Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 8, Episode 14 - Tickle on the Brink - full transcript
♪♪
After being locked up
For a while,
You kind of get
The feeling that,
You know,
You're all on your own,
And there's nobody
Else out there
On the outside rooting
For you and stuff.
It plays on you mentally.
It plays on you physically.
In jail, you're either laughing
Or you're crying.
There is no in-between.
Do I have regrets?
Well, of course
I've got regrets.
Everybody has got regrets,
But I tell you what --
You can get a lot of stuff
Back in your life,
But one thing you cannot
Get back is time.
Tickle, you got a visitor.
On this episode
Of "Moonshiners"...
Taking security to dangerous
Heights in north carolina.
Yeah, we've got a leak.
Profits are
Draining away in virginia...
You lose mash, you lose whiskey.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. *bleep*
Hey.
What's going on, tim?
...And moonshine's prodigal son
Returns to culpeper.
I'm thinking I get you
Closer up here,
And we can work
On something.
I can make moonshine
And be out of here?
That sounds good to me.
This is how we make
The moonshine.
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
All right, we're going
Over to culpeper jail.
Tickle just got brought
In last night
From pittsylvania county,
So, you know,
Tickle is in culpeper now.
In culpeper county, virginia,
Tim is on his way
To visit his old partner,
Tickle, who's been transferred
To a smaller local jail
To serve out the remaining
Time on his sentence.
Tickle got transferred,
So he's only about 10 miles away
Right now versus 150 miles,
So, you know,
He's not that far away.
You know, first time
I'm going to visit him
And, you know,
See how he's doing.
Well, you know,
Tickle has been making
A lot of mistakes
Over the years,
And, you know, all these
Mistakes is a learning factor.
You know, every time
He makes a mistake, he learns,
And, you know, this time
He's been in for a long time.
♪♪
-can I help you?
-I'd like to see a mr. Tickle.
-he'll be out.
-okay.
♪♪
Bl2.
♪♪
Surprise, surprise.
Hey. What's going on, tim?
What's up?
How was
Your trip up, you know?
You know, the trip
Was all right.
First time I've been outside
In a long time,
So it was feeling good today.Yeah, yeah.
I didn't know how they was
Going to, you know,
Put a bag over your head
And throw you in a van.
No, no.
They let me ride in the car,
Not in the trunk.
Well, I'm glad to see you.Yeah.
Yeah,
It's good seeing you too.
You know, I've been locked up
For a long time,
But tim, he's a true friend.
He's had my back
The whole entire time.
I mean, what have you been
Working on there
At your distillery?
Well, we're working on that
Mistake that you and jt made.
What do you mean,
Mistake we made?
Yeah, when y'all messed up,
Put too much rye in that batch.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that was good!
Well,
I know it was good.
Yeah.Then jt then talked me
Into going commercial
With that thing, and...
All right.
Well, did y'all get it close?
Did you get it right?
Well, we got it close,
I think pretty good.
You know, I'm just glad
That I could help him out
In a little way with that,
Even if it was a happy mistake.
Well, I wish you the best
Of luck with that.
I mean, can I help you
In any way?
Well, I'm thinking
We can work on something.
All right.You know, I mean...
What are you looking
At working on?
Well, I'm thinking about getting
A work release or something.
Well, you know,
That would be good.
What, working in the distillery
Down there with you?
Yeah, if I can.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, you come up there to
Make moonshine in the daytime,
And you come back
To jail at nighttime.
You know,
With the work release program,
As long as
It's a legit business
And you take responsibility
For the inmate,
You know, I don't have
No problem in that.
You know, me and tickle
Have been together for years,
So if he can just work
For a couple hours,
And we can put him back in,
At least that'd get him
Oriented to the outside world.
You know, I'll get to see
A little more sunshine.
Well, if we get
A work release,
You won't have to go
Through this glass.
That's right.
I'm really hoping
To get this work release
And work at the distillery
With him,
And, you know, if we can
Do that, that'll be great.
That's definitely a step
In the right direction.
Well, that sounds
Good to me.
I can make moonshine
And be out of here?
Well, you qualify
For both, right?
You qualify to be in jail,
And you qualify
To make moonshine.
I'm hoping
To quit qualifying
For being in jail
Here very soon.
You too qualified.
You overqualified.
I am too qualified
To be in here.
Sounds they ought to
Let me out, right?
Well, we going to
Work on that.
You know, it's all about trying
To get him on a work release,
And, you know,
Hopefully we qualify,
And we can get him outside.
And chuck,
He's good to go, so...
Well, that sounds good.Yeah.
You know, me and tim, we've been
Together for a long time,
From the woods all the way up
Until now where he's legal,
And you kind of think
When you get locked up
That there's nothing anybody
That wants to have
Your back can even do,
But I see different now.
All right.
Well, we'll see what happens.
Yep.
All right.
All right.
Bye.
Seeing a friend's face
Really made a whole lot
Of difference to me today.
It's small things like that
That really mean a whole lot
To somebody
When they're locked up.
Now I got to talk to the court,
Send letters to the judge,
To see if we cannot get
Tickle on
His work release program.
♪♪
♪♪
When we get rid of this 3 gallon
Of corn we got back here.
Little bit of a paycheck
For today, won't it?
Yeah, boy.
One state south
In north carolina, mark and huck
Are heading to a sale with one
Of their local customers.
Hello, pooch.
Hey, bud.
How you doing?
Well,
We're doing all right.
Brought you 3 gallon
Of corn liquor.
It's what you wanted,
Wasn't it?
Yeah.
Dang.
Well, that's hell.
We ain't got none of that
Right now.
That's kind of a special
Run stuff, you know,
Just do it once a year.
Yeah.
How much is it you wanting?
Three gallon?
Well, now, I tell you,
It's double the price of that.
That's $100 a gallon.
That brandy would be $200
Because there's so much work
In that brandy.
It'd be $600.
But as long as you take it
When we get here, $600.
All right.
We'll see you before long.
Thank you.
♪♪
♪♪
Oh, geez.
Knock this out and get
Your thing fired on up.
Here we'll get all the seeds
Out of it.
It'll pick up
That seed taste.
One state north
In franklin county, virginia.
Make some good old brandy.
As orders for
Their peach brandy pile up,
Henry and kenny start
Another big run
For a 20-gallon
Sale worth $3,000.
Start putting some water
In here.
We're behind.
We up against the wall.
We lost a lot of time
After we lost our still site,
You know, getting everything
Moved and set up,
So it's about time
That we got everything rolling.
We fill up to where my wrist
Down in there,
It hits my fingertips,
But don't let the cake
Burn on us.
When the flames come up
It circles the steel,
And if you leave your mash
Down here at too low
To save time
It burns along this ridge.
We call it the cake burn.
So use your wrist.
When that mash comes up
To my fingertips,
It's full enough to run,
And that's what you want.
That's full enough.
Let's get it
Ready to roll.
We'll get the gas line
Hooked up.
Okay.
Now fire it up.
Yeah, man.
All right.
See what you got.
Oh, let me get it
Stirred up good.
Quality of my liquor
Is so good people
Are willing to pay
A little more.
Keep your mash burning.
One of us will be
On the poke constantly.
Never let up
Until it starts boiling.
If you do,
It's going to burn.
The name carries us a long way.
It come from those law boys,
And that's the end
Of conversation.
And it sounds good.
I can see some metal,
The metal.
That's where you want it.
Good.
Just look.
If there's a burned spot on it,
You'll feel it.
You'll feel it?
It's getting warm now,
About 175, 180.
The steam is going to be coming
Over once it starts boiling.
Let's cap it.
All right.
Once you put your cap on top
Of the still,
It has to be sealed off.
This is what we call paste.
It's made of rye.
We put it around these fittings
When we're
Putting them together,
And it won't let it leak.
That metal gets hot,
And it cooks that rye,
And it gets as hard
As a rock.
People use oatmeal, flour.
It's not as strong.
It won't cook as hard.
There you go.
Every bit of steam
That comes out is money lost.
Yeah, kenny, she's coming.
Yeah, but she'll be
Running pretty quick.
Hey, kenny.
Man, we got a couple leaks
Coming out up here.
Yeah.
Ho, ho, ho, ho.
Yeah. All right.
Hold tight.
Yeah.
We've got a leak.
I think I can stop it.
Don't punch too big
A hole in it now.
*bleep*
Oh, yeah.
You lose mash
And you lose whiskey.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
*bleep*
♪♪
Hey, man.Hey. What's going on, tim?
Better than talking
Through the glass.
Two partners reunited
Under lock and key
In culpeper, virginia...
Have you heard anything
About the work release?
...And two north
Carolina shiners
Are in over their heads
For the biggest sale
Of their career.
These guys could be the law.
Yeah.
Give us just a second.
Hey, kenny.
Man, we got a couple leaks
Coming out up here.
Yeah. All right.
Hold tight.
I think I can stop it.
In franklin county,
Henry and kenny law are battling
A leaky still to try to salvage
Their order of peach brandy.
Don't punch too big a hole
In it now.
*bleep*
Oh, yeah.
You lose mash
And you lose whiskey.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
*bleep*
♪♪
Now maybe that'll hold it up
In there.
Seal this hole.
All right.
I think I got that took care of.
She's coming.
I can smell it.
I'm going to dump
The heads on it.
Yeah.
Chuck over all that heads.
What do you think?
Finally, getting away from
Those little bitty stills.
Oh, man.
Don't get no better than that.
Finally.
I'm going to take a look at it.
Let's see what we got here,
Henry.
It's about 120.
Good and high, man,
That's what we want.
It tells us right there
It's going to make some liquor.
The alcohol content,
When it first comes out,
It's extremely high, and as it
Runs it gets weaker and weaker.
That's what I like to see
Going in that proofing barrel.
So you learn to mix it in what
We call proofing barrels.
We like to use a stick
And beat ours up a little bit.
Yeah.
Stuff is high.
We keep pouring it in,
And it gets lower and lower,
And you get it to the point
That the customers want,
And you get an eye for it.
That's perfect.
And then you watch it
Breaking holes around that edge,
And that tells us
This is a good 100-proof.
And it's still got
That peach flavor.
You know, you hear about people
Who proof it down with water.
We just don't believe in that.
That's what your brandy is going
To taste like -- water.
All right.
Bubba, the run is done,
And that's what we do
About spent mash.
We've heard rumors of people
Taking this mash.
What they will do,
They'll catch it again,
Put sugar back in it,
And run it again.
You know, they selling those.
You can't tell the difference.
You can't --
You can tell the world.Yeah.
I'm not going to put my name
On anything like that,
So we dump ours.
It's against the gods of brandy
To run it two times.
Well, some people do that,
And they should be struck down.
We won't go for that.
If our liquor hits the streets
With our name on it,
It's going to be the best.
5, 10, 15, couple gallons
Here, about 17 gallons.
We've met the goal
And then some.
♪♪
♪♪
Well, come here
And look at this.
Hey.
Huckleberries.
One state south
In robbinsville, north carolina,
As fall approaches,
Mark and huck
Prep an early batch of their
Seasonal huckleberry brandy
To meet the demand
Of a loyal customer.
We've picked the huckleberries
All of our life.
They're the same thing
As a tame blueberry,
Except they're just wild,
And they grow back
In the mountains,
You know, up on these
High tops and everything.
I always thought they were
A little bit sweeter.
And this has got a little
Better taste most the time.
Old specialty barrel.
♪♪
They liked it, didn't they?Yeah.
The malted corn acts
As a catalyst
For the environmental yeast
To ferment the mash.
That sounds all right.
It does, don't it?
Brandy, you know,
It'll take twice as long
As it does corn liquor
And get ready to run.
♪♪
♪♪
I don't care as long as
My little hand gets greased.
I want a stack of money
Where I can smell it.
One county southwest
In cherokee county,
North carolina,
Red fox and van are on their way
To investigate
A potentially suspicious order.
A few weeks ago
We sold a guy 15 gallons.
Started to turn around
And get in the jeep,
And he says, "Oh, by the way,
I may want a big order,"
So called him back,
And he wants to meet up.
He should be here
Anytime now.
What do you think
About these guys, red?
Oh, the main feller,
I trust.
I don't trust
None of them.
You don't have no reason
To trust them
Because you don't know them,
But you know me.
I hope you trust me.
Oh, yeah.
I trust you.
I just
Don't like strangers.
So you got your business
Partners with you again, I see.
It's very possible that
These guys could be the law.
I'm not sure.
You and I was the tie
In this whole cog.
Without me
And you talking,
There's nobody else here
Talking really,
But I trust you,
And he trusts me.
Well, then we got
A connection.
You know
Why we're here.
You guys want to get serious
About this order
You talked about
The last time.
Four hundred gallons
Of peach brandy?
Me and you got to step over here
And talk about this.
Yeah.
Just give us just a second.
I've never been involved with
A sale this big in my lifetime.
It's tense thinking about it.
It makes the hair stand up
On your back.
I want to do this.
I really think we should try.
Get to thinking about,
"That's a lot of money."
This could be really good
For our season.
I like the deal.
30 grand.
This ain't cupcakes.
We done give as much
As a discount as we can give,
And that's why we're being
The way we're being.
Thank you, sir.
All right.
Now we got to go tell jeff.
He's going to have
A heart attack.
Now look, you heard anything
About the work release?
In culpeper county,
The verdict is in
On two old moonshine partners
Looking to reunite.
I did hear about it.
Good, good.
What'd you hear?
♪♪
Well, van, I don't know how
Jeff is going to take this,
Going ahead
And finalizing that order.
He's going to have
To take to it.
In cherokee county,
North carolina,
Red fox and van
Return to their still site
To share the news of
Their massive 400-gallon order.
Hello, brother jeff.
You still running, eh?
How much you caught?
Between 15, 16 gallons,
Something like that.
Well, you want to make
Some more?
How much more?
400 gallons more.
Y'all are pulling
My leg now.
No.
It's for real.
Serious. $30,000.
This is a life change.
I've never made 400 gallons
In one season of brandy.
I don't think none of us have.
Let's get real here.
We can't keep up
With what we got.
I know.
It's a lot.
How many chances do you
Get to make $30,000?
You trust him?
I trust him.
We talked to him.
These guys is serious.
He's got two investors that's
Going to go in with him on it.
What kind of timeline
We got here?
He wants it within
About a month, month and a half.
To fulfill the 400-gallon order,
The shiners will need
To secure 600 pounds of sugar
And 7,000 pounds of peaches.
This year, the peaches, they've
Had a bumper crop season,
And we have such
A good connection,
So we can get them fairly cheap
And make a whole lot more money.
I'm not trying to question
Y'all, but, I mean...
We're just going to have to use
Every still we got
And keep them
Cranked up nonstop.
We got to have a *bleep* load
More barrels.
I'm fired up to do it.
We're all working for the same
Goal, and that's to make money,
But jeff, he deserves
To have a call in it.
We're going to
Have to run 24/7.
It's overwhelming to me.
Other side,
It is a lot of money.
It's nice to think about,
But thinking about it
And getting it done
Is two different things.
This is big.
We can do it, though.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.Hey, buddy.
We'll do it.
All right.
Let's get this done.All right.
Lord have mercy.
♪♪
♪♪
That will definitely
Save your life.
If you do fall,
You talk about a wedgie.
You going to have one.
One county north, while waiting
For their huckleberry mash
To ferment,
Mark and huck turn up the dial
On security
Around their still site.
You got a good view,
Ain't you?
That's perfect right there.
You ready for wood?Yeah.
♪♪
Got her.
Yeah, mark, he loves
To climb, you know.
I think he's part squirrel.
He can get around in the timber
Pretty good, you know.
A lot better than I can.
All right.
♪♪
♪♪
Get it up,
And get it on out here.
Let's get it covered up.Get the cone up.
They'll think we are, you know,
Construction work.
Work on the road.
One state north
In franklin county, virginia,
The law cousins are en route
To meet their long-time
Bootlegger
To discuss business
In the safest way possible --
Face-to-face.
Supposed to meet us
Over here at this farm,
And I know
Our distributor guy.
He's very cautious.
Getting caught
In the state of virginia
With 17 gallons
Of untaxed liquor
Could result in up
To one year imprisonment.
You know, we, the
Distillers, can't take a chance
Of getting caught up
Any kind of distribution,
So we've always had a guy
To handle that for us.
We're going to make
The delivery,
But we're taking a chance
That we shouldn't be taking.
We prefer to come out
After dark,
But people have been waiting
So long for the brandy.
The distributor is ready to go.
We got to get it out.
You have to fear the neighbors
As much as you do
Or more than the law.
The law, I mean,
They always watching,
But people call and report you.
The people is the ones
That always get us caught.
♪♪
♪♪
In franklin county, virginia,
Henry and kenny law
Are confronting
A suspicious vehicle
En route to their sale.
♪♪
Yeah.
That's travis.
I used to work with him.
Oh, you know the guy?Yeah, yeah.
He's fine.
People look at us
Like we're crazy,
But you don't want
To get busted, you know?
You don't want to get busted.
You don't want to go to jail.
There he is.
What's up, brother?
Been a while.
Good to see you again.
We got the last little bit
Of the peaches.
Well, we've just been having
A lot of moving
And moving, you know.
We're sorry.
It's just --
Your customers are going
To have to understand
That we've done
All we can do.
That's a good deal.
That's what we want.
Meet that distributor,
You get it loaded up,
And then they start blowing
You up with those $100 bills.
There's nothing like it.
All right, my friend,
We're going to get out of here.
Appreciate it, man.
See you soon.
See you.
See you real soon.
Just keep your eye
Over your shoulder.
That's just the way
We do things.
He protects us.
You know your customers
Are going to be getting it
In the next few days,
And all of them,
They're going to be very happy.
Every day
Is another dollar.
♪♪
♪♪
Well, I'll tell you,
It's ready.
One state south
In the great smokies,
Mark and huck are gearing up
To run a specialty batch
Of their huckleberry brandy.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
The gunshot is 400 or 500 yards
Away, and that's too close.
We don't want nobody, you know,
Nowhere around it.
♪♪
Maybe a hunter over on that
Ridge or something or other.
Those gunshots, you know,
Kind of makes you get on alert,
Kind of makes you nervous.
What do you think?
Mm-hmm.
Smell that.
Yes, try it.
Hoo!
Pretty good, ain't it?
Yeah, boy.
It's pretty high-proof stuff.Yeah.
We run the 14-gallon
Of huckleberry brandy.
You can taste the fruit in it,
You know.
I'll save us
5 gallon of it.
Yep.
♪♪
♪♪
Going over here to culpeper
Sheriff department and jail
To see mr. Tickle here.
I've been working
On getting tickle
A work release
For a while now.
I had to talk to the court,
Send letters to the judge.
It takes so long
To get these guys
To even respond back to you.
Across the state line
In virginia,
After petitioning to secure
A work release for tickle,
Tim is on his way
To deliver the judge's answer.
And I'm just trying to get
The guy so he can come to work
At the distillery, you know,
And be productive
Instead of just sitting
In jail getting fat.
I've been waiting for weeks,
And I finally got
Something back from the judge.
I know just to get tickle
On a work release
Would really mean a lot to him.
Now I just got to get in there
And let him know
What's happening.
You know, growing up
In the moonshine business,
You have a lot
Of dealings with law,
Whether it's the law enforcement
Or the attorneys,
So you get a lot of practice
At it, you know,
And you see a lot of people
Going in and out
In front of the judge,
Going to jail
And getting out of jail.
You know, you learn
A lot of things.
Tickle, you have a visitor.
Stand up across the bars.
Turn around.
Turn around, face me.
Been locked up for a while,
And it really gets rough on you
When you can't get out
And you can't do.
You just see the same four walls
And the same people
All the time.
I'm really hoping
To get this work release,
Work at the distillery with him.
That'll be great.
Bl2.
I've missed a whole lot of stuff
While I've been in jail,
My daughter going to college.
I wasn't there to take her
And set her up in her dorm room
And stuff,
Being there for my mom.
My dad died last year.
These are things I've found
You can't get back.
Hey, man.
Hey.
What's going on, tim?
Better than talking
Through the glass.
Whole lot better than talking
Through the glass.
Yeah. They even had to put
Handcuffs on you.
Yeah. Well, I mean,
It ain't my first time.
Yeah.
Well, I was going to say it may
Not be the least time, I hope.
Yeah.
No, no, no.
It's going to be
The last time.
Well, I mean,
You're looking good really.
Ah.
Well, I mean, I feel all right.
Seeing tim up here
In the conference room
Instead of through glass,
It's kind of like
He's my lawyer now.
Other than that, you know,
That's the only person
I've ever seen
Face-to-face in a visit.
It's just a whole lot better
And comfortable for us to talk.
Well, look, have you heard
Anything about the work release?
I did hear about it.
Good, good.
What'd you hear?
Mark and huck have
Labored away a month
In seclusion
To produce 315 gallons.
Finally landing on a site
To call home,
Henry and kenny
Are up to 215 gallons,
While red fox and crew are
Limping along with 124 gallons,
And tickle is up to 330 --
Days served, that is.
Run it?
Yep.
It's sour.
She's ready to rock and roll
On this one.
Yep.
In cherokee county,
North carolina,
Red fox, jeff, and van
Are working to fulfill
A 400-gallon order
Worth $30,000.
I'll pump in the buckets
And pour it into ours.
All right.
400 gallons, we've never had
A order that big.
That's a lot of money,
A lot of work
And a lot of time we're going to
Have to put into it.
We got to keep things in line
And in shape.
Wasting good liquor.
All right.
Go.
You lost mash
Because of that.
That's making a mess.
All right. Off.
I just see a lot of beer
Being poured out.
We can't afford to lose a profit
On a stupid mistake like that.
Doing this is the biggest
Challenge I've ever had.
We're going to be running
Almost 24 hours a day.
Fire it in.
Having three stills fired up
At one time is pretty intense,
And that just adds
To our stress level.
I wished I had the money.
We would all be set up like
We're at the ritz or something.
We got to step it up.
This could wrap us up
For the year right here.
400 gallons,
We're talking about 30 grand.
You can tell she's getting hot
Because that paste
I put on there
Is turning white.
A lot of people can't paste.
That's something my grandpa
Taught me how to do.
For the last 10, 15 years,
This younger generation has
Tapped into the old-timers,
And the old-timers have done
Come back to life
Firing these stills up.
Moonshine has made
A big comeback.
It's not easy,
But I'm glad it did.
I got liquor coming into
The worm, fellas.
It is?
All the hard work is already
Starting to pay off.
It's one of the greatest
Feelings in the world.
Yeah!
What I'm talking about.
Uh-oh.
It's stopping.
Come on, baby.
Pick up. Come on.
That coil is out of balance.
Pick this back up.
I got a bigger stick for it.
Little more.
Cut that off in there.
Oh, no!
That third pot that red's got
Is running half ass.
Why does everything have to be
So damn hard for us?
That pot I've used quite a bit,
But it's so finicky.
It just don't want to run right.
It's just never-ending trouble,
It seems like.
We're going to cut this off.
This ain't running right.
How complicated is it,
Running them two stills?
I've never seen nothing
Be this damn picky.
Red, you can call me
Damn crazy,
But I'm thinking about
Getting another pot.
When *bleep* doing happens,
You do something.
Deadlines need to be met.
We ain't *bleep* around.
We're going to get it done.
Where you going to find
One this time of season?
Might be somebody working
A 40-hour job
That just don't have time
To run whiskey.
Finding a pot during
Moonshine season is unheard of.
Everybody that knows how
To make liquor right now
Is in the woods
With their own pot.
It's a long shot, but I'm
Going to see what I can do.
One bucket
Of liquor out, boys.
Mine's running like
A freight train.
This is a big order.
We know it's going to be
An obstacle everywhere we turn,
But we all got that
Never-say-die-attitude.
Even when it looks bleak, it
Seems like we pull things out.
This first run of
Their 400-gallon order yields
The trio only 11 gallons
Of peach brandy,
Barely a dent
In the overall amount.
It'll be good to get another
Still running.
There, that'll knock
Some cobwebs out, boys.
Make it bubble
When you hit it.
♪♪
♪♪
Hey, man.
Hey.
What's going on, tim?
Better than talking
Through the glass.
Whole lot better than talking
Through the glass.
Yeah.
Well, look, have you heard
Anything about the work release?
I did hear about it.
Good, good.
What'd you hear?
It's not good.
Because you applied
For a work release to work
For me at the distillery,
They kind of laughed at me.
They said that's not
A good idea because --
What?
Your whole background and record
Is all about moonshining,
So, you know,
They looked at it like a joke.
Well, I mean, but it would be
A legal one, I mean, you know?
That's what
I tried to say.
I tried to say,
"Well, it's a legal distillery."
Yeah.
You know, we didn't know
All the details.
We still learning the system.
His past history working
That moonshining business,
We thought he would
Be well-qualified.
My past has
Disqualified me.
Yes.
If I had a pie company
Where you could work as a cook
Then it would have
Been different,
But I don't have
A pie company.
No, no.
We make moonshine.
That's what we do.
They were not about to put me
Where liquor was being made.
I guess they didn't feel
They could trust me right there.
Yeah, yeah.
So that's thrown out.
It's, you know,
Forget about that deal.
There was no way,
Nothing?
Nothing.
I mean, what am I going to do?
It's a letdown, but, you know,
I've got to remember
That I've put myself here.
But I got something else.
All right.I got another plan.
Well,
What do you got now?
We got to look
At all the options.
I mean, you in good
Standing here, right?
Yeah.
You ain't did nothing.
Yeah, no, no.
I ain't done nothing.
I'm in good shape here.Yeah.
Nobody is, you know --
Uh-uh. No.
I mean, I was in good shape
At the other jail, too.
Okay, okay.
Maybe, maybe this is
A possibility.
You know,
This is another option.
You know,
The way I'm figuring
And what I'm thinking
About is,
You know when you was working
In the kitchen
Down in
Pittsylvania county
And you was, like,
The head cook?
Yeah, the head cook.
And if we can do that,
Now, if it's possible,
If we could get your credit
Transferred
From pittsylvania county
To culpeper,
Those credit days,
Maybe some of those days
You can subtract off
Your end of days
So you could
Get out early, maybe.
Maybe that's a possibility.
I mean, who do we talk
To about this?
I don't know
Who to talk to.
I mean,
I'm stuck on the inside.
I don't have
A lot of communication.
Well, I understand.
That's why I come
And I --
Hey, we got this arranged,
You know?
Yeah.
This is better than talking
Through the glass on the phone.
Yeah, no, it's a whole lot
Better than talking
Through the glass.
-you know, even though,
I know, they had to put you
In handcuffs
To bring you outside,
But...
Well, I mean, I am in jail,
You know?
Yeah, I know, but at least
We got this far.
I grew up wheeling and dealing
And making deals everywhere,
You know, whether or not
It's legal or illegal.
My dad always told me,
"You got to get up early,
Stay up late,
And you got to work hard
If you want to get ahead,"
So we're going to ask for early
Out and see what happens.
I don't know. It's got to count
For something, right?
I mean, I think so.
I mean, I hope so.
I'm not going to lie to you.
I'm hoping for it,
But I'm not holding my breath.
I just want you to know how much
It means to me, and that --
You know, I knew you'd do
The same thing for me.
The system has to make
The choice, not us.
It's not us.
We can just only ask,
But I'm going to ask,
And I hope that this is
Going to work.
♪♪
After being locked up
For a while,
You kind of get
The feeling that,
You know,
You're all on your own,
And there's nobody
Else out there
On the outside rooting
For you and stuff.
It plays on you mentally.
It plays on you physically.
In jail, you're either laughing
Or you're crying.
There is no in-between.
Do I have regrets?
Well, of course
I've got regrets.
Everybody has got regrets,
But I tell you what --
You can get a lot of stuff
Back in your life,
But one thing you cannot
Get back is time.
Tickle, you got a visitor.
On this episode
Of "Moonshiners"...
Taking security to dangerous
Heights in north carolina.
Yeah, we've got a leak.
Profits are
Draining away in virginia...
You lose mash, you lose whiskey.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. *bleep*
Hey.
What's going on, tim?
...And moonshine's prodigal son
Returns to culpeper.
I'm thinking I get you
Closer up here,
And we can work
On something.
I can make moonshine
And be out of here?
That sounds good to me.
This is how we make
The moonshine.
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
All right, we're going
Over to culpeper jail.
Tickle just got brought
In last night
From pittsylvania county,
So, you know,
Tickle is in culpeper now.
In culpeper county, virginia,
Tim is on his way
To visit his old partner,
Tickle, who's been transferred
To a smaller local jail
To serve out the remaining
Time on his sentence.
Tickle got transferred,
So he's only about 10 miles away
Right now versus 150 miles,
So, you know,
He's not that far away.
You know, first time
I'm going to visit him
And, you know,
See how he's doing.
Well, you know,
Tickle has been making
A lot of mistakes
Over the years,
And, you know, all these
Mistakes is a learning factor.
You know, every time
He makes a mistake, he learns,
And, you know, this time
He's been in for a long time.
♪♪
-can I help you?
-I'd like to see a mr. Tickle.
-he'll be out.
-okay.
♪♪
Bl2.
♪♪
Surprise, surprise.
Hey. What's going on, tim?
What's up?
How was
Your trip up, you know?
You know, the trip
Was all right.
First time I've been outside
In a long time,
So it was feeling good today.Yeah, yeah.
I didn't know how they was
Going to, you know,
Put a bag over your head
And throw you in a van.
No, no.
They let me ride in the car,
Not in the trunk.
Well, I'm glad to see you.Yeah.
Yeah,
It's good seeing you too.
You know, I've been locked up
For a long time,
But tim, he's a true friend.
He's had my back
The whole entire time.
I mean, what have you been
Working on there
At your distillery?
Well, we're working on that
Mistake that you and jt made.
What do you mean,
Mistake we made?
Yeah, when y'all messed up,
Put too much rye in that batch.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that was good!
Well,
I know it was good.
Yeah.Then jt then talked me
Into going commercial
With that thing, and...
All right.
Well, did y'all get it close?
Did you get it right?
Well, we got it close,
I think pretty good.
You know, I'm just glad
That I could help him out
In a little way with that,
Even if it was a happy mistake.
Well, I wish you the best
Of luck with that.
I mean, can I help you
In any way?
Well, I'm thinking
We can work on something.
All right.You know, I mean...
What are you looking
At working on?
Well, I'm thinking about getting
A work release or something.
Well, you know,
That would be good.
What, working in the distillery
Down there with you?
Yeah, if I can.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, you come up there to
Make moonshine in the daytime,
And you come back
To jail at nighttime.
You know,
With the work release program,
As long as
It's a legit business
And you take responsibility
For the inmate,
You know, I don't have
No problem in that.
You know, me and tickle
Have been together for years,
So if he can just work
For a couple hours,
And we can put him back in,
At least that'd get him
Oriented to the outside world.
You know, I'll get to see
A little more sunshine.
Well, if we get
A work release,
You won't have to go
Through this glass.
That's right.
I'm really hoping
To get this work release
And work at the distillery
With him,
And, you know, if we can
Do that, that'll be great.
That's definitely a step
In the right direction.
Well, that sounds
Good to me.
I can make moonshine
And be out of here?
Well, you qualify
For both, right?
You qualify to be in jail,
And you qualify
To make moonshine.
I'm hoping
To quit qualifying
For being in jail
Here very soon.
You too qualified.
You overqualified.
I am too qualified
To be in here.
Sounds they ought to
Let me out, right?
Well, we going to
Work on that.
You know, it's all about trying
To get him on a work release,
And, you know,
Hopefully we qualify,
And we can get him outside.
And chuck,
He's good to go, so...
Well, that sounds good.Yeah.
You know, me and tim, we've been
Together for a long time,
From the woods all the way up
Until now where he's legal,
And you kind of think
When you get locked up
That there's nothing anybody
That wants to have
Your back can even do,
But I see different now.
All right.
Well, we'll see what happens.
Yep.
All right.
All right.
Bye.
Seeing a friend's face
Really made a whole lot
Of difference to me today.
It's small things like that
That really mean a whole lot
To somebody
When they're locked up.
Now I got to talk to the court,
Send letters to the judge,
To see if we cannot get
Tickle on
His work release program.
♪♪
♪♪
When we get rid of this 3 gallon
Of corn we got back here.
Little bit of a paycheck
For today, won't it?
Yeah, boy.
One state south
In north carolina, mark and huck
Are heading to a sale with one
Of their local customers.
Hello, pooch.
Hey, bud.
How you doing?
Well,
We're doing all right.
Brought you 3 gallon
Of corn liquor.
It's what you wanted,
Wasn't it?
Yeah.
Dang.
Well, that's hell.
We ain't got none of that
Right now.
That's kind of a special
Run stuff, you know,
Just do it once a year.
Yeah.
How much is it you wanting?
Three gallon?
Well, now, I tell you,
It's double the price of that.
That's $100 a gallon.
That brandy would be $200
Because there's so much work
In that brandy.
It'd be $600.
But as long as you take it
When we get here, $600.
All right.
We'll see you before long.
Thank you.
♪♪
♪♪
Oh, geez.
Knock this out and get
Your thing fired on up.
Here we'll get all the seeds
Out of it.
It'll pick up
That seed taste.
One state north
In franklin county, virginia.
Make some good old brandy.
As orders for
Their peach brandy pile up,
Henry and kenny start
Another big run
For a 20-gallon
Sale worth $3,000.
Start putting some water
In here.
We're behind.
We up against the wall.
We lost a lot of time
After we lost our still site,
You know, getting everything
Moved and set up,
So it's about time
That we got everything rolling.
We fill up to where my wrist
Down in there,
It hits my fingertips,
But don't let the cake
Burn on us.
When the flames come up
It circles the steel,
And if you leave your mash
Down here at too low
To save time
It burns along this ridge.
We call it the cake burn.
So use your wrist.
When that mash comes up
To my fingertips,
It's full enough to run,
And that's what you want.
That's full enough.
Let's get it
Ready to roll.
We'll get the gas line
Hooked up.
Okay.
Now fire it up.
Yeah, man.
All right.
See what you got.
Oh, let me get it
Stirred up good.
Quality of my liquor
Is so good people
Are willing to pay
A little more.
Keep your mash burning.
One of us will be
On the poke constantly.
Never let up
Until it starts boiling.
If you do,
It's going to burn.
The name carries us a long way.
It come from those law boys,
And that's the end
Of conversation.
And it sounds good.
I can see some metal,
The metal.
That's where you want it.
Good.
Just look.
If there's a burned spot on it,
You'll feel it.
You'll feel it?
It's getting warm now,
About 175, 180.
The steam is going to be coming
Over once it starts boiling.
Let's cap it.
All right.
Once you put your cap on top
Of the still,
It has to be sealed off.
This is what we call paste.
It's made of rye.
We put it around these fittings
When we're
Putting them together,
And it won't let it leak.
That metal gets hot,
And it cooks that rye,
And it gets as hard
As a rock.
People use oatmeal, flour.
It's not as strong.
It won't cook as hard.
There you go.
Every bit of steam
That comes out is money lost.
Yeah, kenny, she's coming.
Yeah, but she'll be
Running pretty quick.
Hey, kenny.
Man, we got a couple leaks
Coming out up here.
Yeah.
Ho, ho, ho, ho.
Yeah. All right.
Hold tight.
Yeah.
We've got a leak.
I think I can stop it.
Don't punch too big
A hole in it now.
*bleep*
Oh, yeah.
You lose mash
And you lose whiskey.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
*bleep*
♪♪
Hey, man.Hey. What's going on, tim?
Better than talking
Through the glass.
Two partners reunited
Under lock and key
In culpeper, virginia...
Have you heard anything
About the work release?
...And two north
Carolina shiners
Are in over their heads
For the biggest sale
Of their career.
These guys could be the law.
Yeah.
Give us just a second.
Hey, kenny.
Man, we got a couple leaks
Coming out up here.
Yeah. All right.
Hold tight.
I think I can stop it.
In franklin county,
Henry and kenny law are battling
A leaky still to try to salvage
Their order of peach brandy.
Don't punch too big a hole
In it now.
*bleep*
Oh, yeah.
You lose mash
And you lose whiskey.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
*bleep*
♪♪
Now maybe that'll hold it up
In there.
Seal this hole.
All right.
I think I got that took care of.
She's coming.
I can smell it.
I'm going to dump
The heads on it.
Yeah.
Chuck over all that heads.
What do you think?
Finally, getting away from
Those little bitty stills.
Oh, man.
Don't get no better than that.
Finally.
I'm going to take a look at it.
Let's see what we got here,
Henry.
It's about 120.
Good and high, man,
That's what we want.
It tells us right there
It's going to make some liquor.
The alcohol content,
When it first comes out,
It's extremely high, and as it
Runs it gets weaker and weaker.
That's what I like to see
Going in that proofing barrel.
So you learn to mix it in what
We call proofing barrels.
We like to use a stick
And beat ours up a little bit.
Yeah.
Stuff is high.
We keep pouring it in,
And it gets lower and lower,
And you get it to the point
That the customers want,
And you get an eye for it.
That's perfect.
And then you watch it
Breaking holes around that edge,
And that tells us
This is a good 100-proof.
And it's still got
That peach flavor.
You know, you hear about people
Who proof it down with water.
We just don't believe in that.
That's what your brandy is going
To taste like -- water.
All right.
Bubba, the run is done,
And that's what we do
About spent mash.
We've heard rumors of people
Taking this mash.
What they will do,
They'll catch it again,
Put sugar back in it,
And run it again.
You know, they selling those.
You can't tell the difference.
You can't --
You can tell the world.Yeah.
I'm not going to put my name
On anything like that,
So we dump ours.
It's against the gods of brandy
To run it two times.
Well, some people do that,
And they should be struck down.
We won't go for that.
If our liquor hits the streets
With our name on it,
It's going to be the best.
5, 10, 15, couple gallons
Here, about 17 gallons.
We've met the goal
And then some.
♪♪
♪♪
Well, come here
And look at this.
Hey.
Huckleberries.
One state south
In robbinsville, north carolina,
As fall approaches,
Mark and huck
Prep an early batch of their
Seasonal huckleberry brandy
To meet the demand
Of a loyal customer.
We've picked the huckleberries
All of our life.
They're the same thing
As a tame blueberry,
Except they're just wild,
And they grow back
In the mountains,
You know, up on these
High tops and everything.
I always thought they were
A little bit sweeter.
And this has got a little
Better taste most the time.
Old specialty barrel.
♪♪
They liked it, didn't they?Yeah.
The malted corn acts
As a catalyst
For the environmental yeast
To ferment the mash.
That sounds all right.
It does, don't it?
Brandy, you know,
It'll take twice as long
As it does corn liquor
And get ready to run.
♪♪
♪♪
I don't care as long as
My little hand gets greased.
I want a stack of money
Where I can smell it.
One county southwest
In cherokee county,
North carolina,
Red fox and van are on their way
To investigate
A potentially suspicious order.
A few weeks ago
We sold a guy 15 gallons.
Started to turn around
And get in the jeep,
And he says, "Oh, by the way,
I may want a big order,"
So called him back,
And he wants to meet up.
He should be here
Anytime now.
What do you think
About these guys, red?
Oh, the main feller,
I trust.
I don't trust
None of them.
You don't have no reason
To trust them
Because you don't know them,
But you know me.
I hope you trust me.
Oh, yeah.
I trust you.
I just
Don't like strangers.
So you got your business
Partners with you again, I see.
It's very possible that
These guys could be the law.
I'm not sure.
You and I was the tie
In this whole cog.
Without me
And you talking,
There's nobody else here
Talking really,
But I trust you,
And he trusts me.
Well, then we got
A connection.
You know
Why we're here.
You guys want to get serious
About this order
You talked about
The last time.
Four hundred gallons
Of peach brandy?
Me and you got to step over here
And talk about this.
Yeah.
Just give us just a second.
I've never been involved with
A sale this big in my lifetime.
It's tense thinking about it.
It makes the hair stand up
On your back.
I want to do this.
I really think we should try.
Get to thinking about,
"That's a lot of money."
This could be really good
For our season.
I like the deal.
30 grand.
This ain't cupcakes.
We done give as much
As a discount as we can give,
And that's why we're being
The way we're being.
Thank you, sir.
All right.
Now we got to go tell jeff.
He's going to have
A heart attack.
Now look, you heard anything
About the work release?
In culpeper county,
The verdict is in
On two old moonshine partners
Looking to reunite.
I did hear about it.
Good, good.
What'd you hear?
♪♪
Well, van, I don't know how
Jeff is going to take this,
Going ahead
And finalizing that order.
He's going to have
To take to it.
In cherokee county,
North carolina,
Red fox and van
Return to their still site
To share the news of
Their massive 400-gallon order.
Hello, brother jeff.
You still running, eh?
How much you caught?
Between 15, 16 gallons,
Something like that.
Well, you want to make
Some more?
How much more?
400 gallons more.
Y'all are pulling
My leg now.
No.
It's for real.
Serious. $30,000.
This is a life change.
I've never made 400 gallons
In one season of brandy.
I don't think none of us have.
Let's get real here.
We can't keep up
With what we got.
I know.
It's a lot.
How many chances do you
Get to make $30,000?
You trust him?
I trust him.
We talked to him.
These guys is serious.
He's got two investors that's
Going to go in with him on it.
What kind of timeline
We got here?
He wants it within
About a month, month and a half.
To fulfill the 400-gallon order,
The shiners will need
To secure 600 pounds of sugar
And 7,000 pounds of peaches.
This year, the peaches, they've
Had a bumper crop season,
And we have such
A good connection,
So we can get them fairly cheap
And make a whole lot more money.
I'm not trying to question
Y'all, but, I mean...
We're just going to have to use
Every still we got
And keep them
Cranked up nonstop.
We got to have a *bleep* load
More barrels.
I'm fired up to do it.
We're all working for the same
Goal, and that's to make money,
But jeff, he deserves
To have a call in it.
We're going to
Have to run 24/7.
It's overwhelming to me.
Other side,
It is a lot of money.
It's nice to think about,
But thinking about it
And getting it done
Is two different things.
This is big.
We can do it, though.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.Hey, buddy.
We'll do it.
All right.
Let's get this done.All right.
Lord have mercy.
♪♪
♪♪
That will definitely
Save your life.
If you do fall,
You talk about a wedgie.
You going to have one.
One county north, while waiting
For their huckleberry mash
To ferment,
Mark and huck turn up the dial
On security
Around their still site.
You got a good view,
Ain't you?
That's perfect right there.
You ready for wood?Yeah.
♪♪
Got her.
Yeah, mark, he loves
To climb, you know.
I think he's part squirrel.
He can get around in the timber
Pretty good, you know.
A lot better than I can.
All right.
♪♪
♪♪
Get it up,
And get it on out here.
Let's get it covered up.Get the cone up.
They'll think we are, you know,
Construction work.
Work on the road.
One state north
In franklin county, virginia,
The law cousins are en route
To meet their long-time
Bootlegger
To discuss business
In the safest way possible --
Face-to-face.
Supposed to meet us
Over here at this farm,
And I know
Our distributor guy.
He's very cautious.
Getting caught
In the state of virginia
With 17 gallons
Of untaxed liquor
Could result in up
To one year imprisonment.
You know, we, the
Distillers, can't take a chance
Of getting caught up
Any kind of distribution,
So we've always had a guy
To handle that for us.
We're going to make
The delivery,
But we're taking a chance
That we shouldn't be taking.
We prefer to come out
After dark,
But people have been waiting
So long for the brandy.
The distributor is ready to go.
We got to get it out.
You have to fear the neighbors
As much as you do
Or more than the law.
The law, I mean,
They always watching,
But people call and report you.
The people is the ones
That always get us caught.
♪♪
♪♪
In franklin county, virginia,
Henry and kenny law
Are confronting
A suspicious vehicle
En route to their sale.
♪♪
Yeah.
That's travis.
I used to work with him.
Oh, you know the guy?Yeah, yeah.
He's fine.
People look at us
Like we're crazy,
But you don't want
To get busted, you know?
You don't want to get busted.
You don't want to go to jail.
There he is.
What's up, brother?
Been a while.
Good to see you again.
We got the last little bit
Of the peaches.
Well, we've just been having
A lot of moving
And moving, you know.
We're sorry.
It's just --
Your customers are going
To have to understand
That we've done
All we can do.
That's a good deal.
That's what we want.
Meet that distributor,
You get it loaded up,
And then they start blowing
You up with those $100 bills.
There's nothing like it.
All right, my friend,
We're going to get out of here.
Appreciate it, man.
See you soon.
See you.
See you real soon.
Just keep your eye
Over your shoulder.
That's just the way
We do things.
He protects us.
You know your customers
Are going to be getting it
In the next few days,
And all of them,
They're going to be very happy.
Every day
Is another dollar.
♪♪
♪♪
Well, I'll tell you,
It's ready.
One state south
In the great smokies,
Mark and huck are gearing up
To run a specialty batch
Of their huckleberry brandy.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
The gunshot is 400 or 500 yards
Away, and that's too close.
We don't want nobody, you know,
Nowhere around it.
♪♪
Maybe a hunter over on that
Ridge or something or other.
Those gunshots, you know,
Kind of makes you get on alert,
Kind of makes you nervous.
What do you think?
Mm-hmm.
Smell that.
Yes, try it.
Hoo!
Pretty good, ain't it?
Yeah, boy.
It's pretty high-proof stuff.Yeah.
We run the 14-gallon
Of huckleberry brandy.
You can taste the fruit in it,
You know.
I'll save us
5 gallon of it.
Yep.
♪♪
♪♪
Going over here to culpeper
Sheriff department and jail
To see mr. Tickle here.
I've been working
On getting tickle
A work release
For a while now.
I had to talk to the court,
Send letters to the judge.
It takes so long
To get these guys
To even respond back to you.
Across the state line
In virginia,
After petitioning to secure
A work release for tickle,
Tim is on his way
To deliver the judge's answer.
And I'm just trying to get
The guy so he can come to work
At the distillery, you know,
And be productive
Instead of just sitting
In jail getting fat.
I've been waiting for weeks,
And I finally got
Something back from the judge.
I know just to get tickle
On a work release
Would really mean a lot to him.
Now I just got to get in there
And let him know
What's happening.
You know, growing up
In the moonshine business,
You have a lot
Of dealings with law,
Whether it's the law enforcement
Or the attorneys,
So you get a lot of practice
At it, you know,
And you see a lot of people
Going in and out
In front of the judge,
Going to jail
And getting out of jail.
You know, you learn
A lot of things.
Tickle, you have a visitor.
Stand up across the bars.
Turn around.
Turn around, face me.
Been locked up for a while,
And it really gets rough on you
When you can't get out
And you can't do.
You just see the same four walls
And the same people
All the time.
I'm really hoping
To get this work release,
Work at the distillery with him.
That'll be great.
Bl2.
I've missed a whole lot of stuff
While I've been in jail,
My daughter going to college.
I wasn't there to take her
And set her up in her dorm room
And stuff,
Being there for my mom.
My dad died last year.
These are things I've found
You can't get back.
Hey, man.
Hey.
What's going on, tim?
Better than talking
Through the glass.
Whole lot better than talking
Through the glass.
Yeah. They even had to put
Handcuffs on you.
Yeah. Well, I mean,
It ain't my first time.
Yeah.
Well, I was going to say it may
Not be the least time, I hope.
Yeah.
No, no, no.
It's going to be
The last time.
Well, I mean,
You're looking good really.
Ah.
Well, I mean, I feel all right.
Seeing tim up here
In the conference room
Instead of through glass,
It's kind of like
He's my lawyer now.
Other than that, you know,
That's the only person
I've ever seen
Face-to-face in a visit.
It's just a whole lot better
And comfortable for us to talk.
Well, look, have you heard
Anything about the work release?
I did hear about it.
Good, good.
What'd you hear?
Mark and huck have
Labored away a month
In seclusion
To produce 315 gallons.
Finally landing on a site
To call home,
Henry and kenny
Are up to 215 gallons,
While red fox and crew are
Limping along with 124 gallons,
And tickle is up to 330 --
Days served, that is.
Run it?
Yep.
It's sour.
She's ready to rock and roll
On this one.
Yep.
In cherokee county,
North carolina,
Red fox, jeff, and van
Are working to fulfill
A 400-gallon order
Worth $30,000.
I'll pump in the buckets
And pour it into ours.
All right.
400 gallons, we've never had
A order that big.
That's a lot of money,
A lot of work
And a lot of time we're going to
Have to put into it.
We got to keep things in line
And in shape.
Wasting good liquor.
All right.
Go.
You lost mash
Because of that.
That's making a mess.
All right. Off.
I just see a lot of beer
Being poured out.
We can't afford to lose a profit
On a stupid mistake like that.
Doing this is the biggest
Challenge I've ever had.
We're going to be running
Almost 24 hours a day.
Fire it in.
Having three stills fired up
At one time is pretty intense,
And that just adds
To our stress level.
I wished I had the money.
We would all be set up like
We're at the ritz or something.
We got to step it up.
This could wrap us up
For the year right here.
400 gallons,
We're talking about 30 grand.
You can tell she's getting hot
Because that paste
I put on there
Is turning white.
A lot of people can't paste.
That's something my grandpa
Taught me how to do.
For the last 10, 15 years,
This younger generation has
Tapped into the old-timers,
And the old-timers have done
Come back to life
Firing these stills up.
Moonshine has made
A big comeback.
It's not easy,
But I'm glad it did.
I got liquor coming into
The worm, fellas.
It is?
All the hard work is already
Starting to pay off.
It's one of the greatest
Feelings in the world.
Yeah!
What I'm talking about.
Uh-oh.
It's stopping.
Come on, baby.
Pick up. Come on.
That coil is out of balance.
Pick this back up.
I got a bigger stick for it.
Little more.
Cut that off in there.
Oh, no!
That third pot that red's got
Is running half ass.
Why does everything have to be
So damn hard for us?
That pot I've used quite a bit,
But it's so finicky.
It just don't want to run right.
It's just never-ending trouble,
It seems like.
We're going to cut this off.
This ain't running right.
How complicated is it,
Running them two stills?
I've never seen nothing
Be this damn picky.
Red, you can call me
Damn crazy,
But I'm thinking about
Getting another pot.
When *bleep* doing happens,
You do something.
Deadlines need to be met.
We ain't *bleep* around.
We're going to get it done.
Where you going to find
One this time of season?
Might be somebody working
A 40-hour job
That just don't have time
To run whiskey.
Finding a pot during
Moonshine season is unheard of.
Everybody that knows how
To make liquor right now
Is in the woods
With their own pot.
It's a long shot, but I'm
Going to see what I can do.
One bucket
Of liquor out, boys.
Mine's running like
A freight train.
This is a big order.
We know it's going to be
An obstacle everywhere we turn,
But we all got that
Never-say-die-attitude.
Even when it looks bleak, it
Seems like we pull things out.
This first run of
Their 400-gallon order yields
The trio only 11 gallons
Of peach brandy,
Barely a dent
In the overall amount.
It'll be good to get another
Still running.
There, that'll knock
Some cobwebs out, boys.
Make it bubble
When you hit it.
♪♪
♪♪
Hey, man.
Hey.
What's going on, tim?
Better than talking
Through the glass.
Whole lot better than talking
Through the glass.
Yeah.
Well, look, have you heard
Anything about the work release?
I did hear about it.
Good, good.
What'd you hear?
It's not good.
Because you applied
For a work release to work
For me at the distillery,
They kind of laughed at me.
They said that's not
A good idea because --
What?
Your whole background and record
Is all about moonshining,
So, you know,
They looked at it like a joke.
Well, I mean, but it would be
A legal one, I mean, you know?
That's what
I tried to say.
I tried to say,
"Well, it's a legal distillery."
Yeah.
You know, we didn't know
All the details.
We still learning the system.
His past history working
That moonshining business,
We thought he would
Be well-qualified.
My past has
Disqualified me.
Yes.
If I had a pie company
Where you could work as a cook
Then it would have
Been different,
But I don't have
A pie company.
No, no.
We make moonshine.
That's what we do.
They were not about to put me
Where liquor was being made.
I guess they didn't feel
They could trust me right there.
Yeah, yeah.
So that's thrown out.
It's, you know,
Forget about that deal.
There was no way,
Nothing?
Nothing.
I mean, what am I going to do?
It's a letdown, but, you know,
I've got to remember
That I've put myself here.
But I got something else.
All right.I got another plan.
Well,
What do you got now?
We got to look
At all the options.
I mean, you in good
Standing here, right?
Yeah.
You ain't did nothing.
Yeah, no, no.
I ain't done nothing.
I'm in good shape here.Yeah.
Nobody is, you know --
Uh-uh. No.
I mean, I was in good shape
At the other jail, too.
Okay, okay.
Maybe, maybe this is
A possibility.
You know,
This is another option.
You know,
The way I'm figuring
And what I'm thinking
About is,
You know when you was working
In the kitchen
Down in
Pittsylvania county
And you was, like,
The head cook?
Yeah, the head cook.
And if we can do that,
Now, if it's possible,
If we could get your credit
Transferred
From pittsylvania county
To culpeper,
Those credit days,
Maybe some of those days
You can subtract off
Your end of days
So you could
Get out early, maybe.
Maybe that's a possibility.
I mean, who do we talk
To about this?
I don't know
Who to talk to.
I mean,
I'm stuck on the inside.
I don't have
A lot of communication.
Well, I understand.
That's why I come
And I --
Hey, we got this arranged,
You know?
Yeah.
This is better than talking
Through the glass on the phone.
Yeah, no, it's a whole lot
Better than talking
Through the glass.
-you know, even though,
I know, they had to put you
In handcuffs
To bring you outside,
But...
Well, I mean, I am in jail,
You know?
Yeah, I know, but at least
We got this far.
I grew up wheeling and dealing
And making deals everywhere,
You know, whether or not
It's legal or illegal.
My dad always told me,
"You got to get up early,
Stay up late,
And you got to work hard
If you want to get ahead,"
So we're going to ask for early
Out and see what happens.
I don't know. It's got to count
For something, right?
I mean, I think so.
I mean, I hope so.
I'm not going to lie to you.
I'm hoping for it,
But I'm not holding my breath.
I just want you to know how much
It means to me, and that --
You know, I knew you'd do
The same thing for me.
The system has to make
The choice, not us.
It's not us.
We can just only ask,
But I'm going to ask,
And I hope that this is
Going to work.
♪♪