Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 9, Episode 9 - Tickle to the Rescue - full transcript
Tickle answers the call when Josh needs help salvaging an abandoned submarine still and his season. Mark and Digger take on a specialty bourbon made from Indian corn. Facing jail time, Van and Ewok gamble their freedom for another...
Narrator: on this episode
Of "Moonshiners"...
I believe what I'd do is cut you
A hole and patch it right here.
Y'all ready for this?
...It's tickle to the rescue
In north carolina
As josh fights
To salvage his entire season.
Oh, that bitch is hot!
[ laughs ]
You don't drink.
What are you wanting liquor for?
This is going to be
Something special.
This is going to be
For my funeral.
Funeral liquor?
Funeral liquor, yeah.
Narrator: a customer, dead set
On a one-of-a-kind bourbon...
Indian corn.
...Gives mark and digger
A new recipe to master.
-that is pretty, ain't it?
-yeah, but this better work.
You hit the gas,
And I'll start making my paste.
Narrator:
And with a court date pending,
A lifelong shiner
Risks his freedom.
-what's going on, ewok?
-two little ankle-biting dogs.
Van:
We ain't here by ourself.
Man #2: this is how we make
The moonshine.
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
Josh:
Oh, yeah, we're almost there,
Y'all.
Tickle: well, good, we been
Walking for a while.
Sorry about that.Well, that's all right.
If it's easy for us to get to,
It's also easy
For the law to get to.
Narrator: in the foothills
Of the blue ridge mountains,
Josh's underground still site
Build has been put on ice
After discovering
The telephone poles
He constructed it
From are coated
In a toxic preservative
Called creosote.
Well, this creosote
Is stopping me
From being able to work
On my still site,
And everything else
Stacking up on me
Because I ain't bringing
In money and paying my bills.
It's really important that
I start making moonshine.
How long has it been since
You've used this pot out here?
It's been years.
You tell me there was
A little bit of damage
To it or something?Yeah, yeah, you'll see.
Bill:
How in the hell did you ever
Talk me into this?
Wait, wait.Five years ago,
Josh constructed a submarine pot
With his former partner, bill,
But attempting to relocate
The massive still
Left a gaping hole
In the bottom.
Dang, that's a big old pot!
Josh:
It's a 600-hundred gallon pot,
So I could make
A lot of liquor fast,
And tickle knows a hell of a lot
About submarine stills,
So I was hoping
That he could maybe come down
And help me repair this thing.
Let's flip it up
And get a better look
At what we going to
Have to work with.
You know, I'm not sure exactly
What shape this thing is in,
How long it's been in the woods,
But I would be nowhere
If someone like henry
And kenny or tim
Didn't help me out,
So if I can't give that back
To my fellow moonshiner,
I don't deserve the hand
I'm getting right now.
I believe what I'd do is cut you
A hole and patch it right here.
You're just really needing
This run
To get you out
Of this pinch, right?
Mm-hmm.That's all you needing it for.
I brought a cutting wheel,
So let's get at it.
Let's go ahead and do it.
This thing has got a very
Large hole in the bottom of it.
It's not the easiest thing
In the world to fix
And make the fix be right.
[ tool whirs ]
Josh: y'all ready for this?
All right.
Oh, that bitch is hot!
[ laughs ]
One of the things about this
Is making sure
That your two pieces of metal
That you're putting together
Are extremely clean.
You do the front and back?Yeah.
You've actually got
To sand this thing
To where you're getting right
Down to a brand-new metal.
I'd run that right on that seam.Yeah.
The biggest thing that we got
To do to this is to braise
A patch over top of the hole
In the bottom of this.
This is like soldering
But higher temperature.
I'm going to do it
Up here so...
You get you a spot tacked,
And I'll hold my hand
Away from it.
Now that takes a little bit
Of special know-how,
And you've got to have
The right stuff to do it...
Take your torch and angle it
Back this way
And run it from that inside.
...Because any other way,
You're not getting anything to
Stick to this stainless steel.
There you go.
We're going to get it right.
That way when we go to flip this
Thing over
And fill it up with mash,
We know she's not going to leak.
Tickle: you feel good about it?Josh: I feel good about it.
I say we roll on with it.
Ow!
[ laughs ]
Damn, that time just burned
That whole finger off.
You see that?
[ laughter ]
♪♪
Digger:
He didn't give you no indication
What he's wanting?
No.
He just asked us
If we'd meet him here.
I can't imagine him
Wanting any liquor.
No, he don't drink.
Narrator:
In cocke county, tennessee,
With a batch
Of their popcorn legacy
Liquor fermenting back
At their site,
Mark and digger
Wait on a friend
Who unexpectedly
Requested a meeting.
Yonder comes that mean machine.[ laughs ]
[ tires screech ]
It's a hot rod, ain't it?
I never saw it up close.
How you doing, cuz?
Hey, ronnie.
How are you, buddy?
All right.
How are you guys?
Well, we're all right.
We're above ground.
How are you?Above ground, yeah.
I got up this morning.
That's always a plus.
Ronnie is an old friend.
He's a tiny bit eccentric,
I guess.
Around here, we say
They're set in their ways.
Boy, wouldn't that have been
Something back
In the damn liquor-hauling days,
When they was getting away
From the law.
Oh, lord.Lord have mercy.
Well, what's on
Your mind today, ronnie?
I've got a special request.
I'd like to see if you guys
Would make me
A special run
Of kentucky bourbon.
I'd like to have some
Of the finest bourbon
That's ever been made.
It'd be tennessee bourbon.
Close enough.You don't drink.
What are you wanting
Liquor for?
This is going to be
Something special.
This is going to be
For my funeral.
Funeral liquor?
Funeral liquor, yeah.
Our liquor may have been drank
At funerals before in the past,
But we have never intentionally
Made a funeral liquor.
You ain't feeling bad,
Are you?
No, no, because I feel great,
But the time is coming.
Well, we can do that,
But you're going to have to
Stretch out about 3 more years.
You can't be dying out
Before then.
It's got to age 3 years.
Digger knows more about
This mash process than anybody.
Well, the number one thing,
The grain bill
Has to be at least
51% corn.
And has to be limestone water.
Yeah.
The water in any liquor,
It's the do-all, end-all,
And in bourbon's incidence,
It needs to be limestone water.
Well how much now
Are you talking about,
Just a 5-gallon barrel
Or something?
5-gallon keg.
Do you want white corn,
Yellow corn?
What about that indian corn?
Well, I ain't never made
No liquor out of it,
But I've heard that it works.
Mark: indian corn is very,
Very expensive.
I've never given any thought
To making any liquor out of it.
Money is not going
To be any problem.
I just got one shot at this.
Yeah, yeah.
Exactly.
Now, this needs to be
Really filtered.
Can you do that for me?
You want it
Really mellowed out?
I want it smooth.
We'll get started on it,
Brother.
All right.
All right.
This run, it's going to require
Extra steps of work.
We got to find the correct corn.
We got to shell the corn,
But who knows?
Maybe me and diggers just set
Us up in a new line of liquor --
Funeral liquor.
♪♪
♪♪
You can never be too cautious,
Especially now that van,
He's been raided.
Narrator: across the state line,
After a raid by the law
Left him facing
Criminal charges,
Van and his partner ewok
Head back to the woods
To try and pick up the pieces
Of their shattered season.
Well, right now I'm supposed
To be getting a still.
I've come in from one way.
Ewok is coming in
From a different way.
I'm nervous.
I just don't feel safe.
Yeah.
No, sir.
Narrator: after a tip
From an anonymous source
Led to van's bust and a loss of
Over $8,000 worth of liquor...
Van: ewok, they took
Every damn thing I had.
Narrator: ...The two shiners
Are starting over from scratch.
Van:
I can't afford to sit still.
I know you can't either.
Ewok:
We got in touch with a buddy
Of ours named johnny.
As soon as he heard
What was up with us,
Johnny was all
About helping us out.
Coast is clear, huh?
We got everything good.
I ain't seen nobody.
There's a lot of myth about,
"These moonshiners
Ain't worth this.
They don't do that.
They don't have a real job,"
But I can tell you one thing.
They'll be the first ones
To pop up and help.
It's called
A moonshiners circle.
It all depends on who you know
And who you talk to.
How's it going, buddy?
Johnny:
I heard y'all been needing
A helping hand,
And I'm here to help you.
Check this thing out.
Oh, my goodness.
Oh, looky there.
Yeah.Right.
Heavy-duty.
Heavy-duty copper.
Oh, lord, look at that.
Man.
Ewok:
This is hand-hammered copper.
The amount of love and the time
That went into the production
Of this piece of copper
Is phenomenal.
You are the man.
When I seen that thing,
I don't have hair,
But my hair was sticking up.
I don't know how to dance,
But I swear
I could probably dance
A jig right now.
[ laughs ]
No hurting anything.You better watch it.
Women will come running out of
The woods throwing $100 bills.
I guess that's everything
Back there.
You be safe going home, brother.
All right.
Y'all have fun with that.
As soon as we put a fire
Under this thing,
And the first drip
Comes out of it,
The money game is back on.
♪♪
Digger: that's some pretty corn,
Ain't it?
Mark: yeah.
I tell you one thing,
We can't mess up
Because it ain't cheap,
A dollar a piece.
The hell, you say.
And our thumbs ain't
Good enough to shell it.
Narrator: in cocke county,
Tennessee, mark and digger
Are tracking down
The necessary tool
To help craft a bourbon
For a unique situation --
The buyer's future funeral.
Right in here is where
That feller told me to come.
Digger:
Ronnie wanted indian corn
In this liquor
To make it
A little more special,
But this stuff is harder
Than superman's kneecaps.
After looking on one
Of these trading sites,
I found a good corn-sheller.
Looks like it might fit the bill
If the man just don't want
Too much for it.
Here's your corn-sheller.
That's it right there.
That must not have made it
To a farm,
No, where usually
Beat them to death.
So what you do is,
You get you a bucket,
Drop it in,
And somebody needs to crank it.
Right there is where the cob
Flies out, or is that right?
Yes, sir.
I've got one but it ain't
Nothing like this one.
Mine's just a little old
Bitty thing
That bolts on the side
Of the barrel,
And I messed up
Really bad one time,
And dad, my punishment
Was I had to shell
A 55-gallon drum of corn.
Wow.Yeah.
Larry, what's your cash money
Today price
For this little fella?
I was thinking $175.
Hmm.I think that's a fair price.
I just need one of them.
Just one of them?
I'll take $150.
I was thinking more like
Maybe $50.
Oh no, $50,
I'd have to just park it
Right over there
To keep the cars company.
How about $100 and a jar
Of good drinking liquor?
Well, I'll tell you what,
I'll go with $100
And a jug of liquor.
That sounds like a plan.
See if that ain't five
Of them 20s.
That's five of them.That's what we need.
Mark:
We're going to put this thing
To work right away.
It wasn't built to sit
In the corner.
It was built to shell corn.
Digger:
Well, we're ready to move on
To the next task.
That's shelling this corn,
Then grinding it, making mash
And make some funeral liquor.
That thing is immaculate,
Ain't it?
It is.
Tell you what, you get it,
And I'll get this corn.
Yeah.It's pretty heavy, ain't it?
*bleep*well, this corn sheller
Looks pristine,
But that can be deceiving.
Put one in it.
See what it'll do.
♪♪
Uh-oh.
Hmm.
We're come to a grinding
Halt here, hattie.
God almighty.
Damn it.
Narrator: coming up...
No matter where we go, I feel
Like the law is watching us.
Narrator:
In north carolina, a special
Delivery to keep a season going.
Man: van the man, check out
What we got for you.
Van: lord have mercy.
Digger: put one in it.
See what it'll do.
Uh-oh.
We've come to a grinding
Halt here, hattie.
Mark: god almighty.
Wait a minute.
Hold still.
There you go.
See if it'll turn.
Well, there you go, bobby-joe.
Crisis averted.
♪♪
How about that?
It's slick, ain't it?
There ain't a damn marble
Left on it.
Now you've got hillbilly
Toilet paper.
Digger: you know, I was dreading
Getting this corn shelled off,
But it's going
To be easy with this.
Damn, feller, and it
Whistle dixie-ing, ain't it?
Shelling this corn
Is just half the process.
After we shell it,
We've got to grind it.
Our old grinder,
It's been like an old friend.
I'm dreading the day I've got
To put it out to pasture.
But it'll still grind
Like a madman.
♪♪
We've got it ground up.
That's the biggest hurdle,
But now we've got
Another hurdle.
Now we need limestone water.
First, we've got the meal.
Now we need the water
And the sugar.
Yup.
♪♪
♪♪
Pretty good aim.
Tickle:
Yeah, he doing good out there,
Ain't he?
I swear I been talking about
Staying out of trouble,
But I'm doing everything
In the world
I can to get
Myself back in it.
Narrator: in polk county,
North carolina...
Pick it up!
...With a submarine
Still repaired,
Thanks to the help
Of fellow outlaw shiner tickle,
Josh is ready to mash in
For the first time this season.
Let's start running
Some water up in her.
Let's do.
Pull on it.
Give it like a siphon.
Pull on it.
Somebody pull on it.I'm doing it.
Cuz:
Can't we cut the hose down?
You know what, cuz got
A good idea right here.
Cut the damn hose.
Pull the siphon.
We're going to get a better
Siphon uphill like this.
I don't know if he knows
I actually cut this thing yet.
Colt: he's over there
Just talking away.
Yep.
[ laughs ]
He's still working with that
End of it,
But that's all right.
Keep siphoning.
[ laughs ]
There she goes.
Stay up there where you at.
Y'all, I can feel it working.
Keep on siphoning.
Keep on going, you got it.
Josh:
Wait, let's stop here a second.
What'd you do, cut that?
I was standing up there
For nothing?
[ laughter ]
Man, I appreciate you coming
To help us do this.
Not a problem, brother.
All right.
Let's get our mash
And stuff ready.
It's really cool now that we got
Tickle and colt here,
And we're all going to do
This the same time.
All right.
Dump that on in there
Nice and easy.
Colt, this is his
Very first run.
We're also making
Future moonshiners.
You made that burner yourself,
Didn't you?
You got her wide-open,
Tickle.
Colt: how do you know how much
To put under there?
What, how much heat
To put under there?
Yeah, what...Throw it to her.
When she goes to getting ready
To boil, you cut her back then.
Tickle:
I'm glad to see josh passing
This heritage,
And I feel privileged to be here
To help him pass
Some of this on.
We're stirring all this up.
We got to melt this sugar,
And we're going to heat
All this corn up in here,
And that gets the fermentable
Enzymes and the starches,
And that's what this yeast
Is going to wind up eating
To make alcohol.
You know, the passing down
Of knowledge
Is the whole reason
That moonshine is still alive,
And I'm glad that
I had the opportunity
To keep moonshine alive,
Hopefully forever.
You smell that?
That's accomplishment.
-yes!
-that's what that is.
♪♪
♪♪
It shouldn't be too much
Further up here, ewok.
It looks like we're going out
To the airport.
Just trust me.
Narrator:
To the west, in cherokee county,
With a new still secured,
Van and ewok are back
In the game
And on their way to pick up
A delivery of the main
Ingredient
In their brandy recipe.
Where did you go
And find peaches at?
We drove around everywhere
Looking for peaches.
I pulled a few strings
On that one.
Okay.
Peach season in north carolina
Is pretty much over,
So I got to thinking.
The south carolina peach,
It'll last all summer.
Duh.
So we're driving all the way
To south carolina
To get these things?
Oh, no.
I made me a phone call,
And I called my cousin.
My two cousins ryan and brian,
They don't live too far from the
Peach orchard in south carolina.
He said, "You just call me."
He said, "I'll be there."
He ain't on the ground yet.
He ain't.
No matter where we go, I feel
Like the law is watching us.
It's not going to surprise me
When peaches could come
Out of that plane.
People's going to want
To know what's going on.
Ewok: flying in peaches?
That's a little strange,
I suppose,
But it's far
From being illegal.
Brian: van the man!Sup, man?
Good to see you, brother.
Ewok: van's whole family
Makes liquor.
So when they were bringing
These peaches,
They knew exactly what
These peaches were going to do.
Brian,
How you doing, cousin?
How do you like flying?
Brian: this is my first time.
I don't like it.
I'm going to walk back home.
[ laughter ]
Come give me a hug, man.
Good to see you, man.
Long time.Sure is, man.
Check out what we got
For you.
Let me see these jewels.
♪♪
Looky here, looky here.
Got them loaded down.
Golly, man.
You got peaches everywhere.
Everywhere.
There you are.
Oh looky there.
Mm-hmm.
Well, these are going to make
Some good-tasting stuff.
All right.
I'm going to have to hide these
From my wife.
Yes, you probably are.
Family will always help you when
You're at your lowest point.
Here is the last one, ewok.
They say blood
Is thicker than water.
Well, we just proved that today.
All right.Thanks again, van.
[ laughter ]
It's time to make some brandy.
It's time to make
Some brandy, son.
Narrator: coming up...It's starting to run now.
Yes, sir, it is.
In north carolina,
Tickle's expertise yields
Liquid gold for josh.
-what do you think?
-money.
Tickle:
That's better than money.
A quart of moonshine
Will get you
Through a door
A dollar bill won't.
Digger: well,
That looks about right.
Mark: hell,
It ain't against the rules
To get you
A bucket of water, is it?
No, people's used this water
For years.
Narrator:
In cocke county, tennessee,
With a limestone spring
Easily accessible,
Mark and digger
Need to tote enough water
Back to their site to mash in.
Me and mark are going to get us
A little limestone water
Right out of this bank
Where this spring
Comes out
These old limestone rocks.
Wow.
I've lived here my whole life
And never knowed that was there.
Earlier in the season while
Searching out a still site,
Digger showed mark
This same spring,
But the location
Was less than ideal.
It's fine water, ain't it?
Cold as a eskimo's butt.
Limestone water has got
Just enough basic minerals in it
Where it makes the finest
Liquor in the world.
Your mash will ferment
To its best capacity
As fast as possible.
It's sweet as sweet.
It just makes
A more mellow liquor.
Flavor comes through
A little better.
Big distilleries in kentucky,
They'd have a battle
Over this spring right here.
They'd love to have it.
We've got it in our backyard,
Right here on the main
Drag in town.
We got a barrel here, baby man.
Let's get out of here.
Let's do it.
We going to get it going.
We going to go to the still site
And mash in
With our indian corn.
We've got it ground.
We've got the limestone water.
Mark: you know, ain't this
A hell of a thing?
Hauling a tote of water
To water.
To water.
I don't know if it makes
Any difference or not,
But we're going to see.
Get them buckets out.
Let's start handing it over
And get this run of mash done.
Mark:
You know, we're going to see
What we can make out it
And hopefully make ronnie proud,
Not that he'll ever know it,
But, you know,
We're going to try.
Indian corn.
First for both of us.
That is pretty, ain't it?
Wonder why nobody
Ain't never come to us
To do indian corn before.
Maybe you just didn't think
About how much it cost.
Digger: well, this is the most
Expensive corn
We've ever run in our life.
It's a dollar an ear.
I mean, normally you're looking
At maybe 10, 12 cents an ear.
It's ridiculous.
Whether this makes good liquor
Or whether that might contribute
To damn hallucinations,
We don't know,
But we'll find out.
Shake a little of that
In there, about half that.
Let's stir it in.
Man, wants -- be careful.
We don't want to scorch this.
That's for damn sure.
We're taking a little bit
Of extra pains in this mash.
It's a special liquor
For a special man.
The man don't need no damn
Fighting liquor at a funeral.
No, enough of that goes on
When they read the will.
I'm going to tell you what,
When they look down upon me,
I want them to nearly puke
And say,
"That son of a bitch
Needed to die."
So you've got about
3 more days left in you?
Three more days
And I'm about there.
We just got to have really good
3 or 4 gallon of it,
Hopefully 5.
Stirred this up
And the sugar dissolved.
We just got to take
Our time with it.
This has got to be
Loving liquor, no mean liquor.
I'm really feeling.
I feel good about it.
Boy, it does smell pretty.
Well, that corn cooked up
Pearly white.
Look at that.
Look at it,
How pretty it is in there.
I'm telling you what,
That's about good enough
To spoon out the bowl
And eat it, ain't it?
Hell yeah.
You're the man.
Let's top it off
With the rest of this water.
Damn, ronnie buckner is going
To have the finest liquor
At his farewell party
That's ever been.
If that turns out anything like
I think it is,
It's going to be damn primo.
I hope we got a little extra
For me and you.
Ours probably won't make it
Till we're dead.
No.
♪♪
♪♪
Josh: I come out here to check
The mash yesterday.
It's ready to run.It's a good thing.
That was just
In the nick of time.
-thank you, tickle.
-you bet.
-tickle me elmo.
-tickle me elmo.
Yeah, I had to live
With that one growing up.
Narrator:
One state to the east in
Polk county, north carolina...
That'll work right there.
Right.
I got her.
With the support of
Fellow shiner tickle,
Josh prepares
For the first run of the season
On his newly repaired
Submarine still.
Tickle: instead of just kind of
Sitting around here
And waiting for the mash
To get ready,
I made it back to henry
And kenny in time
To save my partnership,
And I even found time to squeeze
In a visit with the old lady.
That's a good-looking woman
Right there.
But now this mash is ready,
And I'm ready to get back to it.
-what are you doing?
-god, that stinks.
Josh: that don't stink.
That smells like money.
Tickle:
As soon as you get a little bit
Of money off of this,
That smell
Will change for you.
Will it?Believe that.
Josh:
Now that the mash is finally
Worked off
And ready to go,
Now we can make some liquor.
Get ready to light it.
All right.
Light it.
Colt:
We're getting her warm now,
Boys.
Well, we might ought
To start stirring this pot.
Yup, let's get her did.
Yes, sir.
Now this submarine pot that josh
Has got right here,
That's 600 gallons.
Keep a stir on that thing.
You go to heat this pot up
And you keep stirring it
Until she's stirring herself.
Eventually once
That mash gets hot,
She'll start moving on her own.
What do you think?
Yeah, oh yeah, she's steaming,
Isn't she?
She's rolling.
This'll do it.
Yeah, oh yeah,
Look, you see now
What I'm talking about,
About it rolling?
Yeah.You can see it moving itself.
We don't have to keep
A constant stir on it.
It's about time to cap her.
We need to go on ahead
And chain this cap down.
For what?
Well, see there's going to be
Pressure buildup in this thing.
It can blow that mash
Out of there.
So we pretty much
Got a bomb here.
Yes, yes, that's exactly
What we've got here is a bomb.
Josh: like napalm.
Slide her up under there
Just a little bit more.
There we go.
Ain't a whole lot to do now
But wait.
A whole bunch of waiting.
Hell, cuz, have you a seat.
Well, I would,
But I'm out of buckets.
Yeah, there you go.
All right.
Colt: tickle, is this all you
Ever did?
Well, you know, I moonshined
For a good part of it,
But I've held other jobs.
I've done construction work.
I've done industrial
Maintenance,
And every bit of it
Comes in handy
When it comes
To making moonshine.
When tickle got here, I really
Didn't know what to expect.
I wasn't 100% sure
Whether we were going to be able
To get this pot
Working or not,
But we got it working,
Got it done.
Now we can make some liquor.
I tell you what,
When you're a moonshiner,
You got to basically be
A master of everything.
Yup.
Jack of all trades,
Master of none.
That's right.
It's starting to run now.
Yes, sir, it is.
Can't drink it yet.
Why?
That's your heads.
There's some poisons
And some toxins in there.
You got to get rid of that.
Let's see what we got here.
What are you doing?All right.
We're proofing this.
This right here, I'm going to
Say probably running off
About 165 proof.
Let me see.
What do you think?
Money. Whew!
There, it tastes
A whole lot like money.
I tell you what,
That's better than money.
A quart of moonshine
Will get you through a door
A dollar bill won't.
Josh:
This being colt's first run
And the first time that me
And colt and cuz and tickle
Have ever made liquor together,
Everything went really
Damn good.
I couldn't do what I do
Without my team.
I love y'all.Well, that's right.
-we got it done.
-you're dang right.
I'm glad that I came over here
And I helped josh,
And I'm glad
That I was able to help him
Get where he could put
A little bit more money
Back into his business.
Look, all I ask is if I
Need you, you come help me.
It means a lot, you coming out
To help us get all this going
Because there's a lot of work
For all four of us.
Yes, sir.Let's drink it now.
Let's have a drink on that.
Narrator: coming up...
Van: I don't know who these dogs
Belong to,
But they don't belong to me.
Narrator: in cherokee county,
Man's best friend attacks
Van's last nerve.
Van: I just heard the owner
Call the dogs.
We ain't here by ourself.
Ready to make a little whiskey?A little funeral whiskey.
Yeah the best kind,
If you ain't the damn recipient.
Narrator:
In cocke county tennessee,
Mark and digger
Are about to discover
Whether their limestone water
And indian corn funeral mash is
Ready to run or ready to bury.
Ain't that pretty?
Damn if it ain't got
Some alcohol in it.
It's high-octane.
The mash is good to go,
Still has a little bit
Of the pink tint to it
Due to the indian corn.
Digger:
We got people at a fever pitch
For popcorn sutton
Legacy liquor,
But we've got daniel waiting,
But first and foremost,
We just need to finish
This run of liquor.
We got to mock
This bad boy up first.
I know it.
We got a lot of work
To do today.
We got two truck loads of stuff:
The still itself, barrel staves
To burn to make the charcoal
For the filter.
Run it back this way,
Put more.
There you go.
It's a little bit side goggling,
But it's all right.
We're going to get this mash
Transferred over
Into this little still.
I'll tell you what, it looks
Kind of like pink lemonade.
Yeah, when we cooked
That husk up
On them dark red ones,
It made it pink.
You know, digger and I, we've
Never had any pink-tinted mash.
This is our first attempt
At ever making
Any liquor with indian corn.
It's very expensive.
We hope it works.
Let's get her ripped there.
Put this...
Get this bitch lit, got to.
There we go.
I'll be the wood guy.
You be the barrel guy.
It's full of mud.
One of the requests
That ronnie had was,
He did want it filtered
Over all-new charcoal.
Digger: watch him twerk.
Look at them moves,
Got more moves than ex-lax.
Nothing better to make it out
Of than old oak barrel
Staves from whiskey barrels.
Mark: I hope ronnie appreciates
All the damn work
We're going through
To do this for him.
If he don't, he ought to.
Digger:
When you burn these coals up
Properly,
How you want it to do is just
To collapse down into a barrel
That will burn down to that
Point you douse it with water.
And all this char has little
Microscopic grooves
And cracks in it
That remove fusel oils.
Digger:
Fusel oils are a combination
Of many different kinds
Of alcohols,
Chiefly amyl alcohol.
The charcoal mellows the liquor
And gives it a better flavor.
When they start crumbling up
Like that right there,
That's when they're proper.
The way we're going to put
This charcoal filter
Together, we've got our tube.
We put a base in it.
We drilled holes in it.
Then we'll put felt
In the bottom on top of that,
And then we'll start piling
Charcoal in about 4 inches deep.
Once we get that point, we think
We've got enough filtration
Where ronnie will be satisfied
With his liquor.
We could buy these up,
Make them,
And sell them
On the moonshining market.
There we go.
Looks like a drain in the bottom
Of a tub, don't it?
It does, don't it?
It's pretty simple, but I think
It'll be very effective.
I don't think it could be
Anything but effective.
There she blows.
Funeral liquor, here we go.
Squirting out of there
Like a cow pissing on flat rock.
Yeah, boy.
We put a tremendous
Amount of work
Into making this funeral liquor
For ronnie.
Oh that's plenty of heads,
Ain't it.
Yeah.
We don't know yet if it's worth
A damn or not,
But we'll know here
In a minute.
Well, up jumped the devil.
There's a full one.
They fill up pretty quick.
That's a excellent stream
Of liquor
Off this little pot, ain't it?
Good stream of liquor, that son
Of a gun is staying cold.
Holy moly.
That's got a nose
Like I ain't never seen.
[ chuckles ]
Oh, tell me that's good
As I hope it is.
The hellfire, it's horrible.
That's the finest liquor
I've ever tasted in my life.
It's got a flavor
That's unbelievable.
Boy, that ought to make
The funeral gods
Even happy, shouldn't it?
It's going to put a new damn
Twist on the word "Fun-eral."
The flavor is just
So more pronounced in this.
The indian corn, man,
If it was feasible, hell,
I'd run it every time.
Take it a while
To get down through there.
I'm going to tell you what,
Running through
That much charcoal,
That's going to be smoother
Than a turtle's back, ain't it?
Mark:
He told us right off the bat
That money didn't matter,
And we spent a lot to do it.
But digger and I decide
That it will cost $3,000.
Damn shame it's going to have
To take a death
To get this thing
Cracked open again.
I know it.The $600 a gallon price tag
Doesn't ring as outrageous
In our minds
Once we consider the fact
We're housing the liability
For the rest of his life.
We're going to keep this liquor
And let it age
And bring it to him
At the time of his funeral.
You know, that being said,
With everything else
We've got invested in it,
That's pretty much a bargain.
There we go.
Perfect.
God almighty, he's going
To be so proud.
♪♪
♪♪
Right now, trying to be
Real quiet,
Get in here and get set up,
Trying to get this run done.
Still nervous, though.
Narrator: across the state line
In cherokee county,
North carolina,
With their mash fermented
And still ready to run,
Van and ewok are taking
Every precaution
Before firing up
Their makeshift pot.
Van:
To have been caught one time,
And now I've got the ingredients
Right here
To go straight to jail.
We don't want that to happen,
So we got to run
All four barrels
As quick as we can,
So stakes are high.
I got ewok out looking around
For me,
Making sure
Everything is good.
Ewok:
Everything looks pretty clear.
I haven't seen a thing.All right.
I'm about ready to set up
This deer stand.
Just be careful.
Copy, I'll see you
In a few minutes.
I could understand why van
Is nervous.
I am here to make sure
That van stays safe.
If he gets caught again,
This will be felony charges.
How's it going, buddy?
It's going good.
I'm about ready to fire up.
How's the nerves?
I'm good.
Ain't nobody out here.
Okay.
Have we put anything
In here yet?
Yeah.
So you already got your fill
And everything?
Yeah, all we got to do is,
You hit the gas,
And I'll start
Making my paste.
The perfect time
For any moonshiner
Is when they put a torch under
That pot and turn the gas on,
And it made me feel better.
Now we make the money, brother.
Yup.
Hey, would you get me a little
Bit of water in that quart jar?
I like to use plain cornmeal
Instead of self-rising
When you're pasting.
If you use self-rising,
It's looks like a giant bagel.
[ dog howls, barks ]
What's going on ewok?
Two little ankle-biting dogs
Just outside the still site.
I'll go take care of them.
Dogs are just raising hell,
And we don't know
Where they're coming from.
[ barking continues ]
Don't like this.
Sounds like I'm in
A damn dog kennel.
Ewok:
I went out and scouted around.
I didn't see anybody,
But that's
Not saying
In the back
Of a hollow somewhere
That I didn't make it into,
That somebody
Doesn't live there,
And if the dogs are around,
More than likely
There are people around.
Right now, the dogs
Stopped barking.
I don't know if that's good
Or bad.
That made me nervous.
It's too quiet.
I mean, there's no birds.
There's no nothing.
I got a bad feeling.
I don't like it.
Ewok: these dogs got
Dangerously close.
This type of thing
Continues to happen,
We will have to move the site.
This is the only spot we got.
We can't afford to move
Anywhere else.
We would lose a whole day trying
To get barrels out and move.
It would take us a whole day
To reroute water.
We just might have to
Tough it out here.
Van:
We cannot afford to stop.
We got four barrel of peach wine
That's ready.
It's going to go bad,
And we won't get anything.
That's starting to get good.
About 160.
It's not going to be long.
I don't want to get
Caught again,
But I have to take that chance
Because that's what I am.
That's who I am, and we
Have to run this brandy.
Hey, it's running, ewok.
Smells like a peach.
[ dogs barking ]
You hear that?
I'm going to get caught just
Sure as hell just for dogs.
We aren't here all alone.
Digger: well, seeing how mark
Can't come out and play today,
Sally-jane
Has got him grounded,
I'm going to antique
A little bit today.
I might find something to buy
The young man.
There's mason jars over here.
Some of these are really cool.
You know these old jars,
That shows you how hard it was
To jar your liquor
Back in the day.
You had to put you a jar
Rubber around the ring.
When they didn't
Have shoestrings,
They could pull these off,
And they'd put them
Around their shoes
When their shoestring broke.
They just made due
With what they had.
This goes along with what we do.
We don't make liquor
Because we want to.
We do it because we feel
Like we need to.
You're preserving your heritage.
People will want to remember
How we used to struggle.
Narrator:
With 4 gallons of their
Funeral bourbon
Adding to their already
Healthy lead,
Mark and digger continue to bury
The competition in one run,
Besting van
And ewok's season total,
While josh finally
Gets in the game
With a healthy
Run of 65 gallons.
♪♪
[ dogs barking ]
We ain't see anybody.
These dogs are from somewhere,
Though.
[ call sounding ]
Van: I just heard the owner
Call the dog.
We ain't here by ourself.
Don't film nobody.
They must be deep.
Them dogs must have traveled
A pretty good ways.
So let's stay here through
The night and run this stuff.
Let's get it all in one shot
And get out of here.
I don't know who these dogs
Belong to,
But they don't belong to me.
See, you don't never know
About these mountains.
Somebody could be camping
Way up top somewhere.
Van was raided not long ago.
His nerves are starting to play
On him a little bit,
But I could understand
Why van is tense.
If he gets caught again, they're
Going to throw the book at him.
You reckon if we just be still,
They'll shut up and go away?
Probably the thing to do,
Just sit still
And not talk to anybody.
Ewok:
We've attempted to chase these
Dogs off and it doesn't work.
They'll run for a minute,
But then they turn right around
And they come back.
They just bark even more then
Because now it's becoming
A game with them.
[ dogs barking ]
Van: screw this.
Son of a bitch.
This is bull *bleep*.
I can't handle it.
My nerves are just wadded up.
I mean, I'm on edge.
I'm nervous.
There's just something
Telling me not to make liquor.
I don't want to take no chances,
Do you?
No, I don't need to spend years
In the pen.
Well, let's tear this thing
Down and haul it out of here.
Yeah, we're done here.
Ewok:
We've had a lot of bad luck
At this site.
We're breaking down.
We're moving out.
Done.
Van: if I get caught with this
Still and these mash barrels,
They're not going to be
So nice as they was last time.
They'll go ahead
And take me to jail.
Last place I need to be
Is at a still site.
I got to keep my nose clean.
I've already been caught once,
And I cannot be caught again.
♪♪
This season is just not
Going to work out.
I been bit one too many times.
It's...That's just
The way life is.
It's murphy's law.
Think we can fit the barrels
On there too, ewok?
Maybe.
I don't think there's ever
A reason to give up,
But the dogs were the icing
On the cake,
And sooner or later they could
Lead somebody to the still site
And probably put van in jail
For a long time.
Yup.
Should think twice about
Being a moonshiner.
Sometimes
It just ain't worth it.
So we going to take
A little break
And maybe come back
Next season.
Narrator:
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
I made a run of liquor
On my own.
That-a-boy.
Narrator:
...A one-time graduate of mark
And digger's school
Of liquor returns for a course
In how not to make liquor 101.
I mean, did you wash
Your drawers out in this?
It looks worser than dog piss.
Mike:
We're barely breaking down even,
And I can't do that.
I can't feed a family
On breaking even.
Narrator:
A mysterious competitor
Forces mike and jerry
To radically alter
Their season plan.
Jerry: we're going to just do
An old-fashioned apple brandy.
[ laughs ]
I put my mead in this jar
And I got me some holes
In the lid of it.
They should come right in here.
Narrator:
And high-proof shine isn't
The only thing running
Through mark
And huck's still site.
I got him.
Dadgum it.
Of "Moonshiners"...
I believe what I'd do is cut you
A hole and patch it right here.
Y'all ready for this?
...It's tickle to the rescue
In north carolina
As josh fights
To salvage his entire season.
Oh, that bitch is hot!
[ laughs ]
You don't drink.
What are you wanting liquor for?
This is going to be
Something special.
This is going to be
For my funeral.
Funeral liquor?
Funeral liquor, yeah.
Narrator: a customer, dead set
On a one-of-a-kind bourbon...
Indian corn.
...Gives mark and digger
A new recipe to master.
-that is pretty, ain't it?
-yeah, but this better work.
You hit the gas,
And I'll start making my paste.
Narrator:
And with a court date pending,
A lifelong shiner
Risks his freedom.
-what's going on, ewok?
-two little ankle-biting dogs.
Van:
We ain't here by ourself.
Man #2: this is how we make
The moonshine.
Captions paid for by
Discovery communications
Josh:
Oh, yeah, we're almost there,
Y'all.
Tickle: well, good, we been
Walking for a while.
Sorry about that.Well, that's all right.
If it's easy for us to get to,
It's also easy
For the law to get to.
Narrator: in the foothills
Of the blue ridge mountains,
Josh's underground still site
Build has been put on ice
After discovering
The telephone poles
He constructed it
From are coated
In a toxic preservative
Called creosote.
Well, this creosote
Is stopping me
From being able to work
On my still site,
And everything else
Stacking up on me
Because I ain't bringing
In money and paying my bills.
It's really important that
I start making moonshine.
How long has it been since
You've used this pot out here?
It's been years.
You tell me there was
A little bit of damage
To it or something?Yeah, yeah, you'll see.
Bill:
How in the hell did you ever
Talk me into this?
Wait, wait.Five years ago,
Josh constructed a submarine pot
With his former partner, bill,
But attempting to relocate
The massive still
Left a gaping hole
In the bottom.
Dang, that's a big old pot!
Josh:
It's a 600-hundred gallon pot,
So I could make
A lot of liquor fast,
And tickle knows a hell of a lot
About submarine stills,
So I was hoping
That he could maybe come down
And help me repair this thing.
Let's flip it up
And get a better look
At what we going to
Have to work with.
You know, I'm not sure exactly
What shape this thing is in,
How long it's been in the woods,
But I would be nowhere
If someone like henry
And kenny or tim
Didn't help me out,
So if I can't give that back
To my fellow moonshiner,
I don't deserve the hand
I'm getting right now.
I believe what I'd do is cut you
A hole and patch it right here.
You're just really needing
This run
To get you out
Of this pinch, right?
Mm-hmm.That's all you needing it for.
I brought a cutting wheel,
So let's get at it.
Let's go ahead and do it.
This thing has got a very
Large hole in the bottom of it.
It's not the easiest thing
In the world to fix
And make the fix be right.
[ tool whirs ]
Josh: y'all ready for this?
All right.
Oh, that bitch is hot!
[ laughs ]
One of the things about this
Is making sure
That your two pieces of metal
That you're putting together
Are extremely clean.
You do the front and back?Yeah.
You've actually got
To sand this thing
To where you're getting right
Down to a brand-new metal.
I'd run that right on that seam.Yeah.
The biggest thing that we got
To do to this is to braise
A patch over top of the hole
In the bottom of this.
This is like soldering
But higher temperature.
I'm going to do it
Up here so...
You get you a spot tacked,
And I'll hold my hand
Away from it.
Now that takes a little bit
Of special know-how,
And you've got to have
The right stuff to do it...
Take your torch and angle it
Back this way
And run it from that inside.
...Because any other way,
You're not getting anything to
Stick to this stainless steel.
There you go.
We're going to get it right.
That way when we go to flip this
Thing over
And fill it up with mash,
We know she's not going to leak.
Tickle: you feel good about it?Josh: I feel good about it.
I say we roll on with it.
Ow!
[ laughs ]
Damn, that time just burned
That whole finger off.
You see that?
[ laughter ]
♪♪
Digger:
He didn't give you no indication
What he's wanting?
No.
He just asked us
If we'd meet him here.
I can't imagine him
Wanting any liquor.
No, he don't drink.
Narrator:
In cocke county, tennessee,
With a batch
Of their popcorn legacy
Liquor fermenting back
At their site,
Mark and digger
Wait on a friend
Who unexpectedly
Requested a meeting.
Yonder comes that mean machine.[ laughs ]
[ tires screech ]
It's a hot rod, ain't it?
I never saw it up close.
How you doing, cuz?
Hey, ronnie.
How are you, buddy?
All right.
How are you guys?
Well, we're all right.
We're above ground.
How are you?Above ground, yeah.
I got up this morning.
That's always a plus.
Ronnie is an old friend.
He's a tiny bit eccentric,
I guess.
Around here, we say
They're set in their ways.
Boy, wouldn't that have been
Something back
In the damn liquor-hauling days,
When they was getting away
From the law.
Oh, lord.Lord have mercy.
Well, what's on
Your mind today, ronnie?
I've got a special request.
I'd like to see if you guys
Would make me
A special run
Of kentucky bourbon.
I'd like to have some
Of the finest bourbon
That's ever been made.
It'd be tennessee bourbon.
Close enough.You don't drink.
What are you wanting
Liquor for?
This is going to be
Something special.
This is going to be
For my funeral.
Funeral liquor?
Funeral liquor, yeah.
Our liquor may have been drank
At funerals before in the past,
But we have never intentionally
Made a funeral liquor.
You ain't feeling bad,
Are you?
No, no, because I feel great,
But the time is coming.
Well, we can do that,
But you're going to have to
Stretch out about 3 more years.
You can't be dying out
Before then.
It's got to age 3 years.
Digger knows more about
This mash process than anybody.
Well, the number one thing,
The grain bill
Has to be at least
51% corn.
And has to be limestone water.
Yeah.
The water in any liquor,
It's the do-all, end-all,
And in bourbon's incidence,
It needs to be limestone water.
Well how much now
Are you talking about,
Just a 5-gallon barrel
Or something?
5-gallon keg.
Do you want white corn,
Yellow corn?
What about that indian corn?
Well, I ain't never made
No liquor out of it,
But I've heard that it works.
Mark: indian corn is very,
Very expensive.
I've never given any thought
To making any liquor out of it.
Money is not going
To be any problem.
I just got one shot at this.
Yeah, yeah.
Exactly.
Now, this needs to be
Really filtered.
Can you do that for me?
You want it
Really mellowed out?
I want it smooth.
We'll get started on it,
Brother.
All right.
All right.
This run, it's going to require
Extra steps of work.
We got to find the correct corn.
We got to shell the corn,
But who knows?
Maybe me and diggers just set
Us up in a new line of liquor --
Funeral liquor.
♪♪
♪♪
You can never be too cautious,
Especially now that van,
He's been raided.
Narrator: across the state line,
After a raid by the law
Left him facing
Criminal charges,
Van and his partner ewok
Head back to the woods
To try and pick up the pieces
Of their shattered season.
Well, right now I'm supposed
To be getting a still.
I've come in from one way.
Ewok is coming in
From a different way.
I'm nervous.
I just don't feel safe.
Yeah.
No, sir.
Narrator: after a tip
From an anonymous source
Led to van's bust and a loss of
Over $8,000 worth of liquor...
Van: ewok, they took
Every damn thing I had.
Narrator: ...The two shiners
Are starting over from scratch.
Van:
I can't afford to sit still.
I know you can't either.
Ewok:
We got in touch with a buddy
Of ours named johnny.
As soon as he heard
What was up with us,
Johnny was all
About helping us out.
Coast is clear, huh?
We got everything good.
I ain't seen nobody.
There's a lot of myth about,
"These moonshiners
Ain't worth this.
They don't do that.
They don't have a real job,"
But I can tell you one thing.
They'll be the first ones
To pop up and help.
It's called
A moonshiners circle.
It all depends on who you know
And who you talk to.
How's it going, buddy?
Johnny:
I heard y'all been needing
A helping hand,
And I'm here to help you.
Check this thing out.
Oh, my goodness.
Oh, looky there.
Yeah.Right.
Heavy-duty.
Heavy-duty copper.
Oh, lord, look at that.
Man.
Ewok:
This is hand-hammered copper.
The amount of love and the time
That went into the production
Of this piece of copper
Is phenomenal.
You are the man.
When I seen that thing,
I don't have hair,
But my hair was sticking up.
I don't know how to dance,
But I swear
I could probably dance
A jig right now.
[ laughs ]
No hurting anything.You better watch it.
Women will come running out of
The woods throwing $100 bills.
I guess that's everything
Back there.
You be safe going home, brother.
All right.
Y'all have fun with that.
As soon as we put a fire
Under this thing,
And the first drip
Comes out of it,
The money game is back on.
♪♪
Digger: that's some pretty corn,
Ain't it?
Mark: yeah.
I tell you one thing,
We can't mess up
Because it ain't cheap,
A dollar a piece.
The hell, you say.
And our thumbs ain't
Good enough to shell it.
Narrator: in cocke county,
Tennessee, mark and digger
Are tracking down
The necessary tool
To help craft a bourbon
For a unique situation --
The buyer's future funeral.
Right in here is where
That feller told me to come.
Digger:
Ronnie wanted indian corn
In this liquor
To make it
A little more special,
But this stuff is harder
Than superman's kneecaps.
After looking on one
Of these trading sites,
I found a good corn-sheller.
Looks like it might fit the bill
If the man just don't want
Too much for it.
Here's your corn-sheller.
That's it right there.
That must not have made it
To a farm,
No, where usually
Beat them to death.
So what you do is,
You get you a bucket,
Drop it in,
And somebody needs to crank it.
Right there is where the cob
Flies out, or is that right?
Yes, sir.
I've got one but it ain't
Nothing like this one.
Mine's just a little old
Bitty thing
That bolts on the side
Of the barrel,
And I messed up
Really bad one time,
And dad, my punishment
Was I had to shell
A 55-gallon drum of corn.
Wow.Yeah.
Larry, what's your cash money
Today price
For this little fella?
I was thinking $175.
Hmm.I think that's a fair price.
I just need one of them.
Just one of them?
I'll take $150.
I was thinking more like
Maybe $50.
Oh no, $50,
I'd have to just park it
Right over there
To keep the cars company.
How about $100 and a jar
Of good drinking liquor?
Well, I'll tell you what,
I'll go with $100
And a jug of liquor.
That sounds like a plan.
See if that ain't five
Of them 20s.
That's five of them.That's what we need.
Mark:
We're going to put this thing
To work right away.
It wasn't built to sit
In the corner.
It was built to shell corn.
Digger:
Well, we're ready to move on
To the next task.
That's shelling this corn,
Then grinding it, making mash
And make some funeral liquor.
That thing is immaculate,
Ain't it?
It is.
Tell you what, you get it,
And I'll get this corn.
Yeah.It's pretty heavy, ain't it?
*bleep*well, this corn sheller
Looks pristine,
But that can be deceiving.
Put one in it.
See what it'll do.
♪♪
Uh-oh.
Hmm.
We're come to a grinding
Halt here, hattie.
God almighty.
Damn it.
Narrator: coming up...
No matter where we go, I feel
Like the law is watching us.
Narrator:
In north carolina, a special
Delivery to keep a season going.
Man: van the man, check out
What we got for you.
Van: lord have mercy.
Digger: put one in it.
See what it'll do.
Uh-oh.
We've come to a grinding
Halt here, hattie.
Mark: god almighty.
Wait a minute.
Hold still.
There you go.
See if it'll turn.
Well, there you go, bobby-joe.
Crisis averted.
♪♪
How about that?
It's slick, ain't it?
There ain't a damn marble
Left on it.
Now you've got hillbilly
Toilet paper.
Digger: you know, I was dreading
Getting this corn shelled off,
But it's going
To be easy with this.
Damn, feller, and it
Whistle dixie-ing, ain't it?
Shelling this corn
Is just half the process.
After we shell it,
We've got to grind it.
Our old grinder,
It's been like an old friend.
I'm dreading the day I've got
To put it out to pasture.
But it'll still grind
Like a madman.
♪♪
We've got it ground up.
That's the biggest hurdle,
But now we've got
Another hurdle.
Now we need limestone water.
First, we've got the meal.
Now we need the water
And the sugar.
Yup.
♪♪
♪♪
Pretty good aim.
Tickle:
Yeah, he doing good out there,
Ain't he?
I swear I been talking about
Staying out of trouble,
But I'm doing everything
In the world
I can to get
Myself back in it.
Narrator: in polk county,
North carolina...
Pick it up!
...With a submarine
Still repaired,
Thanks to the help
Of fellow outlaw shiner tickle,
Josh is ready to mash in
For the first time this season.
Let's start running
Some water up in her.
Let's do.
Pull on it.
Give it like a siphon.
Pull on it.
Somebody pull on it.I'm doing it.
Cuz:
Can't we cut the hose down?
You know what, cuz got
A good idea right here.
Cut the damn hose.
Pull the siphon.
We're going to get a better
Siphon uphill like this.
I don't know if he knows
I actually cut this thing yet.
Colt: he's over there
Just talking away.
Yep.
[ laughs ]
He's still working with that
End of it,
But that's all right.
Keep siphoning.
[ laughs ]
There she goes.
Stay up there where you at.
Y'all, I can feel it working.
Keep on siphoning.
Keep on going, you got it.
Josh:
Wait, let's stop here a second.
What'd you do, cut that?
I was standing up there
For nothing?
[ laughter ]
Man, I appreciate you coming
To help us do this.
Not a problem, brother.
All right.
Let's get our mash
And stuff ready.
It's really cool now that we got
Tickle and colt here,
And we're all going to do
This the same time.
All right.
Dump that on in there
Nice and easy.
Colt, this is his
Very first run.
We're also making
Future moonshiners.
You made that burner yourself,
Didn't you?
You got her wide-open,
Tickle.
Colt: how do you know how much
To put under there?
What, how much heat
To put under there?
Yeah, what...Throw it to her.
When she goes to getting ready
To boil, you cut her back then.
Tickle:
I'm glad to see josh passing
This heritage,
And I feel privileged to be here
To help him pass
Some of this on.
We're stirring all this up.
We got to melt this sugar,
And we're going to heat
All this corn up in here,
And that gets the fermentable
Enzymes and the starches,
And that's what this yeast
Is going to wind up eating
To make alcohol.
You know, the passing down
Of knowledge
Is the whole reason
That moonshine is still alive,
And I'm glad that
I had the opportunity
To keep moonshine alive,
Hopefully forever.
You smell that?
That's accomplishment.
-yes!
-that's what that is.
♪♪
♪♪
It shouldn't be too much
Further up here, ewok.
It looks like we're going out
To the airport.
Just trust me.
Narrator:
To the west, in cherokee county,
With a new still secured,
Van and ewok are back
In the game
And on their way to pick up
A delivery of the main
Ingredient
In their brandy recipe.
Where did you go
And find peaches at?
We drove around everywhere
Looking for peaches.
I pulled a few strings
On that one.
Okay.
Peach season in north carolina
Is pretty much over,
So I got to thinking.
The south carolina peach,
It'll last all summer.
Duh.
So we're driving all the way
To south carolina
To get these things?
Oh, no.
I made me a phone call,
And I called my cousin.
My two cousins ryan and brian,
They don't live too far from the
Peach orchard in south carolina.
He said, "You just call me."
He said, "I'll be there."
He ain't on the ground yet.
He ain't.
No matter where we go, I feel
Like the law is watching us.
It's not going to surprise me
When peaches could come
Out of that plane.
People's going to want
To know what's going on.
Ewok: flying in peaches?
That's a little strange,
I suppose,
But it's far
From being illegal.
Brian: van the man!Sup, man?
Good to see you, brother.
Ewok: van's whole family
Makes liquor.
So when they were bringing
These peaches,
They knew exactly what
These peaches were going to do.
Brian,
How you doing, cousin?
How do you like flying?
Brian: this is my first time.
I don't like it.
I'm going to walk back home.
[ laughter ]
Come give me a hug, man.
Good to see you, man.
Long time.Sure is, man.
Check out what we got
For you.
Let me see these jewels.
♪♪
Looky here, looky here.
Got them loaded down.
Golly, man.
You got peaches everywhere.
Everywhere.
There you are.
Oh looky there.
Mm-hmm.
Well, these are going to make
Some good-tasting stuff.
All right.
I'm going to have to hide these
From my wife.
Yes, you probably are.
Family will always help you when
You're at your lowest point.
Here is the last one, ewok.
They say blood
Is thicker than water.
Well, we just proved that today.
All right.Thanks again, van.
[ laughter ]
It's time to make some brandy.
It's time to make
Some brandy, son.
Narrator: coming up...It's starting to run now.
Yes, sir, it is.
In north carolina,
Tickle's expertise yields
Liquid gold for josh.
-what do you think?
-money.
Tickle:
That's better than money.
A quart of moonshine
Will get you
Through a door
A dollar bill won't.
Digger: well,
That looks about right.
Mark: hell,
It ain't against the rules
To get you
A bucket of water, is it?
No, people's used this water
For years.
Narrator:
In cocke county, tennessee,
With a limestone spring
Easily accessible,
Mark and digger
Need to tote enough water
Back to their site to mash in.
Me and mark are going to get us
A little limestone water
Right out of this bank
Where this spring
Comes out
These old limestone rocks.
Wow.
I've lived here my whole life
And never knowed that was there.
Earlier in the season while
Searching out a still site,
Digger showed mark
This same spring,
But the location
Was less than ideal.
It's fine water, ain't it?
Cold as a eskimo's butt.
Limestone water has got
Just enough basic minerals in it
Where it makes the finest
Liquor in the world.
Your mash will ferment
To its best capacity
As fast as possible.
It's sweet as sweet.
It just makes
A more mellow liquor.
Flavor comes through
A little better.
Big distilleries in kentucky,
They'd have a battle
Over this spring right here.
They'd love to have it.
We've got it in our backyard,
Right here on the main
Drag in town.
We got a barrel here, baby man.
Let's get out of here.
Let's do it.
We going to get it going.
We going to go to the still site
And mash in
With our indian corn.
We've got it ground.
We've got the limestone water.
Mark: you know, ain't this
A hell of a thing?
Hauling a tote of water
To water.
To water.
I don't know if it makes
Any difference or not,
But we're going to see.
Get them buckets out.
Let's start handing it over
And get this run of mash done.
Mark:
You know, we're going to see
What we can make out it
And hopefully make ronnie proud,
Not that he'll ever know it,
But, you know,
We're going to try.
Indian corn.
First for both of us.
That is pretty, ain't it?
Wonder why nobody
Ain't never come to us
To do indian corn before.
Maybe you just didn't think
About how much it cost.
Digger: well, this is the most
Expensive corn
We've ever run in our life.
It's a dollar an ear.
I mean, normally you're looking
At maybe 10, 12 cents an ear.
It's ridiculous.
Whether this makes good liquor
Or whether that might contribute
To damn hallucinations,
We don't know,
But we'll find out.
Shake a little of that
In there, about half that.
Let's stir it in.
Man, wants -- be careful.
We don't want to scorch this.
That's for damn sure.
We're taking a little bit
Of extra pains in this mash.
It's a special liquor
For a special man.
The man don't need no damn
Fighting liquor at a funeral.
No, enough of that goes on
When they read the will.
I'm going to tell you what,
When they look down upon me,
I want them to nearly puke
And say,
"That son of a bitch
Needed to die."
So you've got about
3 more days left in you?
Three more days
And I'm about there.
We just got to have really good
3 or 4 gallon of it,
Hopefully 5.
Stirred this up
And the sugar dissolved.
We just got to take
Our time with it.
This has got to be
Loving liquor, no mean liquor.
I'm really feeling.
I feel good about it.
Boy, it does smell pretty.
Well, that corn cooked up
Pearly white.
Look at that.
Look at it,
How pretty it is in there.
I'm telling you what,
That's about good enough
To spoon out the bowl
And eat it, ain't it?
Hell yeah.
You're the man.
Let's top it off
With the rest of this water.
Damn, ronnie buckner is going
To have the finest liquor
At his farewell party
That's ever been.
If that turns out anything like
I think it is,
It's going to be damn primo.
I hope we got a little extra
For me and you.
Ours probably won't make it
Till we're dead.
No.
♪♪
♪♪
Josh: I come out here to check
The mash yesterday.
It's ready to run.It's a good thing.
That was just
In the nick of time.
-thank you, tickle.
-you bet.
-tickle me elmo.
-tickle me elmo.
Yeah, I had to live
With that one growing up.
Narrator:
One state to the east in
Polk county, north carolina...
That'll work right there.
Right.
I got her.
With the support of
Fellow shiner tickle,
Josh prepares
For the first run of the season
On his newly repaired
Submarine still.
Tickle: instead of just kind of
Sitting around here
And waiting for the mash
To get ready,
I made it back to henry
And kenny in time
To save my partnership,
And I even found time to squeeze
In a visit with the old lady.
That's a good-looking woman
Right there.
But now this mash is ready,
And I'm ready to get back to it.
-what are you doing?
-god, that stinks.
Josh: that don't stink.
That smells like money.
Tickle:
As soon as you get a little bit
Of money off of this,
That smell
Will change for you.
Will it?Believe that.
Josh:
Now that the mash is finally
Worked off
And ready to go,
Now we can make some liquor.
Get ready to light it.
All right.
Light it.
Colt:
We're getting her warm now,
Boys.
Well, we might ought
To start stirring this pot.
Yup, let's get her did.
Yes, sir.
Now this submarine pot that josh
Has got right here,
That's 600 gallons.
Keep a stir on that thing.
You go to heat this pot up
And you keep stirring it
Until she's stirring herself.
Eventually once
That mash gets hot,
She'll start moving on her own.
What do you think?
Yeah, oh yeah, she's steaming,
Isn't she?
She's rolling.
This'll do it.
Yeah, oh yeah,
Look, you see now
What I'm talking about,
About it rolling?
Yeah.You can see it moving itself.
We don't have to keep
A constant stir on it.
It's about time to cap her.
We need to go on ahead
And chain this cap down.
For what?
Well, see there's going to be
Pressure buildup in this thing.
It can blow that mash
Out of there.
So we pretty much
Got a bomb here.
Yes, yes, that's exactly
What we've got here is a bomb.
Josh: like napalm.
Slide her up under there
Just a little bit more.
There we go.
Ain't a whole lot to do now
But wait.
A whole bunch of waiting.
Hell, cuz, have you a seat.
Well, I would,
But I'm out of buckets.
Yeah, there you go.
All right.
Colt: tickle, is this all you
Ever did?
Well, you know, I moonshined
For a good part of it,
But I've held other jobs.
I've done construction work.
I've done industrial
Maintenance,
And every bit of it
Comes in handy
When it comes
To making moonshine.
When tickle got here, I really
Didn't know what to expect.
I wasn't 100% sure
Whether we were going to be able
To get this pot
Working or not,
But we got it working,
Got it done.
Now we can make some liquor.
I tell you what,
When you're a moonshiner,
You got to basically be
A master of everything.
Yup.
Jack of all trades,
Master of none.
That's right.
It's starting to run now.
Yes, sir, it is.
Can't drink it yet.
Why?
That's your heads.
There's some poisons
And some toxins in there.
You got to get rid of that.
Let's see what we got here.
What are you doing?All right.
We're proofing this.
This right here, I'm going to
Say probably running off
About 165 proof.
Let me see.
What do you think?
Money. Whew!
There, it tastes
A whole lot like money.
I tell you what,
That's better than money.
A quart of moonshine
Will get you through a door
A dollar bill won't.
Josh:
This being colt's first run
And the first time that me
And colt and cuz and tickle
Have ever made liquor together,
Everything went really
Damn good.
I couldn't do what I do
Without my team.
I love y'all.Well, that's right.
-we got it done.
-you're dang right.
I'm glad that I came over here
And I helped josh,
And I'm glad
That I was able to help him
Get where he could put
A little bit more money
Back into his business.
Look, all I ask is if I
Need you, you come help me.
It means a lot, you coming out
To help us get all this going
Because there's a lot of work
For all four of us.
Yes, sir.Let's drink it now.
Let's have a drink on that.
Narrator: coming up...
Van: I don't know who these dogs
Belong to,
But they don't belong to me.
Narrator: in cherokee county,
Man's best friend attacks
Van's last nerve.
Van: I just heard the owner
Call the dogs.
We ain't here by ourself.
Ready to make a little whiskey?A little funeral whiskey.
Yeah the best kind,
If you ain't the damn recipient.
Narrator:
In cocke county tennessee,
Mark and digger
Are about to discover
Whether their limestone water
And indian corn funeral mash is
Ready to run or ready to bury.
Ain't that pretty?
Damn if it ain't got
Some alcohol in it.
It's high-octane.
The mash is good to go,
Still has a little bit
Of the pink tint to it
Due to the indian corn.
Digger:
We got people at a fever pitch
For popcorn sutton
Legacy liquor,
But we've got daniel waiting,
But first and foremost,
We just need to finish
This run of liquor.
We got to mock
This bad boy up first.
I know it.
We got a lot of work
To do today.
We got two truck loads of stuff:
The still itself, barrel staves
To burn to make the charcoal
For the filter.
Run it back this way,
Put more.
There you go.
It's a little bit side goggling,
But it's all right.
We're going to get this mash
Transferred over
Into this little still.
I'll tell you what, it looks
Kind of like pink lemonade.
Yeah, when we cooked
That husk up
On them dark red ones,
It made it pink.
You know, digger and I, we've
Never had any pink-tinted mash.
This is our first attempt
At ever making
Any liquor with indian corn.
It's very expensive.
We hope it works.
Let's get her ripped there.
Put this...
Get this bitch lit, got to.
There we go.
I'll be the wood guy.
You be the barrel guy.
It's full of mud.
One of the requests
That ronnie had was,
He did want it filtered
Over all-new charcoal.
Digger: watch him twerk.
Look at them moves,
Got more moves than ex-lax.
Nothing better to make it out
Of than old oak barrel
Staves from whiskey barrels.
Mark: I hope ronnie appreciates
All the damn work
We're going through
To do this for him.
If he don't, he ought to.
Digger:
When you burn these coals up
Properly,
How you want it to do is just
To collapse down into a barrel
That will burn down to that
Point you douse it with water.
And all this char has little
Microscopic grooves
And cracks in it
That remove fusel oils.
Digger:
Fusel oils are a combination
Of many different kinds
Of alcohols,
Chiefly amyl alcohol.
The charcoal mellows the liquor
And gives it a better flavor.
When they start crumbling up
Like that right there,
That's when they're proper.
The way we're going to put
This charcoal filter
Together, we've got our tube.
We put a base in it.
We drilled holes in it.
Then we'll put felt
In the bottom on top of that,
And then we'll start piling
Charcoal in about 4 inches deep.
Once we get that point, we think
We've got enough filtration
Where ronnie will be satisfied
With his liquor.
We could buy these up,
Make them,
And sell them
On the moonshining market.
There we go.
Looks like a drain in the bottom
Of a tub, don't it?
It does, don't it?
It's pretty simple, but I think
It'll be very effective.
I don't think it could be
Anything but effective.
There she blows.
Funeral liquor, here we go.
Squirting out of there
Like a cow pissing on flat rock.
Yeah, boy.
We put a tremendous
Amount of work
Into making this funeral liquor
For ronnie.
Oh that's plenty of heads,
Ain't it.
Yeah.
We don't know yet if it's worth
A damn or not,
But we'll know here
In a minute.
Well, up jumped the devil.
There's a full one.
They fill up pretty quick.
That's a excellent stream
Of liquor
Off this little pot, ain't it?
Good stream of liquor, that son
Of a gun is staying cold.
Holy moly.
That's got a nose
Like I ain't never seen.
[ chuckles ]
Oh, tell me that's good
As I hope it is.
The hellfire, it's horrible.
That's the finest liquor
I've ever tasted in my life.
It's got a flavor
That's unbelievable.
Boy, that ought to make
The funeral gods
Even happy, shouldn't it?
It's going to put a new damn
Twist on the word "Fun-eral."
The flavor is just
So more pronounced in this.
The indian corn, man,
If it was feasible, hell,
I'd run it every time.
Take it a while
To get down through there.
I'm going to tell you what,
Running through
That much charcoal,
That's going to be smoother
Than a turtle's back, ain't it?
Mark:
He told us right off the bat
That money didn't matter,
And we spent a lot to do it.
But digger and I decide
That it will cost $3,000.
Damn shame it's going to have
To take a death
To get this thing
Cracked open again.
I know it.The $600 a gallon price tag
Doesn't ring as outrageous
In our minds
Once we consider the fact
We're housing the liability
For the rest of his life.
We're going to keep this liquor
And let it age
And bring it to him
At the time of his funeral.
You know, that being said,
With everything else
We've got invested in it,
That's pretty much a bargain.
There we go.
Perfect.
God almighty, he's going
To be so proud.
♪♪
♪♪
Right now, trying to be
Real quiet,
Get in here and get set up,
Trying to get this run done.
Still nervous, though.
Narrator: across the state line
In cherokee county,
North carolina,
With their mash fermented
And still ready to run,
Van and ewok are taking
Every precaution
Before firing up
Their makeshift pot.
Van:
To have been caught one time,
And now I've got the ingredients
Right here
To go straight to jail.
We don't want that to happen,
So we got to run
All four barrels
As quick as we can,
So stakes are high.
I got ewok out looking around
For me,
Making sure
Everything is good.
Ewok:
Everything looks pretty clear.
I haven't seen a thing.All right.
I'm about ready to set up
This deer stand.
Just be careful.
Copy, I'll see you
In a few minutes.
I could understand why van
Is nervous.
I am here to make sure
That van stays safe.
If he gets caught again,
This will be felony charges.
How's it going, buddy?
It's going good.
I'm about ready to fire up.
How's the nerves?
I'm good.
Ain't nobody out here.
Okay.
Have we put anything
In here yet?
Yeah.
So you already got your fill
And everything?
Yeah, all we got to do is,
You hit the gas,
And I'll start
Making my paste.
The perfect time
For any moonshiner
Is when they put a torch under
That pot and turn the gas on,
And it made me feel better.
Now we make the money, brother.
Yup.
Hey, would you get me a little
Bit of water in that quart jar?
I like to use plain cornmeal
Instead of self-rising
When you're pasting.
If you use self-rising,
It's looks like a giant bagel.
[ dog howls, barks ]
What's going on ewok?
Two little ankle-biting dogs
Just outside the still site.
I'll go take care of them.
Dogs are just raising hell,
And we don't know
Where they're coming from.
[ barking continues ]
Don't like this.
Sounds like I'm in
A damn dog kennel.
Ewok:
I went out and scouted around.
I didn't see anybody,
But that's
Not saying
In the back
Of a hollow somewhere
That I didn't make it into,
That somebody
Doesn't live there,
And if the dogs are around,
More than likely
There are people around.
Right now, the dogs
Stopped barking.
I don't know if that's good
Or bad.
That made me nervous.
It's too quiet.
I mean, there's no birds.
There's no nothing.
I got a bad feeling.
I don't like it.
Ewok: these dogs got
Dangerously close.
This type of thing
Continues to happen,
We will have to move the site.
This is the only spot we got.
We can't afford to move
Anywhere else.
We would lose a whole day trying
To get barrels out and move.
It would take us a whole day
To reroute water.
We just might have to
Tough it out here.
Van:
We cannot afford to stop.
We got four barrel of peach wine
That's ready.
It's going to go bad,
And we won't get anything.
That's starting to get good.
About 160.
It's not going to be long.
I don't want to get
Caught again,
But I have to take that chance
Because that's what I am.
That's who I am, and we
Have to run this brandy.
Hey, it's running, ewok.
Smells like a peach.
[ dogs barking ]
You hear that?
I'm going to get caught just
Sure as hell just for dogs.
We aren't here all alone.
Digger: well, seeing how mark
Can't come out and play today,
Sally-jane
Has got him grounded,
I'm going to antique
A little bit today.
I might find something to buy
The young man.
There's mason jars over here.
Some of these are really cool.
You know these old jars,
That shows you how hard it was
To jar your liquor
Back in the day.
You had to put you a jar
Rubber around the ring.
When they didn't
Have shoestrings,
They could pull these off,
And they'd put them
Around their shoes
When their shoestring broke.
They just made due
With what they had.
This goes along with what we do.
We don't make liquor
Because we want to.
We do it because we feel
Like we need to.
You're preserving your heritage.
People will want to remember
How we used to struggle.
Narrator:
With 4 gallons of their
Funeral bourbon
Adding to their already
Healthy lead,
Mark and digger continue to bury
The competition in one run,
Besting van
And ewok's season total,
While josh finally
Gets in the game
With a healthy
Run of 65 gallons.
♪♪
[ dogs barking ]
We ain't see anybody.
These dogs are from somewhere,
Though.
[ call sounding ]
Van: I just heard the owner
Call the dog.
We ain't here by ourself.
Don't film nobody.
They must be deep.
Them dogs must have traveled
A pretty good ways.
So let's stay here through
The night and run this stuff.
Let's get it all in one shot
And get out of here.
I don't know who these dogs
Belong to,
But they don't belong to me.
See, you don't never know
About these mountains.
Somebody could be camping
Way up top somewhere.
Van was raided not long ago.
His nerves are starting to play
On him a little bit,
But I could understand
Why van is tense.
If he gets caught again, they're
Going to throw the book at him.
You reckon if we just be still,
They'll shut up and go away?
Probably the thing to do,
Just sit still
And not talk to anybody.
Ewok:
We've attempted to chase these
Dogs off and it doesn't work.
They'll run for a minute,
But then they turn right around
And they come back.
They just bark even more then
Because now it's becoming
A game with them.
[ dogs barking ]
Van: screw this.
Son of a bitch.
This is bull *bleep*.
I can't handle it.
My nerves are just wadded up.
I mean, I'm on edge.
I'm nervous.
There's just something
Telling me not to make liquor.
I don't want to take no chances,
Do you?
No, I don't need to spend years
In the pen.
Well, let's tear this thing
Down and haul it out of here.
Yeah, we're done here.
Ewok:
We've had a lot of bad luck
At this site.
We're breaking down.
We're moving out.
Done.
Van: if I get caught with this
Still and these mash barrels,
They're not going to be
So nice as they was last time.
They'll go ahead
And take me to jail.
Last place I need to be
Is at a still site.
I got to keep my nose clean.
I've already been caught once,
And I cannot be caught again.
♪♪
This season is just not
Going to work out.
I been bit one too many times.
It's...That's just
The way life is.
It's murphy's law.
Think we can fit the barrels
On there too, ewok?
Maybe.
I don't think there's ever
A reason to give up,
But the dogs were the icing
On the cake,
And sooner or later they could
Lead somebody to the still site
And probably put van in jail
For a long time.
Yup.
Should think twice about
Being a moonshiner.
Sometimes
It just ain't worth it.
So we going to take
A little break
And maybe come back
Next season.
Narrator:
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
I made a run of liquor
On my own.
That-a-boy.
Narrator:
...A one-time graduate of mark
And digger's school
Of liquor returns for a course
In how not to make liquor 101.
I mean, did you wash
Your drawers out in this?
It looks worser than dog piss.
Mike:
We're barely breaking down even,
And I can't do that.
I can't feed a family
On breaking even.
Narrator:
A mysterious competitor
Forces mike and jerry
To radically alter
Their season plan.
Jerry: we're going to just do
An old-fashioned apple brandy.
[ laughs ]
I put my mead in this jar
And I got me some holes
In the lid of it.
They should come right in here.
Narrator:
And high-proof shine isn't
The only thing running
Through mark
And huck's still site.
I got him.
Dadgum it.