Ah-ha. I do have one leak. I knew it.
[narrator] this time on master distiller...
-Ooh. -Ooh, boy.
Yeah, we're gonna need a little spring water.
Pastis...
I wanna say it smells like licorice.
An anise-based liqueur.
There's a little bit of numbing effect.
A little bit of anesthetizing effect because it's, er, it's pretty hot.
Created by distillers in southern France
to skirt the law and stick it to the man
after authorities banned its notorious sister spirit... Absinthe.
It's just like us, whenever something's outlawed, we find a way.
Now, three distillers are competing to make the best pastis
that lives up to its stormy past.
Nothing about this is easy.
[narrator] across the country, a handful of amateur distillers
are heirs to a centuries-old tradition.
Some operate on the legal side,
others practice their craft beyond the reach of the law.
Now, they'll face-off
to earn their place in america's liquor-making legacy.
Is that a trash bag you're using?
[narrator] judged by three legendary moonshiners,
they'll go head-to-head in a series of challenges...
It is crooked. Oh, man!
Didn't look like it went so well there.
To determine who has what it takes.
Ordovich is doing a lot of tasting!
-Cheers, dude. -Yep.
To be named master distiller.
Now here comes the jesus here.
So, you've got two professional distillers
and a member of moonshiners, so I work from here.
[plays blues]
[digger] howdy, gentlemen.
Boys, welcome.
We're fixing to put you all to a test.
We wanna find out which one of you all truly is the next master distiller.
You're playing for your bragging rights
and a lengthy run of your liquor in a major distillery.
That's a pretty big deal in itself right there.
You're gonna make us some pastis.
It's an anise-based liquor made in France.
It's what they started making whenever they outlawed absinthe.
It's just like us, whenever something's outlawed, we find a way.
That's what these guys did.
You know who could tell us more about this?
Tickle.
Tickle, give us a history package.
Pastis.
A liquor that was literally invented to stick it to the man.
Now, anise-based spirits
have been made around the mediterranean basin for a 1000 years,
but France, especially southern France,
really took this ancient spirit and ran with it.
First, they made absinthe and it was beloved by everyone in the country
from factory workers to artists.
But in 1915, the french government banned absinthe.
They claimed it turned people into crazed murderers.
Well, it didn't really, but we all know how silly the law can be.
So, a guy in the tough port town of marseille,
named paul ricard, he was, like, "hey,
I'm gonna make something like absinthe,
but without the wormwood.
You know, so I can get away with selling."
he called it pastis, which means mash up in southern french.
He used lots of fresh local herbs,
like rosemary, sage,
savory, thyme, and star anise.
Pastis is yellow or amber in color
and super-high proof - 90 to 140.
Unlike absinthe, it louches,
or it clouds, when cold water is added to it.
Sticking it to the man, really paid off for paul.
Pastis became the national drink of France,
and this iconic liquor
is enjoyed by people all over the world.
Time to get busy.
You've got your own ingredients.
You're gonna build us your best mash.
You don't got good mash, you don't got good liquor.
Plain and simple.
You've got one hour, your time starts now.
Good luck, men.
Ordovich, tell me what you're working with over there, buddy?
Prickly pear cactus fruit picked out of arizona.
I've got 50lb of these.
My name is randall de souza ordovich clarkson,
but I go by ordovich and I'm from phoenix, arizona.
I'm an absolute dilettante.
I'm a musician, I'm an artist,
medical doctor,
and on top of all that, I make booze as well.
So, this is my prickly pear wine formulation.
I run absinthe minded, we're arizona's first absinthe distillers.
All I work with is this copper still, it's about 60 gallons.
For 140-proof run,
we usually yield about 90 bottles per run.
I would say that distilling is a very artistic process, it's very similar to music.
You have different instruments
that all come together to create this, like, harmonious product.
That's good.
What else you going with in there?
We've prickly pear, and it's going to be a sugar and a bunch of enzymes.
I'm basically making a wine that's going to be turned into a spirit.
It's really awesome right now, we're in the midst of this really cool movement
for craft artisanal spirits.
So, being able to bring something
that has such a rich history out to a wider audience,
I think it's fantastic.
Juicebox?
Is that a trash bag you're using?
No, that's a grain bag.
I always put my grains in here and just kind of fulcrum it
to kinda steep them a little bit
and that way I can kinda get it to agitate.
My name's juicebox and I'm from the east area of san francisco, california.
I am a bouncer at a saloon at nights, part-time,
and a full-time moonshiner otherwise.
So, it started out as a hobby with a buddy of mine, making moonshine,
and we made a few batches here and there just for fun.
And then when the pandemic hit,
I was, like, "you know, maybe it's time to start this up full-time?"
I've been distilling about eight years.
I try to get creative with stuff, like breakfast cereal and
just getting creative with ingredients really.
If it's got sugar in it, I'll turn it into booze.
So, we've got a four-foot, two-inch column still.
A 50 gallon pot will yield about two gallons of 180 proof.
That's enough, we'll leave a little headspace for foam.
Winning master distiller would be the high water mark for me right now.
It would set into motion getting my foot in the door,
hopefully, into the legal distillation world.
I am tired of being a bootlegger,
I am tired of looking over my shoulder
and I do wanna take things to the next level.
Well, tell us what's in your mash bill?
Cardamom pods, star anise, fennel,
liquid malt extract, two madagascar vanilla beans,
black licorice, just trying to get the flavors going.
You've made this before?
Not this exact recipe.
This ain't the time to experiment, juicebox!
Usually, in a competition, you do what's tried and proved.
[sighing] okay.
Tyler, tell me about your mash bill?
I'm much more familiar working with an all-grain base.
I've mixed some of my botanicals, some star anise, some cinnamon,
some coriander and licorice root right in the mash.
My name is tyler blackwelder, I'm from fruita, colorado,
I'm a professional distiller, full-time.
It kind of runs in the family a little bit,
my great uncle, cecil blackwelder,
he did time in prison for bootlegging he was running booze.
And then growing up on a farm,
doing mechanical stuff kind of just fits in with the nature of the beast.
You know, when something breaks, gotta be able to fix it.
Spirit is absolutely fascinating
and it amazes me every time I do it that you put in this ugly mash,
and it comes out as a crystal-clear spirit.
I realize I liked liquor like pastis,
several years ago, I went to the czech republic to study abroad
and I don't like black licorice.
But I like black licorice in the spirits, it complements well.
Of course I'm here to win. If you were to say I wasn't, you'd be wrong.
You know, I am here to make friends, but I'm here to beat 'em too.
It's going to be fast when I do it.
[juicebox groans]
two minutes, men, you better be getting where you need to be.
[tyler] I'm down to the wire and that spigot ain't fast enough.
40 seconds!
[juicebox] and then the stuff.
Boys, y'all done.
You got five days, we'll see y'all then.
Chase on out.
-Take a break. -Good luck to you guys, all of you.
Cool off a little bit.
[narrator] to produce pastis,
our competitors will distill their fermented mash in the stripping run
to make a neutral base spirit.
Then, they will macerate the spirit with herbs and botanicals
like star anise, licorice root and angelica root.
After 24 hours, they'll re-distill in a second run
to produce the white pastis that the judges will taste.
Welcome, men.
Hopefully that mash you got there for your pastis is ready to run?
We're gonna strip it out, see if we've got some good liquor.
We're going to measure your volume of alcohol and your proof.
We're not going to be doing a tasting at the end of this round,
we will be measuring your proof gallons.
The goal is to make as much product as you can.
Highest-proof gallons wins.
Four hours starting now. Good luck, guys.
[sloshing]
[bucket bangs]
[metallic clank]
[heavy tapping]
guys, y'all bear in mind we take off for racket. [laughter]
[mark] tyler, I'm going to do you a little solid favor, brother.
What's up?
Well, I'm gonna stop this big leak you've got right here.
Whether it's not tight enough or the gasket's crooked.
-There's more than one way to skin a cat, ain't it? -[tyler] it is crooked.
[flustered] oh, man!
Now, y'all watch your heat. You got four hours for a reason.
-[flames whooshes] -whoo!
So, don't burn it up in the first hour.
Oh, there's no airflow.
[gurgling]
didn't look like it went so well there, juicebox?
No, I was trying to filter out the solids and it's being a pain in the ass, so...
[juicebox] when I came in this morning,
I knew that my mash was healthy
and completely worked off and gone completely dry.
So, I had no concerns over the alcohol content.
Let's turn on this juice and see what shakes loose.
There we go!
I think he's got a pig in a bag, ain't he?
Looks like a big sackful of monkey nuts.
[laughter]
I am really happy about the outcome.
It's what I expect out of my homemade mash.
Boys, y'all got three hours.
What temps you guys at?
[tyler] I'm getting close to 140.
[ordovich] I'm at 150.
-Checking out pretty soon. -Oh!
-Already happening. -Yeah, you got drips?
-[ordovich] yep. -[tyler] oh, wow!
Ah-ha! I do have a [bleep] leak, I knew it.
That sucks, man, I'm sorry, dude.
Use gloves and don't blow steam in your face, man.
I thought that darn c-clamp was on there, and it wasn't.
The worst thing you can do after you start it running,
all the parts are hot and you gotta undo everything.
If you don't have at least one thing go wrong in a run, then it ain't a run.
[tyler] exactly.
Ah-ha! I do have a [bleep] leak, I knew it.
[tyler] let me get my gloves, I'll help you out.
-There we go, that's a better seal. -Are you sure?
[juicebox] all right. Behave.
-You good enough, buddy? -Yeah, I think so.
[flame whooshes]
any second. There she goes, oh, she's puking, I knew it.
I'll get her dialed in.
Guys, two hours left in your run.
[ordovich plays harmonica]
whoa-we.
[tyler] hold on, what's this?
[fast-tempo blues]
[drumming]
-you're supposed to sing, man! -Yeah!
I'll be over to join you as soon as I can, brother. [laughter]
I gotta take it slow because I'm tired of it puking.
[ordovich] I don't know why these guys wanted to do slow and steady
'cause I get it, like, slow and steady wins the race,
but at the same time it's, like, I cranked it up as high as I could because
I want to crank out as much booze as possible.
-[juicebox] are you done? -I'm almost there, man.
Are you serious?
-[juicebox laughs] -I almost have a gallon.
There we go, I can see some formulation.
I am pretty amazed how much the botanicals came through on here already.
I'm pretty happy with what I've got, man.
-And we've got one coming to the front. -I believe ordovich.
Turning in, you ready, boss?
I said my prayers.
Thanks, gentlemen.
-Good luck, ordovich. -Thank you.
30 minutes, y'all.
I think I'm almost making sweet water at this point,
I think that's about all she's gonna give me.
Big juicebox over there's putting a cap on his bust.
-You bringing her in, juice? -Yes, sir.
There we go.
-Good luck. -Good luck, buddy.
Tyler, five minutes, you've used every second left.
We don't care as long as you get that pear before it ticked.
[eric] right straight up and down for a while.
He was hoping, if I'm correct, to get a gallon of good liquor.
-Mm-hmm. -[mark] you happy or you think you're at that point?
[tyler] not quite to a gallon,
-but it, uh, tastes nice and clean. -[mark] okay.
-So, I'm happy about that. -[eric] ten,
nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
-Attaboy. -One to spare!
Not bad. Good luck, tyler.
Well, we just got to get our scales, get going.
I am 100 percent not concerned at all with what I made.
You think you're going in there first?
I don't know, man. We'll see. [laughs]
all right, boys.
-You got us some utensils? -I got a bunch of stuff.
You boys gonna take all the readings, ain't you?
And you gonna do all right.
[narrator] to calculate individual proof gallons
each bucket is weighed and the alcohol content is measured
using a hydrometer.
The weight of each bucket is then multiplied
by the percent of alcohol by volume.
This number is then multiplied by two and divided by 100.
A complicated equation not usually attempted by shiners in the backwoods.
[eric] this is ordovich.
We're looking at a total
seventeen pounds even.
All right, let's get the proof.
-Looks like it's right on the money. -100.2.
[tim] damn.
Ordovich is coming in at 1.85 proof gallon.
-Pretty good, pretty good deal. -[tim] it's good, right. Yeah.
Juicebox. Big man. Quiet as a mouse.
And total weight we're looking at right here is 16.6 pounds.
[mark] okey-dokey.
[juicebox] I'm feeling pretty good about that bucket.
-[tyler] why's that? -I had a lot of liquor in it.
Hopefully, more than you.
Ninety-two proof on the barrel over here.
All right, juicebox comes in
with a total of 1.61 proof gallon.
[tim] yeah, you can tell it's a little bit light.
Tyler knows he's behind the eight ball.
He knew he wasn't gonna get a big yield and he has
-[eric] twelve point eight pounds. -Total?
-[eric] total, yes. -I'm a little nervous
just because I had more liquor to pull off
and I didn't get to it just trying to go low and slow.
[mark] he's up there, too.
He's come to jesus here.
He's about 128.
Tyler's total proof gallon
is 1.76.
I'll clean up this stuff, I'll set it back here.
-Until I know what the verdict is. -I'll go fetch 'em.
[eric] welcome, men.
What this gives us is the pecking order
that you all go to the stillhouse and pick your parts.
One point eight-five proof gallons,
ordovich.
One point seven-six proof gallons,
[mark] tyler. Juicebox, 1.61.
Don't get swole up with yourself, young fellow, because
-[mark] this can go either way really quick. -[laughs]
I think tim's got somebody that he needs
-to introduce you to. -Tickle.
How's it going, fellas?
[tickle] I gotta reconfigure some things here.
-I got all kinds of parts. -Tickle, just so you know,
[mark] ordovich goes first,
tyler second, juicebox goes three.
Fellas, y'all come on with me.
-Good luck, guys. -Good luck.
-Thank you. -[tyler] thanks, gentlemen.
[tim] I hope you make it back.
All right, fellas, it is now time to pick your still parts.
You're gonna have three minutes in there.
I believe ordo, you're up first and your time starts now.
Do I get nervous sometimes? All the time.
[tickle] you finding what you need in there, ordo?
-Yep. -[tickle] all right.
All right, there is a pot right there.
It's nerve wracking. I'm, like, competing against some really great guys
who are very talented.
[tickle] you got a minute-and-a-half left, ordo.
-You're scaring me, man. -I'm telling you.
You're gonna have to hurry up, ordo.
-All right, are you done? -I'm done, man.
You are done. Tyler, you got three minutes
[tickle] starting now.
[dramatic music playing]
-are you finding what you need? -[tyler] yes, sir.
My strategy is to
bump the proof up a bit and find a place to put botanicals in.
I'm hearing some beating and banging around in there.
I don't know if he's working on a car
or if he's trying to build a still. All right.
All right, we've got a still part out. Whole lot better now.
-All right, you got 15 seconds. -Is there anything else
fun in here I should throw in there?
[tickle] I don't know, is there anything else you need?
Five, four, three, two, one.
All right. All right, juicebox,
[tickle] you've got three minutes starting now.
Tell you what. That's a big man moving very fast.
He looks like he means business.
My strategy is to be able to trade the other contestants
for parts that they're short on
in order to produce a configured still for myself.
I mean, there was a moment in my head where everything was like,
"shift, take everything," so I did.
[objects clattering]
this is a man on a mission right here. I tell you what,
I think he just cleaned the stillhouse out.
Five, four, three... All right, are you done?
-I think so. -Uh, get a forklift
-[tickle] move all your stuff over there. -[juicebox laughs]
and, uh...
Lead the way on out, 'cause we gotta put some stills together.
All right, let's do it.
All right.
I'll have to say we got some still parts.
[mark] holy moly.
-[eric] in the name of saint-- -[tim] what you doing
[tim] picking up all the scrap parts along the road?
All right, we'll see y'all. I'm gonna leave him with y'all now.
All right, guys, build us a functioning still
in less than one hour. Your time starts... Now. Good luck, boys.
[banjo music playing]
[objects clattering]
[mark] we just thought he made a racket before.
-[objects clattering] -[eric] yeah, I needed earplugs for this.
Well... That's definitely not gonna work. [laughs]
that goes straight to the condenser. You got nothing.
You're building a recipe for disaster.
And he's over here struggling to put
[eric] one pipe on there that nobody's helping him with.
-[chuckles] -juicebox,
[eric] while you're over there rattling, tell us your plan.
I didn't have the luxury of a thumper,
so I'm gonna end up putting additional mash in with my distillate.
Botanical's here in this gin basket
and I should be able to pull flavor as I distill over.
I hope it works. If it doesn't, I'm screwed.
Guys, you're halfway through, you got 30 minutes left.
There's plenty of clamps in here for you, ordovich,
if you still need anything.
Oh, I'm good, man. I think I've got everything set up now.
[tyler] the moment you're not working on your own equipment,
you're just gonna have to remember what you know.
This is the right one.
[tyler] all distillation stills pretty much run the same.
-So, just remembering that and not panicking... -All right.
There she is. Whoo!
All right, men, y'all satisfied with what you got over there?
I'm a happy boy.
I think I've got something in here that just doesn't really taste
like it belongs in pastis to me.
The sucky part of our job is cutting somebody out of the herd.
The big step in making pastis
of course y'all probably know, is the maceration of your botanicals.
You got your botanicals that you brought with you.
You're gonna take that and macerate that into your spirits
[tim] and then you're gonna let it rest for 24 hours
and you're gonna come back and run it in those stills that you built.
Tomorrow, you're gonna run us some beautiful, aromatic, tasty pastis.
But now going into maceration...
Y'all got one hour. Your time starts... Now.
[eric] get with it.
What do you got over there, ordo?
-[ordovich] ginger. -[eric] looked like a whole hand of it.
-What are you cutting up, juicebox? -Angelica root.
[tyler] yeah, me, too.
This adds a bitter flavor to the final product.
Typical in pastis.
-You got a lot of lemon balm in it. -Oh, yeah.
I don't know, from the looks of it,
you better hide it from tickle.
-[chuckles] -[mark] what is that, tyler?
This is shredded licorice root.
You like black licorice?
-I don't like any licorice. -[laughs]
I'm sure you can smell that anise smell right now.
-I can. -I'll try to make it sweet for you.
[tyler] with pastis, the anise flavor,
black licorice flavor is gonna be most prominent.
It should be, but I really wanted to ground it out
with some more robust flavor.
[tyler] in the maceration, I used just a touch of cinnamon,
uh, a little bit of coriander.
A little bit of orange peel, sweet and bitter
and then, a little bit of fennel and plenty of licorice root.
Halfway home, guys. You got 30 minutes left.
Juicebox got about five jars over there with stuff in it.
I've got a total of eight botanicals if you count the vanilla bean
and I'm adding wild felt flower honey as well.
I like to think that if you do work from the heart,
the final product has soul.
I noticed that you're just grabbing stuff and putting in there
and these other guys are very sensitive about that.
They have all the scales.
So you got two professional distillers
and another moonshiner, so I work from here.
Twenty minutes, folks.
[mark] I'll tell you one thing.
Ordovich don't give a damn, to drink anything he makes.
-Are you already trying it? [laughs] -oh, yeah.
-Gotta make sure it's good. -[eric] ten minutes, guys.
Y'all feel like you getting that direction?
[knocking]
I think ordovich is done.
-Are you happy with your... -I'm done.
-You're done. Juicebox, he's pleased in his area. -Yeah.
He's packing his bags.
-[mark] you happy, tyler? -[tyler] I am happy.
In 24 hours, you're gonna come back in here
and you're gonna distill those spirits.
[mark] you're stuff will be here waiting for you when you're ready.
So, welcome back, guys.
And now, let's get down to business with your spirit run.
The last time that we dealt with anise-based spirits, we were dealing with absinthe.
[mark] we asked a friend of ours, ted breaux,
to come in and help us with it.
Ted is the reason that absinthe is legal in the united states.
And he knows all about pastis as well.
Pastis is the successor
to absinthe in France.
There are very few actual artisanal distilleries of pastis today.
[ted] so you have the unique distinction
of showing us what you can do.
I wish you all the best of luck.
Four hours.
On the table, your best jar. Your time starts now.
[mark] get busy, guys.
Now, ted, do we have a minimum proof we need?
As far as the distillate goes,
one hundred and forty would be minimum.
[ted] pastis is bottled at a lower proof than absinthe.
But still it's high enough to keep the anise component, the anethole in solution.
I expect we're going to see three distinctly different results here.
Ordovich, have you ever bottom-fired a still like this
with that many botanicals?
I usually use electric plates, so, I might start turning the heat down just a bit,
just so I don't get any scorching.
Always a concern with the direct-fired stills.
Thank you, sir.
I really didn't want my green flavors coming through
on the final run, so I assembled that thumper in there
to try and get it a little more neutral
and then, I pulled all those botanicals off my maceration
and put 'em into that thumper
[tyler] just to make sure that any oils that were lingering
would carry through on the...Station.
I did do a hot bag, it had a little bit of licorice,
um, coriander and star anise.
-We'll see what comes out of all this. -I'm excited.
-[eric] ordovich, you're not running liquor. -I am.
-You are. -So let's...
No puking today.
[laughs]
[juicebox] oh, there it goes.
-Yeah...Got distillate? -It's starting to drip.
Guys, two hours left in your run.
There's your thumping.
[speaking indistinctly]
-think I just saw a leak. -[dramatic music playing]
[tyler] it is, it's coming out of the...
[juicebox] that's not good. Bummer.
This is a lot of alcohol.
[tyler] think I just saw a leak. That's not good.
I think it's just wobbling stuff loose with that thumper.
-Yeah. -That's why it's getting loose.
Nothing I can do about it. I got it as tight as I can get it.
Yeah, it's still leaking. Son of a gun.
[gasps] whoa!
-Oh, my god! -Cover your face.
At least 170. Look how quick that's breaking.
That is 100 percent juicebox pastis.
That's stupid high.
Yes.
Oh, we're gonna... [groans]
the question is, is how far
are you willing to run
before you start getting just too much in the way of all flavors?
In the end, it's got to have enough
of an anise flavor, enough anethole in it to cloud as expected.
Because if it doesn't, it's not really pastis.
-Boys, you got one hour left. -Okay.
-My tongue's numb just trying to taste it. -I know, dude, the anethole...
-[tyler] yeah. -It'll start killing your taste buds.
So, with anise-based spirits is, you get that anethole
and it's a numbing effect on your tongue
and it just wrecks your palate
as far as trying to continue tasting or picking things apart.
Oh, man, I can't tell. [laughs]
I'm gonna make a fourth jar. [laughs]
boys, you're down to 20 minutes.
-[eric] all in, all done at that point. -Yes, sir.
Six and eight might be it.
Oh, yeah.
I'm louching all the way down, I'm happy.
Juicebox seems to be ready to turn his end.
Quite possibly the most important jar of my life right there.
-I hope you guys enjoy it. -Thank you, juicebox.
One down and two to go.
Tyler's still in the mixing lab
and ordovich is doing a lot of tasting.
I'm trying to figure out if I wanna give you guys my 50-50 blend
or if I wanna add to the mouthfeel.
When it comes to assessing whether or not
an anise-based spirit is "good",
you're not always gonna please the experts,
and you're not always gonna please laymen.
But sometimes you might please both of them
and that's what I'm trying to strive towards.
-Just make sure you leave some for us. -[ordovich laughs]
-I can't make any promises I can't keep. -[ted] yeah, I know. Okay.
Guys, you got five minutes. Make 'em count.
I think I'm ready. This is the closest I'm gonna get.
[eric] put your name on your jar? Yes, you did.
-[ordovich] I think I'm ready too. -You're on point?
Ah... I said my prayers. I think she's the one.
-Good luck. -All right, thank you, guys.
All that tasting they've been doing, it's our turn now.
Yes, it is.
I'm not gonna lie. I am exhausted.
I have not sampled so much as I have today trying to get that blend right.
I have brought with me this...
Absinthe fountain/pastis fountain
like absinthe, you don't drink pastis right out of the bottle.
Pour shot into a glass and you add enough ice water to make it...
Cool and cloudy.
So I'm expecting what we'll taste in here
is basically a fiery anise spirit.
It can be hot at this point
but the flavor should be smooth.
We'll start with juicebox, he's the first one to turn in.
Works for me.
-[tim] all right, let's shake it. -Ooh, boy!
Well, he's brought it pretty close to 140.
I guess it's gonna be a little intimidating
to have ted taste our stuff and get his opinion.
[ted] it's a nice thick affect.
He's definitely got some botanical content in it.
Should have a... A strong anise flavor.
Little hot right up front, but that's okay. That's normal.
I wanna say it smells like liquorice.
It's got a buttery mouthfeel. I really like that.
It has little bit of a numbing effect.
A little bit of anaesthetizing effect because it's, uh,
-pretty hot. -[mark] honestly, juicebox's
-it's pretty pleasant, right? -Kinda nailed it.
Let's get another jar.
-Tyler. -[mark] tyler.
Oh...
It's 140-ish.
[tyler] yeah, I'm a little worried. I do this for a living,
and so I feel like I have something to prove.
And if I don't win, I'll be, you know...
Feel pretty beaten up.
Look at that thing fall. Look at that.
-[tim] here you go. -It's nice and thick.
Big cloudy white.
It's a little bit lighter on the nose.
The intensity of- of flavor is a little softer.
And one thing that we need to keep in mind
is once you...Go to the next step and add more botanicals,
will it become too soft in the end?
To me, it's very anise forward.
That's not necessarily a bad thing 'cause generally speaking
pastis is fairly... Straightforward.
I'd be quicker to drink a second glass of this
than I would, the first thing I tasted.
Now on to the next one.
-All right, here we go. -Ordovich.
Ah... She's 140.
I was debating whether or not I should use a 50-50 blend.
That's eventually what I submitted.
I wanted to stay true to what I would've
done in a commercial production.
It's louching very quickly because it's...
Got, uh, quite a bit of anise content.
It appears a little harsher to me.
And I'm getting a minty vegetal note
almost like a touch of salad.
Probably came from all that lemon ball.
I think that the one thing that could hurt ordovich
is, I think, I've got something in here that just
doesn't really taste it belongs in pastis to me.
-Okay. -Okay. I think you've got
several different instruments here.
And he got a trumpet or something there that's just kinda playing a
sour note that's a little bit flat.
If everybody's in agreement I'mma go fetch 'em.
Here it goes.
Welcome back, men. We'll move through rather quickly
we've all got a lot to say.
Juicebox, yours had a nice mouthfeel.
You brought proof up. It was great, juicebox
the way you added your botanicals and stuff at the end there
to enhance in that gin basket.
Juicebox, I was wondering if you'd get enough flavor but you definitely did.
Really interesting with the anise...
You definitely had something to work with there.
Tyler, yours was- was a little...
Less boom. [chuckles]
it was a milder taste
refreshing on the tongue. Had a nice back end to it
I think you did a great job on what you put in your still
and then you also added some to your thumper, I'll say,
to enhance that profile all the way through.
Ordovich, yours was kinda... Boom...
For me, you know.
I assume that's because you cooked all the botanicals in with.
For me, it's very complex.
I'm tasting a lot of different things out of your jar.
There was just a little bit of something botanical in there
that was just a touch of a sour note.
All that being said, the sucky part of our job is
cutting somebody out of the herd.
Ordovich...Unfortunately, your jar...
Bought you a ticket home, buddy. I'm awfully sorry.
I'm definitely heart broken right now.
And, you know, it just so happens that
we all did a great job, but I didn't quite cut it.
All right, guys... Final step of your competition.
Coloration.
The winner gets a limited run
of your signature pastis at a major distillery.
Y'all got one hour. Your time starts...
Now... Good luck, men.
-Hey, ted? -Yes, sir.
Is there a range of color
that we can exist in?
Or is there a specific color?
The way things are made today, it's just artificial dye
for the most part, but to do it artisanally
-you'd have to accept a range of color. -Okay.
And it's very difficult to predict what one's going to get.
Nothing about this... Is easy.
I've got a little bit of fennel.
And then I've got a little bit of yarrow
for the green flavor. I'm just trying to do
minimal amounts of the botanicals that I used for making my pastis
to try and just enhance some of the flavors.
I can already see that pretty green...
I got going there, so... That's where I'm at.
[light tapping]
don't break the jar, juicebox. Don't break that jar. [sighs]
I wanted to stay as close to
what an expected pastis would be.
I've added additional star anise
as well as black licorice root.
I also added my last black madagascar vanilla bean.
The bean itself is going to lend some
color as well from the hot water bath.
Very, uh, interested to see how this turns out.
30 minutes, you all.
I've already got some good color out of that.
You see that color?
Making absinthe? It's ballsy man.
So I'm trying to stay on the yellow... Spectrum.
I don't want them thinking it's absinthe.
It's definitely one of the most complex
-things I've ever made. -I've made amaros that have like
-27 ingredients in them. -[juicebox chuckles]
oh. Distiller... Moonshiner.
I'm a guy who doesn't really measure a lot of stuff.
I measure with my eyeballs.
Um, and then, if it feels right in the heart, it goes into the pot.
Don't screw this up, juicebox. Don't screw this up.
Understanding... These spirits
really requires to understand
key botanicals. One thing that makes pastis...
Pastis and unique
is that unlike absinthe which has a green color,
pastis traditionally has an amber tint.
When absinthe was banned, there was a law
in France, that said that
any anise flavored spirit could not be green.
They didn't even want it to look like absinthe.
So one thing that paul ricard did...
Is... He used something called licorice root.
That little dark nugget... Taste...
That is pure licorice root extract.
But it has none of the taste of
to what I've been led to believe that
-licorice was. -[ted] right.
What'd you think, tim?
-Not what I would wanna suck on everyday. -[laughter]
patience. Patience, patience.
I still feel like I could use just touch of more orange. I know it
I've not been using it very much because
I don't want it to overpower anything.
A little bit can go a long way.
Those botanicals can go way too far.
And so you have to be careful not to overpower on one.
Ten minutes, guys.
-Pretty color, ain't it? -Yeah.
Looking like a lightly aged whiskey.
That it, boss?
Here you are, gentlemen. Enjoy.
Wasn't as quite as brownish as I would like
-but in time that'll fade. -Good luck, tyler.
One minute. If you ain't ready, you ain't gonna be.
Bringing it in, big man?
-Bringing it in, brothers. -All right, sir.
Enjoy.
Head on out with tyler and we'll come get you when we reach a verdict.
-Sounds good. -All right, man.
Thank you.
Ted, I understand right that pastis can be amber?
And the grain's not out of... Out of line either?
Not really out of kilter.
Give it a little bit of light exposure, that will become amber.
-Really? -Yes.
-Whose is that one? -Juicebox.
Let's see what happens.
Yeah, it is gonna be a little bit intimidating to have ted taste our stuff.
-It's intimidating to have any of them taste that stuff. -Right.
I like how it layers.
And when that clear layer on top disappears
just like it is right about now. You're done.
It- it smells really nice.
-Wow. -The mouthfeel that it was
once there, is not there anymore.
I think it still falls flat on the rear.
I taste botanicals, but it doesn't do anything for the finish.
Yeah, it's all up front. I don't have anything on the back.
So let's see how we do, uh, with tyler.
Yeah, I'm a little worried. I don't mind experimenting all day long...
With botanicals and different grains of my own set up.
Then you get to new stuff and... It...
Doesn't always come out the same.
One of the things that he did to, really, give it a green tint,
and I'm not sure why he chose, it was that yarrow--
-that's a soft smell. -Quite soft and powdery on the nose.
It's really got a great mouthfeel.
See how it smoothed out?
It's really light. Not heavy on any botani--
it don't hit you so hard in the front.
Goes across the palate quite evenly.
And you know what each... One of them could have done that I don't think either did,
is they could've added a bit of sugar to it.
-Really? -Yeah. Pastis...
Generally has a little bit of sugar added to it.
Well, you know, at the end of our decision
what we have to take into consideration,
will it sell not only once but will it sell twice?
But all things considered,
I do think there's one that I would have a second glass.
Well, let's get this finished up
-so we can go so that. -Imma go fetch 'em.
Welcome back, men.
This is the end. This is the tough job.
Before we get to any of that, I wanna thank both of you for
giving us the opportunity to try your drink.
I think both of you did a good job.
Both of you did a real good job.
Now, tyler, great drink.
One sip was cold chilled. It was refreshing.
You know, I could- I could sit in the hot sun and drink a little of that.
Good.
I think, you know, tried to work some creativity in the
color and I think there's some pros and cons to it
and just the botanicals used and the ratios, but
-I think you had a very fine effort. -Thank you.
Juicebox.
Yours was a beautiful color
but that looks like aged whiskey
which hits me right in the wheelhouse.
But... At the very end, you dropped off again.
You didn't... You didn't bring
I think as much as you should on that tail end.
[ted] I really liked your color. Really liked the nose in the product.
I think maybe somethings in your in the anise distillation
could use a little bit of polish,
but, you know, that's part of the game.
I think you both had some very good qualities in your products.
I mean I'm impressed that you've both done as well as you have. I really am.
You know, I expected somebody to really fall out of this
it just didn't happen and it made our jobs more difficult.
-Thank you. -That being said...
Tyler... You are the next master distiller, my friend.
Congratulations. You win a limited run
of your liquor at sugarlands distilling company in gatlinburg, tennessee.
-[clapping] -juicebox, I'm sorry, old buddy.
-[all clapping] -wohoo.
I've worked for a legal distillery, but
you know, I've always wanted to go out on my own.
I really think that winning master distiller,
I hope is a step on the journey towards one day opening a place of my own.
Juicebox, taking nothing away from you, my friend.
-Excellent. -It was a tough decision.
It was honorable.
I only had everything to gain from this experience,
and I've learned so much in these short few days here.
And there are exciting new things on the horizon
from dr. Juicebox's high octane tonics, let me tell you that.
Good luck, gentlemen and thank you very much.
You all chase on out of here and share your
-drinks with one another. -[chuckles] thank you. Thank you.