♪♪
You know, people think That, first and foremost,
To make good liquor you've got To have good ingredients.
That's just part of it.
The biggest thing You've got to have
Is a god's plenty of patience.
It ain't a hurried man's game.
You can make great mash In a instant,
But it don't ferment unless You've got some patience.
You've got to work with it, And it's got to be your baby.
You don't just shove it On down the road
And expect it To do it on its own.
With moonshine season In full swing,
A new take on Traditional moonshine
Is the order of the day.
But innovative product Is only one hurdle in the game.
Dealing in the backwoods Is a minefield
For even The most seasoned shiner.
In tennessee, tough terms At the bargaining table.
We got to be firm On the price.
In virginia, history comes To life for one young shiner...
It looks like a antique.
Look at that.
...And danger at the doorstep In louisiana.
-that's a cottonmouth. -just stay there. Don't move.
♪♪
♪ 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
I think I got it.
We've done a long time Trying to get this full.
Perseverance pays off.
I mean, we've been Working on this
So long you'd think It would never get it done.
Here we are now, Got the last piece
In the puzzle To the still.
In virginia, After two years of delays,
The new wing on tim's distillery Is finally in the home stretch.
The climax brand is growing.
The customers are buying it, And we're expanding production.
It's all coming together.
It's done take two years To get this far.
Unbelievable.
I did my high-altitude Work for today.
And once we got water, We're done.
We can just put some heat on it, Put the mash in it.
We actually can make moonshine.
Tim, this is A monumental undertaking, huh?
Oh, yeah.
We'd been working on this A very long time,
And, you know, In the back of my head
I'm thinking, "Hey, I want to do me a still now."
I want to make my own stuff.
Y'all got this done now.
What about, you know, maybe Build another a little smaller,
For you know, maybe me To experiment on a little bit?
J.T. Is all excited.
I'm ready to go.
He's out went and saw all these Other guys making moonshine.
He wants to do his own Little experiment and stuff.
We can do a little experiment As long as we keep it legal.
With inspiration as the goal...
How much farther up this road We got to go to?
I don't know. I haven't been Up here in so many years.
...Tim took j.T. On a journey To the inner sanctum
Of franklin county moonshine.
-oh, yeah. -yes, sir.
Now j.T. Has decided to put What he learned to use.
Well, I got a little Experimental still.
I got to tell you now, This is my grandpop's old still.
It's the one He started with,
So you've got to be Real careful with it.
It is registered With the federal government,
So, yeah, they can Go ahead and use it.
I got to make sure Everything we do is legal.
Well, let's go to look For that still.
Looking at j.T. After this road Trip, he's really motivated.
He wants to experiment some.
He wants to make some recipes, And this is what it's all about.
No, don't see nothing that Looks like a still around here.
So I got tickle To help j.T. Out
Because I need somebody To kind of tutor him.
I'm hoping that accidentally They're going to come up
With some great idea
And j.T. Could even Develop his own brand.
There it is, tim, In all it's glory.
It looks like a antique.
Look at that.
The still goes all the way back To chuck's great grandfather.
Used it, like, Over 135 years ago.
You told me you hid it 35 years ago...
Yeah.
...But you didn't Tell me it was
100 years old When you hid it.
-well, it was. -so it's like 135 years old now.
It's really old, but I did Remember to get it registered.
That tells the government It is legal.
-serial number six... -so they know where it is.
They know I got it.
We can do a little experiment As long as we keep it legal.
Only licensed Distillers are able
To register stills With the state authorities.
We got tim, you know, On the right side of the law.
We don't want him going back Doing anything illegal,
So I'm going to keep An eye on him.
I'll make sure he stays legal.
Well, put that on, now, J.T., and just see would it fit.
How does that look? Oh, that's so pretty.
Isn't that pretty?
That's just beautiful.
It don't really fit.
It don't fit.
I didn't say it was Ready to run.
You got something here to work With, you know what I mean?
The cap does not fit on the Still, so we have to adapt it.
♪♪
We're making our second trip in
Thanks to stuck fermentation.
We've got a new yeast And hopefully some more liquor.
We got to do it.
We got to do it, he says.
In the great smoky mountains,
It's attempt number two For mark and digger
On their cantaloupe Moonshine mash.
Boy, it sure does look like It's ready to go, don't it?
Yep, but it ain't.
Mr. Tongue Will tell you that.
Mark and digger's first attempt Failed because the yeast died
Long before fermentation Was complete.
There ain't a bit Of alcohol taste to it.
No?
We're dead in the water.
They're placing their bets On a slower-acting,
High-alcohol-producing Yeast strain
That should be hardy enough To complete the process.
This yeast, I've never used it before.
It's a different strain.
At worst, we don't make any Liquor, but we've got no choice.
We're behind in season.
This yeast here has more Potential than any yeast
I've ever used In my life.
Supposedly, it'll stand alcohol Volume of up to 24%.
A precious commodity here.
I got all the faith in the world In using this yeast.
This yeast requires A lot of attention.
We've decided We'd use a drill and our churn.
You've got to put a lot of air Into your mash to keep it going.
To propagate A sufficient quantity
To complete fermentation,
Yeast initially need An abundant supply of oxygen.
About like us, We can't live without air.
No. Not very long.
I've seen you When you run out of breath.
You quit eating For a minute.
It's kicked off, man. I can smell it.
You never know which is The longest minute,
A microwave minute Or a treadmill minute.
Well, neither one of them.
It's waiting on mash to ferment
When you're so far behind In your season.
Well, it's kicked off.
All it's got to do Is keep on kicking.
♪♪
Think it's going to be enough Lumber to make that kitchen?
I hope so.
In red river parish, Louisiana, patty and david
Are outfitting their site With a full kitchen.
Where we going to build This thing at, then?
I don't know. Wherever you think.
We're going to be running A lot of late nights
Because I'm getting A lot of calls.
We got tons of orders coming in,
So we're building us A little kitchen back here
And a little sink, have us A little water flow in there,
And we'll have us a place Where we can cook us something
And we can wash our hands And clean up our dishes.
You know, we can just run 24/7.
We never have to Come out of the woods
Other than To re-supply our eating.
With the addition Of a second still,
The father-daughter team Has been able to mash
And run their mayhaw moonshine And pear brandy simultaneously.
Now, as they wait for another Round of mash to ferment,
They turn to improving The safety of their still site.
We need to get That tree down, daddy.
Could fall Over by our site.
You know, we had a storm Come through here
A couple weeks ago, and there's A dead tree right by our site,
And I don't want taking A chance of the wind
Coming and a tree fall on us.
So it's best just to get Something like that down
On the ground Before we make our kitchen.
You ain't got to put The rope far up there.
Huh?
Don't that rope need To go way up?
That's good. That's good.
When I tell you back up, You back up.
Well, hang on a second. It ain't going to hit me, is it?
No, it ain't Going to hit you.
There's a time-tested method
To felling a tree safely.
First, decide where is best For the tree to fall.
The part of the trunk that's Closest to that felling area
Will determine where To start the first cut.
Begin cutting on A 20-degree downward angle.
The center of the cut Will point in the direction
Where the tree will fall.
Stop when the cut is 25% through the tree.
That's called the top cut.
Next, make a horizontal cut into The tree beneath the top cut.
That bottom, or undercut, will End where the two cuts meet.
Remove the resulting Wedge from the tree,
And you now have a notch Called the felling notch,
Facing the direction Where you want the tree to fall.
After that, clear the felling Area of any people or animals
To a distance of Twice the height of the tree.
Once that's done, Begin to make a horizontal cut
On the opposite side of the tree
From the felling notch And slightly above the undercut.
This is called the felling cut.
Stop cutting when 10% Of the tree's thickness is left
Between the felling cut And the notch.
This creates a hinge For the falling tree.
To help the tree fall, Hammer a wedge into the felling
Cut opposite of the notch, Or use a rope tied to a vehicle.
As the tree begins to fall,
Move away at A 90-degree angle to the notch.
I'm worried about daddy being Around the bottom of that tree.
Just the least bit of wind Can shift a tree real quick.
I've had friends killed From trees falling.
You walk away thinking it's Going, and then it comes on you.
♪♪
You just be careful.
Back up.
Coming up, an ancient Recipe resurfaces in tennessee.
Ain't no need in giving up On old tradition if it's good.
Keep on doing it.
And doubt sets in In the smoky mountains.
Damn.
I'm worried about This thing producing.
It ain't going to hit me, Is it?
No, it ain't Going to hit you.
In northern louisiana, An unstable tree foils plans
For a still-site kitchen.
You just be careful.
Back up.
Timber.
Got it down.
You landed it Right where you said.
I'm glad We got that down.
We don't have to worry About it blowing on us.
Now we have to build This kitchen.
You know, having us a kitchen,
We never have to Come out of the woods.
You know, it's a long ways In here, so you don't want
To have to go out If we're in a run.
We want to get it done.
We're going to build it With 2x4s,
Put plywood on it As a countertop.
Had an old sink at the house That we're going to use.
So you're going to Drill it with that?
Yeah.
Using a bucket For our water source.
We'll fill it up, have it Gravity fed out of a hose.
Let's see. Look at that.
But it will be An advantage for us.
We'll be able to eat good,
And daddy can cook me Some good meals.
We got us a good little kitchen.
-we ready. -we ready.
I'm happy with the ending Of this day.
We've got a lot done.
We've got 5, 6 days.
We ought to be back in here Running that shine.
♪♪
In the great smoky mountains,
Moonshiner mike Is dusting off a century-old
Recipe from his family's past.
Mark and mike have made progress On separate fronts this season.
There's a complete order Right there.
While mike successfully Ran on his own
To fill their first order,
Mark put in hours Of back-breaking work
Setting up A more permanent still site,
But the duo has yet To get back together.
I'm sitting Dead smack in the middle
Of the pink-eyed purple hull Season right now,
And this idea just come up in my Head about the pea hull liquor,
And it feels real good.
I feel like I've accomplished Something all by myself
And didn't actually need nobody.
But me and mark, We still partners and all,
And I can get back To helping him
After I get this order Made myself.
My great grandfather And my great-great-grandfather
Had canned the peas up,
Have something to eat In the wintertime,
And used the hull To mash in liquor with
Because you can make alcohol Out of just about
Anything you want to.
While pea hulls might sound Like an unlikely ingredient
From which to make liquor, History demonstrates
That far stranger things have Been used to produce alcohol.
For millennia, an alcoholic Beverage named chicha
Has been consumed across central And south american cultures.
One of the key ingredients Of chicha is human spit.
Instead of germinating corn and Water to achieve simple sugars,
The brewer uses The enzymes in the saliva
To break down the starches From the maize
Into the simple sugars Necessary for fermentation.
Today, many unlicensed Vendors in peru
Sell the drink directly From their homes
To boost their family's income,
Much like the american Moonshiners of past and present.
Perhaps the award For the strangest ingredient
Goes to a liquor made In the arctic circle
By the inuit people, Aptly named seagull wine.
No one has documented Anyone actually producing
Or tasting the stuff,
But seagull wine Is said to be made
By putting a dead seagull And water in a glass container
And leaving it to ferment For several weeks in the sun.
While it's hard to say how this Would produce alcohol,
It's smell alone Might be intoxicating enough.
The peas are got a good, Semi-sweet,
Earthy taste to them,
And the hulls hold A lot more of that flavor,
And when you make Liquor out of them,
Feel like you drinking something Right out of the garden.
And I can mash in Two 55-gallon drums of mash
With just two Of these bucket of hulls
And probably yield 15 gallons of liquor,
And I believe people will Really enjoy it and like it.
And we'll can these And mash them in.
Think I'm about ready to go.
♪♪
Well, this is our run day.
We got to run a mash We hope is ready.
It ain't got no choice But to be ready.
Back in tennessee, Mark and digger
Are ready to run Their cantaloupe shine.
Another failed attempt Will squash their season hopes
Of selling 1,100 gallons.
This yeast, It's got potential,
But that's if Everything worked good.
Damn.
That's high-volume mash Right there, baby.
Mm, wow.
This yeast works.
You know, I'm going to be optimistic
And I'm going to say We're going to increase
Our volume over half.
Let's light this rascal, Dude.
Now go.
Whoa.
We're also worried About taste.
We've never fermented Anything like this before.
I've always got in the back Of my mind,
"Did we run enough air into that Mash to get it working good?
Did we get that yeast kicked Back off strong enough?"
You can have 100 gallon Of liquor, but if it don't taste
Worth a *bleep*, Nobody wants it.
I don't know. The mash smelled awful good.
The mash tasted awful good.
And it tasted good. Yeah.
That ought to hold that.
Now just think, 4 or 5 days ago
You was ready To dump that out.
You may be ready to dump it out Again, again it's done.
We've got a lot of time, a lot Of money invested in this still.
We got a lot of making up We got to do.
And if we don't make it up Right now, we may not.
I'm going to check This thing, puss.
We ought to have Some liquor out of --
This is crazy.
It takes a good quart To fill that bottom
Of that condenser up.
Well, all we can do is wait, There, hatty-boy.
That's kind of Disheartening.
You'd think liquor would be Coming off of there.
I don't understand it.
We ain't forgotten Something, have we?
Oh. Looky here, puss.
I told you I was smelling alcohol.
Maybe you was right. Hell yeah.
Bump up.
Oh, yeah. Look at that baby, man.
That's a perfect stream.
Keep on doubting My sniffer.
You know something this big Don't miss much.
It's got Its own zip code.
-I guess you're right. -pretty much.
This is The moment of truth.
If this jug don't come through, I mean, we're doomed to fail.
Oh, that smells good.
♪♪
You know, the proof is in The pudding on this run tonight.
Bet all these right here.
Why don't you take The first sip?
In cocke county, tennessee,
The moment of truth Has arrived for mark and digger.
♪♪
What do you think?
Wow.
It is goozy pud!
Yeah, man.
Don't overpower You with much melon, but...
I got it. It is nice.
It's still Too hot to drink.
No, it ain't. I got two mouthfuls right then.
Wow.
For this specialty cantaloupe Order, mark and digger
Have set the price point At $200 per gallon,
A 100% mark-up from Their base corn-liquor pricing.
Get that rag on it, There.
This 30-gallon order Will fetch the duo $6,000.
Well, we're at 40 gallons, and We're still running good liquor,
So we're past what It had made with normal yeast.
Look here. That's about enough, ain't it?
Whoa, damn.
It's still way over 120 proof, ain't it?
It's better than 120.
Mark and digger's gamble On high-yield yeast
Has paid off big with 52 gallons of moonshine,
Close to double Their expected output.
It was disheartening At first, you know,
Trying to get this thing going.
You know, I was ready To just throw in the towel,
Give it up, But this yeast works,
And it gives us Good liquor and good flavor.
I believe that we've got Things going our way.
We're back in the wheel house, And we're ready to go forward
And make a lot of liquor I think.
That's some damn Souped up yeast, baby man.
I'm awful proud of it.
♪♪
I'm going to try To get this water started.
On the tennessee, North carolina border,
Mike is mashing in a recipe
That hasn't been tasted For a generation.
Go ahead and dump These over in here.
I've never had to set up a whole Rig of this size by myself.
I thought I couldn't do it.
Me and mark, we still partners And all, but you know,
I feel like I've accomplished A whole bunch
In order to make some real mash.
All right. Get me some sugar.
I've got this one customer.
He's an old-timer that's Actually heard
Of mississippi pink eye Purple hull liquor,
But he's never tried it before.
If my client likes this,
It could set me up For some good sales.
Mark, he loves to build A wood furnace,
But I prefer to use gas.
A man builds a wood furnace, Somebody could see the smoke,
Alert the authorities, They can come in and get you.
To me, gas is quicker.
Gas is cleaner, So I go with gas.
♪♪
Back in my family, The old-timers,
They'd shell all their peas And put the peas up to eat
And then just take The hulls and make liquor.
After it's all said and done, You've got a lot of liquor.
It's money that can be made And food on the table
All at the same time.
All right. That's about it.
Put some water in here.
Get them both filled up And add the magic dust to it.
In about 7 to 10 days, We'll make some pea hull liquor.
Here we go.
I'm going to bring it back,
See if I can reintroduce It to the world.
♪♪
You think you going To get it to work?
If you can't get this To work, no.
You got to get that pipe In there and then you got
To get it to fit On the still.
Yeah, I know.
Back in virginia, Tim and j.T. Are restoring
Chuck's century-old still.
It'll be a great still For j.T. To start out with.
But the cap does not fit,
So I was thinking let's work With what we got.
Trying to retrofit everything To get it up to standard
So we can operate it.
I'm hoping that he can Get this thing
Done this evening, you know.
Go ahead and start Making the mash up for this.
I've been thinking about this For a very long time,
And, you know, I want to hurry up and do it.
It's going to be Five and two quarters.
Yeah.
I understand that j.T. Is a younger generation
And he wants to hurry up And get it done,
But I grew up in this business,
And I've seen a lot Of beginner mistakes being made,
So we're going to take our time
And we're going to do it Right the first time.
Yeah.
It's breaking loose On the inside.
There's a 2-inch difference In the still and the cap.
There it is. -oh, you did good.
Resizing and shaping this metal That's over 100 years old,
Not trying to get too far away
From the authenticity Of this still setup.
Kind of free-handing this Right here.
You going to try to bend it Back over or just weld it?
We're going to bend it. We got to weld it.
We got to do all of that.
This is part of history.
It is handed down Three generations
Through chuck's family.
It's for sure Needs to be in a museum.
All right.
You got a little...
Nice and hot.
Yeah.
We'll try to get it on here While it's warm.
Working with my dad, I've always Been the helping hand
As you would probably call it.
I never got to experiment with My own flavors, my own recipe.
That's why I want my dad, You know, to kind of guide me.
All right. It's going to be right.
Making moonshine Is the family business,
And I want to continue this on For my family heritage.
We got the cap done. We fit it onto the still.
It looks good. It's tight.
All right, so you know What we got to do in there?
Make some mash.
We find if this still Is going to hold water.
It ain't going to Hold water,
It ain't no use In making no mash.
J.T., he wants to see it Coming out of the still,
But if you're not prepared,
Just be prepared To be in trouble,
Because we'll be spending money And we'll be back-tracking.
I think it's very important That, you know,
I try to pass on That knowledge
And all that wisdom that I Captured from my father to j.T.
Let's see What it's going to do.
See a little hole Right here.
See that?
You see where It's leaking there?
See. See. Has a little hole right there.
Little pinhole.
Okay.
Well, we'll just go ahead And fill it on up,
Because if there's another hole We need to fix that, too.
I was hoping that thing was Going to be ready to run.
Look at that Right there.
Big leak. Oh, boy.
Look at all that Leaking out.
Leaking underneath And right there.
We have a number of leaks, So now we have to drain it out,
And you know, patch those holes.
It's pushing farther and farther To get this thing going.
I know. I mean, that's the way it is.
Coming up, a deal goes south.
Honestly, That's where we're at.
Yeah. That's a hole right there.
In virginia, a leaky still Will not moonshine make.
If it won't hold water, It's not going to hold alcohol.
Yeah.
The still is leaking like crazy.
Now we got to work On it some more.
It just seems like it's taking Forever, because, you know,
I'm ready to throw the mash in And get it cooking.
Well, think about it if you Would have set it up and mashed
In and put the mash in
And everything would have Started spraying out of here,
Then what would you do?
I understand That j.T. Is anxious
And wants to get it going,
So we're constant Back and forth.
I'm reminding j.T. Of what's the race here.
The still has got To be air tight.
Alcohol is thinner Than the water,
So if it won't hold water, It's not going to hold alcohol.
All right, j.T. I think we got it.
Let's set it back up Like we had it.
Let's put some water In it,
And then we'll see If it's going to leak.
Between me and j.T., I have Probably more years experience
Illegally in the woods Making moonshine than he is old.
Seems to be holding. It's dry.
Yeah. That's dry over there.
I have to go back to what my dad Always says, you know.
You don't have time to do it Right the first time,
But you've got time To do it over.
Just like pot A part on a stove.
You're cooking. -yeah.
It's a working still Right now.
And this was just to get The mechanics together.
Yeah.
Because if we would Have made the mash first
And then come here And then this didn't work,
Then we would have had The mash and then what
We're going to do With it?
Looks good. What do you think Tickle is going to think?
Do you think He's going to like it?
I think he'll like it, Really.
When you start thinking About how you want to
Mix up a recipe Or something...
-oh, I got it. -oh, you got it. Okay.
Let's go.
♪♪
Check this mash out.
It's about ready to go.
Yep.
I believe that's going to be Pretty good right there.
Looks like it's ready to run.
Up in the smoky mountains,
Mike is ready to transfer mash To pot and start running.
*bleep* fired up, ready to go.
It's pea hull shine, An old family recipe
He wants to make popular again.
But I'm nervous on how It's going to turn out
Because I ain't never Done this before.
All I've got to go on is The stories that my grandmother
Has told me of How my great-great-grandfather
And my great-grandfather Done it,
And try to do it Like they done it.
But if back in them days, Making moonshine is something
That they had to do Just to make ends meet
And put food on the table.
God almighty.
That's a little sore.
Tobacco is naturally alkaline.
Its juices neutralize the Acidic venom of an insect sting,
Reducing pain and swelling.
I'll tell you what. I've worked my rear end off.
I've had to plant those peas, Grow them,
Pick them at the right time
And shell each and every one Of them with my two thumbs,
So it's very precious to me
And it could potentially Set me up for some good sales.
I believe that's got it there.
All righty. We'll get her fired up.
♪♪
All righty, well, all we got To do is sit and wait now.
I'm really tickled and excited To run this pea hull liquor,
See how it's going to turn out.
But I'm sure he'll like it.
He's an old-timer, And he likes fresh ingredients,
And you don't get No fresher than this.
Initially, I was going To make 10 gallons
For this one customer, you know, To help me and mark out,
But I think I can Keep all the profits.
I don't want to sound Greedy or nothing,
But I've done all this Right by myself
And I'll be able To feed my family off this.
That looks like it's running.
Yeah.
I'll go ahead And set this jar back here
And go ahead and proof me A jar right off the top.
It'll probably be a little Lower proof than corn
Because your pea hulls ain't got The sugar in it that corn does.
All right, that ought to be Enough to try to proof now.
♪♪
It tastes earthy and fresh.
It's a little hot.
That's about 140.
That's pretty good.
I didn't think It'd be that high.
That's a perfect proof To start with.
That way, a man can temper it Down and get a bunch of liquor.
I like it. It's different.
Maybe my customer will like it.
God, I hope he does.
I yielded 15 gallons This first time off of my
Purple hull liquor
And I'm really excited The way it turned out this time
And I ain't going to do A whole lot to mess it up.
Hope the man likes it.
♪♪
You want to Check on that mash?
Yeah.
Down in louisiana, Patty and david
Are eager for another tandem run
Of their two Most popular flavors.
We had two Popular liquors last year,
The pear and the mayhaw,
So we decided We just going to run
That all summer long this year.
This stuff ought to be Getting close to running.
I'm ready To get a fire under it
And start making Some shine, you know.
I've got customers waiting.
Down at the gulf, down south.
God dog.
Uh-oh.
Aw, man.
What happened?
It's ruined now.
Yeah. Look at the darn bugs in it.
Reckon how them lids Got off?
Look at the bugs in there.
We ain't running this.
That's a big loss for us Because you know,
We're ready to run this stuff, And you know,
We've got a lot of money Put into this mash.
That's $300 down The drain, buddy.
Yeah, plus all the moonshine We lost in it.
We would have made, out of Each barrel, 6 or 7 gallons.
Now we got to Re-mash in.
I knew we should have put The darn lids on there somehow.
Put something On top of them or something.
Yeah.
That's what happens whenever You start getting in a rush
And you forget Things like that.
We should have done it The first time.
Yeah.
That's a set back for us.
That's a huge one For us because,
I mean, I've got customers waiting.
May as well Dump this mess.
Makes me mad.
And I'm not going to Cook up bug juice.
Money down the drain Pisses me off.
We back to square one, so Now we going to have to go out
And get more pears and mayhaws And sugar and yeast and stuff
And come back in here And start over again.
Come on, daddy.
Patty, That's a cottonmouth.
God almighty.
Go get that shovel.
Just stay there. Don't move.
♪♪
Fishing is a lot like The moonshine industry.
It's a rite of passage.
-no, no, no. -what are you doing there, beck?
Somebody catch him A limb bass.
Yeah.
Been like making liquor. It's a process you got to learn.
You just can't run in there And throw a line in.
You don't have enough weight On that rod.
You want me to put Some weight on there?
Yeah, you should put A jig head on there.
Well, I didn't want to.
One day in beck's life,
I may pass along my knowledge Of making liquor to him,
But everything I teach him Up to that point,
That's preparing him for Whatever vocation he chooses.
Always remember, son, no matter Where you're at in life,
One upon a time I was already there.
Maybe.
Patty, bring me that shovel.
That's a cottonmouth.
-where do you see him? -he's right up under here.
God almighty.
That'll hit you, wouldn't Make it to the hospital.
That sucker is That big around.
In red river parish, David and patti
Have stumbled On a cottonmouth,
Also known as a water moccasin.
Able to kill a grown man With one bite,
It's the most venomous snake In north america.
Don't get bit.
Ooh. Daddy, get out of there.
Yeah.
Missed him. God dang it.
Biggest water Moccasin I've seen.
It can do A lot of damage.
It could kill you.
Whew. Wait a minute. He ain't dead.
-where did he go? -right there.
He's on the other side Of that log.
God almighty.
Oh, you got him.
I've been struck twice By a cottonmouth.
Boom. Like that.
It's a feeling you won't forget, And I don't like that feeling.
To be rid of him, I feel a lot safer.
By god, he's dead now. Whew.
Got that one, Didn't we, papa?
I'm going to knock the hell out Of you with this shovel.
Let's bury this sucker.
I'm glad We got rid of him.
Moonshine, you know, It's different every day.
You never know what you're Going into to face that day.
We could have went out of here, One of of us
Hurt really bad today.
I'm just grateful that he did Not get struck by the snake.
Yeah. That ain't easy.
♪♪
I'm kind of glad to get rid Of this damn liquor.
We've had a hissy fit With it, ain't we?
It's been A trifling run.
A damn Stuck fermentation.
Over in tennessee, Mark and digger
Are ready to reap the rewards For all their effort.
They're on their way to sell The cantaloupe moonshine,
Their first sale Of the season.
-there he is. -yeah, boy.
♪♪
-what's going on, bud? -good to see you, man.
-good to see you. -how you been?
-yeah. -all right.
We've had a hell of a time With this mush melon liquor.
But on the up side, It turned out pretty damn good.
-oh, yeah. -yeah.
You want to try A little taste of it?
We got 30 gallon of it.
Yep. Now, we tempered That to about 90,
Where it's a little More palatable.
It's a little more Palatable.
That's what we want.
It will make them feel a little More amorous towards you, maybe.
Well, that's what We always said.
What have you got there?
$4,500 is here.
We told you what me and mark Were kind decided
On $200 a gallon.
Honestly, after the damn fit That this stuff has give us
And as expensive As it was to make,
We got to be firm On the price.
Honestly, That's where we're at.
Well...
-tomorrow evening? -yeah.
I mean, I'm good with it If mark is.
Well, I'll tell you what.
I'm good with that.
When it comes to Our backwoods dealing,
A man's word is his bond,
And that handshake to me Is as good as a contract.
There's people We extend credit to.
We let them buy liquor On the cuff.
But if they ever try To beat us out of our money,
They'll just say,
"What are you going to do?
I bought an illegal product Off of you.
How are you going To get your money?
You can't take me to court."
And he's right, And we know that,
So we're careful Who we extend credit to.
He's good For that money.
Yeah. He ain't going to beat us.
No. Ain't no way.
I sure would like to have The rest of it right now.
Ain't no doubt About that at all.
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
That's a lot Of damn liquor, man.
Yeah.
It's awful strange that somebody Would ask for that much.
Paranoia on the piedmont.
Unless they're feds And this is a sting.
This would be how They would go about doing it.
Hello?
Crazy from the heat In north carolina...
They're right across From the car wash.
-the sheriff's department is? -yeah.
If you got anything, Get rid of it.
...And in kentucky, Never talk to strangers.
Who in the hell? I don't know this guy.