Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 9, Episode 2 - Tim's Temptation - full transcript

♪♪

Narrator: on this episode
Of "Moonshiners"...

Tickle: oh, hell.
It's the crown.

We run some shine up
In this thing, didn't we?

Tim: run a whole lot.

...Tim takes the wheel
As tickle's

Return to the woods
Turns contagious.

This place, though,
Is history.

Tickle: it really is.

Aah!

Moonshine's mountain man
Hatches a plan



To turn backwoods ingenuity
Into higher-proof profits.

She's a-rolling,
Ain't she, huck? [ laughs ]

We got water now, baby.

Moonshine gods, please
Don't let that still leak.

Digger: uh.

And two master still builders
Face

The pressure of a new design
To make old-school shine.

[ metal clangs ]uh-oh.

I'm worried about it
Holding together.

[ metal clanging ]

Man: this is how we make
The moonshine.

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

This road was a lot smaller,
Tickle, when I was younger.

-a little dirt back road.
-it was dirt.



Two full-size vehicles
Can pass on it now.

How old
Did you say you is?

Not that old.
Not that old.

Narrator: in pittsylvania
Country, virginia,

Since tickle's return
To the outlaw side,

His legal friend tim
Finds the allure

Of the backwoods
Getting stronger than ever.

Well, tickle,
I'm taking you down

To one of my first still sites
That I went to as a kid.

As a kid?
Yeah.

When I was, like,
10, 12 years old.

It was
Actually a big operation.

Let's check around.

After tickle took me
To make moonshine

With the whitlock brothers,

Just bringing back
Those memories

Of being back
In the woods years ago,

And I don't want
To lose the heritage.

30 years ago,
This stuff was growed up,

See, you can just
See them stills in there.

You couldn't see them
Years ago.

These four
800-gallon pots,

You know, that's 3,200
Gallons worth of mash.

These jokers were making
100 gallons of moonshine each.

I can tell you what,
That's a lot of liquor.

You can still see the ax
Holes and stuff in them.

[ laughing ] yeah.

They come down here and
Busted them up, didn't they?

Yeah.
That wanted to make sure

That you didn't use them
After they found them.

Tim's carrying me around
To a lot of these places

That he remembers
From when he was young and first

Starting to make moonshine.

Maybe he thinks it'll help
Keep his pride up --

Down-home, real moonshine,
What it needs to be,

And not something
That's just commercial.

You know, it was over
40 years ago.

It was a long time ago.

I was just a little young
Whippersnapper back then.

Really, I didn't even think
We was doing nothing illegal.

When your daddy tells you
To get in the truck,

You're gonna make
A load of liquor,

You're gonna haul a load
Of liquor...

You do as you're told.You just do as you're told.

Especially when you're
About 10 years old.

Many years ago, I was running
Around in the woods with my dad.

We started off
With little stills.

Next thing you know,
We were running

These big submarine stills.

And, you know, it's been
A lot of water under the bridge.

You know, it's been
A lot of time.

Well, you know, now that I'm
Legal, you know,

We're still doing
The same recipe, same way --

You know, still got a still,
Still got a double,

Still got
A condensing worm --

It's just, you know, you're
Inside of a building.

It ain't out here
In the woods.

Today, you know, I got a nice
Legal distillery in culpeper,

And this is a totally
Different world out here,

But it is a good world,

And I understand
How they can attract you

And pull you back
Into the woods.

I can see that.

[ thunder rumbles ]

We might ought to get up
Out of here.

I believe we fixing to...

To get wet or get stuck
By lightning.

Yeah, one of the two.

♪♪

[ thunder crashes ]

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
One state south, deep in
The north carolina wilderness,

Outlaw shiners mark and huck

Reopen their heavily
Camouflaged still site

After 4 months of winter.

As a mountain man who keeps
His distance from civilization,

Mark's perennial challenge
Is how to make money

While reducing the exposure
That comes with bootlegging.

♪♪

His solution this season --

Produce a super-high-proof
Moonshine

That will sell
For twice the price.

♪♪

Huck: ooh!

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Mark's plan relies on double
Distillation to produce a spirit

That's super-high-proof
Yet smooth and easy to sip.

The first stage starts
With a pot

And condenser to run the mash,

Resulting in liquor
Around 110 proof.

Then they'll redistill
That liquid in a second still,

Consisting of a pot, thump keg,
And extra-long condenser coil.

By carefully controlling
Temperature and running

The second distillation
Very slowly,

They'll avoid the transfer
Of harsh-tasting fusel oils

And terpenoids
To the final product.

If the plan works,
They should end up

With a great-tasting liquor
At upwards of 170 proof.

♪♪

Let's go.

♪♪

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To set up the second stage

Of their double distillation
Process...

...They'll repurpose a copper
Pot from an old still,

Then rebuild the furnace

That surrounds it
At their still site.

♪♪

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Ramsey: hey, puss?

Digger: hatty boy.What are you doing?

Temping up a little hooch.

That's 100 proof
On the mark.

You're the man.

Two counties to the north
In tennessee, mark and digger

Are scaling up a recipe
They reverse-engineered

From a jar of popcorn sutton's
Multigrain moonshine.

Yeah. I'm gonna run
Something past you.

What you got
On your mind?

Look here
At what I got in mind.

But to mass-produce it
In the woods,

They'll need
A custom-designed copper still.

You know, if we're gonna
Run the multigrain

Popcorn sutton legacy liquor,

It needs a new still,
Kind of like popcorn's,

To make this liquor the best
That it can be.

We'll simply take
A 10-feet sheet

Of copper
And bend it over.

Two of them, actually.

And then by folding it over
And making it mailbox-shaped,

You eliminate the need
To make that damn cape.

I really like that.

On a traditional pot still,
The cape is what sits

On the very top of the pot.

It's the part that slopes up,
Coming to the collar,

That the cap goes down in.

This provides
For a lot of strength,

But it's also my achilles' heel.

*bleep* damn it!

It ain't meant to be.

*bleep*

I ain't big on
Cutting out capes.

The whole reason of the cape
Is for a smooth transition

Funneling
The steam up to the cap.

But, honestly, you know,
Such as this.

Yeah.

With the arch,
This mailbox still,

The top third of it
Is basically a cape.

This looks different
From popcorn's still,

But the biggest similarity
In them

Has the same surface area

As the cape
On popcorn's pot stills.

There has to be
So much surface area

For the vapors to come
In contact with the copper

To take the sulfites out of it.

So if you take the best recipe

And what we hope's gonna be
The very best still,

Then you can't have anything

But the finest liquor
That's ever been.

And then
A cap right on top.

The cap right on top
Right in the middle.

Reckon we need to put
A big postal flag on it?

Maybe.
[ laughs ]

A big handle here.

Make it look like
A big-ass mailbox.

Camouflage it
A little bit.

I think it'll make
A good-looking still.

♪♪

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♪♪

Narrator: back in the great
Smoky mountains, mark and huck

Return to the woods
To reconstruct

The brick-and-clay furnace

That will house
The second still.

♪♪

Rogers: uh-huh.

♪♪

♪♪

We're getting there,
Ain't we?

A brick furnace
Surrounds the pot

Within indirect convective heat,
Eliminating any direct contact

With the flame
That could scorch the mash

And give the liquor
An unpleasant burnt taste.

♪♪

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Here's our first batch,
Huck.

Yep.

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Yep.

♪♪

Coming up...

We've got ourselves
Into a pickle. [ laughs ]

We can't even let go,
Can we?

In tennessee, two shiners
Get bent out of shape

On a still build.

Unh.
Whoop, whoop, whoop.

♪♪

Digger: it's pouring rain.

We got to get busy.

Let's do
What we can do here, puss.

Yeah.

Narrator:
In cocke county, tennessee,

Two legendary shiners
Haul $1,000 of copper sheeting

With a plan to build
A high-capacity still design

That's never been
Attempted before.

[ grunts ]uh-oh. Did it get you?

Not bad.

Just one artery.

Let's get a piece of it.

Try to get a general idea
Of how tall

It's gonna be.

That's the way
We want it to happen.

Ramsey: you know, copper's
A very forgiving metal.

Most of this, nowadays,
Is built for roofing.

It's easy to cut.

It's easy to bend,
But that causes some problems

When you try
To keep it stay in shape.

Digger: them that it ain't got
No riblet in them,

They're pretty easy to bend.

We try to do what's called
Tin-locking on every piece,

And it's opposing notches
That tug against each other.

Not only does it make
A good watertight seal --

It adds a lot of integrity.

Now, what are you saying?

Just pick up like this
And walk out here

In the middle
Of the floor somewhere?

It ain't gonna stand up.

No.
It ain't gonna stand up.

I got my doubts these damn
1x4s is gonna hold up.

[ laughs ]

We've got ourselves
Into a pickle. [ laughs ]

We can't even let go,
Can we?

Oopsie-daisy.

Reach on out as far
As this will go.

And push it that way.

Push it.

Get your other board
Up there.

Well, if you can reach over
Here and hold this side

While you hold your side,
I'll get started on that.

Oop. Oop.
Oop.

We're bending here, babe.

Unh.
Whoop, whoop, whoop.

♪♪

Well, that went better
Than I really thought.

[ both laugh ]

The copper, you know,
It's flimsy, floppy,

And in our case, that's
Kind of hard for us to overcome.

I'll let you be
The saw master.

So what we've got to do,

We've got to build us
A frame to go inside of it.

The jig, if you will,
That will hold it in place.

We've got a bottom.

We've got to put something on
The inside

That gets the shoulders
Even and straight.

Don't look too bad
At all.

Now you can pick it up
From either end.

It's looking like
A mailbox now,

And it was looking more
Like an accident.

But now that it's taking shape,
Mark's gonna solder on this.

I can see gaps,
Holes right here.

Quit shaking it.

I ain't.
It's you.

The flashlight is giving mark
An indication

When he gaps his solder.

I can shine the light.

It'll shine right through
The pinhole.

Well, we're gonna have
To kill it best we can.

It's what the old-timers
Used to do years ago.

One would get in and shine
A light,

And the other one
To see outside --

"You got hole here.
You got to kill it."

It used to --
It was a little-bitty guy

That crawled down
Through the neck.

I ain't no little-bitty guy,
So I had to just crawl up under.

Ain't no telling
What it cost

To send you parcel post,
Are they?

By weight,
It'd cost a bunch.

[ sighs ]
-it's a-coming, ain't it?

Yeah.

We think it'll be a very,
Very efficient still design

For popcorn sutton's legacy
Liquor that we want to make.

Well, let's call it
A day.

U.S. Postal service.

♪♪

♪♪

Rogers: [ laughs ]

♪♪

Narrator: two counties south,
In north carolina,

Mark and huck are constructing
A new flake stand,

Or condenser, for the second
Still they'll be using

In their double distillation
Process.

[ exhales sharply ]

♪♪

Ah.

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Mm-hmm.

♪♪

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Yeah.

[ grunts ]

♪♪

Rogers:
Oh, yeah, baby.

♪♪

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♪♪

Let's see.

Mm-hmm.

♪♪

[ chainsaw whirs ]

♪♪

Aah! *bleep*

♪♪

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Yeah.

♪♪

♪♪

Here we go, boy.

♪♪

♪♪

[ laughs ]
[ laughs ]

♪♪

Coming up...

Going in the woods again,
Tickle.

...A legal shiner returns
To his roots,

Where it's all too easy to veer
Off the straight and narrow.

You know what?

I never thought I'd see you
Back in the woods.

That's right.

♪♪

There's another cemetery.

Damn, a lot of people
Dying to get in there.

Every one of them.

Narrator: in pittsylvania
Country, virginia,

Tickle's decision to return to
The woods after a year in prison

Is forcing his friend tim

To re-examine
His own outlaw roots.

Going in the woods again,
Tickle.

You know what?

I never thought I'd see you
Back in the woods

Unless it was to cut firewood
Or something like that.

That's right.

Tim: tickle showed me that
I can't just forget all about

Where I actually came from.

Because, you know, I'm in
The commercial world right now,

And I don't want
To lose that contact.

This is
A water-powered grist mill.

Damn.

So taking tickle
Back to anderson mill

Because, you know,
This is my roots.

This is how I got my start.

In my early days, now,
I would come down here

With my dad, and we'd back
The truck up right here,

Open this door,

And dump your corn
In there.

Okay.

But at the same time,
We got jars of moonshine.

My dad would be talking
To everybody else

That was waiting
To bring their corn.

So now we're
Generating sales.

Well, there you go.

Back in the woods,
You didn't do any marketing.

It was all about what it tastes
Like and how much it costs.

On the commercial side,

It's about marketing
And advertising

And putting a product
Out there.

Today, it's a little
Different world.

You got to sell it
Before they can taste it.

Well, this is the stone.

There's another stone on top of
This stone that grinds the corn,

And all the grain
Falls out.

Yeah.

I see in these grooves
That it runs it out.

Man, think about -- somebody
Had to change this.

You can't get no forklift in
There where this thing's at.

That was back when men
Was made out

Of different stuff, ain't it?Yeah.

That's when men was men
Right there, boy.

Yes, sir.
I can see that.

This place right here, it's been
Around since 1916, I believe.

But I believe it's an
Emotional landmark for tim

Because it really ties his past
Into defining moments

Of when he was young
With his dad

And learning this trade.

Let's check this water
Out over here.

Places like that, they're always
Good to go back and revisit.

You know, water's got
A lot of power.

Oh, yeah. It does.

You know, this grist mill's not
Like electricity or gasoline

Or nothing like that.

It's actually the water
That's coming from the stream.

It comes over the dam,
And it comes to a trough,

And it comes around
To where the waterwheel is.

And the wheel starts turning,

And it's a combination of
Different gears and mechanisms

And kick the power in.

This thing actually gives the
Power for the whole building.

I built that across there

So you can walk
Across that thing.

They got a handrail,
They can at least make it.

Yeah.
And this was over 100 years,

And them guys
Built that thing.

Well, you know, today, the way
Things has evolved from illegal

To legal,
And from the old grist mill

To, today, legal,
We do it all in one location.

I mean, we've got
A farm tractor.

We grind the corn and the grain
Right out of the silo.

Yeah. You know, you don't see
Stuff like this

Too much anymore.
No.

But, then again,
You know...

I'm thinking, "Man, look at
How much I've evolved

From my roots
Of moonshining."

When I was doing this,
It took all day long,

All to do nothing.

I mean, today,
The legal distillery,

I'm getting more done
In a short period of time.

Moving from 10 miles an hour
To 60 miles an hour.

That's about right.

We're probably going
Six times faster.

And now, today, they're trying
To do it as fast

And as easy as they can,

But you don't really realize
How fast it's going.

It doesn't have really
A personal feeling of it.

You can see how things changed
From the time when I grew up.

Yeah.

I'm gonna show you
Something else.

All right.

♪♪

♪♪

Digger: I smell liquor.

You been drinking?
No.

I marked this endpiece before
I soldered the bottom in,

So it changed it.

I had to use some liquor
To take them sharpie marks off.

You wasted liquor
For that?

Narrator: in cocke county,
Tennessee, mark and digger

Are putting the final touches
On a new still designed

Specifically to make
Quality multigrain moonshine

The way their mentor,
Popcorn sutton, did.

I'm gonna flux you up.

Ramsey:
This mailbox still, you know,

It's a little different
Design from popcorn's still,

But we're trying to
Maintain the surface area.

The more surface area
Of copper you have,

The more sulfites
That come out of the liquor.

That looks good.
That's good.

Consider yourself fluxed.

We feel that it will suffice
Very well.

A little bit more soldering
To do on it,

Get it buttoned up.

Really?

You got that gangster
Look going on.

I ain't telling you
No more.

Leave me the hell alone.

I'm trying to do
Some work here.

Way more soldering on this
One than on a pot still.

I mean,
Two cores, three seams,

A bottom with four sides on it.

But, also, with all the flat
Sides of this steel,

The inside pressure
Pushing out on it,

We've tried to brace it up

Internally and externally
As best we can.

All right.

Why, I ain't never seen
One freehand

A circle
This pretty before.

Oh, yeah.

You're like
A human compass.

You know, we go through whole
Process of getting this ready,

Cut the hole for the cab.
We're ready to go.

The moment of truth has arrived.

It's time to test the still.

Roll it outside and begin
Filling it up with water.

But this is a new still,

So I'm always concerned
About leaks.

$1,500 and 50 hours of work
In this thing.

Phew!

Here's the moment of truth,
Hatty boy.

You know, if we got no leaks,

Why, we're ready to make liquor
With it.

Moonshine gods, please
Don't let that still leak.

You know, honestly, right now,
It makes you nervous.

But you got to test it
Before you put mash in it.

You don't want it
To leak then, for sure.

Uh.

Speak of a leak.Around the core?

Oh, yeah.

A bad one down here.

We're gonna go ahead
And try to fix this one.

♪♪

I'm hitting it dead
On that spot.

You got her, boy.

[ metal clangs ]uh-oh.

*bleep* damn.

It's pushing against
This brace.

I'm worried about it
Holding together.

We're noticing the ends of
The still beginning to bulge.

I just felt it giving
Right then.

We're actually afraid to go
Any farther with it.

I'll get the water.

We're afraid it'll the rip
The copper out at the bottom.

That spout,
It was an inch up.

Now, oh, it's against
The ground.

You're pushed out against
Your end here now pretty hard.

[ metal clangs ]yeah. Uh-oh.

[ metal clanging ]

[ metal clanging ]

[ metal clangs ]
Oh.

[ metal clangs ]
Uh-oh.

That's a tremendous amount
Of force

That's pushing right there.

I know what to do
Right now.

♪♪

We need to be making liquor.

We've got figure out something
To do this better.

We got to put something
That's got a wide footprint

To go entirely against
The end of that,

Maybe a 2-inch angle on.

It's got to do worse than this
For us to give up on it.

We got way too much time
And money in it not to use it.

With the ends bulging the way
They are,

We've got to secure them up
With some bracing,

And we decided just to use
Some angle-arm bracing.

So, we're gonna rig us up
A little something.

We don't have time
To weld it up,

So we're just gonna
Drill holes, bolt clamps

On the end of it,
With angle iron

Running across the back side.

It's strong.
You can't bend it.

It's got plenty of
Structural integrity to it.

Try to pull this tight.

Ramsey: when the pressure
Increases on the inside,

It's gonna find resistance
Against the angle iron

And stop movement
Right there in its tracks.

♪♪

[ sighs ]

[ fart ]

It's you.

You blowed up,
Didn't you?

Good lord!

You okay?

Nope.
That wasn't me.

Yeah, it was.

I don't what's in you,
But it needs to come out.

We can drill these on here.

Yeah,
We got her on there now.

I don't think you could bend
This angle iron

By walking on it.

So if this don't fix it,
It's probably unfixable.

Downside, it's gonna add
About 40 more pounds

Of weight to the still,

But you got to do
What you got to do.

And that's got this much
Strength, this much strength.

If we filled it all the way
To the neck on it,

It wouldn't get enough
Pressure to bend this.

I think
You've done well.

It's a band-aid on a broken leg,
But it'll do the job.

♪♪

♪♪

Yeah, boy.

[ whistles ]

Narrator: in graham county,
North carolina, mark and huck

Begin the first
Of a two-step process

Used in making high-proof
Double-distilled liquor.

Huck: yeah?

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[ water running ]

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Yeah.

Mark and huck will need
To make

Several batches
Of first-run corn liquor

Until they accumulate about 40
To 50 gallons of moonshine.

At that point, they'll have
Enough liquor

To fill their second still
For the final distillation.

♪♪

Yeah.

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[ laughs ]

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Whew! Ah! Ooh.

♪♪

Whew!

[ coughs ]

♪♪

Ha ha!

♪♪

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♪♪

[ gobbling ]

♪♪

Tim told me to wait right here.

Well, tim ain't never steered me
Wrong yet.

He tells me to wait right here,

Probably the best thing
I can do.

Oh, hell.
It's the crown.

Narrator: in climax, virginia,
After returning

To their illegal moonshine
Stomping grounds,

Tim fires up
Their old bootlegging workhorse.

Man.

Look at that.

Boy, we run some shine up
In this thing, didn't we?

Run a whole lot.

It brings you back,
Don't it?

Yes, sir.

Tim: this crown vic, I mean,
It was a police car.

We picked this car
Because of that.

It's good camouflage.

Well,
You know what makes this

The best moonshine-running
Car there is?

All that stuff built
In the trunk we built.

We made some compartments
In the back.

We made a big speaker box of
What we hid the moonshine in.

We just look like we got
The speaker box over here now.

We actually moonshine
Under the back seat.

We raised the back seat up.

Well, get in.
Yeah.

We'll go on a dry run.

All right.
Let's do it.

Tickle: when tim brought
The crown vic around,

I knew good and well
Just for old time's sakes,

We had to take
The thing down the road.

♪♪

[ engine revving ]

Oh, yeah.
She make a nice noise.

Yes, she do.

Tim: trying to show
Tickle the outreach

Where we started together,

This being something common
That we love doing.

This is
Like the good ol' days.

Yeah, the good ol' days.

I mean, I'm planning on living
A long time,

And I'm planning on doing
Bigger and better things.

So I'm gonna need tickle.

Well, I thought maybe
I'd bring you back in the woods.

I know
It's been a long time.

[ vehicle door closes ]

I'll tell you what,

Been a long time

Since we've been down here.

It's still there.

-yes, it is.
-mm-hmm.

♪♪

♪♪

Tim: you know,
You come into a store --

I mean,
We're in a country store --

And when you see moonshine
Stuff like this,

This is a handmade
Moonshine coffee mug.

Tickle: yeah. Yeah.

We're in the right part
Of the country.

Everything's moonshine.

You even got a big one here.
Look at this.

Got your sugar in the jug.

Got your worm.
Got your pot.

You might ought to
Buy that for me.

How much is it?

That thing is $90.

Well, if I buy this one for you,
You buy that one for me.

That's still about
40 bucks, huh?

That's good deal,
If you buy that and I buy this.

Then I'll trade.Then you'll trade me?

'cause I don't drink
No coffee.

[ laughs ]

We in moonshine country.

♪♪

Ramsey: be careful.

Let's not knock
No more damn holes in it.

Digger: yep.You get that tarp on it.

You got it?Yeah.

That enough?

All right.
Let's get.

Narrator: in tennessee,
After facing setbacks

With their complicated
Still build,

Mark and digger return to their
New backwoods still site

With no time to lose to run
The popcorn sutton legacy mash

They made over a week ago.

[ cow bellows ]

Digger: oh, man.
Look at these son of a bitches.

They're everywhere in here.
I can't go no further.

I'm gonna stop
Right here.

Let's go check
On our barrels.

This can't be good.

Look at them.

Digger: lo and behold,
The cows got loose.

It's an issue with them
Wandering around up here.

We want to go through them, we
Got to get them on out of here.

Come on, now.
Time to go.

Come on.

Can we not win
For losing?

We can't fight these rascals
And put up with them

And worry with them
Every time we come over here.

No.
That's no bueno.

Let's go look.

Let's go look.

Look at this *bleep*
Digger.

Ah *bleep*
Looky here.

Well,
That ain't gonna work.

And they ain't ate it.

They was
Just sniffing and nosy.

It was just sour.

They thought
They wanted it.

Look here at all this good,
Nice popcorn sutton

Legacy liquor
Laying on the ground.

These old cows,
They've come up,

They've bumped
These old barrels over,

Thinking it was
Something they could eat,

And it turns out
It's something they didn't like.

There's a reason
I don't like damn beef

Unless it's on my plate.

There's two barrels of it
Intact, but they're not hurt.

The mash isn't hurt.
Down there.

Look down yonder.
Yeah.

The fourth one.
It's right down there.

I mean, this mash
Is ready to run.

It's either get half of it
Or lose it all.

Yep.
If we ain't gonna run it,

We'd just
As well dump them it

Out on the ground
With the rest of it.

Yeah.
What do we do?

What do you want to do?We ain't got no choice.

We got to pull up
The stakes here.

I ain't even gonna unload
That still out the truck.

Ramsey:
We can't have this.

We can either kill all the cows,
Or we can move spots.

Well, let's go get busy.

Damn.

You know, when your mash
Is done working,

There's just a real narrow time
That it needs to be run.

If you let it go too far,
It turns vinegary.

It's too late.

So if we don't get these
Other two run,

We're gonna lose it, as well.

We got to run it,
And we got to run it now.

[ sighs ] cows.

♪♪

♪♪

I'll tell you what.

We made a whole
Lot of moonshine right here.

Well, this is
Where we started.

And we back
Down here again.

Tickle: yes, sir.

Trying to show tickle
The outreach

Where we started together
Running sub stills.

We had two 800-gallons
In here.

Yeah.

This place, though,
Is history.

It really is.

This being something common
That we love doing.

I mean, both of us love
Making moonshine in the woods.

I think tickle can see that
We're made to be together.

This is kind of where
I really cut my teeth

Getting
Into the big game.

I know, before this, you hadn't
Really run a big sub.

No. No. No.
Just small stuff.

This is when you found out
That you made more

Liquor than you can drink.

Yes, exactly.

Before, I could drink
Everything I was making.

Oh,
You can't drink all this.

No.
I tried once or twice.

Being out here, it reminds me
Of when tim and I

Was making moonshine.

You know, I've been locked up
For several years now,

And I'm getting to see some
Of the stuff back in the woods.

This place right here
Means a lot to me.

I've been having a great time
With it.

Yeah, I wonder
What the water's

Still looking like
Down here.

Look like
It's still flowing.

Yes, sir.
It's definitely still flowing.

One thing about it --
You can't stop that water.

No.
Look, look, look.

A piece of the dam's
Still there.

Mm-hmm.

Tim:
Dam it up right in there.

We can't get no water,
We can't make no liquor.

But I'll tell you what. You can
Still make some good liquor

Out of that water
Right yonder.

It's crazy.
I'm talking to other distillers.

None had to go down to the creek
And dam up the water.

Yeah.

None of them built
Their own still.

Throwed all that sugar
On the floor.

Yeah.

For somebody to make
Good liquor,

If you ain't started out
Someplace like this...

I almost want to say you
Don't know what you're doing.

Exactly.

You only know what someone in
A lab has told you what to do.

None of them
Have no background

Of what we talking
About right now.

Yeah.Between me and tickle

And the years that we've been
Working together

Illegally in the woods,
That's a lot of memories.

We had some good times.

And then me going legal,

I've been legal now
Almost 7 years.

So, I mean, I got
To do something

Because after
So many more years,

We're gonna forget all about,
You know, the backwoods

Of franklin county
And pittsylvania county,

And I don't want to lose
Where I came from, really.

You know, it's kind of like
Coming home

Right yonder, ain't it?

Old home place.
Yes, sir.

Yeah.
Old home place.

I'm a man that makes moonshine
In the woods.

It's who I am.

It's almost a religious
Experience

Getting back out here.

And best thing of all,

I'm standing there
In the woods with tim.

You know what I mean?

We might want to get
Out of here.

These bugs is eating my ass up.Yeah.

These mosquitoes are making
A lot of memories, too, of me.

Narrator:
Next time on "Moonshiners"...

Get your hands
On something.

...Tickle, henry, and kenny
Unlock a secret

From one of franklin county's
Most infamous kingpins.

[ lock disengages ]

-there!
-damn, kenny!

Damn safecracker.

Never underestimate
A criminal.

I need to know if you
Gonna to be on board.

Narrator:
For mike's new hired hand,

The backwoods
Is a slippery slope...

Turn it lose!

...In more ways than one.

God al-- whoo.
Damn.

Digger: we've got to hurry,
Get up there and rescue

Those last two barrels of mash.

Narrator:
And mark and digger struggle

To save thousands of dollars
In mash from ruin.

Digger: and the corn that lays
At the bottom of this,

It'll rot.

[ sighs ]