[narrator] this time on master distiller tournament of champions.
Five distillers remain to test their bootlegging smarts
And outwit a moonshine legen
[mark rogers] gonna try to round me some stuff up here.
[narrator] to survive, they'll need backwoods know how.
We can lose one or two of ya at this challenge.
[howard] that'll get 'em off my trail a little bit.
[richard] think I'll set up some decoys up in plain sight.
[daniel] x marks the spot.
[narrator] or else face elimination.
Oh, my god.
I'm so sorry for what I'm about to do right now.
[narrator] the last distille standing will go head to hea with a judge of their choice
Oh, no!
[narrator] there can be onl one ultimate champion.
Now we're gonna make it a little bit tougher on you
[digger] all right, guys, welcome back.
You brought your a game when it came to that pouring liquid challenge.
Now we're gonna make it a little bit tougher on you.
You guys have got your liquor from your corn run.
Now you gotta stash it.
[digger] you know, since the beginning,
Everybody that's made liquors had to learn how to stash it,
Keep it out of the eyes of the law
And opposing moonshiners.
There's five of you left.
Everyone here has got six jars.
You're gonna have 30 minutes to build or come up with something
In order to hide it and you'll have 10 minutes to hide it in the backwoods.
After that, we're sending in the mack daddy tracker,
Mark rogers after your jars [chuckles].
He's tough.
This man can track the piss end if he needs to
-In order to find a rival's stash. -[richard laughs]
And you know, guys, he can do it without even breaking a sweat.
[laughs]
If mark rogers finds all of your liquor, you're out.
You don't have anything to run.
So if I was you,
I wouldn't have all my liquor all in one place.
You wanna keep ahead.
It's been a challenge all through the years of making liquor.
Tickle, tell 'em all about it.
Some of the most spectacular examples of moonshiners ingenuity
Are the way they hide their liquor.
From below and rival centers
From false bottom boxes to hiding liquor in coffins.
Backwoods moonshiners had to stay one step ahead of the law
Because every jar lost was profit loss
And less food on your family's table.
Popcorn sutton hid shine in the trunks of junk cars
And old shacks out in the woods.
The important thing was never to hide everything in one place.
Sometimes I hide a jar and forget where I hid it,
But it's always nice to find a jar when you leas expect it.
[man 1] hell yeah.
Mmm, moonshine surprise.
All right, guys, you got 30 minutes.
Build something to stash your liquor in successfully
With what's on that table.
Your time starts now.
[tim] good luck, guys. Get with it.
[mark ramsey] running, what you running for?
This ought to be good.
[daniel] are there any wire back here?
The end of this challenge, the only liquor that I'm going to be able to put
Into a moonshine steel
Is the liquor that he doesn't find.
So I'm gonna, at least, need three or four jars here
To load into a steel pot to run to be able to make a finished product.
[richard] you see this stuff right here? I think this gonna come in real handy.
What they can't do, is you can't put something gnarly
That looks completely out of place.
That's the first place you go to look.
Amanda, what you got in mind?
Just gonna build a decoy box.
Draw 'em to the box, but hide my liquor somewhere else.
Maybe I'll stand a chance, right?
We gonna make it a little hard for him.
I have never done anything like this before
And I feel pretty scared mark rogers is gonna find some of my liquor.
Well, I know mark.
[richard] we should be paying attention to what amanda's doing
'cause amanda works with mark.
That's why I'm nervous.
You could drop a pen in the woods and he's gonna find it.
I think the best bet's to hide it from mark rogers
Is to try to bury it in the ground, hide my tracks.
I know he's good at that, so I'm gonna try to just disguise it with nature.
One thing about him, he is a master tracker.
All right, guys, you burned 10 minutes.
You got 20 to go.
Let's go time.
That's an awful long screw with it.
The only good thing, I ain't gotta worry about,
Boys, is I ain't gotta go nowhere.
Other than just screw it to the table.
-[men laughing] -there.
You know, when I found out about this stash challenge,
It was right up my alley.
I know mark rogers, they call himself the track master,
But I'm the stash master.
I've been hiding stuff since the day I was born.
I'm still looking for things I lost.
I'mma tell you what, my box is so ugly, it's distracting me.
[all laughing]
[tater] what's your strategy, daniel?
[daniel] well, I might bury 'em.
I got me a bunch of horseshoes.
That way I can mark where it's at and not forget.
Mmm-hmm.
[daniel] then I got that shovel.
I'm gonna stand in the woods behind the tree
And poor, old mark comes by, I'm gonna knock him out
-With this shovel, then he can't find my own. -[judges laughing]
[digger] that do good.
There's no way that you can dig six holes in 10 minutes.
It's just not gonna happen.
Not deep enough to hide a mason jar and so I decide
It'll be easier to camouflag
Guys, you got 15 minutes. You're halfway there.
Yeah, I'm just making a ladder here to climb up
-'cause I ain't gonna leave this farm... -[laughs]
...I'm taking it back, I'm putting everything in the air.
-Oh, I like your strategy. -[howard] that is pretty genius.
I hide my keys from my little brother all the time
And he never finds them, so I should be able to work with this.
Five minutes, folks.
Better be getting ready to go.
We gonna build us a hay ride there?
-[digger] uh-huh. -There's real lead on top of it.
That's it. I'd be done.
We call it the bird nest.
These five here has got their work cut out
'cause I don't think any of 'em's got the experience that mark's got.
I don't think none of them's gonna hide it from mark.
I think mark's gonna be right on the trail.
At the end of the day, a game's what you got to be on.
Especially when you're facing mark rogers.
[richard] well, I came up with the ultimate plan.
I'm gonna take these dollars.
-[howard] uh-oh. -And I'm gonna drop them.
-[howard] uh-oh. Uh-oh. -[amanda laughs]
All like that and I'm gonna hide my liquor that way.
-[laughs] -he gonna go after that money, for sure.
[howard] but mark ain't looking for the money, he's looking for the liquor.
He ailn't gonna pass it up, though, trust me.
[laughs]
Ten, nine, eight, seven,
Six, five,
Four, three, two,
One, y'all are done, step back.
[tim] step back.
All right, guys, grab your stuff, follow me.
We'll go to the woods.
[digger] lay it to 'em, hattie boy.
[ramsey] I'm gonna put it to 'em.
All right, guys. Everybody ready?
I'm gonna send you all into the woods at the same time.
Got a plan, I hope.
You gonna have 10 minutes and it's very possible
That we can lose one or two of you at this challenge.
Maybe none, hopefully none, but mark rogers
Can track, trace and sniff and smell.
I followed him through the woods before.
He's like a ninja.
You know what you need to do, guys. You have 10 minutes.
Your time will begin...
...Now.
-Good luck, all of you. -Thank you.
Oh, look at the debris, baby.
[daniel] I'm gonna lay a horseshoe down right here.
[amanda] horseshoe?
Oh, daniel [laughs].
Daniel's pretty sneaky. Have to watch him.
[richard] hold on, tater, I'm trying to follow you.
[tater] I've got two jars that I really don't wanna ever use again.
And I'm gonna hide them two jars, but I ain't gonna hide.
One of them's a bit kind of hid,
The other one's gonna be wide out in the ope
And he may find two jars,
But I won't say he won't find more than two.
[richard] howard, you found something?
I mean, I'm onto something here, son.
Everybody went as deep as they wanted to go, they're creating tracks.
I thought just stay close to the area
Where he's gotta walk in, where he ain't gonna spend too much time
Because it's a big area to cover.
Don't disturb the rain.
I found a piece of tent and put trees all over it,
I just slid them up and they're easy, so I didn't disturb
The lying surrounding area.
I don't think he's gonna zigzag all this way through here
Because he's got too many other people to look for their jars.
In the wild, that'll get him off my trail a little bit.
All right, guys, you burnt two minutes.
You got eight minutes left.
[amanda] I don't know how useful your shovel's gonna be here, daniel.
[daniel] I know exactly what you're talking about.
There ain't much of a place to hide nothing in here.
[richard] can't just put something in these trees.
Now I made a mistake.
I'm scared of this spot.
If I put something in the tree,
He'd just throw a rock and hit it down or something.
Mr. Mark will climb trees.
He looks like an older gentleman, but...
...He's serious.
Gotta hide my tracks well.
There's a lot of mud out her there's a lot of leaves moving around,
So I gotta be cautious as to where I'm walking
Because I'm creating tracks for myself.
And that's gonna bring mr. Rogers right to my liquor.
Think I'm gonna set some decoys up in plain sight.
[ramsey] you know, I don't know how much
Amanda's ever experienced about this.
You know, she's the one I'm concerned a little about.
Tater, daniel solved this, they're mountain people.
Richard, I don't know how much time on the bayou he has to hide.
I don't know that howard can find his own food bowl.
[howard] ooh!
You guys are halfway through.
Five minutes left.
Apparently there's already one in there.
Now I better remember where I'm putting all this [bleep].
[howard] let's see how good your skills are, mark.
[ramsey] better be winding it up.
Going into all new territory and into the woods I've never been into before,
It was very difficult.
It was hard to dig in the ground.
It was hard to find leaves and brush to even cover my jars.
[howard] get plenty of tracks coming there.
I'll beat that earth up so he knows I'm in and out heavy.
All done, guys. Come out of there. Come out.
[daniel] x marks the spot.
[ramsey] if you ain't got it yet,
Tough luck.
[richard] I'm pretty confident.
Damn, richard, brought out more stuff than he took in.
Yeah, I revamped the plan.
Looks like it's all at least wallowed in the mud a little bit.
That's why I wishing well on hiding your liquor, your stash.
But now, the reason why we're here.
Mark.
[richard] y'all, here we go.
Well, it was nice seeing you, tater.
It's been good working with y'all.
Yeah, it's been really good.
[ramsey] crap just got real.
[narrator] coming up...
Howard, how many jars did you lose?
I'm at a disadvantage, but I'm gonna roll with the punches.
I have faith in you, howard.
Pressure's on, guys, because two of ya are going home after this round.
Oh, my god.
[richard] y'all, here we go.
Track master right there. He got a stern look on his face.
[richard] like he about business right now.
He's all business, that man right there is.
-They brought the bird dog in. -Yeah, I'm gonna try.
All right, mark.
They took some liquor and they've got it stashed out here in the woods.
-All right. -And if anybody can find it, you can.
I'll say. Tell me when.
[ramsey] they started right here.
-[rogers] started here. -And they scattered out through yonder.
That being said,
I'm gonna turn you loose with it.
I do know how serious this is.
I mean, we got mark rogers coming to find this liquor.
This ain't good.
[ramsey] get busy.
[rogers] I'll pay no attention to horseshoes or stuff you find laying around.
[ramsey] hey, mark, if you need a box or anything, holler at me.
[rogers] already tell.
Yeah, take whatever you need.
[rogers] gonna try to round me some stuff up here.
What'd you say about you, howard? Not gonna be fast?
[howard laughs] he ain't gonna find it.
I'm confident that he ain't gonna find none of my jars.
Hell, mark, find us a jar, I'm getting thirsty.
[laughing]
Oh, yeah, it's found.
-[howard] oh, [bleep]. -[rogers laughs]
-[howard] he got one. -[ramsey] got one.
[rogers] there's one. [laughs] look at that.
First one I found.
[howard] slicker than you. [bleep]
My first thought was to bury it,
But as soon as I tried to stick that shovel in the ground,
I figured don't waste my time with this.
[ramsey] yeah, 'cause you just got 10 minutes.
[rogers] I have number two.
Scrambling was an understatement [laughs] like for me.
[howard] oh, yeah. Ten minutes went by too fast.
[rogers] mmm-hmm.
Number four.
That's not a bird dog, that's a hound.
He come in here to do something.
[daniel] hound, that one is.
Mark rogers is the ultimate tracker.
He's in the woods all of the time.
If something is out of place he's gonna know it.
Mark rogers. Excellent tracker.
He's gonna be hard to hide from.
But maybe me putting something out of frame to catch his eye
Might draw his eye from where I don't want him drew.
[rogers] I just... Sure like an old wall hog back here.
All right, mark, come out of there, boss.
-[richard] he's got jars. -[howard] uh-oh.
[ramsey] that ain't looking good, boys.
Old track master strikes again.
-[richard] oh, doggone. -[howard] damn.
[ramsey] is that all of it?
Is that what you found, is it?
-That's what I found. -I believe that's two more than they took.
-[rogers] oh, is it? -[all laughing]
Well, I'll be.
That's somebody else hid.
[ramsey] all right, here we go. Listen to me.
Let me take my glasses off so you can see my tears.
Tater.
-Howard. -[howard groans]
-[ramsey] howard. -Oh, no!
[ramsey] amanda.
Daniel.
Amanda.
Dang, how many he find?
[ramsey] richard.
Oh, that's trouble.
-[ramsey] tater. -Oh, [bleep] right there, man.
[ramsey] and amanda.
Good news, bad news here, guys.
Nobody's going home. Obviously that's the good news.
Bad news is each and every one of you have less liquor to run.
I was really hoping he wouldn't find any of my jars,
But he found half of them.
So it's just gonna really come down to what proof is in those jars.
But I feel confident that it's not nothing I can't really overcome.
You're gonna head your butts back in there
And see if you can find the rest of your liquor 'cause you're gonna need it.
You guys, I feel like you've already been put
Through the ringer out in the woods.
None of you lost all of your jars to mark,
But you all are a few good jars short.
This is where you have to overcome that obstacle.
You know, about 35 years ago,
The illegal liquor world changed.
It was no longer age liquor or red liquors, they called it in these mountains,
And clear liquor.
They want more, they want flavor liquors.
So that's where we're at now.
[tim] you guys are going out to the farm stand.
So choose your ingredients wisely.
We want good flavor, but we want to keep that good corn taste
In your base spirit.
Guys, you got a whole lot on the line here.
Tickle.
-How's it going, fellas? -[tim] doing all right.
We got a whole slew of 'em up in here this time, don't you?
We got a pile of 'em.
What am I supposed to do with all that?
You need to take 'em out to the farm stand.
Oh, all right.
They need some grocers.
[tickle] well, it's a good thing I just stocked
-That farm stand up real good. -[tim] yeah?
Y'all coming with me. We'll get y'all some onions
And carrots and broccoli and stuff.
And if you don't mind bringing me back a pack of chewing gum.
-[daniel] I'll do it, baby. -[both laughing]
I'mma bring 10 with jalapeno pepper.
Making a 10 bag out of these.
That's the only wedding ring right yonder.
That I know of that's been passed through a miniature donkey.
-[amanda] does that make it more special? -[men laugh]
[tickle] well, I got it back. I guess that does.
All right, fellers and amanda,
It's gonna be a farm stand free for all.
Everybody is gonna go in at the same time for three minutes.
Your baskets are right there.
Your time starts now.
Hit it.
Y'all come on.
The onions is in the back.
[tater] all right.
[tickle] I know you gonna head straight towards them, tater.
[tater] getting me some apples, apple cider.
So I add a little bit of brown sugar,
Apple cider jelly.
[tickle] fifteen seconds has passed now.
Maybe that'll infuse enough in it to where I can get a clear alcohol emulsion.
All right, how does a loaf of bread back here,
-See what you can't do with that. -You know I love my loaf
-Of bread [chuckles]. -Well, I see you love your loaf of bread.
Uh-oh, I see richard with a bunch of cotton candy.
He's going old school.
-You know what I'm doing. -[tickle] I haven't seen him do that before.
[richard] you know what I'm doing.
This is chaos.
They don't have any seconds to think.
As soon as you see what's in there,
Start building something.
I grab all the sweets I can and a whole bunch of candy.
What are you doing? You cooking gumbo, richard or are you making liquor?
-I thought about it. They got okra out there, man. -I see that.
I've made candy liquor before.
It's one of the most as forward things that I've done.
It's real good tasting alcohol.
[tickle] hey, daniel, grab one of 'em pies back there
-And plate your liquor with it. -[daniel] hell no.
You can rate those, tater, come on, boss.
I go into the farm stand
And I grab some brown sugar and some nutmeg and just a few more things.
I see pineapple juice
And I see pineapples.
I had full intentions of making a pineapple pie.
-[tickle] you know what goes good with pineapple, daniel? -Yeah.
Peanut butter.
-Put you some of that together. -I don't believe that.
[tickle] you don't believe that?
-[daniel] no. -Well, try!
Right now's a great time to experiment.
-[laughs] -[tickle] matter of fact,
Your time if halfway up.
I went in with a clear objective that I wanted to make a peach.
And then, this time was all of us got at it for a free for all.
That got me behind the eight ball immediately.
'cause I'm a little bit bigg than the rest of the guys,
I'm a little thicker, you know what I'm saying?
I couldn't get around like I needed to.
-Tight up in here, son. -Yes, yes, tight up in there, we got all of y'all in there.
[daniel] so I was only able to recover three jars of peaches,
One jar of sugar, one jar of peach cider, and I was done.
[tickle] all right, fellers, y'all have got one minute left.
That's not enough to really carry me into this next challenge.
But I'm gonna do what I have to do
To make sure this runs and tastes just like peach moonshine.
[tickle] all right, look, there's green peppers right there, amanda.
Go ahead and get you some green peppers.
That's not a bad idea, tickle. I don't know.
I know what I need to get,
But it's all up for grabs in the end.
Whoever can get it first, that's what we have to use.
I found all of the pineapples and mangoes I could get.
Your time's running out.
Hey, can you carry that, amanda? You got it?
-I got it. Thank you. -[amanda] okay, good deal, good deal, all right.
[tickle] daniel and richard done got down to the spices.
You got 10,
Nine, eight.
[howard] I got you a carrot.
-[tickle] you got me a carrot. Well, thank you very much. -Stick it in your mouth.
Four, three, two...
[both] ...One.
All right, it's over. All rest of 'em's mine now.
And for some reason, howard got me a carrot.
Oh, that was so thoughtful, howard.
-Bugs bunny. -I wanna see this as a garnish in your drink, howard.
-[laughs] -what up, doc?
[tickle] now that y'all got all of y'all's stuff,
Let's see what kind of flavors y'all can make out of this.
[richard] sounds good.
[tickle] well, we made it through the fruit stand.
-[tim] mmm. -[digger] all right.
[tickle] yeah, they got all kinds of stuff.
[tim] look like they got everything.
They got everything and I believe one of 'em got the kitchen sink too.
Gonna leave 'em in all of y'all's capable hands, so to speak anyways.
-Mmm-hmm. -[digger] we got 'em.
See ya.
-Thank you, tickle. -You be a good boy.
-Be good, stevie. -[tickle] I'm gonna try.
[digger] all right, guys.
Flavor run.
Time for y'all to take that corn liquor you made,
Infuse it with some flavor on flavor.
So the pressure's on, guys because two of ya are going home
After this round.
The pressure's on, guys.
You know, because two of ya are going home after this round.
[digger] y'all got everything you need?
Feel confident, feel good?
We set up another room.
What I need to do, take amanda, howard and richard,
You're going with me and mark next door.
-All right, guys. -[amanda] good luck.
-[daniel] good luck to you. -Good luck.
Hey, there you are.
-[howard] what's up, mark? -[digger] look what I brought us.
All right, you guys are gonna be in here with me and tim.
This is your flavor run.
All right, guys.
This the mack daddy of corn liquor, mark rogers.
We're gonna ride along, we're gonna get right into this run.
You got four hours to do this.
And bugger, what digger has blessed me with.
My very own pocket time piece.
-[both chuckle] -[ramsey] okay.
Your four hours starts...
-Your time will start... -[both] ...Now.
-Good luck, guys. -Get busy.
[laughs]
Every damn drop counts. I can't drink none of this.
[man laughs]
What have you done with that jar setup there, richard?
[richard] well, I wouldn't normally use this,
But I got so much going on here.
I'm gonna chop up some candy apple in here
And give it a little faint apple to everything else that's coming outta here.
So, I'm pulling out all the stops here.
Daniel's pouring some kind of juice in his pot.
[daniel] I'm putting pineapple chucks
And pineapple juice in the thumper.
-Now, just pineapples or you got something else? -Blueberries.
Pineapple and blueberries in it.
Well, you know, mark they running with just, like, one gallon.
-[ramsey] right. -And they're gonna use the thumper.
If they don't put two or three gallon of water in it.
[tim] yeah, they gonna have to put some water in it.
[ramsey] you know, that strips their flavor.
Daniel, did you know what your proof was before you started?
I would say...
About a 140-150 proof just by looking at the bubbles.
[tim] did mark not get you high proof jars?
No, he didn't.
-You'd of been ruined if he'd a got your high shots. -Yes, sir, I would.
Four jars, 130-140 proof liquor
You know, you may get five or six jars of 100 proof out of it.
Yeah.
[howard] the pickin's was slim
Out there in the peach department though. God almighty.
On a wing and a prayer here with this run.
Amanda, how many jars did you lose to mark rogers?
I only have these three jars.
So, he got me pretty good.
So, just gonna deal with it.
And take the punches, you know, as they come.
My game plan is, to fill it up with the juices
Some pineapple and mango to replace that liquor I lost.
'cause I don't have a lot of liquor.
That's painful.
[amanda] I'm slightly disadvantaged going into the flavoring round.
Because I lost three jars that were like 140 proof.
That's a big quantity of my alcohol.
I need to spread out that liquor as much as I can.
Amanda, I see her stressing a little bit because
Poor girl, she only had three jars to work with.
And, I mean, that is a mountain for anybody.
[amanda] I'm gonna bring the flavor from the pot,
Fill the thumper with fruit,
Pick up some more flavor in there,
And hopefully I'll have a beautiful pineapple mango
When this is all said and done.
Tater, you got a strategy there?
What's your plan? You don't have much alcohol.
I'm just trying to get apple flavored alcohol out of it.
[tim] apple flavored alcohol.
I've got four jars of primo liquor.
I'm gonna run through and re-distill it,
Get it cleaned down.
I'm gonna try to infuse some apple cinnamon flavor in to it.
Maybe get a hint of a maybe an apple pie moonshine.
-You know, I do do a lot of stuff with apples. -You do.
-Howard. -Yes, sir.
How many jars did you lose?
Oh, mark commandeered me out of two good jars.
Did he? Gooden's or low end jars?
Uh, I had a low end jar.
And then he got me outside my hearts right there on the cusp of that.
-So, it's still a good proof jar, a higher. -Yeah.
I really didn't wanna lose that.
-Flavor jar. -Yep. So, I'm at a disadvantage.
But, I'm gonna make it work. By god, something good gonna come outta this.
I have faith in you, howard.
You've never not turned in a good jar of liquor, howard.
Gotta adapt and overcome, that's the name of the game.
I know I made a good corn mash bill.
I had a good corn mash bill, so, that get enough of that peach to pop in there,
I think I'll have something.
[richard] but, don't deviate from what you know.
When I'm in there, doing my thing, I love it.
I mean, this is fun.
You get in the zone here, and you gets to the point
Where you know you have to make a really good liquor.
I just get fixated on making sure
That I can present somethin real good to the judges.
Oh, richard's over there melting down cotton candy.
Yeah, I just put some water in the still.
So, I just wanna melt down these candies and kinda start breaking them up.
This is gonna be the base of my flavor.
I know that this is gonna be really good.
Because this is how I started, with candies.
[howard] that's one of your... Cotton candy's one of your specialties ain't it?
[richard] alcohol is my specialty.
-I'm about to be running. -[howard] yeah.
[richard] I get a little chug-a-lug over here in the little thumper.
-It's running, howard. -I see it, I know it is.
You just gotta talk sweet to 'em.
All right, eleanor. You do all the rocking you want to, baby.
[richard laughing]
-Little thumper jam. -Gonna have some liquor here, pretty soon.
All right, guys. Two hours left in your run, you're halfway there.
[richard] I'm gonna let it run low and slow the whole time.
-[digger] the smell, phenomenal. -[richard] whoo, yeah.
[tater] how many jars is that? Two?
-Or one? -[daniel] four.
[tater] you're a lying.
-[daniel] that's jar four. -Is it really?
-Yeah. -Well, you are skipping around there ain't ya.
-Uncle daniel. -What's going on?
How many jars you run?
-This is number five I'm on right here. -You're on five.
-Wow. -Yeah.
Put four in get five out, does that mean anything?
It does when you put it in the proof that you put it in. Makes a little different.
You said earlier, that your plan was to set a clear jar on the table.
You gonna stick with that?
Yep. Anybody can mix fruit flavors and candy in liquor
And make it taste good.
But, when you bring it to the table clear and it taste good,
That shows you've done something.
Good job.
Mister mcclure, aka tater.
-How are ya? -I'm good, boss.
How you doing? What jar are you on?
Uh, I'm on number three.
I'm getting close to what I put in it.
Yeah, I guess so.
But, you know, you guys are just about halfway in this round.
You know, there's a lot of things might mess with ya this time.
But time ain't gonna be one of 'em.
No. No it ain't.
-You happy with it? -Yes, so far.
I mean, it ain't nothing nasty.
You ain't to where you need to be to get a true taste yet, are you?
No. No, I'm still running pretty hot.
All right, we've got pineapple blueberry over here.
And we've got apple here.
-I don't see how it can get much better. -Yeah.
-Good luck, tater. -Thank you, mark.
One hour, guys. You're about to get this done.
-Oh, my god! -[howard] that strong?
-Taste like candy. -[howard] does it.
Taste like candy, wet like water?
-[richard grunts] -[howard] now, the worrying comes.
Uh-oh. That's not good.
I must say, you know, it's still got a way to go before I know.
I ain't gotten to the heart by any means.
But, what I'm tasting initially...
Is corn liquor.
Little nervous.
-You got some corn-- -oh, that's all I taste.
I don't even know if there's peach in this thing.
I think I left the peaches in georgia.
Oh, wind is knocked outta my sails at this point.
Coming outta my first jar, straight corn.
I didn't taste no peaches at all.
I don't know what else I can do.
[howard] little nervous.
Howard, what about you? Got some good dry peaches.
Yes. Not so peachy as I wanted.
-[richard] you got some corn-- -oh, that's all I taste.
I don't even know if there's peach in this thing.
This is gonna suck. I don't know what else I can do.
I could always add something to the filter.
Like, some fruit.
I do have, I don't know what these are.
What are these? These ain't peaches. Are these peaches?
Bust this bad boy open.
Howard's over here trying to get peaches outta the apricots.
-[laughing] -don't know how it's gonna play out for him.
[howard] mark rogers, he's known for his peach moonshine.
He makes a great peach moonshine.
So, I've got a lot to do here to impress him.
Just a little bit of that mix with that apricot.
Maybe I'll do a little blending.
-Think you'll get a lot of flavor out of it? -[sighs] I don't know.
You've got 30 minutes left. All the time in the world.
[daniel] I'm about to ruin a perfectly good jar of liquor.
Well, I have to do something. Because I know these judges are gonna be picky.
When I tasted my liquor it's just not enough pineapple flavor.
So, I might decide to chunk up some pineapple,
Put it in the jar, that way I can shake it.
And get a real good pineapple flavor in this clear jar of liquor.
[howard] making that horehound dance around, over there, ain't ya.
You trying to get on mr. Smith's, as you call him, good side.
I wanna see him up here on this side.
-That's one way to his heart. -What's that?
Them horehound candies.
[richard] I have horehound candy in here.
If I can present this properly with a nice little cherry splash in it,
This should be real, real good.
[howard] mandy, you look a little worried there, baby.
All my liquor is, like, in this jar.
From the stash challenge I lost more than 50% of what I have to re-distill.
So, I have one jar with all my liquor in it.
And everything else has been tails since that point on.
My very first cut, has some heads in it. I can smell it right away.
And, while I could blend that jar, and give it to the judges,
It's not something that I would present.
It's not up to my quality of standards.
[howard] so, you at a point where you're getting the blends together?
No, I'm not gonna get a perfect jar of 100.
So, now I'm thinking about maybe putting some pineapple juice in there.
-Gonna do a little post. -That's not what I wanted to do originally.
So, it's a very hard decision. Do I hand a jar that's a perfect proof,
But, not up to par with, like, a quality standard for myself.
Or, do I hand in a jar that I would drink and I wou give them to drink
But the proof is not there.
Oh, god! I'm so sorry for what I'm about to do right now.
I had to then temper with a little bit of pineapple juice
And sweeten it a bit.
And basically make a cocktail. It's a sacrifice I had to make.
And it's just not what I was really hoping to get outta this.
I don't know that you need it, but, you got five minutes left.
-I bet you it will be good like that a third in. -[daniel] will that do it?
I mean, I like it like that, right there.
-I've eaten a lot of pineapple soaked in it. -[daniel] yeah, boy.
I lied to you and I'm sorry mark.
I decided to put fruit in it.
That's okay. This is all about the flavor here, guys.
Well, I feel I got it right at 100 proof.
With pineapple in it.
And that's the best I can do.
I hated like crazy to turn in that jar
With the chunks in it.
-So, here it is. -[ramsey] turn it it.
[daniel] but, you could see those pineapples floating
In that jar of liquor perfectly.
So, I did hand in a clear jar and didn't lie.
I see them wheels are turning. You're studying about it.
I know mark rogers, he ain't a real big apple pie fan.
I know tim don't really lik a lot of scent.
So, I've left some cinnamon out that I usually put in.
And I've added the higher proof to maybe entice mark into liking it.
Well, I's well go on too.
That way he won't get lonely out there by his little self.
It's gonna come in probably around 80 proof, apple pie.
It's probably some of the strongest I've ever made.
-Y'all have a gooden boys, thank you. -[ramsey] thank you, boss.
Head on out after ol' daniel.
I feel like we did all this together, guys.
You wanna turn it in at the same time?
-[howard] damn right I do. -Yeah. I'm good to go.
-[howard] you say when. -[amanda] let's do it.
-Team effort here. -[richard] yes it is.
So, y'all chase on out.
We'll be to get y'all in a little bit.
Good luck, y'all.
-[howard] thank you, mark. -[amanda] thank you.
What's up, guys?
[digger] we's fixin' to start without you.
Well, we have to do a little walkabout.
Let's get down to business.
Yeah, there ain't no sense in proofing these.
We're good to go but taste on it.
Oh, dang! Pineapple.
Looks like little spongebob's in there.
Now, daniel said, he wasn't sure
He's gonna put any pineapple in it or not.
I told mark, I'm gonna hand you in a clear jar.
You know, and I taste it.
I said, well, I can taste that pineapple in there,
But it's just not enough to suit me.
So, I chopped up pieces of pineapple.
All it is is clear liquor with pineapple in it.
-I like pineapple really good. -[tim] I like pineapple.
-[digger] it's liquor. -My tongue's numb.
That's north of 100.
Yeah, I like it. It's good high proof liquor.
-[ramsey] it is that. -Good corn taste.
I don't taste much pineapple.
That ain't been in there an hour though.
That's rapid aging there.
Yeah, sit on that overnight, it'd bring a lot more juice.
Oh, that's good. It ain't gonna get no weaker.
Who's we got there?
-I believe that's richard. -[digger] he's calling it "sweet tooth."
I put all kinda candy in it and all kinda stuff.
Kinda got it tasting like a cotton candy.
Gave it a little pinkish hue to it.
[tim] he's going in business with the dentist.
[ramsey] richard's the mac daddy of flavors.
[tim] it's just too much cherry.
[digger] it's not mediciney.
So, the horehound ain't in there heavy.
What ya think the proof is on it?
I'mma say probably 80-85. It ain't that weak.
I'm not tasting any corn in it.
I don't think the corn had a chance to poke it's head up.
Moving on, let's get ol' amanda.
[tim] amanda got a little cinnamon in the bottom there.
[rogers speaking]
I think it's a last ditch effort.
I don't think it was anything planned out.
Sometimes, you know, if you're run don't go exactly like you want it to,
Then you don't have no option but to try something else.
Most my liquor came out in that first jar and the rest was tails.
So, when I went to blend, I had the same problem you did.
It was just not enough flavor in the end
And it was pretty hard to get to 100 proof.
Lot a pineapple. I smell a bunch of pineapple.
It's got pineapple.
That's pineapple juice that she's post flavored with.
You's looking at weak liquor, that's weak liquor right there.
That's weak liquor.
That's schnapps drink right there.
With what alcohol she had to distill,
That's probably outstanding.
I've done a lot of work with amanda
And I know she can do it.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
She knows how to do it, she just didn't have the alcohol to do it.
-There's the problem right here. -Mark rogers is the problem.
-[digger] yeah, it's all his fault. -Always blaming it on me.
[tim] this would have been a total different ball game
If mark hadn't went running around in the woods.
Picking up people's jars.
Well, who's idea was that?
[ramsey] you didn't know when you found 'em who's they was, did ya?
No.
-Now you know. -I know now.
[ramsey] all right, let's try the clear one, tim.
Hj, howard johnson.
Howard's got a nice clear jar.
Howard has got the best, nicest looking jar on this table.
Yep, if I was just gonna get a jar,
-You know, to drink... -That's the one you'd get.
...That's the one I'd reach for.
But now, when you shake it, you'll see he's flavored it with something.
I feel like I could've done a lot better.
I mean, I just didn't have enough flavor to bring over.
I mean, I didn't get enough fruit at the fruit stand, like I wanted to.
You know, it's up to the judges now.
What is that smell?
It's something a little plasticky.
Well, you know, he hung a steeping bag in the still pot.
And a steeping bag is a steeping bag, it's not a boiling bag.
Yeah, he come in, he says, I'm gonna try to make peach, you know.
-Yeah. -Peach flavored. I don't think it's working out for him.
What exactly what he done there?
He just waved the peach
-Over the top of something somewhere. -Yeah.
All right, we got one more here before we're drunk.
That look like tater apple pie.
[ramsey] he didn't color outside the box one bit.
He stuck with what he knows.
I took the lay-up.
I just didn't like the flavor. The clear liquor was done.
And I just went with apple pie, something I know.
[rogers] smells like apple pie.
[group] smells like apple pie.
And tastes like apple pie.
-That's damn fine apple pie. -[tim] and tastes like apple pie.
Mark, what'd you say the proof is on that?
I'd say it'd be around 90 or so.
-There's "al-key-hol" in it, ain't there. -Yep.
-It's smooth. -[ramsey] good, ain't it?
-I'm not getting any corn. -[ramsey] no.
-No corn liquor there. -[digger] nope.
But, it's pure, good apple pie.
-I like it. -All five of 'em are really good.
We knew we was gonna have this problem
When you bring all winners together and compete.
You know, this is the biggest competition that we've had.
[ramsey] them's all good.
But, they's a couple of 'em that's not as good as the other three.
Oh, I know which one in my eyes is the top jar on the table.
But, we gotta have the bottom two jars.
I wanna win this challenge and so do all of you.
But, uh, there's two of us sitting here that's not going to.
Yeah.
[digger] I don't know what to do. Who's going home?
Well, I know which one's the last in my eyes right now.
Oh, I know where I'm at.
You know, the ones that didn't do as good as we expected,
Are the ones that didn't have much to work with.
Due, to getting their liquor taken away from them.
What'd you do with all the liquor anyway, you found?
Sold it?
[tim] confiscated it.
You drunk the lions share of it, didn't ya?
[digger] all right, guys. Welcome back.
We had quite a process we had to go through.
Lot of good liquor we tasted right here.
But, unfortunately the bottom two jars will be going home.
Daniel, good strong drink.
You did what you said you was gonna do.
You said, I'm gonna turn in a clear jar,
But, I might put some chunks of pineapple in it, and I liked that,
[tim] daniel, good proof. I liked that.
Because sometimes when you go putting all that pineapple in it,
It sucks up the alcohol.
And then you gotta eat the pineapple to get the alcohol.
Daniel, you got a good stout jar of liquor there.
And taters, that's some good apple pie.
Which I ain't a big apple pie fan, you know.
-But, it does taste good. -Thank you.
Tater, that's apple pie. No doubt about it. [chuckles]
You know, a lot of times you get apple pie
Where they mixed it down so bad that it's so sweet,
You gotta do to the dentist after you drink it.
Tater, damn apple pie hell-west-and-crooked.
The only difference that I see in yours and most apple pie,
Yours is the proof that it should be.
It's good high proof.
Howard, outta the five jars that's sitting there,
If I could pick one out I was gonna buy off the shelf,
-I would have chose yours. -My man.
It's clear, what corn liquor's supposed to be.
You made some liquor.
I mean, it's crystal clear.
Good bead. Good proof.
But, it got a little something funky in there, I think.
I think that nylon bag clouded all that peach flavor outta the way.
Howard, the way you made it you kept your proof up.
-Good job too. -Thank you.
Amanda, yours is totally different than daniel over here with the pineapple.
Because, I think it hurts you on the proof.
Yours I would say is, lowest proof across the board.
Amanda, I didn't get a huge amount of pineapple in there.
But, your other fruits came through.
I mean, they were good and strong.
You know, it's a good brandy proof is what I'd call it.
I think you're 50-60 proof. Little light where it comes to all of the palates up here.
All my alcohol came in my first 2/3 of the jar.
-Everything else was tail. -You can blame mark rogers for that.
-He found all your high proof liquor. -Blame me, that's my fault.
You know, we was looking at good flavors.
But, we also looking at the corn base coming through too.
For you, I think you masked the corn. I can't taste no corn.
Mr. Horehound down there.
I didn't get any horehound.
All I got was cherry and sweet stuff.
Good proof. Fine job on your part.
Got no big complaints on you, brother.
My man richard, you had me all excited about the horehound.
'cause you know I love horehound.
-I know you love it. -Yeah, man. I got some with me all the time.
When I looked at the jar, it looks like cherry.
And when I tasted the jar, it taste like cherry.
Just like tim say it does, cherry is what I can taste.
-That's a good jar of liquor. -Thank you.
-My man, richard. -Yes, sir.
You know, I'm like tim, I love horehound candy.
But, I like all that other stuff that you put in it too.
Proof was great.
I did get a little more cherry but, not a bad thing to me, I like it a lot.
[digger] everybody did a good job is all I can say.
All right, lady and gentlemen.
Enough mollycoddling, it's time to swing the axe. Bad as we hate to.
We gotta cut y'all down to three.
Howard,
Amanda,
Y'all didn't make the cut, awful sorry.
[amanda] I am very disappointed.
I wanted more than anything to stay here and compete.
It's murphy's law, if it can go wrong, it will go wrong.
That is what I was hit with, was a challenge I had no foreseen.
And there was really nothing I could do about it, besides the best that I could.
It's been a pleasure working with all you gentlemen.
-[group] always a pleasure. -I mean that.
[howard] this is heartbreaki that I'm not gonna go
All the way through to the end.
My goal was to go up against digger.
Pick his brain, go against the best.
And then I was going to be the ultimate champion.
[digger] everybody did a fine job.
Ain't nobody got no horrible liquor up there.
There just some a little bit better.
[amanda] I keep reminding myself that, if you do something you love
And you do it the best that you can,
And you have fun while you're doing it,
You can't really help but walk away as a winner.
[digger] richard, tater, daniel you're moving on.
Better bring your a game, it's been a tough one here, and it's gonna get tougher.
-It's getting serious now. -[howard] thank y'all.
Chase on out guys we got more work to do.
[howard] all I can do is, wish the best luck to my fellow contestants.
They are all juggernauts in the game.
One of them guys are gonna knock the judges socks off in that final competition.
And give them a little head spin.
It's down to three.
Time for that cherry bounce, boys.
[tim] let's do it.