Mark and I, we're not afraid To try something different.
That's what I love about our Brand of making moonshine.
We've got no confines.
We experiment. We adapt and overcome.
We've got a reputation of being The forefront of moonshine,
And we mean to uphold it.
Creating authentic Appalachian moonshine
Has long been a process Of trial and error.
Those who innovate While respecting tradition
Continue to push The craft forward
And guarantee its survival.
I found us A microscope.
See how good our yeast Are doing.
Getting granular in tennessee.
Different yeasts For different type mashes.
Exactly.
A friendship fractures On the blue ridge.
All right. I'm ready.
And there's fire In the sky in kentucky.
Wow.
♪ 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
Move that still Out of our way.
Yeah. Don't hit that.
In the blue grass state,
Moonshiners chico and sondra
Have tapped Their carpenter friend,
Terry, to add a second level To their tree platform.
-thank you. -all right. Ready?
After we built this Massive platform,
Still it's not enough room.
So we need a second level.
It's not a good Situation to be in.
I keep spending money And putting in time and labor.
I got to get liquor in jars.
If I wanted to do this *bleep*
Man, I'd start building Tree stands for a living.
After constructing a platform Suspended from the trees...
Little tight up here, Isn't it?
...Chico and sondra Soon discovered a mistake
In their calculations That will cost them time.
That's not enough room.
What are we going to do?
Right on her. You got it.
Make sure I don't get one Of your fingers in there.
As a moonshiner it's always a Concern anybody seeing my site,
But terry helped us Build the deck itself.
He's not going to say anything.
He's going to keep this Under his hat,
And at the end of all this,
I'll make sure He's well taken care of.
All right. Good.
-are you guys done yet? -almost.
We have been doing this For three weeks now.
This is taking forever.
You know, we want To get shining.
I feel like a moonshiner Without a job
Because I'm just standing around
At a construction site, Basically.
Just think about What color curtains
You're going to hang up.
I hope we can get This done in one day
And it doesn't turn Into a long build.
Like, we're behind already. We need to get running liquor.
-pretty tall up there. -hell, yeah, that's tall.
This is up here.
It's actually a good Lookout point
For people coming in on us.
We can see through those woods From that vantage point
Better than anybody On the ground
Can even think About seeing us.
Perfect.
That's badass.
Yeah.
I mean, ain't nobody else Got a setup
Like this Out in the woods.
Mnh-mnh.
I'm happy, man.
-yeah. -tickle me to death.
All right.
The last thing I need to do Is get some more camouflage up
Pretty quick because We're trying to be hidden.
This is a long way to fall.
Oh, it is a long fall. Think people will look up?
Not if we get it Covered, I don't.
We finally got The second level finished.
It's done.
After we finish Camouflaging this,
The next step we've got to take Is getting water up
In this massive tree stand That we've built.
And then we can start Putting mash in barrels.
All right. What now?
I think we need to get The camo netting...
-yeah. Uh huh. -...And break up the bottom.
But I have to start putting Some money back in my pocket.
The camouflaging stuff Is awesome
But, I mean, We're losing days.
You know, To me, this site needs
A lot more camouflaging before I feel 100% confident in it,
And I'd like to camouflage A little bit more,
But he is right, We've got to get liquor going.
The further you get away, The further it goes away.
It's not.
You're not going to look up There for any reason whatsoever.
That's the main Objective.
♪♪
Patty boy, have I got A surprise for you.
What are you Up to here, puss?
I found us a microscope, see how Good our yeasts are doing.
See what we can do With this sucker.
In tennessee, at the Tip of the spear of innovation,
Mark and digger are trying To optimize their yield
By applying a little science.
What exactly are you Trying to figure out, puss?
We might just happen To stumble across something
That tells us Which ones of our yeasts
Are going to work A little better, you know?
Different yeasts For different type mashes?
Exactly.
Mark gets a phone call From a guy
That's been a good customer Over the years.
He wants 30 gallons Of cantaloupe moonshine.
I've never made mush melon Moonshine in my life.
With fruits, There's so much can go wrong
With the fermentation,
And I think this microscope Might help us.
After removing the residual flux
From their three-pot still...
...Mark and digger finally Tasted sweet success
With their vanilla maple shine.
Yeah, boy.
The duo are now diverting Their attention
To a specialty order For cantaloupe shine.
I'm right here Seeing yeast split.
They're propagating.
Yeah.
I'm no microbiologist By any means.
I know a little bit About yeast.
We can watch which yeasts Perform better
With different sugars In this cantaloupe
Because adding the wrong yeast Can ruin the whole run.
From pot-distilled moonshine
To beer and wine,
Yeast has been the vital Component in alcohol production
For over 9,000 years.
Categorized as a fungus,
Yeast is a living Single-celled microorganism
Which grows everywhere In the environment,
But strains used In alcohol production
Are grown on the skin of fruit.
During fermentation, Yeast is added
To a grain or fruit-based mash.
Enzymes in the yeast break down The sugar in the mash,
Converting it into ethanol And carbon dioxide gas.
Once the alcohol content of the Mash reaches around 12%,
The yeast dies off, Completing fermentation.
Different strains of yeast Have varying effects
On the flavor, complexity,
And alcohol content Of the finished product.
How could you tell if this yeast Will work better with,
Say, the cantaloupe-based Mash?
By how quickly They reproduce.
I mean, they're working Like mad men.
We've got this strain of yeast
That we've used before With fruit mashes.
We've been looking at it Under the microscope.
Hopefully, if the yeasts Work out on this cantaloupe,
We'll get a quick fermentation
And be ready to make Liquor pretty quick.
You know, ain't liquor-making Come a long way
Since the old timers Were just simply putting them
Little packets Of bread yeast in it?
And they'd probably laugh Their ass off at us.
They would be entitled To that.
♪♪
You got somebody else In mind that we going to go see?
We're going to go See old amos law,
One of the biggest kingpins Probably in the east coast.
Tim and j.T. Are on the road again,
Headed for the next stop On their search for the roots
Of franklin county moonshine.
Amos law, One of the most legendary,
Most famous moonshiners In all of franklin county.
Maybe in the whole United states.
Controlling millions of dollars, He was the big
Al capone of moonshining.
These were really Rough guys back in the day.
Some of them died.
Some of them got shot, And amos survived.
You know you're in moonshine Country when you got corn
On both sides of the road.
We are taking A little bit of risk,
And this is why we decided To go in the day time.
I don't want him to, like, Pull out the gun or nothing.
Better be careful, somebody Come around that curve,
We don't want to Get trapped.
Just stop right here.
-is that him down there? -I'd say so.
Looking for amos law.
-yeah. -how you doing?
Doing good? Good to see you.
My son, j.T. Here.
Been a long time. -yeah.
My daddy used to buy A whole lot of liquor from you.
-yep. -I don't know if you know,
But I got a brand Called climax moonshine now.
I took my dad's recipe And I went legal.
-oh, yeah. -with j.T. Meeting amos law,
I really want him to see How big you can become
And how fast you can fall.
It's an exciting law Being an outlaw
And being in this business,
But then you get sent to prison,
You get separated From your family,
And everything just Collapses around you.
Well what's the biggest Operation you ever had?
Hmm.
Making you about 3,000 gallons of liquor.
-yeah. -a week?
Yeah. A week.
I make 300 gallons a week In a legal, big distillery,
And we got 10 employees Out here working.
So you got to make sure You got the customers ready,
Waiting in line for it.
Well you ain't just one of The boys, you the head man.
Yeah.
Uh huh.
The talk with amos, he spent A lot of time behind bars
And a lot of time Being on the run from the law.
Well-known In the papers and all,
But that's not The kind of well-known
I want to be popular for.
Well we trying To stay out of jail.
I'm trying to show j.T. There's Old ways of making moonshine.
You got to get something good, You got to stay to it,
You got to make it right.
That's what you've done All these years.
You got to make it right.
I know how it is.
I grew up illegal moonshining,
Looking over your shoulder Or looking behind you.
This is why I went legal.
This outlaw thing, It's a really tough life.
I really want j.T. To not go on that path.
Well, amos, it's been Nice talking to you.
Yeah. You, too.
I think we learned A little bit,
And I think j.T. Learned a little bit.
But we got something That you can't buy.
Oh, yeah.
I really, truly feel like, You know,
If you don't come From this business,
You didn't grow up In this business,
You got a long ways to go.
I have it, my dad had it, And j.T. Has it, too.
-yeah. Good talking with you. -nice to see you.
-we'll be back. -all right.
Coming up...
-okay, we don't have water. -what?
No water.
...Dry as a bone in kentucky.
Why don't we have water?
We'll see what Cantaloupe liquor tastes like.
And in tennessee, A real nowhere mash.
There ain't a bit Of alcohol to it.
It stopped fermenting, So I'm worried about this thing
Producing.
♪♪
Come on, archie. Come on.
In north carolina, Mark is weeks into hacking
A polished still site Out from the rugged terrain.
After their original site
Was demolished By a construction crew...
Oh, my god!
...Mark and his partner, mike, Decided to divide and conquer.
While mike ran on his own
To fulfill their first order Of the season,
Mark created a permanent site Deeper in the woods.
The completed trough Will carry water
From a nearby stream Into the still site.
♪♪
Come on, archie. Let's go.
♪♪
Man, it's raining!
You know what today is, Don't you?
Today is the day That you play dominoes.
Play dominoes?
When it's raining, you can't do Nothing else outside.
Well I thought that's when You drink the moonshine,
When it rains, And you make it when it's dry?
Well, I didn't say nothing About not drinking.
On rain-soaked roads In southwest virginia,
Tim and j.T. Are on their way To meet another
Franklin county Moonshine legend.
I ain't seen him In a long time.
Hell, he's about 90 years old by then.
Cecil is probably the oldest Still-living moonshiner
That I know of,
And he really had developed A name for himself.
I mean, at an early age, he was Producing a lot of moonshine
And making the best moonshine In franklin county.
And only three years ago, He was arrested for moonshining.
So at 85 years old.
That just shows you If it's in your blood,
You're not going to stop.
All right. Sun shine.
About the time we get over To cecil's house,
It's going to be Nice and pretty.
Now these guys up here make Moonshine all over the place.
They used to have A cemetery,
But they didn't have No people buried in it.
They had moonshine Buried in it.
The whole operation Was up under there.
Man.
From secret rooms Behind false walls
To reinforced Subterranean chambers
Hidden beneath trap doors,
Moonshiners have long employed An arsenal of ingenious methods
Of hiding their stills From the law,
Ratcheting up a cat and mouse Game that spanned decades.
In 1979, atf agents discovered What would prove to be
One of the most audacious Hiding schemes of all time.
On the short hill a few Hundred feet from a county road,
A moonshiner named David philpott
Bulldozed a large hole In the ground
Then covered it with a false Roof of sod and grass,
Creating a fake cemetery,
Complete with headstones Made from cinder blocks
And landscaping Of shrubs and flowers.
Below ground, he placed 18 800-gallon pots
Capable of cranking out 1,500 Gallons of shine every week.
All right. This one right here?
This is it. Turn in right there.
When j.T. Was younger,
Moonshining was Just a part of life.
I don't think he really got it.
So going back and meeting The old timers,
He can get the feel of it
And bring that back To the legal side,
And I think he'll be One motivated individual.
How you doing, cece?
I ain't seen you since The last time I saw you.
How you doing? J.T.
And you mr. Love, too, huh?
Yeah? Love.
So, you didn't haul No liquor, did you?
-yeah. -did you haul liquor, too?
-yeah. -yeah.
I thought j.T. Come around And talk to these old timers,
Maybe something will rub off On him or something.
Well, I mean, Just the little bit
I grew up in, It's hard work,
And I know today, People don't know that.
-yeah. -yeah.
All right.
Put it all in together?
So you put all your grain In at one time
And put The hot water to it?
Yeah.
Cecil, he really, you know, Set the standard
For a lot of guys Back in the day.
It takes guts, really, to, You know, tell the boss man
That you got a better idea,
You got to better way To do things
And innovate To make things happen.
And I want j.T. To do the same.
Yeah.
Coming up...
...It's time to shine In north carolina.
To me, this is the most Nerve-racking moment.
And dire straits in kentucky.
If this doesn't work, we have to Come up with a different plan.
Yep.
♪♪
Did he teach y'all How to do the moonshine?
Back in virginia, Tim and j.T. Are face-to-face
With cecil and clarence love, Two of the state's oldest
And most prolific makers Of backwoods liquor.
3,000 gallons a day?
I'm legal now, you know,
And I don't make 3,000 gallons a day.
What about these different types Of moonshine you made?
Yeah. Right.
I know it is.
You reckon j.T. Going to be A good moonshiner?
Yeah.
I really admire cecil.
As early at 16 years old, he Decided he was going to go out,
Start making his own moonshines.
He wasn't afraid To do his own thing.
After visiting All these different places,
I learned a lot And I got some real good ideas
For my legal operation.
I'm ready to head back To culpepper.
So I think j.T. Understands It's hard work,
And you can have A little fun at it, too.
That's when you got to Fire it back up then.
I want j.T. To learn from cecil.
I want him to take initiative.
He's got to make His own bold moves,
And he's got to get out there And he's got to do his thing.
That's the way He's got to make his mark
On this whole moonshine world.
Well, it was good Talking to y'all.
-yeah. Yeah. -I appreciate everything.
-we'll be back to see you. -all right.
Appreciate it.
♪♪
What in the world... Damn canta-mush melon liquor?
It's what it is.
I don't give a *bleep* To try it, do you?
Ah, hell, It's something new.
I ain't never made liquor Out of mush melons.
In the great smoky mountains,
Mark and digger are preparing To mash in a moonshine first.
Ain't nothing better Than two big melons, is there?
Little asymmetrical There.
You want to turn the pump on Or you want me to?
I will.
An old customer of ours, He wants mush melon liquor.
Traditionally, everybody Made corn liquor.
Well, the moonshining Industry today is changing.
People want different things.
They want different flavors.
Very difficult to be A moonshiner,
And it's even more difficult To be a good moonshiner.
That creek is Still plenty big.
Yeah, I wish it stayed Like that all the time,
Makes a lot of fuss. -yes. It does.
You can't hear nobody Sneaking up on you,
But they can't hear Them burners, either.
Oh, that's clean As a whistle.
Ain't nothing in there But clear water.
I'm going to Sugar that in.
We don't know much About cantaloupe,
And we don't know If it'll make good liquor,
But we've been doing this For going on 30 years.
If you stay static in your Craft, no matter what it is,
You're never going To advance any further.
I feel like, If we learn something new,
Hey, we've done something.
I ain't got no idea What it'll taste like.
It could be really Something good,
And if it turns out that it is,
Why, it's just another Arrow in our quiver.
Well, it smells good. -yeah. It do.
You'll have you a damn straw In it in a minute.
I don't know. It'll be something else.
Damn near lost a thumb On that one.
Well, they're getting Slicker, ain't they?
You going to Do it again?
♪♪
Yonder it comes. That will cool that mash off.
Did you give any forethought About whatever kind of yeast
We need For this in here?
-yeah. -you got it?
That yeast we got going, The slow-acting one?
-yeah. -that's the one that we used
In our apples before, For our rye apple.
When it comes to rye apple,
I buy our yeast And I bloom it myself.
Comes in on the back end, Don't it?
-yeah. It does. -makes it sweet.
Man, That's outstanding.
See now, this yeast here, It's our slower,
Longer fermenting yeast,
And that's because, As fruit rots,
It still continues to ferment
And we need the yeast to be able To stand up through that time
And give some more flavor.
Well, we're ready to cover This up and let it go to work.
I don't know So much about this.
We don't have any experience With cantaloupe.
We've got it with apples.
The sugar structures Are similar,
But we think If this yeast works,
We're going to bring the best We can to the table.
Who'd have ever think it, puss?
Mush melon liquor.
I ain't a thinking about it Until it's done.
♪♪
Don't fall.
Yeah, this will work.
-yeah? -deep and cold.
Up in kentucky,
With their platform In the trees complete,
Chico and sondra Must now overcome
One more obstacle -- gravity.
We got to get the water Out of that creek...
-yep. -...Into that stand.
We've been here for weeks Building this platform,
Money is leaving, Time is leaving.
We got to start putting money Back in our pockets.
If we don't start getting Running here pretty quick,
It's going to be Another half season wasted.
But before we start Putting mash in barrels,
We've got one more hurdle We've got to cross.
We've got to get water Pumping into the stand.
We got to run pipe 100 foot from The creek, and then straight up.
That's work for any pump.
We don't have to Bury this very deep.
It's just got to be covered So it doesn't get cracked.
Okay.
This is it.
This is all we have to do Before we can mash in
And then start making money.
That'll work. Start covering it up.
Every day I don't smell propane,
I don't hear that copper rocket, Time is leaving.
I mean, look around, man, it's Dead middle of shine season.
I should have been a plumber.
Yeah, you got enough crack Hangs out all the time,
You probably Should have been.
Smart ass.
I take pride In carrying on the heritage
And culture of moonshining,
But the reason I'm in these Woods fighting bugs is money.
You think we should have done, Like, a test run
Before we buried All this?
You've got no faith?
I'm slightly nervous That the pump will not be
Strong enough To pump the water.
-easy. -does that work?
-yep. -we'll see.
I hope I'm wrong, but we're just Going to charge forward
And try it out.
All right, keep this hose As straight as you can.
Okay. I got you.
All right.
I don't know about you, But to me,
This is the most Nerve-racking moment so far.
Because if this Doesn't work,
We have to come up With a different plan.
Yep.
Got a prime. We know that.
No, the hose is moving, That's water.
-water. -I got to go.
Well, you need to Go up there and see
What's pumping Them barrels.
Okay. We don't have water.
-what? -no water.
I can't get water In the barrels.
I can't get water in the still.
Without water, we're done.
No water. Why don't we have water?
Okay. We don't have water.
-what? -no water.
Back in the blue grass state,
It's an uphill battle As chico and sondra
Struggle to get water Up to their mash barrels.
Every time we do something To make it easier on us
Through the course of the year,
It seems like I always bite Off more than I can chew.
It must have a clog in it Somewhere in this pipe.
Blow in it, See what happens.
Do it again.
Yeah. All right.
Got water?
No. I got air.
It's pushing air out?
Yeah.
Suck on it.
What about water?
-*bleep* you. Yeah. -we got water?
-we got water. -all right.
Start filling barrels.
I'm, like, super excited.
Our water is good, We got this thing built.
We get to mash in today.
All right. Go get strawberries.
We're going to start This season off
With strawberry banana brandy.
Please don't fall.
I have been getting Phone calls for weeks now,
And I have orders to fill.
Last year, chico and I opened up To this customer base
That's been untapped, And that's the women market.
We had such great success With the watermelon crawl
Last year in the fall crawl.
This year, we want to kind Of keep that train going.
How did I get hooked Into this part?
Because you love me.
Yeah.
All right, you going to Put it together?
Yeah.
This is sondra's wheelhouse.
She's the boss When it comes to what we need
To put into our mash.
Everybody has got Their own way of doing this.
I've got the way That works for me.
The water temperature has got To be above 90 degrees
To break down sugar.
The water temperature has to be Below 90 or it kills my yeast.
I heat up my water and break Down my sugar in small batches,
I dump it on top of cool water In the mash barrels
To get it down To the temperature where
The yeast will start.
All right. Last barrel.
I finally got my mash started.
I finally got to use my still.
Look at the head On that one.
I know.
I finally got to hear yeast Working, you know?
I still just can not wait until I get that first jar of liquor.
What are we going to do While we wait?
I'm going home.
I don't know What you're doing.
♪♪
In north carolina,
Mark prepares for his first Solo run of the season.
I'm proud of it.
When mash reaches 10% to 12% alcohol,
The density Of the liquid changes,
Causing any solids That were floating on top
To sink to the bottom.
The signal that It's ready to run.
♪♪
I'm going to Dump this out.
Mark's 14-gallon run Of corn whiskey will net him
$1,400 and bring his and mike's Season total to 39 gallons.
Hershey, you ready to go?
♪♪
So, here In an hour or two,
We'll see what cantaloupe Liquor tastes like.
Over in tennessee, Mark and digger
Are looking to add a new flavor
To their already Impressive line up.
Me and old digger, We're coming in today,
We're going to run this Cantaloupe mash.
We've never done it before,
But we gave our word To this customer,
And we're committing Our word and our reputation.
It might be Delicious, digger.
I smell that mash. -it smells good.
We don't know much About cantaloupe,
As far as liquor goes.
We know we both like to eat it.
The fruit taste comes through, It's going to be dandy liquor.
Look how The cap's dropped,
Got a little fruit still Floating on on the top of it.
Yeah. It's ready to go.
Got the...
No.
Hey, man, that's sweeter Than damn molasses.
Man, it still tastes Cantaloupe-y,
But there ain't a bit Of alcohol taste to it.
It ain't finished.
It's sweeter than molasses And what sweet equals in a mash
Is it's not finished.
It means that it never did start Or it got stuck,
It stopped fermenting.
So we're dead in the water.
The gist of the matter Is right now, we're done.
Coming up...
This is the first Run of the season.
We're ready to start Making money.
...A thirst For success in kentucky.
♪ they took me down To nashville ♪
♪ I stayed all night ♪
Moonshiner/crooner jim tom has A catalog of toe-tapping tunes
As legendary as his shine.
♪ whiskey, whiskey, whiskey ♪
♪ come on out, I'm a craving whiskey ♪
♪ with my spout ♪
♪ oh, down in the mountains Of tennessee ♪
♪ me and martin digger Was happy as could be ♪
♪ oh, I told old sal To look right here ♪
♪ she said jim tom, Bring me a beer ♪
♪ I'm on my way ♪
Let's act like I knock hell out of you.
It's working on you, Too, ain't it?
Dang right.
♪ oh, me, my wife And a stump-tail dog ♪
♪ crossed the creek On a hickory log ♪
♪ the log was slick And she fell in ♪
♪ lost the willy jug again. ♪
That's what I'm talking about.
♪♪
There ain't a big Of alcohol taste to it.
No.
But, man, that's sweeter Than damn molasses.
Back in tennessee, Stalled mash has foiled
Mark and digger's first run Of their new cantaloupe shine.
Yeast has died. It's stuck.
Something has Killed it dead.
You know, right now, we're still In the midst of summer.
It's still good and hot.
You know, this yeast it,
It ought to work Good day and night.
But, you know, Something happened,
And we've got to address it And we've got to go forward.
Can we not Heat it back up?
We put the same yeast, it's Probably going to kill it again.
Whatever is in that Cantaloupe killed that yeast,
So we got to come up With something different.
That's what you do, Ain't it?
The only other option we got is, I've got a yeast
It's supposed to give 20% to 24% alcohol by law.
Is that the one in that jug
That we just kept Putting the sugar in it?
And aerating it, Yeah, stirring it up.
We got to do that That way?
Yeah, we'll have to do it The same way,
That's the way It's got to be done.
I've got a high gravity Beer yeast.
I've saved it for an experiment, But maybe now is the time.
Our reputation is On the line here, puss.
Well, we're going to have to get The hell out of here
And get that yeast.
We gave our word To this customer
That we would try To make this liquor,
But we don't know If we can kick start it or not.
We still got to turn The fermentation,
Which is going to Take additional time.
And if we fail to do What we say we'll do,
Then our word is not worth A warm cup of piss.
Cap her off And let's go.
♪♪
Oh.
Creeping in here easy Like that is not bad.
Under cover Of the kentucky night,
Chico and sondra Are putting liquor in jars
For the first time this season
With their run of Strawberry banana brandy.
It is so quiet Back here.
This is the first Run of the season.
We have a 20-gallon Order to fill,
So we're going to have to Make more than just one run.
This will get our new flavor out There, this strawberry banana,
And we're ready To start making money.
-all right. -I'm ready.
You know you're not Going to siphon it.
I really don't want to.
I've had bad Experiences with that.
Hand it up.
Here you go.
Sorry, babe.
Your hair is shiny.
Shut your mouth Right now.
The strawberry banana Is a little bit
Out of the box for me.
The watermelon is on point.
Can't nobody Even compete with that.
But sondra throws these Unorthodox plans at me,
And I pull them off.
It's getting Awful cold.
Yes. Yes. It's on.
Yeah. The water works.
Yeah. It's started.
All right. Whenever you're ready.
This is the inlet, The cold water.
This goes on the bottom So you pump the cold water
From bottom to top
So it gradually cools it, Just like a worm box.
That's what makes my still So much more efficient.
Combining all the elements Of a traditional pot still,
In chico's set up, The pot, cape and cap
Are replaced by a pot
That narrows Into a metal collar.
A second chamber sitting above The collar functions
As the doubler.
The pipe extending away from The still contains a copper tube
That's surrounded by cold, Flowing water,
And serves as the condenser.
With its small footprint, High efficiency,
And ease of mobility,
It's an illegal shiner's Dream come true.
Hey. Look.
That's heads. We need to catch that.
That's perfect.
First of the year.
It's clean, too.
Oh, this is My favorite part.
Here, let me dump those.
Bye, heads.
- Best feeling in the world -- - First run of the year.
This is my favorite part Every year, you know?
We've spent so much time Getting here.
Now we just need to fill these Jars throughout the night,
Then we'll be good.
-it's getting clearer. -yes. It is.
Clear, clear. Do you...
You smell the banana In there?
The bananas, man.
You want to taste it?
Open it up And get you a snort.
Wow.
Oh, yeah. It's going to warm you up.
You can taste, You can still taste the...
Yeah. It's warm.
It's really refreshing.
You can taste the strawberries, The bananas.
It's light. It's crisp. It's perfect for summer.
I think you'll be impressed. Tell me what you think.
Got my nose running.
Yeah. It's good, mama.
You done it again.
You put in on paper And I put it in jars.
It's going to be, like, 120, We need to still proof it back.
That's enough proof to knock A man's legs out from under him.
You know, it's good for Production to have high proof.
You know, we can proof it down And maybe scrounge
A few more jars out of a run.
Wow.
Chico and sondra's First run of their premium
Strawberry banana brandy Will yield 30 gallons,
Netting the couple $4,500.
Not bad for a hard day's night.
I still got to work On my mash game to get...
My proof needs to be Consistent with 100 proof,
But for first run of the season, We come out swinging, man.
I mean, it's as good As we could ask for.
High five.
Hey, that's too high.
Just come back.
High five.
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
An heirloom unearthed In virginia...
-look at that! -it looks like an antique.
The still goes all the way back To chuck's great grandfather.
We can do a little experiment, As long as we keep it legal.
...Poker face at the bargaining Table in tennessee...
We told you $200 a gallon.
I'm still thinking About $150.
We got to be firm On the price.
...And a lethal menace In louisiana.
-that's a cottonmouth! -god almighty!
I got to kill that thing.