On this episode of "Moonshiners"...
We almost got this, man. I'm excited.
...The waterwheel of Misfortune in north carolina...
Eyeball her in there.
Ohh!
It come out again.
...Keeping The flame alive in tennessee...
That middle one Has went out.
Damn it. This could Cause the whole run to go south.
There goes a helicopter Right yonder.
That's the coast guard. That ain't good.
...And even in the gulf, There's no escape from the law.
What the heck?
♪♪
♪ 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
♪♪
What you got? It's 39 1/2,
So just do it Just a touch.
In north carolina,
Josh and chuck Are apply backwoods ingenuity
To build a waterwheel that'll Power their moonshine operation
Through the oncoming Cold weather.
It's getting cooler outside.
I need to heat my mash room
Because yeast goes dormant When it gets cold,
And the way I'm going to do that,
Me and chuck have started Working on this waterwheel,
And we're going to make Renewable energy off the creek.
We'll see.
Me and chuck got A bunch of mash
Working off Of this 175-gallon run
Of plum brandy We promised to these bikers.
I can't afford To screw this up.
After losing that 150 gallons of cherry bounce...
This ain't happening. All my stuff is burning!
Look! Aah!
...This biker is giving me Another chance to save my neck.
If I can just get it All put together,
We could make moonshine All winter long.
I don't like how Woppy-jawed that is.
Oh, we going to straighten It up with this.
"Woppy-jawed" means Out of whack, you know?
Woppy-jawed is like this, You know? A little bit off.
I think I may have been Woppy-jawed
When I come out of the womb.
We almost got this, man. I'm excited.
Most people would look at this As a bunch of junk,
But I look it as a way To renew some energy.
Pretty much everything In this waterwheel is recycled.
I got some bicycle wheels, Soup cans,
And a metal ring Off my mother's table,
But basically, If I have to abandon my site,
I don't have This expensive generator
That I'm going to Have to leave behind,
And I'm going to lose.
Eyeball her in there.Last one.
Ohh!
I'll kill you.
Did you see me? I was like...
So, we finally got This thing built.
It looks like something Off a "Mad max" movie,
Looks kind of crazy, But just crazy enough to work.
Hell, yeah.That's it right there.
That's it, buddy.You like it?
Yeah.
All right, so, basically, What we have here,
This wheel spins Because water falls
In the top Of the cans there.
That energy turns the belt, The belt turns the alternator,
And that goes to an inverter, And, bam, we've got electricity.
Now that the waterwheel Is built,
We could take it to the site
And get it set up during This big run of plum brandy.
One man's junk is Another man's treasure.
Hell, yeah.
♪♪
This stuff -- I hope it's ready. I'm ready to run it.
Heck, yeah.
I'm optimistic. I feel like it's going to be.
In cocke county, Mark and digger are bringing in
Veteran shiner j.B. Rader
To help them run Their enormous three-pot still.
Moonshine season windows are Slamming shut on us in a hurry.
There's no time for error.
There's no time to wait.
If we're going to hit our goal,
This run of liquor Has to be perfect.
We're coming in today.
The plan is to run The muscadine rye.
We're kind of got Our fingers crossed
That both of our mashes are done Fermenting together.
We've got a rye mash, And we've got a muscadine mash.
If the muscadine is not Finished, then we can't run.
God, I smell it Already.
Well, we got to conquer And divide right here.
We don't want to run one Without the other.
If the rye is ready And the grape is not,
That's going to cause Even more problems
Because that rye mash Will sour and turn to vinegar
Before we know it.
I'm going to take a lid off Of this rascal and just see.
♪♪
Deader than last Year's calendar.
There we go. Ready to run.
Let's see what this one Looks like, digger.
Oh, yeah.
This one is Through working.
Get you a little slurp Of that, j.B.?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, ain't no fermentation Left in it hardly.
No. Well, digger, j.B.,
We ain't out Of the weeds yet.
These are good.
If we're good on the rye, You know, we're gold.
Please, please, rye, Be ready.
Oh, yeah.
We got pump the goody Over here.
We're fortunate in the fact That both these mashes
Have finished in time.
It's coming to you, Buddy.
Yes, it is. I can feel it.
Oh, yeah.
We mashed in, in the pots, So our rye is already there,
But we've got to pump these Six barrels into the twins.
Here we go.
For their Specialty muscadine rye,
Mark and digger will fill Each of the 200-gallon pots
With grape mash While the single 300-gallon pot
Will be filled with rye mash.
You know, seems like We got lucky this time.
Hey, j.B., Line them up right there.
All that remains now, We got to light this rascal up,
And if it produces any yield Like we hope that it will...
There you go.
...Then, you know, that etches Us closer to our season goal.
Big sloppy. She ain't pretty, But she's got a good heart.
Things are headed in The right direction for us.
Let's light Big sloppy.
Come on!
Because the liquor Will be vapor-blended,
They'll need to carefully Monitor the heat
On each of the three pots To be certain that the alcohol
Combines in The correct proportion.
♪♪
Everything seems to be Going our way for a change.
The mash is good, got them all Three burning, making liquor.
This is what it's about Right here right now.
Oh, it's looking good On this end.
They're Working perfect.
To ensure Proper temperature regulation
For all three pots, each shiner Is managing one of the burners.
We got to get the fruit flavor And the rye flavor
Coming out About the same, you know.
We don't want one Overpowering the other one.
Oh, hell, j.B., I throwed Your walking stick on the fire.
It's going to take a long Time cook this liquor
Off these three pots,
But the payoff is It's higher-dollar liquor.
Every one of these recipes, About twice much work
Than there is on Normal run of liquor.
We've got a shallow window To deal with,
And we don't want To screw this up.
Did you do that?
I figure the middle one's Went out, digger.
Huh?
That middle one has went out. Let's light it back up.
We're not sure what's going on With big sloppy and her burner.
♪♪
-it come out again. -damn it.
The vapors need To converge together
In the thump keg, and they need To be ready at the same time.
If we can't get big sloppy's Burner to cooperate with us,
Then we're not going to get Any rye flavor at all.
We can't have this, I'm telling you.
Cut both them off! Cut them all three off!
This ain't no good.
♪♪
I'm ready to get this sassafras Run, see what it taste like.
I know. That first run was nasty.
In louisiana, With only a couple of months
Left in the season, Patti and david
Have sunk time and resources Into a sassafras shine
That has yet to pay off.
That's the thing About experimenting --
You don't ever know.
Now they're counting on
Adding their enhanced Sassafras recipe
To the other flavors They've stockpiled in order
To meet a looming 120-gallon Order to the gulf of mexico
That could net them 18 grand.
Let's go check The mash out.
Our first run of our sassafras Did not turn out whatsoever.
It tasted terrible.
Well, cupcake, Think it's ready?
Yeah, I smell it.
The first run, Our sassafras mash
Was just sugar water and roots.
When we mash in this time, We put corn in there,
Trying to get some of that Little sweeter taste in there.
You got to experiment.
That don't work, Try something else.
Ooh.Oh, yeah, it's ready.
Damn. Smell that?Mm-hmm.
It smells way better Than the first one.
♪♪
That's good. I think it's ready to run.
I do, too. Let's get that pump And stuff up here.
Smells pretty good. Might work.
You ready? Okay, daddy.
♪♪
Dang. That's quick This time.
We're going to be Going down to the gulf
For this big 120-gallon sale To one person.
We've got A set-aside pair in mayhaw.
We're going to pair that With this sassafras shine
To meet this order.
Okay, that's enough.
We've got to get This sassafras run right
To finally get This order done.
Put us a fire Under it.
♪♪
Going to be a good one.
While we're Letting these heat up,
We need to get These buckets done.
All right.
We've come up With this plan
As far as transporting This shine down south.
I've got some of these White 4-gallon buckets
That we're going to use To put the shine in,
And then we're going To set that bucket
Inside the 5-gallon bucket, Put the lid on it,
Put a little bit of ice, A little bit of shrimp.
We'll look like We're delivering bait.
Look at that.Man, don't I look good?
Bait master. Yeah.
"Best bait in the gulf."
We are the bait masters.
Starting to come out.
All right. We getting them, girl.
Yeah, buddy.
You can smell The sassafras.
Sassafras, it may pay off, And it may not.
That's just the chance You got to take
When you're a moonshiner.
Let's pour The heads off.
Here, daddy, Taste it.
♪♪
Pretty good.
That's going to Be good there.
It's way better than That first batch we done.
You can taste the corn And the sassafras.
Give me a -- I want another drink.
This successful run Of 10 gallons
Of sassafras liquor completes Their 120-gallon order.
Looks good. Looks professional, don't it?
Good idea, wasn't it?
Your best idea this year, You know what it was?
Having me As your partner.
So, we got to cool All of them.
We ain't blending Any rye.
We ain't blending nothing.
Hopes extinguished in tennessee.
God almighty.
♪♪
What's it doing?
It come out again.
We can't have this, I'm telling you.
This could cause The whole run to go south.
In tennessee, a faulty Burner threatens to tank
Mark and digger's most critical Run of the season.
Cut both them off! Cut them all three off!
Winter's steady approach
Leaves little time For second chances.
Failure to fix the burner Not only means an end to the run
But would put their Season goal out of reach.
Damn it.This ain't no good.
The problem with this burner Not burning right is this rye
Is the most important factor Of this run right here.
We've got to have The right heat under this pot
To bring the right flavor Of rye into this mix.
Don't cool that one.
We got to cool All of them.
I'm scared to death That just the muscadine,
Albeit it'll be good liquor, And it'll taste good,
It's going to be Too much like grappa.
We lose any vapor, ain't nothing Going to be balanced no more.
We ain't blending any rye.
No, we ain't Blending nothing.
We're spraying all these stills Down to cool them down
So no more vapor comes off.
We let them go, all we're going To do is waste our liquor.
So, we got to cool them back, Try to get back to square one.
This point, this run is over.
Until we figure out what's Going on with this one burner,
There's no sense In going forward.
Let's bounce it on here and see If it's got something in it.
Sometimes, they'll blow Rust and debris up in them,
And it'll hang, And it'll restrict them.
Put one of them wands in here, And let's light this thing.
The solution to that is just Simply to clean them out.
There you go.
-all right. -looky there.
That's the way It's supposed to burn.
We light it up Outside of the still,
And it's burning fine.
There ain't hardly Any orange at all.
♪♪
With burning propane, Blue flames indicate
Complete combustion of the gas
And a heat output Of 3,600 degree fahrenheit.
For shiners, red or yellow Flames result in wasted gas
And only half of The max temperature yield.
It looks great. We got All the blue flame we need.
We ain't sure What we done to it,
Don't really care As long as it's working.
Come on.
That thing is Putting out.
Let's light These others up.
Let's get To making some liquor
So that we ain't here All night long.
Party time.
Whoo! Whoo! Shoot low.
All right, We're back in business.
Maybe it's just the fact that They had a little rust in them.
Rust builds up on the Inside of these things.
I smell A lot of raw gas.
A lot of orange.
Damn it. Hell, I can see it.
Looks like we're burning Damn kerosene over here.
God almighty.
We don't understand it.
Burning by itself, it's fine, But soon as we light
The other two, The problem arises,
And, hell, we're Back to square one.
Yeah.
He's right.
When that heat gets generating Off of these other two stills,
It's starving this.
God dang it. Are we that stupid?
No, we just Got excited.
J.B. Recommends putting it In from the other side,
Which that would put the oxygen Intake out in fresh air.
Look at that, man. It's burning like a new penny.
Yeah.
You know, it makes perfect sense
Now that j.B. Called Our attention to it,
And that's what We got him here for.
I didn't want him for his brawn, I wanted him for his brain.
J.B., I guess, has kind of Saved us here a little bit.
We're going to get these Pots heated back up.
It's going to take us A long time.
We'll be here up into the night.
What do you think, j.B.?
It won't be long.
Need to find A new piece of felt.
You know, we've been keeping A constant vigil on the burners,
And so far, They're doing well.
They're all three operating As they need to be.
♪♪
Do I see a predrip Right there?
Yeah. Right. There we go, boys.
We got liquor.
-we got liquor. -hell, yeah.
We got liquor.
I'm going to fill that heads jug Up a little heavy.
We've simply done All we can do.
There's no reason For this not to be
A premium, Top-shelf liquor,
But you never know until You put it in your mouth
And see what you got.
We're going for The taste now, or I am.
It's time. Have at it.
Damn. Give it to j.B. Before he has a damn hissy fit.
That's probably Some of the finest liquor
You'll ever taste In your life.
Is he right?Yeah.
Let me have A little taste.
It's good. Wow.
It's like damn Sweet and salty, ain't it?
Yeah, I couldn't be Any happier right now.
This liquor is Outstanding.
It's got the bite of the rye, The taste of the muscadine.
They're distinctly separate.
The aroma is delightful.
It's right on the money. That's what we were looking for.
This run netted mark and digger
80 gallons of muscadine rye
At the premium price Of $150 a gallon.
That's a $12,000 sale,
But to meet their High-output goal this season,
The team is still counting On hired hand kelly
To keep the classic Corn liquor flowing.
Yeah, I couldn't be Any happier right now.
Between us making Our premium liquors
And kelly Pulling his weight,
We're going to meet that goal No matter what it takes,
But we're going to check On kelly and his production.
We got to see if he's Keeping up to snuff with us.
Well, boys, it turned out to be A successful run after all.
♪♪
I'm fixing to send it To you, josh.
Let her rip, tater chip.All right.
On a cool, Autumn night, josh and chuck
Are beginning the first Of several runs
They'll need to fulfill their 175-gallon plum brandy order.
You getting anything?Oh, yeah.
So, me and chuck are making This 175-gallon run
Of plum brandy For these bikers,
And it's going To be a hard road to hoe.
It's liable to take Three, four days
To get all this liquor run off And get it all ready to go.
All right, This one is full.
Let's go ahead And light this one.
♪♪
More than anything, I need to deliver this moonshine
On time and in full.
I can't afford to have any more Problems, any more hiccups.
If anything else happens, I could lose my distributor,
And this dude is my meal ticket.
The mash is pumped. The fire Is lit. We're cooking moonshine.
There's only one thing To do right now,
And that is to get This wheel up and running
And get some electricity going.
If we could just get this done Before that starts cooking off,
We'll be in business.
Wintertime is creeping up On us pretty fast,
And if we don't find a way To heat this mash room,
Get this waterwheel going, we're Going to be dead in the water.
♪♪
The waterwheel Is going to enable me
To keep rolling year-round,
Keep supply to my bikers And all my other customers.
I think you're better off Where you was.
There you go.
In order to create The water pressure
Needed to spin the waterwheel,
Josh has dammed off The nearby creek,
Running 300 feet of pipe To his still site.
Come out some more?No, you're good.
Just come up higher.
The tricky part is positioning The pipe so that
The flowing water allows the Wheel to spin at maximum rpms.
Go ahead And put a screw in it.
Well, it's dark out. It's wet. It's muddy.
Likely to slip, fell, Broke my neck,
But we want to see This wheel work.
We're dying To see this wheel work.
Good god.
Least put that block Up for me.
The block was Under it.
The pipe is fixing To come out, too.
That's all right. I'll fix it in a second.
Just give me a second.
♪♪
Ah, the damn bit Just fell out!
♪♪
I just Lost the bit, man.
Screw them two Together.
The *bleep* bit fell out Of the drill gun, man!
I don't got another bit! Aah!
♪♪
Keep your eyes out. I don't Know nothing about this water.
I just seen a alligator.
In louisiana, shallow Water means deep trouble.
I'm dragging. We in less than 2 foot of water.
We in a bind Right now, buddy.
The *bleep* bit fell out Of the drill gun, man!
In north carolina, A lost drill bit
Is the last drop In the bucket.
I can't afford to have Any more problems.
Now that it's getting Cold weather,
It's important that I get This mash room winterized.
I don't got another bit! Aah!
Working with josh has About got my hair
Pulled out of my damn head.
The water pipe Broke all over me.
I got soaking wet.
This was A little bit of a mess.
Well, there's More packs over there.
I got another one here.
All right, get that dude In there tight.
Here, tighten it down.
♪♪
Perfect. As long as That's putting the 12 volts out,
13 volts out, that should Charge the batteries enough
To keep The system going.
I feel good about it.I love it, man.
Let's get back To the still site?
Yeah.
She's probably Boiling over.
This waterwheel is Going to enable me
To create electricity off The grid to heat this mash room.
Be there In a little bit.
It takes for damn ever.
♪♪
Oh, there it is.
♪♪
Let's taste it.
♪♪
Ohh.
Ah! That's stout.
That's good *bleep*, Though.
That's plumb damn good Is what it is.
That's a belly warmer.
Josh and chuck are running Their still at maximum capacity.
This run will produce 55 gallons of plum brandy.
It's going to be a really Long couple days,
But I'm feeling confident That we're going to get
This 175 gallons of liquor made, Get it to these bikers.
Now if I can just figure Out how to haul it.
All right, one 5-gallon bucket Down, however many to go.
Going to be A long night.
Man, I'm telling you.
♪♪
dang.
I'm going back To the still site.
I'm going to try To mash in again.
Short a partner And short on time,
North carolina moonshiner mark Is racing to meet
His season goal By using the sour-mash technique
To produce one of the Smoothest whiskey varieties
To come out of the mountains.
Yeah, I'll make one run. It's a sweet-mash run.
It's good liquor.
It's almost drinkable.
Lot of people Don't know it,
But it takes a second run For it to turn to sour mash.
It's going to be a lot of work Carrying all the water to it,
Sugar and malting it back in, But sour-mash whiskey,
I can get twice as much alcohol Out of these next runs.
Sweet mash refers to mash
That's been fermented And distilled once.
That spent mash can be Combined with sugar, water
And more yeast, Then distilled again.
At this point, it's referred To as sour mash,
Which can be recombined With sugar, water, and yeast
After it's run, up to six times Before it's thrown away.
Due to the build-up of residual Yeast with each successive run,
Sour mash is said to produce
The smoothest And highest-proof whiskeys.
Many of america's favorite Whiskeys and bourbons
Are made exclusively With sour mash.
It's smelling good now, But this run right here
We're fixing to set up Is what people want.
♪♪
But I got to really hurry.
The temperature Is starting to drop.
When it gets so cold, It'll just slow down so much,
It'll take twice as long For it to work off.
And some more corn and sugar.
You know, in the past few weeks, I've been on my own.
Mike, he had To go separate ways.
You won't make as much liquor By yourself
As you will with a partner.
My goal was 1,200 gallons.
Since I ain't got a partner, I've cut back about 600 gallons,
And I've made just a little Over 200 gallons so far.
It's a whole lot harder To make moonshine by yourself,
Just slows everything down.
I don't know. It's hard to do it all.
Even with a less ambitious goal,
Mark still has nearly 400 gallons to go
To meet his season quota,
And with fall already In full swing,
He'll have to work around the Clock to avoid a lean winter.
Hmm.
Got me a little buddy here.
Sitting down to get him A drink of water,
Little bit Of company right here.
Don't hardly ever see them Anywhere in the spring,
But the fall time, They go showing up.
Yeah, he needs to know how To make a little liquor, too,
So we'll try to learn him.
He may be coming in here To try to get him a drink.
You never know.
Only company he'll have today.
You stay right there.
♪♪
Got my sour mash set back up.
At least for six runs On this barrel right here,
I won't have to change My mash or nothing.
Yeah, I make my own malt.
I just sprout my corn And dry it, grind it.
This makes a whole lot better Liquor, better-tasting liquor.
This is what we want right here, Good sour-mash whiskey.
I should get least 12 to 15 gallon out of this run.
We just going to run it.
We see how it turns out.
Wouldn't want to Leave you up there.
You'd be stranded, wouldn't you.
He probably don't know it, But I don't him a favor.
What I'm going to do is Take him up here in this flat.
These tarpons have a rough time Climbing these hills.
I'm going to take him up there And see if he might go find him
A place to stay for the winter.
Maybe right here Is a good place.
You just go the right way.
Hope I don't see you again Till next fall.
♪♪
We got to travel Down that river.
Get down there And make that money.
Yep.
In northern louisiana, Patti and david
Are meeting up With their bootlegger, brandon.
He'll captain the boat Transporting
Their 120 gallons of shine Down to the gulf of mexico.
And we're going down To the gulf.
There's a lot of cajuns, And there's shrimp people.
You've got all kind of Variety of people,
And when I go down there, I want To take a new flavor every time,
So I'm excited to be able To take the sassafras.
It just gets A few more customers,
And it pleases A lot more people.
Hey, man. What's going on?
We're meeting brandon, And we're going to start
Loading up our shine, 120 gallons' worth,
Put everything into the boat,
And then we're going to travel All night down this river.
So, I think we'll be safe. I don't know.
You know, you never know.
It's kind of dangerous To be traveling it,
But to me, that's the best Way to do it is at night.
You think you can fit this In your boat?
We can fit that In there.
Once we get all this going, I'm not stopping
Until I get there And get that out.
Brandon, he's kind of Nervous about doing
This whole ordeal for us.
You know, I mean, he's got a lot To lose just as well as we do,
But little extra what He would lose is his whole boat.
Let's start Loading it up.
All right.
But at the end of the day, he'll Have a pretty good paycheck,
And we will, too, so just got To look at it that way.
While brandon Will pilot the boat,
He'll be relying On patti and david
To help navigate the dangers Of the river at night
As well as keep An extra eye out for the law.
How many more we got?
Let's go ahead And get it out of here.
We can get her In the water now.
♪♪
All right, buddy.
All right, we good to go. Let's get out of here.
♪♪
Starting near The red river wildlife area,
Patti, david, and brandon Will navigate down the red river
To the atchafalaya river, Past morgan city,
Then through open marsh, Past bateman island,
Into the open water Of the gulf of mexico.
It's kind of dangerous To be traveling at night.
Can't see logs floating, You can't see alligators,
But to me, I think It's the safest way for us
As far as not getting caught
With this many gallons Of moonshine.
It's going to be An all-nighter and then some.
♪♪
Got all my wood in.
Go up here and see If my sour mash ready,
See if I can Get started running.
Yeah, buddy.
Good shine. All them gnats in there.
Deep in the woods Of north carolina,
Mark returns to his still site Ready to run a spirit
Favored by bourbon distillers -- Sour-mash whiskey.
Feels good.
Smells good.
Ought to be some good Sour-mash whiskey today.
You can tell by the smell of it It's what it's supposed to be.
Mike, we had to split up.
That slowed me down a lot.
The cool weather Is coming quick.
I'm just going to have to Really work hard
To get to my 600 gallons.
♪♪
I need everything to go good From here on out
If I'm going to meet my goal.
♪♪
Getting late in the season, And I'm behind.
Need to run every drop That I can run.
I don't know What I'm going to get,
But I'm going to run all I can.
Just going to have to make All I can make,
And that's all I can do.
Well, I got him sealed up now.
♪♪
Hoo! Gosh, I'm already running.
I better loosen up this fire.
Ah! Too hot.
I'll just keep pulling it back And slow my stream down.
That's the only way You're going to get
Real good, smooth liquor Is a good, slow stream.
Believe that's about right.
That's about enough Throw away there.
♪♪
Yeah, this is always where I get in trouble right here.
Gonna have to get me A little taste here.
♪♪
Ah, boy. Ha!
Yep, that sour mash is working, Buddy, I'll tell you.
Ahh.
See, my trouble, When this right here hits me,
I'll be back for seconds.
I just like it.
I'd do a whole lot better If I stayed out of it,
But I never have run any Without drinking some of it.
Work as hard at it as I have, You ought to be able to take him
A little drink or two, Way I look at it.
This run here, About 14, 15 gallon,
And I got another Run under my belt.
I need to make Just as many runs as I can.
It's been a good run here.
♪♪
Different world down here.
Yeah.
Be glad when we get This stuff off of us.
Me, too.
All through the night, Patti, david, and brandon
Have been navigating Louisiana's twisting waterways
For a big sale in the gulf.
50 miles of treacherous travel Through the atchafalaya basin,
The largest wetlands In the united states,
Still lay ahead.
Keep your eyes out and stuff.
I don't know nothing About this water.
While the dark of night
Helps them stay under the radar,
It also obscures The river's dangers
From hidden debris To hostile wildlife.
Ooh *bleep* I just seen a alligator.
He just went under.
He was right there -- About a 6-footer.
Probably done slipped Over in that grass.
That's what I hate about Traveling on the water at night.
♪♪
We in a bind Right now, buddy.
I'm dragging. We in less than 2 foot of water.
I'm in 1.1 foot of water.
Can you see?
No, I can't see Nothing down.
We got to Get out of this.
We been having to worry About gators,
But now We're having to worry
About landing On top of sand?
♪♪
It looks like we in open water, But you just don't know, do you?
Don't know. You see how quick It slips up on you.
Mm-hmm.
I'm just trying to ease Around real slow.
♪♪
How deep are we now?
I'm back in about 10 foot of water.
Be all right.
Starting to get a little Daylight on us now, ain't it?
♪♪
Well, I'm just gonna kill the Boat and just drift right here.
♪♪
Well, this is about time. We finally here.
He's supposed to be Flashing the lights.
Quite a few of them Out here.
Yeah, I'd say.
I figured he'd be somewhere Close in this area.
Yeah, that's him Right there.
Let's go to him, Get rid of this stuff.
All right, here we go.
♪♪
I hope you're right About this guy.
If we feel Uncomfortable about it,
There's plenty of water To take off.
Keep your eyes out.
If something is going to happen, I think it would happen here.
Can see a long way On this water,
And they could be Far away watching.
♪♪
There goes a helicopter Right yonder.
That's the coast guard. That ain't good.
No, it's not. What the heck?
♪♪
Well, this rock, I don't know What it is about it,
But it's always reminded Me of a tombstone.
I'm going to see If I can get him loaded.
Tombstone, one you buy,
Has always been A little spooky to me.
I brought me some rope.
I'm going to try to tie That thing off
And get it drug Out of the creek,
And what I'm going To try to do
Is just rig me up A pulley system,
Stretch a rope good and tight
Between two trees And tie my truck
And just let my Truck pick it up.
Then I can back my truck up.
Now this rock, hope it's A long time before I need it,
But really, fellow stays dead a Whole lot longer than he lives.
I don't think it's nothing To be scared of.
I just think folks enjoy life While you're living.
That's about as good As you can do.
I can get my name on him, Year I was born.
I don't think I'll put the next part.
I'll let somebody else Handle that.
♪♪
That's the coast guard. That ain't good.
No, it's not.
Here we are. We got a helicopter Coming over us
And got to looking, And it's coast guard.
In addition To their other duties,
The u.S. Coast guard is charged With enforcing maritime laws,
Granting them The authority to track
And intercept liquor smugglers.
I got a lot to lose here.
♪♪
I got a lot to lose, too.
You just got Shine to lose.
I got $18,000 to lose.
But $18,000 Won't buy this boat.
♪♪
Oh, lord.
I'm relieved that that coast Guard, that he kept on going.
He didn't circle back around, So hopefully,
They'll just mosey on by us. I don't know.
We'll just see, but if we can Get this unloaded off our boat,
You know, quick as we can, The better off we'll be.
♪♪
Don't smile yet. It ain't done.
♪♪
We made it.
-how y'all doing? -pretty good. Y'all?
-we good. -all pretty good.
Long haul.
120 gallons?
That's what we got.You got my money?
Yes, ma'am.All right.
♪♪
It's all there -- $18,000 like you said.
It sure is.
Let's start Unloading this then.
♪♪
Hurry up Every chance you can get.
-got it, brandon? -got it.
Appreciate it.Thank y'all again.
All right, Thank you, man.
Give us a call If you need some more.
Will do.Got plenty.
♪♪
Whoo!Got it now. We good.
Thank you, brandon.You're welcome.
Papa, we did that, Didn't we?
Ow!
Very good day for us. I mean, It was a lot of hard work
And a lot of tense moments,
But, you know, At the end of the day,
It was worth it all to have That money in our pocket.
♪♪
Kelly has got to understand, You know,
That he's got to do it our way. It's very important.
If we're going to sell this As our liquor...
It's got to taste like it.
...It's got to taste Like our liquor.
After a successful run Of their muscadine rye,
Mark and digger need to devote Attention to quality control
On their Corn-liquor production.
Yeah, we're coming up here To check on kelly.
He's been handling Our corn production
For the last few weeks.
Everything seems To be going well,
But a little quality control Never hurts.
Everything good?As far as I know.
Can't tell That there's nothing --
How'd you find anything? You've camouflaged everything.
I have.
Mark and myself, We've got caught up
In making these premium liquors With three-pot operation,
And we've let our Corn-liquor production lack.
Kelly is our shot in the arm, If you will.
He's picking up slack.
You got any fire coals?
I usually run it through just to Strain it with a handkerchief.
Well, we like to run ours Over fire coal.
Simply because it takes That little, tiny bit
Of that fusel oil Out of it.
The activated carbon And charcoal is
A natural filter, straining out Harsh-tasting fusel oils
And other organic compounds
Attracted to the porous, Absorbent carbon molecules.
Just a handful is all you need.
So, we just put that In the funnel?
We just put that right In your funnel.
There ain't no doubt We know you can run liquor,
But, you know, A lot of little extra pains
We take to separate ours from, You know, the rest of the pack.
Right.
We've taught kelly everything we Can about the way we make liquor
And the process we use And our little techniques
That are a little bit Different than most folks.
We've just got to stay On top of it and make sure
That he doesn't try To take any shortcuts
To speed up his process.
We've got liquor coming.
What it's look like?It looks like liquor.
I know it's slow, And it's more time-consuming,
But it's worth it In the long run.
Well, kelly is doing a good job,
But we're going to Keep an eye on him
'cause we expect Certain things from him
And because, when we're Putting our name on it,
You can't leave out one step.
Every step has got To be followed to a tee.
Let me and mark have A little taste of it.
Try that and see what you think. Boy, she's clear now.
She's clear as a --
Goodness.
Mm-hmm.
Got the good aroma.
You can smell that corn in it.
Hey, ain't nothing fancy.
It's just Damn good corn liquor.
Hear, hear! Hear, hear!
It's good.
By combining Their premium liquor count
With kelly's Corn shine production,
Mark and digger have come within Sight of their season goal.
That's the flavor We want, cuz.
I'm proud to put mark And digger's name
Yep.
Kelly is holding up His end of the bargain
On our Corn-liquor production,
And these specialty liquors We've done
Command a premium price.
Man, I don't think That things could be
Any better for me and digger.
We feel very confident We're going to hit
Our goal this season.
We get 15, 18 gallons like that Twice a week, you're the man.
You'll be on our team.
-I'll be your hero. -you are already.
Yes, you is.
♪♪
Next time on "Moonshiners"...
Come on, you bastard.
...Broke down In tennessee...
I'm worried about getting This liquor delivered right now.
Son of a bitch.
There's the law.
If you respected people That made liquor,
You wouldn't be stepping in In another county.
...A rival shiner caught dead To rights in cocke county...
You just ain't getting What we're trying to tell you.
There's people over here That will do you bodily harm.
...And In north carolina...
I come around this curve And down a little straightaway.
I got some stash in the truck, And lo and behold,
There's sitting the law.
...Moonshine and a chaser.
Hell, no!