Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 9, Episode 4 - Crossing County Lines - full transcript
♪♪
Narrator: on this episode
Of "Moonshiners"...
It's lifting again.
There's a lot of pressure
Under there.
It's trying to lift our cap.
Narrator:
...Outlaw engineering
Can't outrun the laws
Of physics.
[ steam hissing ]oh *bleep*
Mike: get back!
You boys said
You wouldn't sell
Any of your liquor
In sevier county.
Ididn't make no agreement
With mike.
And I'll bootleg for yinz.
Former foes join forces
To cross county lines
And conquer
Another shiner's territory.
The fact that it may end up
Starving old mike out --
Well, that's just a little bit
Of karma coming home
To bite him in the ass.
Hello? Anybody here?
Narrator: and mark and huck
Release the hound
To hunt down a trespasser.
[ doc barking ]
♪♪
Man: this is how
We make the moonshine!
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
All right.
If we don't get started,
We ain't gonna get finished.
You got to get it started
If you want to get it done,
Ain't you?
Yep.
Narrator: in cocke county,
Tennessee, mark and digger
Are staking their season
On a triple-grain moonshine
Once made by their mentor,
Popcorn sutton.
I'll tell you one thing --
Popcorn legacy liquor,
The little bit we made...Digger: mm-hmm.
...I'm real pleased
At how well it went over.
You know, we gave it to old
Customers we've had for years,
And they liked it,
So we stand to make a lot of
Money in today's market,
So we're gonna start cooking
Legacy liquor on a big scale.
You want to put them
Right there
And just put them spouts
Toward the creek?
Ramsey:
That works for me, puss.
Let's get them in here.
We have two of these
300-gallon totes,
And what we're planning on doing
Is mash in one of them today.
Here we go.
Damn.
Then we'll come back in 3
Or 4 days and do the other tote.
The plan is, we're gonna have
600 gallons of mash on hand
Just about any given time.
That'll give us time to run,
Like, an assembly line.
It's just gonna be one
Right after another.
Oh!
Oop! You still upright?
Yeah.
[ panting ]what are you huffing
And puffing
Back there so much for?
Phew! Damn.
We need to make
A little mash.
No.
We need to make a lotof mash.
[ engine starts ]
Perfect.
You having any luck there,
Puss?
Yeah. After I went
To the pecker doctor,
I can pee
From here to town.
This is the first time
We've ever mashed in
In these 300-gallon totes.
On the plus side of doing
It this way,
They're basically
The size of the still,
So there's no guesswork to it.
Now, obviously, we can't put
A fire under these totes,
Them being plastic,
So we're gonna heat the water
In the still, then pump it
Into the totes with the grain,
Mix it up, and repeat.
We need to light it up.
Do you want to singe
Your arm hairs
This time,
Or do you want me to?
I believe it's your turn
To blow up, ain't it?
I'm afraid it is.
♪♪
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*bleep* yeah.
Hey, hell, hell, ho!
What?
Damn it.
We got
A damn leak right there.
*bleep* damn it.
I'm glad that's just water
In there
Instead of liquor mash.
Yeah. Now, you got to learn
How to throttle that gas.
You got to learn when
To light the friggin' thing.
I know when to light
The damn thing.
I can smell gas.
Well, why didn't he?
You ain't supposed to have
Them explosions.
Me and digger, some people say
We're like
An old married couple.
I brought you something
From town a minute ago.
Let me figure out
Which pocket I got it in.
Honestly, he's not my type.
We do have a leak.
And that has to be addressed
Because if it leaks alcohol,
We lose a lot of money.
But we'll patch it up.
Honestly, I'm gonna leave
It alone right there, puss.
Let's get our grain.
We've done the math.
We've got our grains
Weighed out,
Corn and our barley
And our rye.
All we have to do is
Throw them in these totes.
♪♪
Look at that right there.
Mmm.
Don't eat that sugar.I don't care.
It's good.
I love it.
300 pounds of sugar.
I'm just glad this is
The last damn bucket of it.
*bleep*
You'd think
We'd been making liquor
For a while,
Wouldn't you?
So, we're gonna heat up
Enough water
To fill the tote up
For the most part.
That's damn hot water.We got hot water.
It ain't a-boiling,
But it's hot enough.
You tell me when you ready.
I'm ready.
Lay it to it.
All right.
All we got to do now
Is come back
In the morning after breakfast
And pitch in some yeast.
Yep.
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Jerry: what the hell
You gonna do with that?
This?
Yeah.
I'm gonna level
The damn jar rig with it.
You can't get
An accurate reading
With
That little old thing.
What do you mean?
We got
A 8-foot structure here.
You gonna level it
With a 2-foot level.
Oh,
I'll tell you what, son.
You worse than daniel.Oh, come on, now.
When you up on that
Ladder, that ain't a
Good thing to be saying.
Narrator: just across the line
In sevier county,
After weeks
Of backbreaking labor,
Appalachian outsider mike
And his partner, jerry,
Will need to start
Making liquor soon
If they're ever going to hit
Their season goal of $100,000.
I want
To show you something.
Son, I'm as level-headed
As it comes.
I'm glad we ain't leveling up
A battleship.
Well, you stuck it on your
Damn head, and it read level.
I know good and damn well
It's off.
Give me that damn thing.
Mike: I'm a little ocd
About things being correct,
And with all these jars
Going in,
If they're off-kilter
Any little bit,
The condensing
Is gonna go to one side,
So it's important
To have everything level
'cause it could potentially
Put too much weight on one side,
And something could
Come crashing down.
Come on, man.
Let's get the coils up,
And let's get this stuff
Done, buddy.
All right.Damn!
Let's do it.
The coil system we have, it
Helps strip out any impurities.
The slower you can make
That travel,
The cleaner and more pure
Everything is gonna be.
Just as opposed
To a regular still,
It comes out really,
Really smooth.
You imagine the liquid
That's gonna condense
Right back down
Into that pot,
Which is another damn
Good point for us to bring up.
What are we gonna run?
Yeah, I was actually thinking
About that
Since we're getting
This close.
Sometimes, people like something
Different, like change.
Exactly. We got to come up
With something different
Because we got
$100,000 goal.
What are you thinking?
Well, I have been
Thinking a fig.
I mean, I grew up eating fig
Bars and milk, you know.
It'd be something different.It's way different.
Kind of more rare, you know.
Be better money.
We're continuously trying to do
Something nobody else is doing.
Something brand-new,
Something nobody has ever had,
But would be interested
In having it.
We could get rid of the liquor
A lot quicker.
We'll go get them tomorrow.Let's get this finished first,
And then we can go get them.
In fact, look at it.
I've never seen a rig
Built like this before,
Especially
In the backwoods.
This has only been a sketch
In my head,
And a hope and a dream.
Man, man, man!
She's coming together.
When mike called me and told me
He needed a little bit of help,
I was more than glad to come out
And check out
What he was trying to do.
Once he showed me what he was
Doing, I thought he was crazy,
But, you know,
It's been a long journey.
We've had to build a pathway.
We've had to build a bridge.
We've had to build stairs.
We built one of the most
Complex canopies I've ever seen.
And now that we've got
This system put together
And we're ready to start
Producing some good alcohol,
And it's just --
Man, it just feels so good.
Give me some skin.
Yeah.
That's gonna make a hell
Of some damn good liquor, baby.
I just cannot explain
The emotion that I'm feeling.
It's almost like
The firstborn son
Being brought into
This world, man.
I just cannot wait
To see this rig perform.
I can't wait to see them dance
And jump and bubble
And make that damn good
Mountain dew.
Mountaintop distillery
Is complete.
That's it.
Old mountaintop.
♪♪
♪♪
What's going on there?
Narrator: one state east in
Graham county, north carolina,
Returning to their still site,
Mark and huck make a discovery
That jeopardizes
Their whole season.
♪♪
♪♪
We better check it out.
Dang.
I don't like that.
That's a 1/4 mile
To the still site.
♪♪
Georgia tag?
♪♪
Hello? Anybody here?
Hello?
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
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I think it's just one person
From the look of the campsite.
Maybe it's just somebody
Fishing or something like that.
I don't know,
But we got to find out.
♪♪
[ vehicle door opens ]
♪♪
♪♪
Or...
♪♪
Yeah.
I found a footprint there.
Turns out, it was one of mine.
Kind of scared us there at
First. You know, made us uneasy.
It don't take much
To get us nervous.
♪♪
♪♪
Mm!
Son of a bitchin' bees!
Narrator: coming up...
[ shouts indistinctly ]
Son of a bitch!
Oh!
The sting of battle is easier
To endure
With a little extra firepower.
I got something
For their asses right here.
Digger: I hate that beer
Makes me feel good,
But I love
The taste of it.
Ramsey: yeah.
I do, too.
I just know how you act
When you're damn drunk.
Well, I ain't
Gonna get drunk.
We ain't got enough beers
Here for that.
Narrator:
In cocke county, tennessee,
After being tossed aside
By his partner, mike,
Daniel contacts
Rival shiners mark and digger.
I see him through the door
Right now.
You can tell. He's so big,
When he walks in the door,
It turns the damn sun
Off outside.
Pull you up a chair there,
Daniel.
We're working
On getting drunk.
Yeah?You want to get involved in it?
That sounds like a good one
To me.
Mark and I come to one
Of our good watering holes
To meet daniel that's worked
With mike cockrell.
We like daniel.
He's a good boy.
We can't say so much about mike.
Narrator: last season...
[ explosion ]
...Mike crossed the line
With mark and digger.
We want $7,500 for our still
That you blowed up.
But daniel stood by his partner,
And after helping pay off
Mike's debt,
There was still
One last score to settle.
You know, you guys got this
Turf war with mike --
You know, not supposed
To sell in cocke county,
And you guys have been selling
In sevier county, too.
We're not gonna come to
Your county and sell our liquor.
You have our word on this.
How you feeling?
Are you healed up?
Is your back coming around?
Honestly, I ain't 100%,
But I'm about 98%.
You was a-hobbling
Last time I seen you.
I got hurt on the job with mike.
Anyway, mike replaced me.
He put another guy
Right in my shoes.
But now my back is a hell
Of a lot better than it was,
So now I've got to find a way
To make some steady income.
Well, mark went and said
You want to talk to us
About something.
What's going on, man?
You know, I kind of split off
With my partner.
He sold me out.
And he's partnered up
With another guy.
So he throwed you under the bus
While you was crippled up.
He said he can't stop progress
Because of a man down.
Digger: I really don't expect
Anything better
Out of mike cockrell.
He was not raised up
In this world.
He doesn't know
Moonshine code of ethics.
I obviously ain't gonna be
Making liquor with him no more,
And I've got a hell of a lot
Of customers in sevier county,
But I ain't got no liquor.
You boys said
You wouldn't sell
Any of your liquor
In sevier county.
Ididn't make no agreement
With mike.
I can move your stuff
Into sevier county,
And I'll bootleg for yinz.
You're right --
Wepromised we wouldn't sell
No liquor in sevier county,
But sevier county
Is yourcounty.
Yeah. He's not gonna get
My customers.
If we front this liquor
To you...
-it's yours.
-...It's your liquor.
We'll tell you what we got
To have for our liquor,
And whatever you make
Over that, lay it to it.
I can do that.
If mike finds this out,
I'm pretty sure his feelings
Is gonna be hurt a little bit,
But I need to find some other
Way that I can make income.
Mike obviously don't care
To step on my toes,
So it really doesn't
Bother me to take liquor
Into sevier county and step
On his toes a little bit.
You holler at us, daniel.
All right.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: across the state line
In graham county,
North carolina, the discovery
Of an active campsite
Within a stone's
Throw of their still sends
Mark and huck
Into high alert.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
No.
♪♪
About done, ain't it?
Yep.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Hmm.
♪♪
Yeah.
♪♪
♪♪
[ grunts ]
Mm. Mmm.
What are you doing?
Huh?
What are you doing?
I'm eating me a damn fig.
What's it look like
I'm doing?
That's eating up our profit,
Man.
We need them to go
In the bucket.
I'll tell you what I'll do.
I'll put the other half
In the bucket.
Just make our liquor
More sweeter.
One state to the west
In sevier county, tennessee...
Well, this tree here
Puts on some old big 'uns, son.
...Mike and jerry are picking
The main ingredient
Of their first shine
Run of the season.
I don't know a lot of people
That's got fig trees,
But jerry knows some people
That he went to school with
That's got a whole orchard.
Oh, that ain't right.
When you're looking for
A good fig,
You want to look at
The ones that are turning.
Like, a bird or something
Eating on that one.
Mike: bird, something.
We're continuously trying to do
Something nobody else is doing.
Yeah, tell our competitors
If they're not doing it
And we are, I believe
We'll make more money.
When we get that good red color
In the middle of them,
They're ready to go.
We've got a lot of figs.
Next step, all we got to do
Is get in the woods,
Get them to a boil,
Break them down,
Get them mashed in our barrels,
Add the sugar and yeast,
And see what it
Turns out to be.
Fire in the hole!
Wow! *bleep*
Get you?
No, hell!
You burnt the hell
Out of my damn hair!
With a fruit mash,
We try to pick a lot of fruits
With a lot of sugar content,
But these figs, they're richer
Than 4 foot up a bull's ass.
They are super-damn-sweet,
So it don't take as many of them
To get the sugar content
There and the flavor.
Well, we gonna have a good,
High yield out of these things.
Got to.
I can't wait to taste
That final product.
Seems like it's been
A long time a-coming.
It's been a long time
Coming.
I just can't help but wonder
And think,
"I wonder what
The hell old daniel's doing."
I know you ain't heard much
From him.
I ain't heard nothing
From him
Since we had
Our little breakup deal.
Man's got to realize,
I mean, you know,
Business
Is business, you know?
Yeah, business is business,
And I couldn't run you off
After all this has been done
And then say, "Oh, yeah.
Come on back in now, daniel."
Me and jerry both, we've worked
So hard this season,
And we're finally here.
First bucket of figs.
I've got a 1,000-gallon goal
To meet.
We can't afford
No more bad hiccups.
We got to make this happen.
Mmm.
Is that good or what?Oh, my god.
Instead of getting jiggy
With it,
We're gonna get
Figgywith it.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator:
In robbinsville, north carolina,
After spotting a campsite
Near their still,
Mark and huck hatch a plan
To track down the intruder.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
All right.
♪♪
Mm-hmm. Whew!
Phew! Good gosh!
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Coming up...
An uninvited guest
Bears down on mark and digger.
Let me get my flir radar.
See? Look at that.What about that?
Whatever it is,
It's a-moving.
♪♪
[ dog barking ]
♪♪
Hmm?
♪♪
Ready.
Narrator: in graham county,
North carolina...
♪♪
...After marking the unwitting
Trespasser with bear scent,
Mark and huck prepare
To release the hound.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Oh, yeah.
♪♪
Come on.
Let's go.
♪♪
Come on.
♪♪
Come on.
♪♪
Huck: yeah.
♪♪
[ whistles ]
♪♪
I don't know.
♪♪
♪♪
[ whistles ]
Keep on.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Come on. Let's go.
♪♪
[ doc barking ]
Shh.
Yeah?
♪♪
♪♪
[ doc barking ]
Shh, shh, shh.
♪♪
Huck: hey, bud.
What are you doing?
Ginseng hunting?
We've tracked you
A long ways.
You know
You're on private land?
400 acres
Of private land in here.
You need to go back
To that campsite, load it up,
And get out of here,
And don't come back.
♪♪
♪♪
Come on. Let's go.
[ doc barks ]
♪♪
♪♪
Digger: *bleep* I unbuckled
My seat belt too quick.
Ramsey: ain't no need worrying
About it now.
Narrator: one state west
In cocke county, so far,
Mark and digger have spent
Their season perfecting a recipe
And constructing a new still.
What do you say me and you
Go make a little liquor?
Let's make a little bit
Of liquor there, puss.
But now the gloves are about
To come off
With their first big batch
Of the season --
A 300-gallon run
Of popcorn's legacy liquor.
Me and old digger,
We're coming in.
We're gonna run
This first big run
Of popcorn sutton legacy liquor
In our new site and new still.
I'm excited
About getting started.
Wait a minute.
Something or somebody's
Been in here, howdy boy.
Look right there.
That ain't no hound dog foot
Near that, too.
It's a bear.Ramsey: it's a bear.
Yeah, he circled that still.
It's always something.
Digger:
We're in their environment.
That's just the risk
We take being out here.
Look how muddy the top
Of this thing is.
Yeah.
The lid's off of it.
He stuck his snout down
In there, trying to get it.
He didn't drink much.
Hell, he can't get his head
Or his lips down in there.
The big danger is that,
When we spill over on cape,
All that mash
And all that sugar,
If it smells that,
He can tear that still apart.
We can't have him
Tearing up our stuff
And getting
In our pocketbook.
So we may just sacrifice
Some old spent mash,
Dump the mash over
In some of these barrels
That are a little
More accessible to him.
After we run it, let him get it.
Here goes nothing.
[ machinery whirring ]
Damn!
♪♪
Whoa!
*bleep*
Down the back.
Mm.
We got pressure.
Son of a bitch!
You ain't seen me move that
Long since I got caught.
That's just all good mash.
When it comes to popcorn's
True recipe,
Nobody really knows it but us.
We're the ones that hammered
It out with him.
We done it on a small scale.
Now we've got to upscale it.
Let's get
This still fired up.
I guess it's my turn
To blow up, ain't it?
Well, I'll take your turn
If you're scared.
I ain't scared.
Here it comes.
♪♪
I need to get somewhere where
I can run if I'm on fire.
Digger: [ laughs ]
Don't run.
Stop, drop, and roll.
Smelt just a little tiny bit
Of hair.
Not much at all.
Yeah.
That's perfect.
Ramsey:
We've got the burners lit.
Still's not leaking.
Still's heating up nicely.
The burners are working
Really, really good.
You know, it looks promising.
One barrel of that mash
Will be enough, won't it?
Oh, it be more than enough.Yeah.
If we run 2 gallon out,
That'd be plenty.
[ rustling ]
I can't see nothing.
It's dark as hell.
I hear something, puss.
Let me get my flir radar
Over here.
Your what?
It's got a flir radar
On this phone.
I've got this flir-image
Camera in my phone.
See? Look at that.What about that?
Whatever it is,
It's a-moving.
♪♪
[ rustling ]
Digger:
I hear something, puss.
Let me get my flir radar
Over here.
Ramsey: your what?
It's got a flir radar
On this phone.
See? Look at that.
Smokey the bear is back,
Ain't he?
Sure enough, we can see the heat
That the bear's giving off.
We're seeing
A good image of him.
Wow! How far?
Yeah, he's moving
The opposite direction of us.
I can't tell how big it is
Or anything,
But it's mr. Bear again.
I'm sure he's heard us
And he's smelled us
And sees the bright lights.
And we've lived around them
All our lives.
We've had them come
Into our campsites.
We've had them get
Into our camp food.
It's nothing new to us.
He's moving up the hill.Yeah.
Yeah, he's going
The opposite direction.
He's getting littler.
You know, we can't permit
Ourself to leave anything
That might attract him
In this still
'cause the still is
Very vulnerable.
Regardless, there ain't nothing
We can do about it tonight.
We're gonna run this liquor
Because it's got to be run.
Is that a drop of liquor?
I believe it was.
Well, put the wiener bone
In there and let her run.
That's a fine strain, puss.
Yes, it is.
I'm gonna throw
These heads out.
♪♪
Yeah, pull that bone out
Of there for a second.
Don't let that run long.
Well, I'm doing the best
I can.
God almighty.
Here we go.
Damn it.
We got to come up with
A little better system.
Well, I know
What we got to do.
We got to empty it
When it's half full.
Well, yeah.
[ laughs ]
That's pretty good bead
Right there, puss.
Yep.
I believe we need to take us
A little...
I'll tell you what....Toast.
Well, I'm proud of it.
Ain't you?
Yeah, I am.
All in all, we're happy.
We'll be bringing daniel
In tomorrow,
And he's gonna handle
The bootlegging end
For us for right now.
That taste right there
Brings back
A lot of old memories.
I know.
[ laughs ]
♪♪
♪♪
Let's check her out.
Whoo-hoo.
Narrator: to the west
In sevier county, tennessee...
Mmm.
-that's damn fig wine.
-oh, my god.
Narrator:
...With weeks of construction
On their still site complete,
Mike and jerry are about
To test the theory
That bigger is better with
An inaugural run of fig shine.
All right.
It's coming.
Ya-hoo!
Mike:
We've got our figs worked off.
We're ready to fire
This big boy up and see
What these gin baskets
Is gonna do for us today.
You about at the bottom?About there.
Phew! Huh! Get! Go on!
Hey!
Don't waste our mash, now!
I'm fixing to waste
This damn hornet nice.
[ laughs ]
Me and jerry's been slowed down.
Had a lot of hiccups,
Injuries, setbacks.
We're full over here.All right.
Good deal.
That's all we need, then.
Our customers been waiting
Too long.
I've got people
Knocking at my door.
I believe that's got it,
Old buddy.
Slide her forward now.
We're tickled to death.
I cannot wait to fire
This rig up.
Give me some juice!
Fire in the hole!
Put her to it, baby.
Yeah, we're putting
Our fig juice in here
To put it in here to infuse
The flavor of the fig mash,
And all the steam is gonna
Transfer through this juice.
At the end result, we'll have
A clear, pure shine
With the sweet goodness of fig.
That's what these jars
Are designed to do,
Is infuse flavors
And to get out
Impurities out of your alcohol.
Jerry: I'm getting more excited
As the moments go by.
Ah, me too, boy.
I can't wait to see this thing
Go to dancing.
I just it does like
We think it's gonna do.
I'm nervous about the rig.
It's such a massive rig to get
To where it's going
To its final destination.
That can create pressure.
That damn pipe's
Stopped up.
Oh, it's sucking the dirt.Yep.
Filled with the damn dirt.
We've got 30-some-odd
Connections in this rig
That we've got to babysit
And watch over.
I feel like
It's gonna perform well.
We've got to get
This fig shine out there
And get some money
In our pocket.
Let's go and do
The damn...
The fig jig, son.
Fig jig.
It's coming together,
But we ain't made it home yet.
Mm!
Son of a bitchin' bees!
Mm!
[ bees buzzing ]
Oh!
Son of a bitch, you!
Damn hornets!
Them bastards are
After our asses
And all this damn
Sweet fig mash.
Hell, if the damn bees like it,
I know somebody will.
[ shouts indistinctly ]
Son of a bitch!
Damn!
All season long, seems like I'm
Taking three steps backwards,
You know, every time
I try to take one forward.
I got something
For their asses right here.
Get you some,
You son of a bitch, you.
[ bees buzzing ]
Uh-huh!
Got your ass that time!
These hornets are coming after
Me and jerry left and right.
They could possibly put you
In the hospital.
Once they sting you,
It's too damn late.
It's like you've run your hand
In a yellow jacket nest
All at one time.
Got him! Get him!
Jerry: mike's kind of on
The little bit more sissy side.
Bees don't bother me.
Want me to kill it?
[ blows ]
Oh, hold on!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Open that valve.
Open it up.
What's wrong?
-we're lifting.
-not wanting to push?
Look.
It's definitely pushing.
Oh, my god.
Aah! Son of a bitch!
We got
To beat that back down.
Well, our site being so massive,
It's given us nothing
But trouble.
Too much pressure on it!
There's no turning your back
On this rig, never.
Just a lot of pressure
Going on in these gin baskets.
It's lifting again.
A bunch of pressure is trying
To lift our cap.
We gonna try to strap it
Down to keep it from doing so.
Jerry:
The pressure inside this pot
Is what keeps kind of
Pushing everything forward,
So what we got to do is,
We've got to seal this thing up
So that we can contain
All that pressure.
Keeps a continuous
Push to the end of the run.
I'm nervous,
So try to re-paste it
Or do the best we can.
There's a lot of pressure
Under there.
That's gonna burn.
Oh, son of a bitch.
There.
There we go!
[ steam hissing ]oh *bleep*
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
[ chuckles ]
Narrator:
The season is under way,
And moonshine is only
Beginning to trickle.
In spite of an unwelcome guest,
Mark and huck
Are leading with 45.
Mark and digger are at 44,
But expect to ramp up
With new bootlegger daniel
On board.
And after
A back-pressure blowout,
Mike and jerry are stuck on 8.
Mike: well, we got
A little leak going on.
There's a lot of pressure
Under there.
[ steam hissing ]oh *bleep*
Get back!
Cut it off!
Mother.Phew!
Oh, my god!
Mm!
We're creating a little bit
Too much damn pressure
With all these jars we've got,
And it's popping the cap.
We'll get more weight
On it.
Mike: if you're constantly
Having to fix the cap,
Losing all this steam, number
One, you're losing alcohol.
Number two, if that steam
Gets down to the fire,
It's gonna be
A catastrophic explosion.
Let's get some lanterns
Hung so we can see
What the heck we're doing.
I'm at my damn wits' end,
Man.
I know you are, man.
It's been a long damn haul.
We've got to get something
To hold this frigging cap down,
But we got to get some rocks
That'll hold up.
We're in the middle
Of no-damn-where.
We just can't run to the store
To pick something up,
Fix something.
We got to do everything
Right here
And right now with what
We've got to work with.
Did you happen to think
And grab them little sandbags?
If we had those, we could
Actually fill them up as full
As we could get them,
And the two of them,
That'd be a lot
Of damn weight up there.
♪♪
You know, thankfully,
We've got some sandbags here
We can fill up
And put on top of the cap
And strap this thing down,
And that's all we've got to use.
We'll see.
Maybe taking liquid out
Of some of these jars
Will help.
Jerry: you know, the thing
About this jar system here
Is, it builds up a lot
Of back pressure,
And back pressure is kind of
Our worst enemy
On this kind of situation
Because the steam that comes out
Of the system comes down
Through this pipe right here
To have to push into this liquid
In order to bubble over,
But by taking this liquid out,
It won't have to push
Against nothing.
It can just bypass right
On through the jar.
Mike:
We've got to fix this.
That cap blows off again,
It could kill our whole run
And potentially kill
Our whole season.
Let's fire it back up
One more damn time.
Fire in the hole!
There we go.
Don't let me down now!
We're getting there.
We'll be in good shape
If we don't have
Another failure.
Jerry:
Mike and I have got this thing
Packed straight back together.
We got our weight put back on.
We've got her fired back up
And got her running,
And she's starting to percolate
A little bit for us,
But, you know,
In the back of our minds,
We can't help
But think, you know,
"What's next?"
I don't care how long it takes
For it to run.
Jerry: yeah.
As long
As we get goodness
At the end of the worm,
I'm happy.
I'm just hoping and praying
I can get through this run
And get what alcohol
I can get to get something sold.
Looky here.
It's about full.
There it is!There we go, baby!
Whoo-whoo!
Yeah!
Jerry, throw
These heads out, bubba.
Gotcha.
Hold her down.
Yee-haw!
Whoo-hoo!
I don't know whether to hump up
And cry over all this
Or just do a damn jig.
I'm so happy there's liquor
Coming out of this worm.
What do you think?
Oh, man.
That is super-smooth,
And that flavor is right
There on the top, son.
Damn, son. You can taste
The figs in it.
It tastes good.
The flavor profile of these figs
Come out really well,
And it's still got just
A little bit of that burn.
I'm pretty confident that
We can get this stuff sold.
Let's go get some jugs
Jarred up
And get
This *bleep* sold.
♪♪
♪♪
Digger:
I'm ready to put old daniel
To selling
A little bit of liquor.
Yep.
Me too, puss.
Narrator:
To the east in cocke county,
With positive word of mouth
On their popcorn legacy liquor
Spreading among their customers,
Mark and digger are trusting
A former foe to bootleg
The prized hooch in
The neighboring sevier county.
Digger:
We chose this cemetery
To pass off the liquor
To daniel.
You know, there's a lot
Of people lives here,
But they're not
Gonna tell anybody.
Ramsey: I think it's worth
$200 a gallon.
I guarantee it is.
We've met with daniel,
And we've agreed
To bring him on board
To do a little
Bootlegging for us,
So we have trust in him
Because he's leaving
With $6,000 worth of our liquor.
That's him.
Pull that back there.
Let me get him,
Back him right up to us.
Well, you know, daniel, he's
Getting himself into our world,
And part of the process
Of making this liquor
Is jarring it up,
And it's a slow,
Tedious process,
So we're gonna put that
In his hands for this run.
Ramsey:
Looks like you're fixing
To do a little liquor peddling.
I believe I am.
Looks like a lot of liquor
Peddling if it's a...
Yeah, we thought we'd just
Leave it up to you
To put it in the jars.
Suits me.
He can get it into the boxes
And ready to sell and take it on
And sell it to his folks
And bring us back
Some green folding money.
This is that popcorn sutton
Legacy liquor.
This is made on
The old man's exact recipe.
But the thing about it is, now,
This liquor's
Worth $200 a gallon.
There's 30 gallons in there.Yeah.
It'll take me a day or two,
You know, but...
Well, that's all right.
If we was worried about it,
You wouldn't be
Leaving here with it.
You know, I think this is
Gonna be a real good thing.
I've got 30 gallons
Of not only moonshine,
But this is actually
Popcorn sutton's recipe.
I mean, it's some
High-quality liquor.
I've got a lot of buyers
Lined up.
I'm gonna see what I can get
Passed off
And get these boys paid back.
That'll be 13 boxes
We got for you there.
This liquor's gonna make
Its way over into sevier county.
We ain't selling it.
We're just making it.
Daniel's selling it.
I'll tell you what.
Let's get this done.
There's liable for somebody
Show up here any second.
But the fact that it may end up
Starving old mike out --
Well, that's just
A little bit of karma
Coming home
To bite him in the ass.
We're out of here, brother.All right, man.
If you need us, call us.
Narrator:
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
That *bleep* too damn low.
Tickle: this still got
To come out of here,
And it's got to
Come out right now.
In virginia, law enforcement's
Eyes in the sky
Threaten to put tickle, henry,
And kenny's partnership
Back behind bars.
Tickle: I ain't been that long
Got out of jail.
The last thing in the world
I need
Is to get busted
And sent right back.
Narrator: appalachia's most
Accident-prone moonshiner
Is back in all his glory
And empowered
By heavy equipment.
Let's rock 'n' roll.
Hell to the yeah!
Narrator:
What could possibly go wrong?
Watch it! Watch it!
Heck yeah!
We're just looking for around
8 pounds of cake.
Pounds?
Yeah.
Okay.
Narrator:
And a tennessee wedding
Inspires mark and digger
To concoct the sweetest recipe
They've ever attempted.
Digger: I don't know that
Anybody's ever made
Liquor out of wedding cake.
Quit eating
All the damn cake!
You get any more, you're gonna
Have to get it out of there.
Looks like a clown puked,
Don't it?
[ laughs ]
Narrator: on this episode
Of "Moonshiners"...
It's lifting again.
There's a lot of pressure
Under there.
It's trying to lift our cap.
Narrator:
...Outlaw engineering
Can't outrun the laws
Of physics.
[ steam hissing ]oh *bleep*
Mike: get back!
You boys said
You wouldn't sell
Any of your liquor
In sevier county.
Ididn't make no agreement
With mike.
And I'll bootleg for yinz.
Former foes join forces
To cross county lines
And conquer
Another shiner's territory.
The fact that it may end up
Starving old mike out --
Well, that's just a little bit
Of karma coming home
To bite him in the ass.
Hello? Anybody here?
Narrator: and mark and huck
Release the hound
To hunt down a trespasser.
[ doc barking ]
♪♪
Man: this is how
We make the moonshine!
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
All right.
If we don't get started,
We ain't gonna get finished.
You got to get it started
If you want to get it done,
Ain't you?
Yep.
Narrator: in cocke county,
Tennessee, mark and digger
Are staking their season
On a triple-grain moonshine
Once made by their mentor,
Popcorn sutton.
I'll tell you one thing --
Popcorn legacy liquor,
The little bit we made...Digger: mm-hmm.
...I'm real pleased
At how well it went over.
You know, we gave it to old
Customers we've had for years,
And they liked it,
So we stand to make a lot of
Money in today's market,
So we're gonna start cooking
Legacy liquor on a big scale.
You want to put them
Right there
And just put them spouts
Toward the creek?
Ramsey:
That works for me, puss.
Let's get them in here.
We have two of these
300-gallon totes,
And what we're planning on doing
Is mash in one of them today.
Here we go.
Damn.
Then we'll come back in 3
Or 4 days and do the other tote.
The plan is, we're gonna have
600 gallons of mash on hand
Just about any given time.
That'll give us time to run,
Like, an assembly line.
It's just gonna be one
Right after another.
Oh!
Oop! You still upright?
Yeah.
[ panting ]what are you huffing
And puffing
Back there so much for?
Phew! Damn.
We need to make
A little mash.
No.
We need to make a lotof mash.
[ engine starts ]
Perfect.
You having any luck there,
Puss?
Yeah. After I went
To the pecker doctor,
I can pee
From here to town.
This is the first time
We've ever mashed in
In these 300-gallon totes.
On the plus side of doing
It this way,
They're basically
The size of the still,
So there's no guesswork to it.
Now, obviously, we can't put
A fire under these totes,
Them being plastic,
So we're gonna heat the water
In the still, then pump it
Into the totes with the grain,
Mix it up, and repeat.
We need to light it up.
Do you want to singe
Your arm hairs
This time,
Or do you want me to?
I believe it's your turn
To blow up, ain't it?
I'm afraid it is.
♪♪
♪♪
*bleep* yeah.
Hey, hell, hell, ho!
What?
Damn it.
We got
A damn leak right there.
*bleep* damn it.
I'm glad that's just water
In there
Instead of liquor mash.
Yeah. Now, you got to learn
How to throttle that gas.
You got to learn when
To light the friggin' thing.
I know when to light
The damn thing.
I can smell gas.
Well, why didn't he?
You ain't supposed to have
Them explosions.
Me and digger, some people say
We're like
An old married couple.
I brought you something
From town a minute ago.
Let me figure out
Which pocket I got it in.
Honestly, he's not my type.
We do have a leak.
And that has to be addressed
Because if it leaks alcohol,
We lose a lot of money.
But we'll patch it up.
Honestly, I'm gonna leave
It alone right there, puss.
Let's get our grain.
We've done the math.
We've got our grains
Weighed out,
Corn and our barley
And our rye.
All we have to do is
Throw them in these totes.
♪♪
Look at that right there.
Mmm.
Don't eat that sugar.I don't care.
It's good.
I love it.
300 pounds of sugar.
I'm just glad this is
The last damn bucket of it.
*bleep*
You'd think
We'd been making liquor
For a while,
Wouldn't you?
So, we're gonna heat up
Enough water
To fill the tote up
For the most part.
That's damn hot water.We got hot water.
It ain't a-boiling,
But it's hot enough.
You tell me when you ready.
I'm ready.
Lay it to it.
All right.
All we got to do now
Is come back
In the morning after breakfast
And pitch in some yeast.
Yep.
♪♪
♪♪
Jerry: what the hell
You gonna do with that?
This?
Yeah.
I'm gonna level
The damn jar rig with it.
You can't get
An accurate reading
With
That little old thing.
What do you mean?
We got
A 8-foot structure here.
You gonna level it
With a 2-foot level.
Oh,
I'll tell you what, son.
You worse than daniel.Oh, come on, now.
When you up on that
Ladder, that ain't a
Good thing to be saying.
Narrator: just across the line
In sevier county,
After weeks
Of backbreaking labor,
Appalachian outsider mike
And his partner, jerry,
Will need to start
Making liquor soon
If they're ever going to hit
Their season goal of $100,000.
I want
To show you something.
Son, I'm as level-headed
As it comes.
I'm glad we ain't leveling up
A battleship.
Well, you stuck it on your
Damn head, and it read level.
I know good and damn well
It's off.
Give me that damn thing.
Mike: I'm a little ocd
About things being correct,
And with all these jars
Going in,
If they're off-kilter
Any little bit,
The condensing
Is gonna go to one side,
So it's important
To have everything level
'cause it could potentially
Put too much weight on one side,
And something could
Come crashing down.
Come on, man.
Let's get the coils up,
And let's get this stuff
Done, buddy.
All right.Damn!
Let's do it.
The coil system we have, it
Helps strip out any impurities.
The slower you can make
That travel,
The cleaner and more pure
Everything is gonna be.
Just as opposed
To a regular still,
It comes out really,
Really smooth.
You imagine the liquid
That's gonna condense
Right back down
Into that pot,
Which is another damn
Good point for us to bring up.
What are we gonna run?
Yeah, I was actually thinking
About that
Since we're getting
This close.
Sometimes, people like something
Different, like change.
Exactly. We got to come up
With something different
Because we got
$100,000 goal.
What are you thinking?
Well, I have been
Thinking a fig.
I mean, I grew up eating fig
Bars and milk, you know.
It'd be something different.It's way different.
Kind of more rare, you know.
Be better money.
We're continuously trying to do
Something nobody else is doing.
Something brand-new,
Something nobody has ever had,
But would be interested
In having it.
We could get rid of the liquor
A lot quicker.
We'll go get them tomorrow.Let's get this finished first,
And then we can go get them.
In fact, look at it.
I've never seen a rig
Built like this before,
Especially
In the backwoods.
This has only been a sketch
In my head,
And a hope and a dream.
Man, man, man!
She's coming together.
When mike called me and told me
He needed a little bit of help,
I was more than glad to come out
And check out
What he was trying to do.
Once he showed me what he was
Doing, I thought he was crazy,
But, you know,
It's been a long journey.
We've had to build a pathway.
We've had to build a bridge.
We've had to build stairs.
We built one of the most
Complex canopies I've ever seen.
And now that we've got
This system put together
And we're ready to start
Producing some good alcohol,
And it's just --
Man, it just feels so good.
Give me some skin.
Yeah.
That's gonna make a hell
Of some damn good liquor, baby.
I just cannot explain
The emotion that I'm feeling.
It's almost like
The firstborn son
Being brought into
This world, man.
I just cannot wait
To see this rig perform.
I can't wait to see them dance
And jump and bubble
And make that damn good
Mountain dew.
Mountaintop distillery
Is complete.
That's it.
Old mountaintop.
♪♪
♪♪
What's going on there?
Narrator: one state east in
Graham county, north carolina,
Returning to their still site,
Mark and huck make a discovery
That jeopardizes
Their whole season.
♪♪
♪♪
We better check it out.
Dang.
I don't like that.
That's a 1/4 mile
To the still site.
♪♪
Georgia tag?
♪♪
Hello? Anybody here?
Hello?
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
I think it's just one person
From the look of the campsite.
Maybe it's just somebody
Fishing or something like that.
I don't know,
But we got to find out.
♪♪
[ vehicle door opens ]
♪♪
♪♪
Or...
♪♪
Yeah.
I found a footprint there.
Turns out, it was one of mine.
Kind of scared us there at
First. You know, made us uneasy.
It don't take much
To get us nervous.
♪♪
♪♪
Mm!
Son of a bitchin' bees!
Narrator: coming up...
[ shouts indistinctly ]
Son of a bitch!
Oh!
The sting of battle is easier
To endure
With a little extra firepower.
I got something
For their asses right here.
Digger: I hate that beer
Makes me feel good,
But I love
The taste of it.
Ramsey: yeah.
I do, too.
I just know how you act
When you're damn drunk.
Well, I ain't
Gonna get drunk.
We ain't got enough beers
Here for that.
Narrator:
In cocke county, tennessee,
After being tossed aside
By his partner, mike,
Daniel contacts
Rival shiners mark and digger.
I see him through the door
Right now.
You can tell. He's so big,
When he walks in the door,
It turns the damn sun
Off outside.
Pull you up a chair there,
Daniel.
We're working
On getting drunk.
Yeah?You want to get involved in it?
That sounds like a good one
To me.
Mark and I come to one
Of our good watering holes
To meet daniel that's worked
With mike cockrell.
We like daniel.
He's a good boy.
We can't say so much about mike.
Narrator: last season...
[ explosion ]
...Mike crossed the line
With mark and digger.
We want $7,500 for our still
That you blowed up.
But daniel stood by his partner,
And after helping pay off
Mike's debt,
There was still
One last score to settle.
You know, you guys got this
Turf war with mike --
You know, not supposed
To sell in cocke county,
And you guys have been selling
In sevier county, too.
We're not gonna come to
Your county and sell our liquor.
You have our word on this.
How you feeling?
Are you healed up?
Is your back coming around?
Honestly, I ain't 100%,
But I'm about 98%.
You was a-hobbling
Last time I seen you.
I got hurt on the job with mike.
Anyway, mike replaced me.
He put another guy
Right in my shoes.
But now my back is a hell
Of a lot better than it was,
So now I've got to find a way
To make some steady income.
Well, mark went and said
You want to talk to us
About something.
What's going on, man?
You know, I kind of split off
With my partner.
He sold me out.
And he's partnered up
With another guy.
So he throwed you under the bus
While you was crippled up.
He said he can't stop progress
Because of a man down.
Digger: I really don't expect
Anything better
Out of mike cockrell.
He was not raised up
In this world.
He doesn't know
Moonshine code of ethics.
I obviously ain't gonna be
Making liquor with him no more,
And I've got a hell of a lot
Of customers in sevier county,
But I ain't got no liquor.
You boys said
You wouldn't sell
Any of your liquor
In sevier county.
Ididn't make no agreement
With mike.
I can move your stuff
Into sevier county,
And I'll bootleg for yinz.
You're right --
Wepromised we wouldn't sell
No liquor in sevier county,
But sevier county
Is yourcounty.
Yeah. He's not gonna get
My customers.
If we front this liquor
To you...
-it's yours.
-...It's your liquor.
We'll tell you what we got
To have for our liquor,
And whatever you make
Over that, lay it to it.
I can do that.
If mike finds this out,
I'm pretty sure his feelings
Is gonna be hurt a little bit,
But I need to find some other
Way that I can make income.
Mike obviously don't care
To step on my toes,
So it really doesn't
Bother me to take liquor
Into sevier county and step
On his toes a little bit.
You holler at us, daniel.
All right.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: across the state line
In graham county,
North carolina, the discovery
Of an active campsite
Within a stone's
Throw of their still sends
Mark and huck
Into high alert.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
No.
♪♪
About done, ain't it?
Yep.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Hmm.
♪♪
Yeah.
♪♪
♪♪
[ grunts ]
Mm. Mmm.
What are you doing?
Huh?
What are you doing?
I'm eating me a damn fig.
What's it look like
I'm doing?
That's eating up our profit,
Man.
We need them to go
In the bucket.
I'll tell you what I'll do.
I'll put the other half
In the bucket.
Just make our liquor
More sweeter.
One state to the west
In sevier county, tennessee...
Well, this tree here
Puts on some old big 'uns, son.
...Mike and jerry are picking
The main ingredient
Of their first shine
Run of the season.
I don't know a lot of people
That's got fig trees,
But jerry knows some people
That he went to school with
That's got a whole orchard.
Oh, that ain't right.
When you're looking for
A good fig,
You want to look at
The ones that are turning.
Like, a bird or something
Eating on that one.
Mike: bird, something.
We're continuously trying to do
Something nobody else is doing.
Yeah, tell our competitors
If they're not doing it
And we are, I believe
We'll make more money.
When we get that good red color
In the middle of them,
They're ready to go.
We've got a lot of figs.
Next step, all we got to do
Is get in the woods,
Get them to a boil,
Break them down,
Get them mashed in our barrels,
Add the sugar and yeast,
And see what it
Turns out to be.
Fire in the hole!
Wow! *bleep*
Get you?
No, hell!
You burnt the hell
Out of my damn hair!
With a fruit mash,
We try to pick a lot of fruits
With a lot of sugar content,
But these figs, they're richer
Than 4 foot up a bull's ass.
They are super-damn-sweet,
So it don't take as many of them
To get the sugar content
There and the flavor.
Well, we gonna have a good,
High yield out of these things.
Got to.
I can't wait to taste
That final product.
Seems like it's been
A long time a-coming.
It's been a long time
Coming.
I just can't help but wonder
And think,
"I wonder what
The hell old daniel's doing."
I know you ain't heard much
From him.
I ain't heard nothing
From him
Since we had
Our little breakup deal.
Man's got to realize,
I mean, you know,
Business
Is business, you know?
Yeah, business is business,
And I couldn't run you off
After all this has been done
And then say, "Oh, yeah.
Come on back in now, daniel."
Me and jerry both, we've worked
So hard this season,
And we're finally here.
First bucket of figs.
I've got a 1,000-gallon goal
To meet.
We can't afford
No more bad hiccups.
We got to make this happen.
Mmm.
Is that good or what?Oh, my god.
Instead of getting jiggy
With it,
We're gonna get
Figgywith it.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator:
In robbinsville, north carolina,
After spotting a campsite
Near their still,
Mark and huck hatch a plan
To track down the intruder.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
All right.
♪♪
Mm-hmm. Whew!
Phew! Good gosh!
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Coming up...
An uninvited guest
Bears down on mark and digger.
Let me get my flir radar.
See? Look at that.What about that?
Whatever it is,
It's a-moving.
♪♪
[ dog barking ]
♪♪
Hmm?
♪♪
Ready.
Narrator: in graham county,
North carolina...
♪♪
...After marking the unwitting
Trespasser with bear scent,
Mark and huck prepare
To release the hound.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Oh, yeah.
♪♪
Come on.
Let's go.
♪♪
Come on.
♪♪
Come on.
♪♪
Huck: yeah.
♪♪
[ whistles ]
♪♪
I don't know.
♪♪
♪♪
[ whistles ]
Keep on.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Come on. Let's go.
♪♪
[ doc barking ]
Shh.
Yeah?
♪♪
♪♪
[ doc barking ]
Shh, shh, shh.
♪♪
Huck: hey, bud.
What are you doing?
Ginseng hunting?
We've tracked you
A long ways.
You know
You're on private land?
400 acres
Of private land in here.
You need to go back
To that campsite, load it up,
And get out of here,
And don't come back.
♪♪
♪♪
Come on. Let's go.
[ doc barks ]
♪♪
♪♪
Digger: *bleep* I unbuckled
My seat belt too quick.
Ramsey: ain't no need worrying
About it now.
Narrator: one state west
In cocke county, so far,
Mark and digger have spent
Their season perfecting a recipe
And constructing a new still.
What do you say me and you
Go make a little liquor?
Let's make a little bit
Of liquor there, puss.
But now the gloves are about
To come off
With their first big batch
Of the season --
A 300-gallon run
Of popcorn's legacy liquor.
Me and old digger,
We're coming in.
We're gonna run
This first big run
Of popcorn sutton legacy liquor
In our new site and new still.
I'm excited
About getting started.
Wait a minute.
Something or somebody's
Been in here, howdy boy.
Look right there.
That ain't no hound dog foot
Near that, too.
It's a bear.Ramsey: it's a bear.
Yeah, he circled that still.
It's always something.
Digger:
We're in their environment.
That's just the risk
We take being out here.
Look how muddy the top
Of this thing is.
Yeah.
The lid's off of it.
He stuck his snout down
In there, trying to get it.
He didn't drink much.
Hell, he can't get his head
Or his lips down in there.
The big danger is that,
When we spill over on cape,
All that mash
And all that sugar,
If it smells that,
He can tear that still apart.
We can't have him
Tearing up our stuff
And getting
In our pocketbook.
So we may just sacrifice
Some old spent mash,
Dump the mash over
In some of these barrels
That are a little
More accessible to him.
After we run it, let him get it.
Here goes nothing.
[ machinery whirring ]
Damn!
♪♪
Whoa!
*bleep*
Down the back.
Mm.
We got pressure.
Son of a bitch!
You ain't seen me move that
Long since I got caught.
That's just all good mash.
When it comes to popcorn's
True recipe,
Nobody really knows it but us.
We're the ones that hammered
It out with him.
We done it on a small scale.
Now we've got to upscale it.
Let's get
This still fired up.
I guess it's my turn
To blow up, ain't it?
Well, I'll take your turn
If you're scared.
I ain't scared.
Here it comes.
♪♪
I need to get somewhere where
I can run if I'm on fire.
Digger: [ laughs ]
Don't run.
Stop, drop, and roll.
Smelt just a little tiny bit
Of hair.
Not much at all.
Yeah.
That's perfect.
Ramsey:
We've got the burners lit.
Still's not leaking.
Still's heating up nicely.
The burners are working
Really, really good.
You know, it looks promising.
One barrel of that mash
Will be enough, won't it?
Oh, it be more than enough.Yeah.
If we run 2 gallon out,
That'd be plenty.
[ rustling ]
I can't see nothing.
It's dark as hell.
I hear something, puss.
Let me get my flir radar
Over here.
Your what?
It's got a flir radar
On this phone.
I've got this flir-image
Camera in my phone.
See? Look at that.What about that?
Whatever it is,
It's a-moving.
♪♪
[ rustling ]
Digger:
I hear something, puss.
Let me get my flir radar
Over here.
Ramsey: your what?
It's got a flir radar
On this phone.
See? Look at that.
Smokey the bear is back,
Ain't he?
Sure enough, we can see the heat
That the bear's giving off.
We're seeing
A good image of him.
Wow! How far?
Yeah, he's moving
The opposite direction of us.
I can't tell how big it is
Or anything,
But it's mr. Bear again.
I'm sure he's heard us
And he's smelled us
And sees the bright lights.
And we've lived around them
All our lives.
We've had them come
Into our campsites.
We've had them get
Into our camp food.
It's nothing new to us.
He's moving up the hill.Yeah.
Yeah, he's going
The opposite direction.
He's getting littler.
You know, we can't permit
Ourself to leave anything
That might attract him
In this still
'cause the still is
Very vulnerable.
Regardless, there ain't nothing
We can do about it tonight.
We're gonna run this liquor
Because it's got to be run.
Is that a drop of liquor?
I believe it was.
Well, put the wiener bone
In there and let her run.
That's a fine strain, puss.
Yes, it is.
I'm gonna throw
These heads out.
♪♪
Yeah, pull that bone out
Of there for a second.
Don't let that run long.
Well, I'm doing the best
I can.
God almighty.
Here we go.
Damn it.
We got to come up with
A little better system.
Well, I know
What we got to do.
We got to empty it
When it's half full.
Well, yeah.
[ laughs ]
That's pretty good bead
Right there, puss.
Yep.
I believe we need to take us
A little...
I'll tell you what....Toast.
Well, I'm proud of it.
Ain't you?
Yeah, I am.
All in all, we're happy.
We'll be bringing daniel
In tomorrow,
And he's gonna handle
The bootlegging end
For us for right now.
That taste right there
Brings back
A lot of old memories.
I know.
[ laughs ]
♪♪
♪♪
Let's check her out.
Whoo-hoo.
Narrator: to the west
In sevier county, tennessee...
Mmm.
-that's damn fig wine.
-oh, my god.
Narrator:
...With weeks of construction
On their still site complete,
Mike and jerry are about
To test the theory
That bigger is better with
An inaugural run of fig shine.
All right.
It's coming.
Ya-hoo!
Mike:
We've got our figs worked off.
We're ready to fire
This big boy up and see
What these gin baskets
Is gonna do for us today.
You about at the bottom?About there.
Phew! Huh! Get! Go on!
Hey!
Don't waste our mash, now!
I'm fixing to waste
This damn hornet nice.
[ laughs ]
Me and jerry's been slowed down.
Had a lot of hiccups,
Injuries, setbacks.
We're full over here.All right.
Good deal.
That's all we need, then.
Our customers been waiting
Too long.
I've got people
Knocking at my door.
I believe that's got it,
Old buddy.
Slide her forward now.
We're tickled to death.
I cannot wait to fire
This rig up.
Give me some juice!
Fire in the hole!
Put her to it, baby.
Yeah, we're putting
Our fig juice in here
To put it in here to infuse
The flavor of the fig mash,
And all the steam is gonna
Transfer through this juice.
At the end result, we'll have
A clear, pure shine
With the sweet goodness of fig.
That's what these jars
Are designed to do,
Is infuse flavors
And to get out
Impurities out of your alcohol.
Jerry: I'm getting more excited
As the moments go by.
Ah, me too, boy.
I can't wait to see this thing
Go to dancing.
I just it does like
We think it's gonna do.
I'm nervous about the rig.
It's such a massive rig to get
To where it's going
To its final destination.
That can create pressure.
That damn pipe's
Stopped up.
Oh, it's sucking the dirt.Yep.
Filled with the damn dirt.
We've got 30-some-odd
Connections in this rig
That we've got to babysit
And watch over.
I feel like
It's gonna perform well.
We've got to get
This fig shine out there
And get some money
In our pocket.
Let's go and do
The damn...
The fig jig, son.
Fig jig.
It's coming together,
But we ain't made it home yet.
Mm!
Son of a bitchin' bees!
Mm!
[ bees buzzing ]
Oh!
Son of a bitch, you!
Damn hornets!
Them bastards are
After our asses
And all this damn
Sweet fig mash.
Hell, if the damn bees like it,
I know somebody will.
[ shouts indistinctly ]
Son of a bitch!
Damn!
All season long, seems like I'm
Taking three steps backwards,
You know, every time
I try to take one forward.
I got something
For their asses right here.
Get you some,
You son of a bitch, you.
[ bees buzzing ]
Uh-huh!
Got your ass that time!
These hornets are coming after
Me and jerry left and right.
They could possibly put you
In the hospital.
Once they sting you,
It's too damn late.
It's like you've run your hand
In a yellow jacket nest
All at one time.
Got him! Get him!
Jerry: mike's kind of on
The little bit more sissy side.
Bees don't bother me.
Want me to kill it?
[ blows ]
Oh, hold on!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Open that valve.
Open it up.
What's wrong?
-we're lifting.
-not wanting to push?
Look.
It's definitely pushing.
Oh, my god.
Aah! Son of a bitch!
We got
To beat that back down.
Well, our site being so massive,
It's given us nothing
But trouble.
Too much pressure on it!
There's no turning your back
On this rig, never.
Just a lot of pressure
Going on in these gin baskets.
It's lifting again.
A bunch of pressure is trying
To lift our cap.
We gonna try to strap it
Down to keep it from doing so.
Jerry:
The pressure inside this pot
Is what keeps kind of
Pushing everything forward,
So what we got to do is,
We've got to seal this thing up
So that we can contain
All that pressure.
Keeps a continuous
Push to the end of the run.
I'm nervous,
So try to re-paste it
Or do the best we can.
There's a lot of pressure
Under there.
That's gonna burn.
Oh, son of a bitch.
There.
There we go!
[ steam hissing ]oh *bleep*
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
[ chuckles ]
Narrator:
The season is under way,
And moonshine is only
Beginning to trickle.
In spite of an unwelcome guest,
Mark and huck
Are leading with 45.
Mark and digger are at 44,
But expect to ramp up
With new bootlegger daniel
On board.
And after
A back-pressure blowout,
Mike and jerry are stuck on 8.
Mike: well, we got
A little leak going on.
There's a lot of pressure
Under there.
[ steam hissing ]oh *bleep*
Get back!
Cut it off!
Mother.Phew!
Oh, my god!
Mm!
We're creating a little bit
Too much damn pressure
With all these jars we've got,
And it's popping the cap.
We'll get more weight
On it.
Mike: if you're constantly
Having to fix the cap,
Losing all this steam, number
One, you're losing alcohol.
Number two, if that steam
Gets down to the fire,
It's gonna be
A catastrophic explosion.
Let's get some lanterns
Hung so we can see
What the heck we're doing.
I'm at my damn wits' end,
Man.
I know you are, man.
It's been a long damn haul.
We've got to get something
To hold this frigging cap down,
But we got to get some rocks
That'll hold up.
We're in the middle
Of no-damn-where.
We just can't run to the store
To pick something up,
Fix something.
We got to do everything
Right here
And right now with what
We've got to work with.
Did you happen to think
And grab them little sandbags?
If we had those, we could
Actually fill them up as full
As we could get them,
And the two of them,
That'd be a lot
Of damn weight up there.
♪♪
You know, thankfully,
We've got some sandbags here
We can fill up
And put on top of the cap
And strap this thing down,
And that's all we've got to use.
We'll see.
Maybe taking liquid out
Of some of these jars
Will help.
Jerry: you know, the thing
About this jar system here
Is, it builds up a lot
Of back pressure,
And back pressure is kind of
Our worst enemy
On this kind of situation
Because the steam that comes out
Of the system comes down
Through this pipe right here
To have to push into this liquid
In order to bubble over,
But by taking this liquid out,
It won't have to push
Against nothing.
It can just bypass right
On through the jar.
Mike:
We've got to fix this.
That cap blows off again,
It could kill our whole run
And potentially kill
Our whole season.
Let's fire it back up
One more damn time.
Fire in the hole!
There we go.
Don't let me down now!
We're getting there.
We'll be in good shape
If we don't have
Another failure.
Jerry:
Mike and I have got this thing
Packed straight back together.
We got our weight put back on.
We've got her fired back up
And got her running,
And she's starting to percolate
A little bit for us,
But, you know,
In the back of our minds,
We can't help
But think, you know,
"What's next?"
I don't care how long it takes
For it to run.
Jerry: yeah.
As long
As we get goodness
At the end of the worm,
I'm happy.
I'm just hoping and praying
I can get through this run
And get what alcohol
I can get to get something sold.
Looky here.
It's about full.
There it is!There we go, baby!
Whoo-whoo!
Yeah!
Jerry, throw
These heads out, bubba.
Gotcha.
Hold her down.
Yee-haw!
Whoo-hoo!
I don't know whether to hump up
And cry over all this
Or just do a damn jig.
I'm so happy there's liquor
Coming out of this worm.
What do you think?
Oh, man.
That is super-smooth,
And that flavor is right
There on the top, son.
Damn, son. You can taste
The figs in it.
It tastes good.
The flavor profile of these figs
Come out really well,
And it's still got just
A little bit of that burn.
I'm pretty confident that
We can get this stuff sold.
Let's go get some jugs
Jarred up
And get
This *bleep* sold.
♪♪
♪♪
Digger:
I'm ready to put old daniel
To selling
A little bit of liquor.
Yep.
Me too, puss.
Narrator:
To the east in cocke county,
With positive word of mouth
On their popcorn legacy liquor
Spreading among their customers,
Mark and digger are trusting
A former foe to bootleg
The prized hooch in
The neighboring sevier county.
Digger:
We chose this cemetery
To pass off the liquor
To daniel.
You know, there's a lot
Of people lives here,
But they're not
Gonna tell anybody.
Ramsey: I think it's worth
$200 a gallon.
I guarantee it is.
We've met with daniel,
And we've agreed
To bring him on board
To do a little
Bootlegging for us,
So we have trust in him
Because he's leaving
With $6,000 worth of our liquor.
That's him.
Pull that back there.
Let me get him,
Back him right up to us.
Well, you know, daniel, he's
Getting himself into our world,
And part of the process
Of making this liquor
Is jarring it up,
And it's a slow,
Tedious process,
So we're gonna put that
In his hands for this run.
Ramsey:
Looks like you're fixing
To do a little liquor peddling.
I believe I am.
Looks like a lot of liquor
Peddling if it's a...
Yeah, we thought we'd just
Leave it up to you
To put it in the jars.
Suits me.
He can get it into the boxes
And ready to sell and take it on
And sell it to his folks
And bring us back
Some green folding money.
This is that popcorn sutton
Legacy liquor.
This is made on
The old man's exact recipe.
But the thing about it is, now,
This liquor's
Worth $200 a gallon.
There's 30 gallons in there.Yeah.
It'll take me a day or two,
You know, but...
Well, that's all right.
If we was worried about it,
You wouldn't be
Leaving here with it.
You know, I think this is
Gonna be a real good thing.
I've got 30 gallons
Of not only moonshine,
But this is actually
Popcorn sutton's recipe.
I mean, it's some
High-quality liquor.
I've got a lot of buyers
Lined up.
I'm gonna see what I can get
Passed off
And get these boys paid back.
That'll be 13 boxes
We got for you there.
This liquor's gonna make
Its way over into sevier county.
We ain't selling it.
We're just making it.
Daniel's selling it.
I'll tell you what.
Let's get this done.
There's liable for somebody
Show up here any second.
But the fact that it may end up
Starving old mike out --
Well, that's just
A little bit of karma
Coming home
To bite him in the ass.
We're out of here, brother.All right, man.
If you need us, call us.
Narrator:
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
That *bleep* too damn low.
Tickle: this still got
To come out of here,
And it's got to
Come out right now.
In virginia, law enforcement's
Eyes in the sky
Threaten to put tickle, henry,
And kenny's partnership
Back behind bars.
Tickle: I ain't been that long
Got out of jail.
The last thing in the world
I need
Is to get busted
And sent right back.
Narrator: appalachia's most
Accident-prone moonshiner
Is back in all his glory
And empowered
By heavy equipment.
Let's rock 'n' roll.
Hell to the yeah!
Narrator:
What could possibly go wrong?
Watch it! Watch it!
Heck yeah!
We're just looking for around
8 pounds of cake.
Pounds?
Yeah.
Okay.
Narrator:
And a tennessee wedding
Inspires mark and digger
To concoct the sweetest recipe
They've ever attempted.
Digger: I don't know that
Anybody's ever made
Liquor out of wedding cake.
Quit eating
All the damn cake!
You get any more, you're gonna
Have to get it out of there.
Looks like a clown puked,
Don't it?
[ laughs ]