be
A sight quicker, maybe.
♪♪
♪♪
So what's with
Those metal cans in the back?
They're actually
Old pop containers.
You know,
They're stainless steel.
I'm still so damn mad from
Breaking that glass, you know,
I had to come up
With something else.
How much will they hold?
Well, they'll hold
Up to 5 gallons apiece.
Eight counties to the north in
Daniel boone national forest...
Take this over the hill.
...Donnie and teresa
Found a solution
To their breakage problem.
Next order of business
Is to run a batch of sour mash
And deliver it to the customer
Who was shorted a gallon.
I don't want to be known
As someone
That don't keep their word
'cause around here,
You know,
That's all you have.
I can't afford to lose
Any customers or any sales.
This buyer may be upset,
But he took my word
That I'd make it up to him,
And you better believe
That I will.
This is the whiskey
That we ran yesterday,
And we're gonna take
The old mash
And mash it back
Into a barrel.
It makes sour mash,
And with sour-mash whiskey,
It's gonna be
A whole lot smoother tasting.
Plus it'll make
A whole lot more.
It'll make twice as much.
See what your temperature
Is over there.
We're at 90.
All right.
That's where we want it to be.
The reason why is,
If you put it in too hot,
It's gonna kill the yeast bed
That's in the mash barrel.
Okay.
A lot of people --
They run their mash one time.
Then they throw it away.
I like to run mine
At least five times.
You just put your slop back in
From the run before
And add sugar,
And that's all you have to do.
If you look in here now,
You can actually see it
Bubbling just a little bit.
You see, the yeast
Is still alive,
And once we add
This to it and sugar,
It will take
Right back off working,
And within another week,
It'll be ready to run.
They'll restart another batch
By adding hot water and sugar
To the used mash solids
In the barrel.
Shiners can use this technique,
Called remashing,
Up to five times
Before the mash solids
Are completely spent
And need to be discarded.
Moonshining --
It's a way of life for me.
Just pour it in slow,
And I'll stir it as it goes in.
I actually do it
To make a living.
You know, if I don't make it
During the summer,
You know,
I'll go hungry this winter.
All right.
I need to pour
The rest of it in there.
We started up behind,
And it's really gonna be tough
To make up the difference.
Once we get done, you know,
Pouring the sugar in there,
I need to take the bags
And burn them.
It's a moonshiner's
Tradition.
We've had setback after setback.
Temperature -- we ran into
Problems with that...
Keep going.
...Back there
Getting the water,
Getting the product
Out of there,
But we'll work it.
Here.
Tear you a little strip.
Now light it.
You know, what we're doing here
Is destroying the evidence.
If the revenuers came in here,
And they seen the sugar
And the still
And everything all together,
You know, they're gonna know
We're making whiskey.
Yep. That's part of
Being a moonshiner.
♪♪
♪♪
So what
Do you think, huh?
I mean, the cap has gone
And sunk down.
You can't even see it.
It's putting off
A lot of alcohol.
I can tell you that.Yeah.
One state east in virginia,
Tim's about to begin
A large-scale run
Of the double-rye recipe
Tickle and j.T. Developed
Last year.
We're gonna do two birds
With one stone here.
We're gonna take care
Of the double-rye recipe
That j.T. And tickle
Came up with.
And then we're actually
Gonna christen the still
That's never been run before.
Are you guys ready?
Let's go, huh?
You know,
We started two years ago
Building the building,
Expanding.
This is, like, the biggest
Condenser worm I ever built.
We built
A 4,000-gallon pot still,
Trying to expand
The climax brand here.
It's not really
All about the money.
I'm carrying on my father's
Heritage is what I'm doing.
I'm passing it on.
My son, hopefully, is gonna
Follow in my footsteps.
We're breaking history,
And, you know,
We're just kind of excited
About it,
But we had a lot of money and
A lot of time put in this thing.
If it doesn't pay off, I mean,
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
That one's going to
The still?
Yeah, this one goes
To the still.
So we got everybody else
Closed and him open.
All right, chuck,
What do you think?
Let's start pumping.
Any time you're running
A new still,
You don't know really
What it's gonna do.
We test run it some,
But this is the first time
We actually run it with alcohol.
♪♪
Hello. Oh, my.
What have they brought?
Lassiter is my daughter-in-law.
We got you
A new baby chair to rock.
This old rocking chair
Was my mother's
And her mother's before hers.
This is for
Your new baby.
Charlie's almost 2,
And little caroline
Will be coming along
In december.
But we got a little bundle
Of whiskey under there.
Oh, my.
The rocking motion
Keeps it stirred,
And it'll char
A lot quicker.
It'll come in handy
When caroline starts teething.
Rub it on her gums.
Out of your glass, you know,
When you're drinking.
Grandbabies like to play,
And she can go ahead
And get up in there
And be playing.
Lookee here.
She's done aging our liquor,
Digger.
She's a moonshiner
At that young age
And ain't got a clue about it.
As the days shorten
On moonshine season,
Mark and digger
Are halfway to their season goal
With 580 gallons.
Mark is approaching
His midway point with 290,
While donnie and teresa struggle
To catch a break with 136.
♪♪
Well, me and you
Start putting
A big bunch of money
In the bank,
We'll have the infernal
Revenue service on us so quick,
We won't know
What's going on.
Hell yeah.
Damn barrel probably
Weighs 500 pounds.
How is two of us
Gonna get it out?
In tennessee, mark and digger
Have put whiskey to cask.
Over the next decade,
Its value will increase 16-fold.
Easy.
God almighty.
Yeah, I got all I can get.
Ease her on.
Ease her on.
Ah.
Dag damn.
Now like you,
I'm down to one nut now.
Oh, I'm down to none.
We don't really have
Much retirement put up
In our line of work,
So we've come up with what
We're calling our 401 --
401 whiskey, so to speak.
When it's there,
It's got to stay there.
We got to
Leave it there.
We just have to learn
More discipline
Than we've had in the past.
It'll be barreled up
A minimum of three years.
It's really incredible
What this liquor may be worth
When it matures,
So we're gonna start
Putting a little something
For our future.
Oh, it's sloshing
Pretty in there.
Put it there.
Down. Ah.
This is our
Very first installment.
First deposit.
We know how much money
This is worth,
And it's hard to leave it here
And not sell it.
If we had a row of them
From here to the wall...
And three high.
...We'd be good to go
For the rest of our lives.
Yeah.
And every year
That it sits there,
It's gonna be worth
A little bit more money.
It should be some of
The best liquor
That's ever been in the world.
-mwah!
-I ain't going that far.
Well, I do
Your dirty work for you.
♪♪
♪♪
All right, chuck,
What do you think?
Let's start pumping.
One state north,
A year and a half in the making,
It's the moment of truth
For tim.
Will j.T. And tickle's
Double-rye recipe
Be the next big thing
Or the next big flop?
Oh, it's looking good
Right now.
It's corkscrewing
All the way to the bottom.
I'm gonna go check
For leaks.
You never know.
This is a big project.
You know, it's not making
A little, small batch
In the woods here.
Looks good underneath.
We're making
A 2,000-gallon batch
That we hopefully
Gonna make a brand
And sell it on a legal market.
We got temperature gauges here
In the different tanks
That are in the room.
So you can see that
We're at 27 degree centigrade.
Of course, it's hard for me
To think in centigrade,
So tim and I
Got a cheat sheet,
And we're looking for
78 degrees.
Then we should see whiskey.
All we got to do is
Sit around and wait now.
This is when you start thinking
About something else then.
Yeah.
This whole double-rye recipe,
You know,
Was created by tickle and j.T.
Right now, it's me and j.T.
And chuck,
But it would be better if tickle
Was right here beside us
Helping us re-create this thing
As originally planned.
A job making moonshine?
My partner?
Mm-hmm.
-yeah, I can deal with that.
-okay.
Tickle's back in jail --
Has been in jail
For a while now.
Bl-2!
You know, as soon as
Tickle gets out,
I'm gonna be ready
To pick him up,
You know, as always.
You know, you don't
Let your friend down.
I've been knowing tickle
For a long time,
And I just basically miss him.
She's getting there,
Chuck.
We're up to 74 already.
Yeah, we got alcohol vapors
Coming out of there.
Go cut it back.
By the time you get it cut off,
It's gonna be there.
It's running, chuck.
This season, we got into
This double-rye recipe.
It's got to be right.
That's all there is to it,
'cause if not,
We've lost a whole lot of time
And a lot of money.
You got the boiler
Turned down low?
-yeah.
-real low?
Real low, but I could go
A little lower.
Go lower, chuck.
Got to go slow and cold.
My dad always said,
"Run it slow and cold,"
So he was meaning that
The condenser had to be cold,
And then the still --
You want to monitor that.
You don't want to
Run it too fast
'cause your moonshine will have
A real strong bite to it.
I'm checking the proof right
Here when it just come over,
Which is 180 proof right now,
But this is no good.
This is the heads.
The new still boasts
A separate tank
To collect the heads.
When it starts to run hearts,
The flow is switched
To a different tank
So there's no
Cross-contamination.
Well, this the first jar
Of heads right there.
I wouldn't want to drink
Too much of that.
It's a brand-new still.
-yeah.
All the brand-new pipe,
Tubing, copper
From the cap
To the double and that.
This is cleaning fluid.
You know, a still
Running this big --
I don't know how long
It's gonna run before
We get the heads
Out of the system.
You know, it could take hours.
I don't know.
It's still heads.
You can tell.
It's got that oily texture
To it.
♪♪
-look at that, chuck.
-what you got?
-well...
-got a good jar?
That's hearts.
That's in the hearts
Right there is what that is.
Mmm.
-well, what you think, tim?
Well, I think --
I think we're looking at
Probably one of the best jars
Of rye moonshine ever made.
It's just the first batch
Of rye that we've run.
You know, we still got to work
On getting the taste profile
Dialed in,
Getting the still dialed in.
You know, so it's just
The beginning of this thing.
Man, that is good
Right there.
Does it taste like you think
It ought to taste like?
That's double-rye
Right there.
Making it and creating
A taste profile --
That's one thing.
-it's good.
-whoo.
The hardest part is to go out
And market this brand
On the legal market
And try to compete with some of
The other big guys out there.
You know how much
That jar cost us?
We're gonna have to sell
A lot of them
To get the cost down
Per jar.
This is probably
The most expensive jar
I've ever had in my hands.
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
Well, what part of
The country are you from?
upper end of cosby.
-that's cop county.
-that's cop county.
...Crossing the line
In sevier county...
You know damn well
That's gonna
Stir up
Another hornet's nest.
It's the most complicated setup
We've ever had to deal with.
Better hope
This works, boys.
I'm gonna slap the piss
Out of you if it don't.
...A big-time purchase
Leads to buyer's regret...
God almighty.
It's got damn grease in it.
I ain't believing
This damn...
This will cripple us.
I went to our spot
Right up in there.
...And devising
A clever trap to snag a thief.
-it's moving.
-yes, it is.
Well, well, well.
Get your hand away
From that gun.