Welcome to the biggest master distiller yet.
This is a tournament of champions.
[narrator] six champions return...
[richard] it's time to get fired up.
[narrator] ...For an epic moonshining showdown.
Things are gonna get interesting.
[narrator] they'll use advanced backwoods technique
I'm missing a bucket of corn!
That's no good.
Rookie mistakes.
[narrator] their reputation are on the line.
[richard] amanda, you're kind of quiet.
I'm in the zone, richard.
That's what's worrying me. She in the zone.
[narrator] the last distille standing will compete
Head-to-head with the judge of their choice.
Oh, hell.
[narrator] there can be only one ultimate champion.
You gotta step up and prove which one of you are the best.
Ladies and gentlemen,
A whole different kind of challenge here.
This is a tournament of champions.
Every challenge involved in this is gonna test
Your skills as a backwoods distiller.
Every single one of you have went up
Against some of the toughest,
And you came out on top, so now,
We got to see what you guys do up against each other.
[tim] we've got three heritage spirits,
We've got four big challenges,
We've got five runs,
And we've got six champions standing here,
All leading up to the ultimate battle.
The last person standing
Gets your choice to challenge one of us to the end.
[digger] all right, guys. We gotta light this candle.
Corn is the industry standard
For the grain in backwoods liquor.
It's plentiful all through appalachia,
And down into the south.
Tickle, tell us all about it.
Mountain dew.
Mother's milk.
Corn liquor.
It's the crown jewel of moonshine.
Immigrants from the british isles
And ireland brought their stills
And their love of distillin to the new world.
Since corn grew better than wheat or barley,
That's what they ran,
And that's how corn liquor was born.
And when hard times came,
Cheap corn could be turned into much pricier liquor.
Recipes were perfected,
And passed down through the generations.
During prohibition, illegal distilling boomed,
And people all across the country
Got a taste for it.
You know who else has a taste for it?
[smacks lips] ah!
This guy.
All right, guys.
You all are gonna build us
Your signature corn-based mash.
That's your first challenge.
Now, we know each and every one of you
Can make corn liquor in your sleep,
But now is the time you gotta step up and prove
Which one of you are the best.
[tim] this is the deal.
We're gonna make it a little bit more challenging for you.
You've gotta make your mash work off and ready to run
In three days.
I'd recommend that you adjust your mash accordingly,
Because if it's not ready to run in three days,
You're out of the game.
All right, guys. You've heard everything from up here.
Time to get started.
You got one hour.
That time starts...
Now.
Good luck. Get with it.
[richard] this hour's gonna pass really fast.
It's time to get fired up.
[mark] there ain't none of 'em killin' now time about
Lighting a fire, are they?
I'm working on a hot tub!
Know what?
Yours have been burning a little longer than mine, daniel.
Yep!
I'm putting in just a little live yeast,
And then I'm gonna add the hot water,
And it'll kill the yeast, and once it kills the yeast,
It'll make yeast nutrient.
I'm daniel maner, from sevierville, tennessee.
I won master distiller: Family recipe.
Crank her up!
[mark] daniel over here, he's got the proof.
Mmm!
[daniel] yes sir, buddy boy!
Daniel, what you got is what corn liquor's supposed to be.
[claps]
-Congratulations. -Thank you.
Mine was just obviously better.
Going into this tournament of champions,
I know I have to be on my a game,
But being able to adapt and overcome
Any situation that you run on,
That's part of being a moonshiner.
I know I'm gonna be up again some stiff competition,
But I'm gonna give it one hell of a try.
In a competition,
I go with something I know works real good.
It's white corn, malt, yellow corn,
And a little bit of rye,
And raisin bran.
The bran just makes a good, strong cap.
Fifteen minutes burned up, guys. You got 45 left.
Did you see what richard dropped in that pot?
-[digger] what was it? -It was a big, damn bundle of greenery.
Greenery?
He's probably using those tea leaves
He uses down there in louisiana.
My name is richard landry.
I'm from new iberia, louisiana.
I was named master distille for cherry bounce...
Richard, cherry boom! All over your tongue.
You are the spice king.
...And I actually won again with sippin' cream.
Oh, it's going pretty good!
I'm definitely honored to be here,
But I almost feel bad for the other guys,
'cause I know what I'm doing
And I do feel like a champion when it comes to this.
What the hell is that?
So, this is manglier tea.
The water that I'm gonna use is really gonna be a tea.
Huh!
So, I'm gonna do a typical corn mash
With a few grains in it,
And this base is gonna be this manglier tea.
[richard] that's raisins?
Yeah, a nutrient.
It just kind of gives the yeast what it needs,
Just to make sure I can make
As much alcohol as I can in three days.
My name is amanda bryant, and I'm from
The pocono mountains of pennsylvania.
Winning master distiller with my hazelnut rum
Was pretty much the highest accomplishment
That I feel like I've ever made in my entire life.
I'm using nitrous oxide,
So that the alcohol can get the flavor.
[mark] amanda is a mad scientist.
[digger] that right there is amazing.
Amanda is the next master distiller.
[amanda] I'm coming into this competition
With the mindset that I have to win.
I don't like losing.
[mena] what are you working with today?
[amanda] cherokee white eagle corn...
[mena] yeah?
[amanda] ...So it's like a blue, and purple, and white grain.
For my corn liquor, I wanted to keep it traditional.
I am using a base of ground corn,
Malted corn, and sugar.
This corn is a special grain that I got
From a heritage farmer in pennsylvania.
What kind of yeast are you using?
Um, I have some turbo yeast...
-Yeah. -...And hopefully, that will work out.
And if it doesn't, then I've learned something,
And if it does, I learned something else.
-Right. Yeah. -So, no losing there.
My name is mena killough.
Currently, I'm the head distiller
At young hearts, in raleigh, north carolina,
And when I won master distiller for absinthe...
[digger] mena, you've knocked it over the fence.
You are our next master distiller.
[mena] ...I felt like I could really shine,
Because it was botanically driven,
And that's where the bulk of my knowledge is.
And then, I won popcorn sutton's corn liquor competition.
Pam's gonna present the prize to mena.
-[all applauding] -yes, mena.
[mena] I am so honored, pam.
Winning master distiller not only one time,
But two times, I am looking forward
To going for a three-peat,
And I'm bringing my best.
So, all I could get my hands on
Was some yellow corn.
My recipe for corn liquor was pretty simple.
I just used cornmeal, and corn sugar,
And hopefully, I will carry some of that sweet corn flav
Through the distillation process.
[richard] you lazy. You sitting down.
Well, you know, this is a process of love.
My name's howard thompson. I'm from danville, virginia
I am the master distiller of apple pie moonshine.
I'm just trying to get out for you
Some of that good flavor in there.
[digger] richard,
Mikey,
You both got skunked.
Howard's the winner.
-What? -[digger] congratulations.
[all applauding]
Winning the apple pie challenge
Against mike cockrell and richard landry,
I felt like I had a little wind in my sail,
And I could prove to the world that
I can run with these boys.
I'm here to win this competition.
[richard] what kind of corn is that?
Virginia corn?
[howard] that virginia lightning corn.
My recipe's kind of simple.
I use a yellow cornmeal,
A dry yeast,
And pure cane sugar.
I mean, it don't get no easier than this,
But this is what wins competitions.
[bleep] that smells good.
[howard chuckling] it's got a good smell to it.
[richard] hey, tater, you're kind of quiet.
[tater] yep.
I'm concentrating,
'cause I'm up against the toughest competition.
My name's benny mcclure.
Some people call me "tater."
I'm from sevierville, tennessee.
I am master distiller, applejack moonshine,
And I'm ready to go.
[digger] it's real obvious
Old tater knows what he's doing.
Tater, you're the next master distiller.
Congratulations, old buddy!
This time around, it's a little more nerve-wracking,
Because these guys, they've won like I have.
I'd say I'm not competitive, but hell yeah, I wanna win,
And hell yeah, I'm gonna try my best.
What do you got going on over here?
I've just got yellow corn, and white corn,
And I've put just a little bit of water in it.
All the corn that I've got, both the yellow and the white,
Are growed locally. We're real proud of it.
It really puts off some good liquor.
Well, I can't wait to taste it.
Thirty minutes, boys and girls!
Halfway done.
[daniel] I got a problem. I'm missing a bucket.
I had yellow corn, and white corn,
And raisin bran. My white corn's gone.
Huh?
I'm missing a bucket of corn!
That's no good.
[daniel] I've looked all around
And the only thing I can figure is,
Most likely,
I've left my bucket of white corn at home.
It's really got me aggravate
But I'm just gonna adapt on the fly,
And make the best possible liquor that I can make
With the ingredients that I have sitting here
In front of me right now today.
What you working with over here?
What you building?
[daniel] well, I was gonna make my signature,
But my white corn just up and disappeared.
Oh, no! So what are you making?
Yellow corn liquor.
I'm pretty sure you'll figure it out.
I'll do the best I can do, buddy.
All right.
Tater man!
Hey, how are you, tim?
What are you cooking up over there?
Look like oatmeal!
[tater] no, it's just cracked corn.
I've got white and yellow both.
[tim] are you stressing any?
Ain't never heard of nobody making any in three days,
But we're gonna see what we can do.
Good luck, tater!
-All right. Thank you, tim. -All right.
-Mena! -Hi.
What are you cooking over here?
I have my cornmeal, yellow.
That's all I was able to get my hands on.
-Yeah? -But I went for corn sugar.
So you don't have cane sugar. You got corn sugar.
I got corn sugar.
That could be challenging on three days.
Good luck.
All right. Thank you.
[tim] the famous amanda!
You don't have much in your barrel,
Compared to some of these other guys' barrels.
[amanda] I have about 20 pounds of corn,
And then, I didn't put the sugar in there, yet.
So, it's pennsylvania corn?
Yeah, it's a white cherokee eagle corn,
From a farmer in pennsylvania.
-That's right. -Give it a total different profile from anything else.
-Yeah. -Totally different.
All right.
My man rich!
Yes, sir!
-This is tea. -[tim] what in the world?
That looks like seaweed!
[richard] this is manglier tea.
This is what I base all liquors on, right here.
[tim] man, that smells good!
Howard, what's happening over here?
Well, I started with four ingredients.
Water, sugar, corn...
-Yeah. -...Yeast.
Are you concerned about the three-day limit
On the mash working off?
-You know? -Very concerned.
I've never seen that work off that fast in my life.
-Well, good luck with that. -[howard] thank you, old buddy.
[digger] five minutes, you all.
Better be getting where you need to be.
That ain't a lot of time.
Howard.
What's up, buddy?
You want to dump the whole pot together?
Make it do what it do, baby!
Thank you, brother.
All right, guys, you got five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One...
Step away from your barrels, guys. You're done.
Good luck to each and every one of you.
We'll see you in three days.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.
We'll see who made some liquor.
But first, we're gonna put your all's
Backwoods engineering skills to the test.
We'll see who made some liquor.
But first, we're gonna put your all's
Backwoods engineering skills to the test.
You're only gonna get to run your corn mash one time
Before judging.
We're gonna give you an opportunity
To boost your flavor, boost your proof.
But, you're gonna have to
Bring them still-building skills to the table.
[mark] we'll give you all the parts and tools you need
To come up with you a jar thumper design
To work with your still setup, and your run.
Now, listen to me, guys.
I will be doing an inspection.
You've got to build it right.
If it's not safe,
You can't use it.
[digger] you got one hour to build this apparatus.
Your time starts...
Now.
[daniel] why is everybody so quiet?
You worried about this, huh?
[laughs]
It's on that fine, like antlers.
All right.
I think daniel will be running liquor here before long.
I work by the motto,
"measure twice and cut once.
If you dry-fit it,
It's setting right there in front of you,
So when you put it together, it's gonna fit.
Mena, you okay?
Yeah. This is fun! [chuckles]
Tater, you look like you is enjoying that a lot.
No.
[mark chuckles]
[tater] actually, I hate to solder.
[digger] well, I'm right there with you.
That's why I let mark wayne ramsey handle it.
[laughs]
All right, guys. You burned 30 minutes.
Thirty minutes?
[tim] that's all you got.
Oh, hell.
That's all you need.
Boy, you know what I didn't do?
[daniel] what didn't you do?
And, you don't make the mistake, either,
'cause I gotta unsolder.
[daniel] what's that? You didn't put that ring on?
That damn ring go on there.
Damn, I love you, richard!
[laughs]
I had already soldered those two joints together,
So that means I have to heat those joints up,
And pull this thing apart.
That's something I wanted to make sure
That was done the right way.
-Back to you. -Thank you, brother.
Go through the process all over again.
[digger] ten minutes, folks.
Mine's not gonna be perfect, but it should be safe.
[richard] tater, you done?
Are you serious?
[tater] yeah. [chuckles]
It ain't pretty.
Richard, you're doing a fine job. I'm proud of you.
Keep up the good work.
[chuckles]
Your check's in the mail, bro.
[chuckles]
[tater] how about you, howard?
What are you burning down there?
I was trying to make mine look pretty like y'all's,
-But I might need to... -[tater chuckles]
...Let that sleeping dog lie.
Okay.
This is on the wrong side.
Oh, hell.
See? This is your thumper.
Yep.
-Lord. -I mean, it won't work like that.
No, she ain't gonna work. You're right.
Damn it!
Rookie mistakes.
[digger] three minutes left, guys.
What did mark just tell you, howard?
I'm ass-backwards, daniel.
[daniel] is that right?
Yep. I needed this to be flipped around.
-[both] what? -My cap.
Come on, baby.
-Go ahead. -What?
Turn him up like this.
How much time we got?
[digger] one minute.
[daniel] that's soldered.
I'm back in the game!
Ooh!
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Step back from your work, guys. You're done.
Ta-daa!
[laughs]
Whew!
All right, guys.
Y'all go get a little rest,
And we'll see you back in a little bit.
[amanda] okay.
Thank you!
Welcome back, guys!
We got a roomful of winners.
It's your first run. Your corn liquor.
You had three days to ferment.
Y'all better hope that you built
Some powerful mash,
And got a little bit of work done
While it's sitting there.
And, we've got a little surprise for you.
We've got a guest judge coming,
The first lady of moonshining, pam sutton!
[mark] before you guys run,
I will be doing an inspection of your jar thumper,
To make sure they're safe,
Before you'll be permitted to use them.
Since there's so many of you, we're going to split you up.
Mena, daniel, tater, you're stuck in here with me.
Howard, richard, amanda, you're with me.
So let's go.
-Good luck, then. -All right, good luck.
-Good luck. -Good luck, amanda.
-[mena] good luck. -Good luck, man.
All right, guys. We're gonna look at your thumper jars,
See what we got.
Now, daniel, you are a welder fabricator.
And a mechanic.
I don't think that I will find another one
More straight and level.
I'm gonna say this one passes muster.
Mena, your back was to the model.
You turned around every 20 seconds...
-[laughs] -...And that's paying attention.
That's what you're supposed to do.
-This is the most likely place for failure. -Yeah, okay.
I think you're good to go.
Oh, wonderful.
Tater.
Hey mark.
All the solder joints look good.
It don't matter that it's a little bit cattywampus,
Leaning toward ryan's coach just a skoosh,
But I feel it's safe,
And I feel it'll operate like it's supposed to.
-Thank you, mark. -Good luck to all of you.
These guys are all good to go, I think.
You get 'em started and I'm gonna check
Howard's, richard's and amanda's.
-All right, richard. -Yes, sir.
I wanna say they're not the purdiest soldered joints I've ever saw,
But as long as there's no steam and alcohol vapors escaping,
I'm gonna give you the green light.
Thank you, thank you.
[mark] amanda.
Hello, mark.
You know, I probably wouldn't put it in a beauty contest against daniel's.
Well, yeah.
But yeah, I feel that it's safe.
Thank you, mark.
-Yes, ma'am. -[richard] good job, amanda.
[clicks tongue] thanks, richard.
-My old buddy, howard. -Mark, how you doin' old buddy?
-Probably doing better than my apparatus here. -Well, let's see it.
A little bit of a franken-spine there.
Well, these pipes are not in line.
I think, you're really gonna have an issue right here, howard.
I don't think it would seep correctly with the angle.
I think there's been some more pitch here.
[howard] mmm-hmm.
So, sadly...
I can't pass this.
Oh.
[howard] that knocked my socks off,
Because I felt like I really needed this
To take it to the level of what the judges were asking for.
Well, now that I don't have it, I'm at a disadvantage.
-I'm gonna take it. -All right.
All right, buddy, sorry about that.
[howard] I'm a little nervou
All right, you guys got four hours.
All right, guys, you heard the man,
You're ready to make liquor.
You got four hours, your time starts...
-Four hours starting right... -[both] ...Now.
Good luck to all of you.
[richard] let's get to work.
[daniel] any time you need a hand, mena, you holler at me.
I don't care a bit to help.
-All right. -We're in a competition and I'll still help you.
[laughs] thank you.
I don't have that much to set up,
So I guess I can take my time.
It just sucks, man,
'cause we bust our hump tryin' to get everything right man,
To have it fail at the last minute.
You got a good thumper, it may not impair you as much as you think.
I'm just worried about not
Getting to be able to get that proof up like I wanted to.
[richard] a three day fermentation is a problem,
And I tried to over yeast it to make sure that it worked.
Really didn't, it was still kind of working
But we just give it a shot, see what we can do.
[richard] amanda, you kinda quiet.
I'm in the zone, richard.
-That's what's worrying me, she's in the zone. -[amanda] I know, right?
Outta all of these people here,
There is one person who I really, really, pay attention to.
Amanda,
She is the threat.
-Amanda, that is a... -[amanda] sour though.
-It got sour though. -...Beautiful color.
[richard] I've never seen a pink match.
Prettiest match I think I've ever made.
I'm specifically using this heirloom grain,
'cause it gives a little bi of a different corn flavor than a normal white corn.
It has a little bit of an earthiness,
And finishes off very sweet.
Amanda didn't come here to lose this competition.
None of us did, did we?
I don't normally work with the thumper.
How filled... About right here?
Just barely put the volume of liquid over the end of your pipe.
[mena] the big challenge for me is the foundation spirits,
Where it's just the focus on your mash build,
And how you run it through the still.
I'll feel better about the run when I have some liquor pouring out,
And I get to taste it.
[tater] my mash was a little sticky.
To me, that's how I judge it,
But we'll run it.
I built the... The jarred thumper rig.
They, uh, make a higher proof alcohol
But they strip a hell of a lot of your flavor,
So, uh, I decided not to use it.
I like the old... Old saying "keep it simple, stupid."
So, I want to try to keep it simple.
I've used one of the thumper rigs before,
You can infuse flavor in it
But I just don't care for it
It ain't my style of liquor making,
And I'd rather stay away from what I don't like.
The three day mash time presented some challenges.
So I'm trying to add the sweet corn flavor back I using the mason jar thumper
[richard] I might have something goin' here.
[howard] I think you do, richard.
I'm gonna use them both upper apparatuses.
The corn mash that I made,
This is gonna give me a little bit more kick,
And it's gonna give me some more of that corn flavor, and make it just right for me.
[richard] howard, you straight?
I'm good! I'm just trying to get a little liquid into my only thumper.
It almost looks like amanda's making pink lemonade.
[amanda] I have not done a three day fermentation before.
Not all the sugar fermented,
So there is more sugar in the pot than there normally is, and it scares me.
So I just wanna try to run I on a really lower temperatur
So there's no bubbling and no scorching in the pot.
-[richard] whoa, girl. -[howard] whoa.
The thumper is starting to chime right now.
It's warming up nicely, won't be long now.
[mena] yeah!
I just want that one beautiful jar.
I've got a little bit of haze and some floaties.
Cloudy? That's no good, mena.
That's not what I want at all.
Blending the corn seemed like a good idea
That I was able to, like, crack it and just extract more flavor out of it.
It works great for herbs,
For grain I... I got... It's too much oil.
I thought I was gonna help the flavor come out.
Next time I would use whole corn.
[tater] it is purdy. I mean, it's clear.
Good smell, good taste.
[digger] three hours, folks.
With one hour burnt, you got plenty of time.
[daniel] oh, yeah, here it come.
Even though I didn't have the white corn
In my mash it had a good flavor.
It's not the same as the one that I normally make but, uh, it's real close.
Oh, yeah.
There she goes, she's running.
It's smells like damn corn bread,
I ain't mad at it, actually, I'm impressed.
[richard] oh, that's corn.
They don't call me the comeback kid for no reason.
[amanda] oh, you are going, richard.
[richard] it's coming.
[amanda] this leaking?
The first drops off an orium is something that we typically don't deal with,
But I'm always willing to taste that just to see
If I have a real strong flavor right at the beginning.
I got that first taste and it tastes really good,
So I know it's gonna be a real good alcohol.
Starting to get some flavor in here.
What is all this?
There's tons of flux in this thing from when we soldered it.
I... I was almost not gonna use it,
Because I knew there'd be flux in there.
Flux is a chemical paste that we use when we're soldering copper together.
It also can get on the insid of something with so many bends in it.
So, while we clean this out with cold water,
This is the first time I'm actually running it,
And there is some leftover, residual flux left in there.
[sighs]
Look at it all. I know what flux is, that's flux.
That's flux, yeah.
Damn!
What is all this?
[amanda] I know what flux is, that's flux.
That's flux, yeah.
I mean, pretty much the whole first jar
Came out with that flux and everything.
[sighs]
My plan is to just run it through a filter,
And eventually all that flux is gonna come out, hopefully, in my heads,
And it won't really hurt me in the long run.
Two hours, two hours, guys.
You're halfway.
-Howard. -What's up old buddy?
Whatcha doin' over there?
This is, uh, jar number three, I got it running real slow.
I'm, uh, looking at the bridge on that.
I'm a above 1... About 115.
I mean, I'm... I'm really, really, really happy with my flavor profile.
-Good luck. -Thank you, old buddy.
Amanda, how you lookin'? How many jars you got?
-Four. -You got some alcohol?
I do, yeah, and I think it tastes pretty good.
-All right, good luck. -Thank you very much.
-My man, richard. -Yes sir, mr. Smith.
You got a jar that got a bead on it?
Yes, sir. Some alcohol and some real flavor came out.
-Good luck, -thank you, sir.
Getting close to that crunch time, guys, one hour left.
Hell, yes.
[digger] daniel!
What's goin' on?
Well, I'm coming and check on you and see how your run's going.
That's jar number eight going right there.
All right, brother, carry on.
-[digger] well, hey mena. -Hi.
How's your run goin'?
I've hit some problems, because I blended the corn a lot of haze came across.
[digger] yeah, if it's down on you,
Maybe you just outta bypass that jar and just run with the thumper.
I did, but I wanted... I wanted the flavor.
Well, I hate that you had a little hiccup there on the first,
But it's still overcomeable.
-Good luck, mena. -All right, thank you.
-Tater! -Hey, bud.
-Here the run is-- -everything going smooth?
Um, I'm working on jar 15 right now.
That's a hell of a run out of 20 gallons.
It is in three days.
If you don't have any problems, I'm gonna move along, brother.
All right, I appreciate you, digger.
Good luck, buddy.
[howard] I've done all I can do.
-Good? -Strong.
-[howard] I like strong. -I can't get below 100.
-How much time we got left? -You got 15 minutes.
[amanda sighs]
[howard] all right, so I'm shuttin' mine down.
It ain't nothing else I can do, man.
I got everything out of this damn thing I can.
Now it's all hopes and prayers.
So I'm on jar eight, and the proof is starting to come down now.
That's really good, now I can get a real nice jar to the judges.
Yeah, mine's... Mine just dropped off.
Time to blend.
Well, I ain't fighting it no more.
Richard's coming up.
Yup, imma go ahead and give you that one.
All right, well it looks good.
-Appreciate it. -All right.
[howard] six and three is money.
It's got a little burn on the back end,
It's not too hot where the judges are gonna be mad at me,
But it's got that good, sweet corn flavor.
[tim] you have three minutes!
That is official.
[mena] what the hell?
I'm gonna take the lead on using the filter.
Throughout the run, I knew that I was experiencing the hazing.
I got too hot in the thumper,
I got chunks of cream corn coming across a haze, I gues
I just don't feel like I have a winning jar.
I'm not happy right now.
I'm done, I'm gonna turn in old number seven.
[tater] all right, daniel bob, turn her in. I'm a turn in number nine.
Kill a dog, get it over with. Boys, here it is.
Hope you enjoy it.
See you, tater.
Good luck to yous.
I hate to put mine next to this crystal clear jar,
But it's what I got today.
-Thank you. -Mena, good luck.
[howard] I'm truly not satisfied.
Definitely not.
Daniel,
We'll come get you when we drink all this and make a decision.
-You'll be drunk before it's over with. -[mark] liable to.
-[digger] maybe. -Thank you.
-Yeah, man, -see ya, bud.
[amanda] can't overthink it that's where you screw it u is when you overthink it.
Amanda, you ready?
-[amanda] I think so. -Looks good.
[amanda] don't mess with a good thing, right?
-Thank you, tim. -Yeah. All right.
-Might... -Tim, here I am, pulling up the rear as usual, old buddy.
[howard] you said you want corn liquor, by god you got corn liquor.
-[tim] thank you. -Thank you.
[digger] lotta drinking to do.
You gotta get all you can hold in your mouth twice, pam,
Off of each one of 'em.
You gonna drive me home?
[chuckling]
[tim] first one here is richard.
[mark] richard landry.
Purdy.
Whoa.
-[tim] nice bead. Yeah. -[mark] that's pretty high.
I'm gonna say he did 115 probably.
Yeah, I'd say he's a little north of 115.
-Yeah, that is. -That's a good looking liquor, though.
[tim] let's see what it tastes like.
It's been an honor to work and meet all of you.
Little scary to compete with all of you guys.
I was happy just being here with you guys.
-That's right. -That's the same here.
I'm just proud to call every one of yous brothers and sisters.
-[howard] definitely. -[richard] same, same.
-[digger] well? -Real light, smells good.
-[pam] yeah. -I know it's corn liquor, but it's a vanilla.
-Tobacco. -And I'll tell you something, it's got some damn horsepower.
-Whoa. -[imitates gunshot]
[digger] that'll push the wrinkles out of your shirt.
But it's got a good taste, though.
[mark] it's got a great taste.
It's delicious.
Just to be here and get what I got out of this,
If left right now, I would still feel like I won.
-[howard] oh, yeah. -[tater] oh, yeah.
All right. Daniel.
Nice 100 proof there.
That's a good bootleg jar right there.
-Imma tell him. -[tim] no doubt about it.
It's got a little bit of a fruity smell too,
I think,
But I can't figure out what fruit.
It's a little heavier on the nose than richard's.
It's almost like a blueberry.
It's raisins.
He likes that raisin bran, huh?
-Got raisin bran in it. -He puts that raisin bran in it, yeah.
He take raisin bran and get you drunk!
-[laughing] -[mena laughing]
[laughing] exactly.
It works good for supper too.
-[laughing] -[richard and mena laughing]
It tastes a little bit hot,
-Peppery. -Like a rye.
[mark] it's a lower proof than richard's,
But it's a little more fiery on the throat, I think.
Yeah, it's got a little bit on the back end.
If this keeps up like this, we'll be drunk
Time we get through jar six,
And I'll have no idea what order we put 'em in.
[chuckles]
Who we got there, tim?
-[tim] mena. -[mark] oh, my.
Little cloudy.
[tim] mm.
-[mark] little low. -I think she's a little low there.
-I'm gonna say that's 85 or lower. -[tim] yeah.
You know she may have spliced her back ends in there a little heavy
Trying to get her some flavor,
And knocked her proof down and in 32.
It has a good taste, but I can't smell anything really.
Nothing there.
She worked on it a little bit.
I think she blended incorrectly.
[mena] I had something to turn in, but I felt like I just kept
On hitting problems in my run, and I tried to overcome them the best I could.
Amanda.
-That's a good clear jar. -Yep.
-[mark] oh, my. -[tim] look good. Over 100.
She's in the benchmark for corn liquor.
Thank you.
She can pull a rabbit out of the hat, pam.
Now, she's got a different aroma.
-Different nose. -Yeah, I'm trying to figure out what it is.
Different nose.
That ain't a bit surprising to me.
Yeah, it's a little warm for me, but I like the taste of it.
Taste is good.
Now, I know one thing about her, she used indian corn.
-It's got a distinct flavor profile. -Yeah, it is.
I think it's a keeper.
I like the flavor that I got.
In that glass jar, it looked like a pink lemonade bubbling through there.
Never seen nothing so pretty in my life.
-[richard] oh, beautiful, man. -Oh, shoot.
-[tim] howard. -[mark] howard!
My man, howard!
Good, clear jar.
-[mark] oh, my. -That's right on the money.
[tim] that's what it's supposed to be.
I'm gonna say 105-ish.
[mark] if it taste as good as it looks,
I'd like to have a tanker load of it.
-Yeah. -Yep. Yep.
It's got a little grassy dryness.
Tastes a little grassy.
But it still has a good taste.
-It's got a real good taste. -[pam] yeah.
-And it's got alcohol. -[digger] yep.
But it's a good drink.
Howard's done a hell of a job.
I had to do a little blending, so that's why I'm a little weak at times,
But for flavor, I got flavor on the nose.
[tim] tater corn!
[mark] that's a clean one.
Good, clear liquor.
-[mark] yeah. -[digger] there's your 100 proof bead right there.
That's what you're looking for when you shake a jar of liquor.
So, tater, how did that mash come out?
It turned out all right, I reckon.
-I got about 17 jars out of it. -[howard snickers]
-[mena] 17? -[richard] 17 jars?
Well, that's just the way it come out.
I was real fickle with it.
[tim] now, tater's got a different smell.
-Totally different smell. -[mark] very light, ain't it.
It's real light on the nose, but I'm telling you the taste is corn liquor.
That is a different smell.
He used malted corn,
That he killed, wed, soured
And then dried back out again.
Yeah, that's where that come in, that malt.
That's that old timey way.
Yep.
That taste of that liquor right there, that's like going back in time.
I think they all should be proud of what they've done.
[mark] I do too.
There's no losers here. This is a competition for the ages right now.
And plus I'm gonna sip all y'alls good liquor, so I'm happy.
He went 17 jars. Imma taste 1 through 16 to be sure.
[all laughing]
When you get a flight of champions,
You get a decision like this right here.
-I'm glad we only gotta cut one. -[digger] yeah.
[daniel] you know, uh, tater's really good at making something out of nothing.
I went in the woods one time,
All right, we had mash sitting there, and I run a still.
And all he know he knew that he was supposed to come run the other run.
Well, he didn't know that I'd run the still.
He walks in and he loads the same mash
That I'd already run,
That I hadn't sweetened back in,
And got three gallon, out of mine, that was already run.
Damn!
When I got there, I said, uh, "there's no way possible."
And he said, "yeah, there is."
Swear on anything that happened.
[all laughing]
All right, guys. Welcome back.
This is the mack daddy of all master distillers.
But now one of you guys are going home.
This is a hell of a deal here for us.
You know, we're glad to have pam.
She's a guest judge.
She, the first lady of moonshine.
You all done a great job.
Tater, proof,
Couldn't get it any closer to 100 if you'd had a hydrometer.
Spot on. It was very, very light on the nose,
But the flavor, it was front to back,
Absolutely no fire at the back of your throat.
-[mark] all in all, fantastic job. -Thank you.
Howard, you are the come from behind king.
You ended up running what you knew, you know?
You was in your comfort spot.
Your proof, 105 or a little better.
Excellent. Good, clear jar,
Taste was good. Very proud of you.
Thank you.
Mena, you struggled a little bit with that jar thumper.
You just picked up a little bit of the olds,
And it only takes a pin drop for you to cloud up liquor like you did.
But fine job running that liquor.
Your flavor, great. It was corn liquor through and through.
All in all you did a fine job.
Now, richard, yours was excellent.
It was the right proof. It was about 110 or a little more.
The only con about it was it was a little bit hot for me,
But that's just me.
Anybody else would have thought it was perfect.
Thank you.
Daniel, every time you run something,
I'm always questioning, "what is it daniel puts in it?"
And digger reminds me. He says,
"it's the raisin bran."
So I'm getting to like your raisin bran.
[chuckles] thank you.
Your proof, you know, is pretty much on spot,
105, 110. Good job.
I don't really have anything negative to say about it.
Thank you.
Amanda, you struggled a little bit with that, uh...
-[amanda] flux? -[digger] it'll happen.
You know, you don't ever bring anything under 100 proof.
You did really good.
Clear, tastes good, looked good, proof's good.
And I think that indian corn,
It's just a standalone taste profile.
I know there's a market for it.
Thank you very much.
I want to tell all of you, you've done a great job,
And especially for just having three days to do this,
You've done an exceptional job.
Popcorn would have been proud of each and every one of you.
-Thank you, ma'am. -Thank you.
-[amanda] thank you.
All right, guys.
Moment of truth.
Somebody gets to go home.
Everybody did an outstanding job.
It was a very, very tough decision,
And, uh, unfortunately...
Mena, your draw brought you a ticket home.
I'm awfully sorry.
Well, thank you for having me.
Today wasn't my day.
The talent bar was so high in this competition
That the slightest error, the slightest weakness, is not gonna be good enough,
And I knew that what I had was not good enough.
I can't win every single time.
Keep doing it. The more practice, the better you get.
Thank you, everybody.
You guys are amazing. Cheers.
Bye.
Just so you know, that absolutely sucks.
We hate sending anybody home.
Now it remains y'all gonna get a pecking order
For the next step.
That's gonna fall to timmy smith.
Tater, you come up on the top, number one.
Richard, you're number two.
Howard, you're number three.
Amanda, number four.
Daniel, number five.
And that's it.
Great job, all of yous.
[tim] each one of you got something special.
-Each one of you. -You do.
All right, guys. Y'all head on out.
Next step, we're headed to the farm.
-Thank you very much. -[mark] congratulations, guys, to all of you.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
-[tater] thank you, most of all, pam. -Thank you.
It's just getting better as we go.
-I can't wait for the next one. -Let's head to the farm.
[chuckles]
-[tim] come on. -[digger] you ride up front with me.
[mark] come on, pam, if you ain't so drunk you can't walk.
-[digger] I'll sober up here in a minute. -[pam chuckles]
[narrator] next time on master distiller
Tournament of champions.
Oh, no!
You damn sure got your hands full.
"x" marks the spot.
Daniel's serious over here. He ain't making no small talk.
-[banging pot] -I'll tell you like them old people say,
"stay out of my kitchen, all right?"
[digger] we started out with six. The winner,
You gotta pick one of us to be knocked off the hill.
I can't wait for this!