You had to be able to do A little bit of everything
To survive in the old days.
You needed to know How to make your own.
You needed to know How to be self-sufficient.
People aren't survivors Anymore, but...
When the united states Went into the depression,
People, they didn't know how To take care of theirselves.
People were starving to death.
But moonshiners knew How to survive.
It was just a part Of our culture.
It's summer across appalachia,
And as mother nature Continues to turn up the heat,
So, too, does the pressure On moonshiners to produce.
It's a mad scramble This time of year
That has some taking Their biggest risks --
Risks that could make Or destroy a season.
In north carolina, josh takes A gamble on a distribution deal
With some rough customers.
Selling moonshine Is a cutthroat business,
And if you don't Watch your back,
You could end up in a hole.
In tennessee, two old pros Find out if the weeks of work
On their three-pot still Will finally pay off.
Let's get us A little tastey of that.
And in virginia,
Tim rolls the dice When he sticks his neck out
For an old buddy One last time.
I was trying to get here Before you got out,
And you got out early.
Yeah, man. Look, man. They let me out.
Just as soon as I could get Out of there, I was gone.
♪ no one can hold me down ♪
♪ or make me change my ways ♪
♪ so don't waste your breath Sayin' ♪
♪ crime never pays ♪
♪ goin' for a ride ♪
♪ runnin' to survive ♪
♪ when you're livin' Outside the law ♪
♪ we're livin' Outside the law ♪
♪♪
This is how We make the moonshine!
--captions by vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com
Captions paid for by Discovery communications
You gonna take a bath While you're in there?
On the carolina border, Josh has been itching to run,
But true to form, A series of mishaps
Has him late out Of the starting gate.
Be good if it don't rain Two or three days or four.
It rains every day, Like the rainforest.
Normally, old crazy chuck Is out here helping me,
But he's got some stuff Going on in town,
So I got red dog Out here helping me.
After a bout with heat stroke...
Please help me. I'm so sick.
...Josh enlisted the help Of his friend chuck.
I'm excited To be damn rolling.
holy *bleep*!
But the weather continues To foil his efforts.
What's it look like?
All this mash has been Ready to run, red dog,
But if it's supposed To rain all week, What are we gonna do?
♪♪
Basically, I just need some sort Of structure over my head
To keep the rain off my still And off my mash
So I could have a dry place To work all season.
It don't matter how hard I work. I can't work hard enough.
Have you got enough money To last the rest of your life?
No.
Well, get to working, I guess -- all I know.
I'm gonna start On this other hole.
When you're making moonshine Or doing things against the law,
You can't just trust anybody.
You pretty much have to Trust them with your life,
And red dog is a man That I trust with my life.
When it's hard, you got to Get hard with it, young man.
You're the one wanted to be A big-time moonshiner.
Now you got you All four points.
What I think we can do
Is we'll put about two inches Of fall on that roof
And run the water Off over here.
Whatever you want to do, Chief.
I'm just thankful To have some help.
Shut up and Do what I say.
You get A screw in it?
Yes, sir.
-oh! -ooh!
You all right?That'll get you a pay cut, now.
Did it hit you in the face?No.
I was too damn fast For you.
I forgot I didn't Have that finger.
You ain't gonna have a head, You do that again.
♪♪
Right on!
I'm gonna take a look, josh, And see how square you look.
Hell, It don't matter.
What if the county building Inspector comes over here?
we're going to jail.
Look here, josh.
I got to play A music gig tomorrow
Down at a biker bar.
Red dog is sort of A local guitar legend.
He's been pickin' and grinnin' Around these parts forever.
He's picked guitar With lynyrd skynyrd,
All kind of famous people.
There's a guy been selling Some shine down there,
And he's looking for Something a little better.
I could hook you up with him, If you want me to.
I don't want to be Part of any deal,
But I'll introduce The two of you tomorrow.
I don know Who they are, though.
I know him. He's straight-up.
I trust him, And he moves a lot.
Normally, I don't sell To people I don't know,
And selling to some bikers May be dangerous.
Bikers are known to take A steel pipe to your kneecap.
So they're wanting A steady connection?
Yeah, 'cause they're Selling it regularly.
I'll hook The two of you up.
Alright.
Sounds good. I'll see you At the biker bar, then.
This guy that red dog's Hooking me up with,
If he likes my shine, it could Mean a lot of business for me.
♪♪
-boy. -damn.
That's the only thing That you don't miss --
Muling this stuff in.
We didn't really think About all this
When we decided we wanted Three big stills, did we?
No, sir.
Deep in The great smoky mountains,
Veterans mark and digger Are finally mashing in
For the first time This season.
There we go.
We didn't think we'd ever Reach this point.
This three-pot still system, It's assembled.
We come out of here alive, It's gonna be a miracle.
Well, if we don't, either way, Our damn troubles are over.
Are you *bleep* me?
Mark and digger's plans For an early-season start
Were crushed...
*bleep*
...When a 60-foot tree Fell on their still site.
I want to run A three-barrel still.
Really?
Then a difficult still build Delayed them even further.
*bleep* damn it!
Now the duo Is a month behind schedule
And thousands of dollars In the red
Without a drop of shine To show for it.
Well, I've been itching To make a little liquor,
And it's time to do it.
We're gonna make this Maple-syrup,
Vanilla-bean moonshine.
You know, it's gonna be Easy for us
To fetch $150 a gallon For this liquor
When it's said and done.
Which mash you gonna Put in what?
This big news, Pot big sloppy,
Is getting the corn...Okay.
...And this one's Gonna get vanilla bean,
And then that one There's getting
A beaucoup Of vermont maple syrup.
Usually, we've made Mash in barrels,
But we're not a stranger To mash in our pots.
The simplicity And the time saved,
We're not filling 700 gallons Of water each time,
So we ought to make more liquor In a shorter period.
I'm gonna take my tap And be good.
But we've never fermented Anything like this before.
We're running three pots With three different mashes.
Each one Is its own little factory.
Well, all it takes Is an accident
In one of those factories to Throw this whole operation off.
Pipe to still.
Flame it before You crank that up.
♪♪
There we go.
This first run out of the gate,
We've got everything At stake here.
I mean, if it goes south,
Then we're that much Further behind.
Digger, he seems to think That we can reach
1,100-gallon goal this year,
But we're like a month behind.
Over on the other hand,
If it works the way We intend it to do,
We will catch up very quickly.
This is our homemade Vanilla-bean paste --
42 million calories.
Lord have mercy, It's rich.
Honestly and truly, You could probably just mix
All of these ingredients In one mash.
But everybody's done that.
We're mark and digger.
That's not about Pushing the envelope.
We got to cap These things off
'cause it'll be full Of squirrels if we don't.
♪♪
Well, j.T., let's get Loaded up, man.
Let me get The shotgun, too.
Never know when you'll Need a shotgun, you know?
In climax, virginia,
Tim is taking j.T. On a quest to find the best
That the world of Illegal moonshine has to offer.
I'm never going back To the illegal side,
But I'm still trying to carry on The heritage of my dad
In a legal fashion.
I really want j.T. To appreciate The roots and the hard work
And the heritage that got us To where we are today.
We are taking a little bit Of risk going back.
Have to be careful.
Well, I'm ready To see them.
I'm ready to see what They're working with today.
Some of these old guys, They got some good pointers.
They can let us know, You know, the good and bad
And maybe some shortcuts.
But, you know, We coming in just to visit,
Not running the still.
If you light the fire up And get it going,
You're breaking the law.
If we get caught, We're out of business.
Ain't going to be long You're gonna see
A sign that says "Welcome to franklin county."
Okay.
They well known For making moonshine.
In the blue ridge mountains Of virginia
Lies the moonshine Capital of the world,
Franklin county.
Its history in illegal liquor
Stretches back To the late 1700s,
When a wave of scots-irish Immigrants settled the area.
They soon started Making liquor
According to the centuries Of distilling knowledge
They brought with them From the old world.
Because of the abundance of Moonshine being produced there,
Franklin county Soon became known
As the wettest County in america.
By the time prohibition arrived,
It's said that 99 out of every 100 of the county's residents
Was involved In the illegal liquor trade.
Henry's dad was One of the biggest kingpins,
Probably, In the east coast.
He had crews of guys
Putting out 2,000 or 3,000 gallons a week.
That's some bad guys. You don't want to make them mad.
-oh, no. -so don't make them mad.
We ain't going to do None of that.
Now, henry and his whole family,
They are outlaw moonshiners.
I want to dig into these guys
And try to get Information from them.
What's the selling product here?
Because, you know, The illegal guys,
They don't have to get out And market, like I do.
They already got the customers.
While henry's family operation Is rooted in the backwoods,
It's been fully modernized For efficiency.
They got cameras On this thing everywhere.
Mmm.
Alright.
Tim.
Been a long time, man.
Been working. How you doing?
-good to see you. -alright. Good.
Who's this young man?
J.T.How you doing, j.T.?
Next generation -- You know how it is.
You got to Keep it going.
I see you All high-tech.
You got these cameras On the building
Watching everything.
Yeah, man.
If anything comes In here, I know it.
I'm a little concerned About that truck there.
You sure You weren't followed?
Well, I mean, we stopped At a few places and looked.
We didn't see nobody Following us.
I'm gonna do a sweep On it to make sure
That it don't have Any tracking devices on it,
If you don't mind?
No. No, I don't mind.
Kenny. We need to do a sweep On this truck.
All right, man.
Man, come on. We wasn't expecting all of that.
Well, I hope they ain't got No tracking device on it.
Well, me, too.
I'm taking a lot of risk In coming here.
Do a whole sweep on it.
What's that?
It'll check for Tracking devices, bugs,
If there's anything in there, It'll go off.
Yeah?
Making me nervous Already. Mm.
Coming up...
You ain't never seen Nothing like this, rader.
...Mark and digger unveil Their three-pot still
To a moonshine legend....
It sticks out Like a giant sore thumb.
We just Got to hide it.
...And christmas comes Early in kentucky.
Why is my christmas tree In here?
What christmas tree?
♪♪
I'm a little concerned About that truck there.
I think I need to do A sweep on it to make sure
That it don't have Any tracking devices on it.
Tim and j.T.'s journey into The world of outlaw moonshine
Already has them on high alert
As they face Some extreme security measures.
Making me nervous Already.
How's it checking, Kenny?
-I think she's clear. -yeah, we're good.
Want to check out My operation?
Yeah, let's go in, See what you got going on.
Things has changed with henry.
The thing, out in the woods,
You got to do a lot Of moving around.
You don't stay nowhere long.
Boy, it smells good In here.
-huh? -it smells real good.
He's invested a lot of money, So he's not gonna move,
But you got to make it More safer, more secure.
And we got some brandy Over here, of course.
Oh, yeah.
Stick your head in And take a deep breath.
Ooh-hoo! Man, I love that.
This is all stainless steel And aluminum top,
And plus, we had it camoed When we had it out in the woods.
And right there's a special Thing behind you -- that cap.
Look at the ax holes in it. It's been cut about 10 times.
I see it's done been cut A whole lot of times.
During raids, a fireman's ax
Was the abc agent's Still-breaking weapon of choice,
And this old copper cap Bears the scars to prove it.
It'll have to go Into the moonshine museums.
Being there kind of Brought back all those memories
Out in the woods with my dad.
This is where we come from. This is our heritage.
I talked to my father The other night,
And he remembers Your dad.
I think my dad and your dad Pulled time together.
500 spring street. Yep. Yep.
The last time dad Got out of jail was in '99.
'99 -- okay.
And then he was Indicted again
With that lightning strike In the year 2000.
Operation lightning strike
Was a joint Federal and state task force
Formed in response To the abundance
Of illegal moonshine operations In franklin county, virginia,
During the 1990s.
What alarmed agents
Even more than the amount Of illegal distilleries
Was the size to which The average operation grew.
Gone were the days Of mom-and-pop setups
Knocking out 100 gallons a year.
Authorities Were suddenly encountering
A whole new breed Of moonshiner,
With multi-pot Backwoods distilleries
Cranking out thousands Of gallons every month.
Agents knew that in order To run that much liquor,
Moonshiners would need Steady access
To a large supply Of raw materials.
So they started keeping A close watch
On area farm And industrial supply companies.
The tactic paid off big.
After a local farmer's exchange
Sold several large orders Of sugar and plastic jugs,
Agents subpoenaed The company's books
And found that During a 12- to 18-month period,
Nearly 500 tons of sugar
And one million one-gallon Plastic jugs were sold.
The amount of moonshine Represented by the jugs
Meant over a $20 million loss In tax revenue
To the state of virginia.
The 30 arrests and indictments That followed
Resulted in an average 15-year sentence
For each offender.
Lightning strike Sent shock waves
Through the world Of illegal distilleries
And nearly doubled The price of moonshine.
I'm gonna take Young blood here
And show you Some good peach brandy.
We can do that.
Think y'all Can handle it?
Come over, young blood. Check it out.
♪♪
-oh! -oh, man.
Well, mommy, What do you think?
It sticks out Like a giant sore thumb.
It's like, "Hey. Look at me. Here I am."
Yeah, but, Hey, look at me,
We're gonna hide that.
In kentucky, chico and sondra
Are beginning the camouflage Phase of their site.
We just got to Hide it.
It's got to go away.
Camouflage is the main thing We got to worry about
'cause we're trying To be hidden.
You know, I want to get The entire system
Up off the ground, So we're not at eye level
With the people Coming through the site.
In order to stay hidden, Chico and sondra
Enlisted the help Of a fellow moonshiner
To help construct a platform For their still
High in the trees.
Once the camouflage is complete,
They can start making moonshine.
Come on. All right.
See, we got --
Why is my christmas tree In here?
What christmas tree?
Uh, the big *bleep* box That says "Xmas tree."
You mean the christmas tree
I've been tying To throw away for nine years?
Are you seriously thinking About using that to, like...
I'm repurposing junk That's in my way
That I've been wanting To throw away.
I cannot even deal With you today.
Either it goes On the stand or It gets burnt
With the rest Of the junk When we're done.
I know, I know!
It really is Serving a purpose,
So I will sacrifice my tree
For the greater good.
We don't want it To be noticeable.
If we can break up The straight lines
With branches Or camouflage netting,
That'll help so, so much,
Just so where you won't see it Out of your peripheral vision.
How does that look?
We need to put one More branch up here.
Why? What is with The one little stick?
The start of every year Is the same.
It seems like It takes forever.
And this will do it, Man, like, for real.
I mean, with the big tree
And the other limbs And stuff...
I know it's just been A few weeks,
But it feels like We're running in place.
All right, what now?
We got to go Get mash barrels.
We got to get The stilling stuff down here
'cause I have to start Putting some money Back in my pocket.
Okay, well, Let's keep moving.
Yah!
♪♪
We got the proofing barrel Back here
That we would Normally be using.
And we got some brandy Over here, of course.
Back in Franklin county, virginia,
Tim and j.T. Are knee-deep In the operation
Of an illegal distillery.
Want to try it out, Young blood?
Oh, yeah, let's see What we got.
It's about 110 proof.
Oh, yeah.
That's pretty good.I'm telling you.
Going on this road trip,
It's given me A couple good ideas.
I want to make my own moonshine,
And build a small still, You know,
Experiment with my own flavors, My own recipe,
What I feel That people might like.
I'm pretty excited.
Well, it's a nice Operation you got here,
I'll tell you that Right now.
You want to show The young blood
How to make The liquor, huh?
Yeah, yeah.
Well, we need to get Those apples ground up,
And I need some help.
I could use him. The young blood Could earn a lot.
I want him to dig Into these guys
And try to get Information from them
And actually make him More motivated
And interested In making moonshine.
♪♪
Come over, Young blood.
There's a bag, and I want You to put two buckets.
We're gonna thump it, And the rest of it,
We're gonna put over In the still.
- J.T., he's working. - He's helping them.
And kind of exciting For me, too.
J.T. Was really getting into it, Getting his hands into it,
Getting dirty and everything.
Alright. Good job.
Alright, She's ready to cap.
Alright.
Two-by-fours are back there Behind the wall.
-there you go. -thank you, man.
Here, get that wet.
Start putting Some around that cap.
J.T.
♪♪
J.T.!
You know, they breaking The law, man,
Once they Turn that fire on.
That's, like, getting Across the line here.
We just come by To see the operation.
We didn't come To run the operation.
It's about time For us to leave.
Come, man.
Let's get In this truck, man.
Tim!
♪♪
They breaking The law, man,
Once they Turn that fire on.
It's about time For us to leave.
In virginia, tim is getting That old nervous feeling again.
Tim!
We were just Coming by to visit.
Hell, we didn't know You was ready to run
Peach brandy in there.
We're just gonna Get out of your way.
Let us back On out of here.
Now, henry really Made me nervous,
Reminding me all the reasons Why I went legal,
You know, Looking over my shoulder,
Abc agents trying to Catch me in the woods.
Yeah, I didn't expect them To be running liquor.
I was just wanting you To maybe see the operation
And take a taste Of what the product
That they produce, You know?
But I can't go back To the woods like that.
Hello?
Uh-huh. When?
Okay.
Alright. I'll be there.
Turn around! We got to go back home.
Everything all right?
♪♪
We got to get This stuff transferred over.
Yeah.
Shoot it to me, Boss man.
In the carolina foothills,
The roof over the still site Is complete.
Now josh and chuck Can finally make moonshine.
How's that?
That's good.
I hired chuck To come in and help me,
And he's coming along, He's getting it all figured out,
And I'm glad to have him.
That's about all I'm gonna Get out of it.
Is it full? -yeah.
-alright. -just coming out the top.
Let's light This thing up.
♪♪
Counting on a successful meeting At the biker rally,
Josh is going to stockpile A perennial favorite,
Corn liquor.
We've got a big 185-gallon still,
And it takes Three or four hours
Just to get it to steaming.
And then, when we slow it down And start running it,
It's a good 12- to 14-hour day.
There's gonna be All-nighters to do that.
♪♪
What do you think? We getting close?
Well, you can Feel it thumping.
Put your hand on it.
Oh, yeah. It's thumping pretty good.
It's starting to Piss liquor right now.
Yeah.
Hell, we about got A quarter of a quart
In there already.
Damn. We're on it, man.
You gonna let a Little bit go for The heads, ain't you?
Oh, yeah. Let me see that.
The initial output Of the run,
Called the "Foreshot," Or "Heads,"
Contains toxic methanol.
♪♪
Oh, man. That's good *bleep*.
♪♪
Yeah!
For right out of the worm, That's smooth.
Yeah. You better not Drink too much more.
We got to get This run finished.
♪♪
Well, tomorrow, It's not about How much we sell.
It's about the deal.I hear you.
It's about where It's gonna carry us.
And if that goes well,
We're well on our way To selling the rest of it.
Okay.
Josh's all-night run yields 45 gallons of premium moonshine
Totaling 75 gallons For his season so far.
Man, the sun's gonna be Coming up soon.
I'm glad to be Almost be done
With this son of a bitch. This took forever.
♪♪
In kentucky, it's time For chico and sondra
To mash in.
So, we need to get all This stuff down there.
They'll need to collect A few last pieces of equipment.
So, the leastattention, The better.
So we agree on the Four-wheeler as a Bad idea to do this.
Well, I was thinking A little more
Under the radar.
Quad makes a lot of noise.
If you hear a quad Going in the woods, you go,
"I wonder who that is."
And you follow it.
If someone comes To the still site,
Our entire system is shut down.
We got to Be careful, though.
He's mean.
Oh, my lord.
Horses has been around Since time.
They were the first All-terrain vehicle.
You think he's gonna Be able to pack us
And the still And the barrels?
He can pack three times His body weight,
So he can Probably pack you.
Ow!
We're gonna use little pony To get down our still
And all of Our mashing supplies.
Can you Get in there?
Into the cart?
Yeah, of course.
And if he can, perfect, Because that is no noise.
He's portable.
Let's roll, Little man.
Yeah, boy!
It's perfect. You know?
Whether pony can do it or not, I don't know.
We're gonna see. He's got a big heart.
Easy, little man.
Lighten up.
Whoop, whoop, Whoop, whoop, easy!
Whoop, whoop, Whoop, whoop!
Whoa, buddy!
I got mud On my ass!
I see that.*bleep* damn it, boy!
I'm glad He didn't get down.
What about me?!
You're okay, Just a little muddy.
Alright, boy.
Come on, easy.
It takes a little more time,
But it's worth it At the end of all this.
Whoa, bub!
-whoa baby. -oh, man.
Alright, Are you ready?
Let's unload This thing,
And you can Head back with him,
Can't you, And get them barrel?
Uh, yeah. Yeah, That should be fine.
There's four barrels Up there.
You should be able to just Grab them and come on back.
Okay, what are you Gonna be doing?
Got you. I can handle that, yes.
Easy, easy.
She is the love of my life,
But time spent apart Is time valued by me.
That is for sure.
Whoa, good boy.
Alright.
Now, we got to figure out These barrels, boyfriend.
So, I'm a little skeptical About how I'm gonna get
All four barrels in this cart With me and the pony.
I don't know, I think chico is kind of
Not sending me On a fool's errand,
But he expects this to be Very difficult for me,
And I think he did that On purpose.
This is a joke.
Alright. Alright.
Do some serious Regrouping here.
♪♪
That's not big enough.
How in the hell am I Gonna make this work?!
It's been a hard day --
A really hard, Long day with pony.
Pony and I, we need to Get back down to the site.
Damn it, man.
There's way too much Riding on this.
We got to get Mashed in tonight.
We need to start Making money.
Lord.
♪♪
Alright, pony, Are you ready to Try this out again?
In kentucky, Sondra is loaded to capacity.
Man, it's been an hour, Hour and a half.
It seems like We're crawling again.
♪♪
Whoa, easy.
Well, it's like when I send you to the store.
Whoa, pony.You're gone for two days.
Lord have mercy.
Chico is, like, ready To get this mash going,
Like, yesterday.
But, you know, This is hard work.
Yeah.
Okay.
We're gonna bucket our Mash materials up on the deck,
So people don't see us.
We've got kids at home, So we have to make sure
That me and her are safe.
Now all we got to do
Is take the hook At the end of the rope,
Hook them in the barrels and see If the pony can handle that.
-go? -yeah.
There you go, pony.
-easy. -whoa!
Come on, pony!
Ugh!
-whoop! -there you go.
Good boy.
Come up, bub.
Come on, pony.
Alright, hold him!
Pull!
Good job! Whoa!
Good job, buddy.
-see? -alright.
♪♪
A little tight up here, Isn't it?
Uh-oh.
That's not Enough room.
I mean, That's way too close.
What are we gonna do?
After we've built This massive platform
In these trees,
Still, we don't have Enough room.
I mean, we need to start Getting liquor in jars.
We're not making Any money this way.
It's driving me nuts, Man.
I mean, I feel like I'm literally standing
And jumping in place.
♪♪
You ain't never seen Nothing like this, rader.
A week after mashing in, Mark and digger are joined
By one of their mentors, J.B. Rader,
For the maiden voyage Of their three-pot still.
There's gonna be A lot of challenges
Running this triple still, And a fresh set of eyes on it,
Especially J.B. Rader's eyes on it,
Why, that's a plus.
J.B. Rader is one of the Living legends of moonshining.
That's it For the last one.
This is it.
He was partners with The infamous popcorn sutton.
It has to be spongy For it to fit.
Together they became The most renowned moonshiners
Of their generation.
How about That there, jacob b?
Oh, it does Smell good.
This is Virgin territory.
Get over there And turn that gas on.
Let's light Big sloppy up.
♪♪
We spent a monstrous Amount of time and money
Putting this rig together.
We're like a month behind.
But if this thing works Like we think it's going to,
I mean, we can make 100 gallons at a run,
One of the biggest Concerns with this--
It takes longer to heat up The 300-gallon pot
Versus the 200-gallon pots.
Mark and digger's goal Is to use three-pot still
To create Vapor-blended liquors.
To do this, Alcohol vapor from each pot
Must hit the manifold Simultaneously,
Where they'll blend before Condensing into liquid form.
To obtain the correct balance,
The three pots Must finish cooking off
At exactly the same time.
Because the large pot Holds 100 gallons more
Than each smaller pot,
It will need to begin heating Sooner and run slightly hotter,
But how much sooner And how much hotter
Can be a tricky call to make.
If successful, The technique will provide
The subtle flavor profile
That mark and digger Are banking on.
You know, If it doesn't blend perfect,
Then, you know, All this extra work,
It's been for nothing.
Don't you worry, buddy.
It's gonna be A good run.
♪♪
Manifold's hot.
-everything's hot. -condenser head's hot.
Surely, to god, It's time
For some liquor To come out of there.
Vanilla, maple syrup, And corn --
It can't help But be delicious.
Do I see a pre-drip Right there?
Well, yep.
I believe we do.
One way to prove it.
♪♪
First run Of the season, boys.
First liquor Out the gate.
Yeah.
♪♪
Yep.
Stir that up there,
And let's get us A little tastey of that.
Well, I'm gonna Tell you what.
Yeah, This still my idea,
So I'm gonna take The first sip.
Fair enough. Have at it.
Mmm. Damn.
I don't know that You'll want one.
Oh, you're just Messing with me.
No. That's horrible.
Ugh.
You'uns Just japing me.
I wish I was.
♪♪
No, no, no, No, no!
-damn it. -yep.
I mean, it's like Damn lye soap.
Hey.
It's that damn manifold.
Well, we -- yeah. We cleaned all.
-look here. -oh, no, maybe...
♪♪
Stick your finger in That and then stick It in your mouth.
I don't have to.
We used Three cans of flux
To solder that up,
And we didn't clean it,
Knowing damn good And well
We needed to get All that flux out of there.
Flux, a paste used To help bond soldered seams,
Is used in the construction Of copper stills.
If any excess Is not completely removed,
It'll leave the liquor With a bitter, metallic taste.
We made about 35, 37 gallons
Of flux-laden liquor
And ruined it Right out of the gate.
First run of the year,
And here we are Back to damn square one.
We can't tolerate Many more
Of these rookie mistakes.
By god, There ain't no sense
In even running Another damn quart
Of that *bleep*.
You know, I don't know Where to start
With how far behind we are In the season right now.
You know, if this Was early spring,
I wouldn't be As on edge as I am.
But you know, we're just Spinning our wheels,
And we've come up with nothing.
Coming up...
I'll be glad To see the sun.
I ain't seen it In a long time.
...Reunited with freedom...
-dad! -hey, baby.
...And family.
I missed you.
Fricking cutie pie get bit By a big, damn, poisonous snake,
Just about took her out.
I hate that son of a bitch.
You want to Go eat that?
Yeah.
It may be weird to keep it
'cause I probably won't want Nothing to remind me of that.
He's coming out Right pretty, Though, ain't he?
But at the same time,
You got to have respect For the snake.
He can't help He's a snake, you know,
Just like we can't help We're humans,
And we're at the top Of the food chain.
It's all yours, Buddy.
Hard to believe Something like that
Packs such a punch, Ain't it?
Yes, it is.
I'm gonna hang this up At the still site.
Well, how much we Gonna take down to the bar?
What we got Right here.
Oh, hell.
We got all that liquor Down at the still.
I don't know who the hell I'm dealing with,
So until I feel comfortable,
We're gonna work Our way into it.
In north carolina,
Josh and chuck Are making preparations
To close a big deal.
Today is not about Making a big sale.
Today is about Making a deal
That's gonna pay us All season.
And I don't know This guy.
Anything could happen.
Red dog's band has been Playing up at this biker bar,
And there's this guy up there, And he needs a good supplier
'cause he's selling More moonshine
Than he knows what to do with,
And red dog thinks he'll be A good customer for me.
Well, if this deal works out,
I'm gonna make A bunch of money,
But selling moonshine Is a cutthroat business.
If you don't watch your back,
You could end up in a hole,
And you can definitely End up in jail.
Only reason I'm doing this
Is 'cause this dude is supposed To be a hell of a connection.
Red dog said they're cool, And I trust red dog.
So I'm just kind of keeping To myself until red dog
Makes the introduction.
It is a private club.
If they don't know you,
You might want to tread A little light at first.
Hey, josh! How you doing, bro?
What's happening, buddy?
You are, man.
Come over here.
I'm just gonna introduce Two people I know well,
And I'm gonna walk away.
Whatever they talk about Is up to them.
I know everybody. I trust everybody.
That's all I know.
I'm out of here, bro.
Alright. Good.
Yeah, I got some Right here.
Take you A snort off of that.
♪♪
There's plenty of that Where that come from.
I got $600 worth here If you want to take that,
And then, if you want Some more later,
I can hook you up,
But that's all I got with me right now.
♪♪
Put all that Stuff back in there.
Yeah. Yeah, I can get All you want.
Sounds good. Appreciate it.
Alright. Sounds good.
This sale is gonna be The start of something
Really beautiful.
They're gonna be able To take almost
All of my moonshine Off of my hands.
They're gonna bootleg it for me.
I just got to make one sale.
I'm stoked. I'm really excited.
♪♪
You know, It's early in the morning.
Well, I had plans On taking j.T. Out on
Kind of a tour here And do some tasting,
But, you know, that's gonna Have to hold for right now.
I got to go back and, You know, see my old friend.
♪♪
I'm gonna pull up right here
So I can see him When he comes out,
'cause I know where He's gonna come out at.
Well, hell, there's somebody Just sitting right there.
♪♪
I was trying to get here Before you got out,
And you got out early.
Yeah, man. Look, man. They let me out.
Just as soon as I could get Out of there, I was gone.
Yeah, the sun's gonna be up In a few minutes.
Yeah, well, I'll be glad To see the sun.
I ain't seen it In a long time.
Well, I think You been eating good.
You know, they put me Down in the kitchen.
I was baking the rolls And the biscuits
And the cakes And all that.
Can you believe they give me The yeast and the sugar?
I mean, really.
Last season...
Tim! What's up, man?
What's going on?
Man!
...When tickle was released From prison,
Tim was there to help him pick Up the pieces and start again.
If you can stay straight, I need you.
But a subsequent Probation violation
Had tickle right back In the slammer.
It's amazing the stuff You take for granted
When you're in there.You miss all that stuff.
Like mom and daisy, And you know,
I get to see them When they come and visit me,
But you don't get To touch them.
That's right.
You don't get To touch them.
There's somebody Coming here.
It might be her now.
There you go. That's your family.
-hey. -dad!
Hey, baby.
-hi. -hey.
I missed you.
I missed you.I missed giving you hugs.
-hey, mama. -oh.
Are you gonna Behave yourself now?
Yeah, yeah.
I think I done got all that Out of my system.
I sure hope so.Mwah.
I ain't going back In there, I promise.
I'm so... I know.
Mwah, I missed you.
I'm back now. Okay?
Okay.
Well, Are you all ready?
I'm tired Of this place.
What are you Gonna do now?
Well, I reckon I'm gonna Head on home with them.
I guess I'll see you In a little bit.
We'll get us something To eat or something. What do you think?
Alright. I'll see you, brother.
-see you. -alright.
Bye, tim!Lois: nice seeing you.
Well, I may have some ideas
To try to keep tickle Out of jail.
I will put him to work To stay busy,
Stay out of trouble.
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
This whole three-pot system,
We don't know If we did it right or not.
...One last chance to save The season in tennessee.
My future In the liquor business,
It lays right here.
Son of a bitch.
Pressure builds in louisiana.
You think that thing's Gonna blow?
And in virginia,
Tim has a plan To keep his old friend
On the free side Of the fence.
Since you don't have Nothing to do,
Why don't you come And help us out?
You reckon it'll be As much fun?