[narrator] this time on master distiller.
Three of the most innovativ backwoods shiners...
Dang it! There goes my ingredients!
[narrator] take on america's most popular moonshine flavor.
The most prominent biggest seller moonshine
There is in the planet.
[narrator] apple pie.
If it's apple, it's got to be good.
[mike] oh, we got a little liquid gold here, boys.
It's just not going to be that simple.
It's a competition now.
[narrator] now, returning champions
Will throw down at the stills.
Oh, hell, I shouldn't have done that.
[narrator] judged by a jury of their peers,
They'll go head to head in a series of challenges.
Damn, when the run goes wrong.
[dean] I got apple pie in a jar right here.
[narrator] to determine who has what it takes...
[jeff] look how clear, son. Whoo.
To earn backwoods bragging rights.
Y'all gonna have a problem here in a second.
I surprised myself right there.
Don't overthink it. Don't overthink it.
[narrator] and a prize that will be the envy
Of any true mountain man.
-Check that out. -Whoa.
That is a rich piece of disaster.
[dramatic music playing]
[digger] howdy, guys, here we are again.
The first lady of flavored liquors,
Apple pie, the quintessential,
That's what y'all here to make.
So you're gonna win the bragging rights
And a little surprise prize at the very end.
We'll let you know when it's all said and done.
Apple pie is the most prominent,
Biggest seller of moonshine there is.
Everybody that makes liquors
Sometimes has made apple pie
And you 'uns are no exception.
Howard, we was really impressed
With your app pie that you made
During the steel hand challenge.
Marquee, you and richard are the masters of creativity
When it comes to flavors.
It's gonna be really interesting
What kind of twist that you two put
On a traditional apple pie recipe.
Apple pie, guys, is the ultimate flavor of moonshine.
It is the first and the best flavor out there.
And everybody knows that.
And it's real simple to make.
But we have a plan to make it
A little bit more of a challenge.
All right, guys, take your corn mash you built,
You brought it in here.
Mash is ready to run
Then we're gonna do a little something different.
You got to go pick actual ingredients at the fruit stand
But it's not gonna be that simple.
Tickle!
What you got going on here?
Well, we got some guys that need to make
Some apple pie moonshine.
That outta be easy for a these fellas.
Well, you know, everyone thinks apple pie
Is really easy to make, but this is a challenge.
I think I got just the right thing in mind.
You got... You got a plan?
All right, fellas, y'all come along with me.
Let's see what we can do here with these fellas.
-Shoot. Good luck! -Yeah.
[tim] I know eventually tickle winds up bad.
I know exactly what I'm gonna wind up doing.
Four guys out, how many's coming back?
-Uh, who knows? -We'll pray for 'em.
[dramatic music playing]
All right, fellas.
We're gonna make us some apple pie.
That's the original flavored moonshine.
Every one of y'all can make an apple pie
That's above and beyond.
So, we're gonna make this a little interesting.
Are y'all ready to bob for apples?
-[man] in water? -[tickle] yes, in water.
That's how bobbing for apples works out.
All right?
If you put 'em in peanut butter,
It'd be a whole lot easy.
All right?
Now, whoever gets their apple first,
They'll have first shot at the pantry there.
Not only do you get to pick your ingredients first,
You get a slingshot.
And we're gonna give you three rocks.
And if you see something over there
That you think one of your competitors might want,
You can bust it with your rock in that slingshot.
The last man with the last pick,
He's gonna wind up with what's left.
-Are y'all ready? -[all] I'm ready.
Yeah. Wait, hold on. I got to take this off.
[tickle] get ready. All right.
Go.
Y'all's apple bobbing ability
Is going to determine how you go in this pantry.
Uh, uh, you dropped it.
You messed up, howard.
-[howard] I had the apple! -You got to hold on to it.
God almighty.
My name is howard thompson. I'm from danville, virginia.
I'm here for the meats and the eats, baby.
I've been tim and tickle's still here for 10 years.
God, tim. This is one hell of an operation here, old buddy.
A little bit bigger than the woods, I guess.
Taking your knowledge from the woods,
Keep it simple, stick to the basic.
Keep an eye on what your competition is doing.
And just try to be one step above them.
Winning this competition will put me right on top
With mike cochran or richard landry.
Those are big names in this world.
That's my whole goal.
I've worked hard for everything I've got
And I wanna stay in arm and arm with them
And let everybody knows I'm just a good moonshiner as they are.
[tickle] you just got to get one faster than them other two.
All right. We got mike cockrell first.
My name is mike cockrell.
I hang my hat here in tennessee.
Well, this right here gives is the straight up
Definition of real mountain bee.
I'm a fifth generation moonshiner, and in my family,
Well, I learned about watching and paying attention.
So, it's all up here and in here.
I love to make moonshine.
I love to create new flavors
I am that guy that likes to push the envelope a little bit.
That smells a good clean hop proof.
[mike] I like to take the little the old,
A little of the new, cram 'em together
To make something for myself
You can't make it your own,
You might as well walk out the door.
Get your apple.
Bob for the apples on the top, richard.
Not the ones on your bottom.
My name is richard landry
And I'm from new iberia, louisiana.
This is my uniform, camouflage and air jordans.
That's how I make moonshine.
The way I make liquor is the way my teachers
Showed me how to do it.
I come from a cooking background.
We have to do one once of lime peels,
One once of lemon peels.
This is the honey.
And my grandmother was the best cook in the world.
So, I bring some of her flare into it
In a way she was meticulous about measuring things.
I make sure I do the same thing with my alcohol.
Been here a few times
And you don't wanna just bring a typical situation to this room.
It has to be different.
I now pronounce us husband and wife.
Winning does not get old
And I'm here to win this competition.
[tickle] all right. Richard's second.
I'll put my face in worse than this.
[tickle] all right, howard. That's it.
Our order here is mike,
Richard then howard.
First bite, last place.
[laughter]
All right, fellas.
It is time to get ready for our slingshot competition.
Let's get y'all fellas dried off
And we'll get us some slingshots, all right?
[dramatic music playing]
Now what we got going on in here,
It is dangerous.
So, we're going to have all have some glasses on here.
All right? All righty. All right.
Look, we got our old slingshots here.
-All right? -I didn't get mine.
Yeah, no, you don't get one.
Y'all are gonna have one minute
To pick ten ingredients.
And after that minute, to give yourself an advantage,
You get three rocks.
And if you see something over there that you think
One of your competitors might want
And you don't want them to have it,
You're gonna have a chance
To destroy some ingredients with your slingshot.
Richard, you better hope mike's a bad shot.
-Cool. -[tickle] all right.
Mike, you're up first.
Your time starts now.
[richard] I wonder we could get him to pick all peach stuff.
[howard] yeah, I hope so.
Everybody's grown up making apple pie moonshine.
It's been in every moonshiner's family
Since the beginning of time
There's only a few ingredients that make apple pie.
So, my strategy is
To pick everything that all three of us really needed.
Maybe try to get some ingredients
That my competitors want then try to knock both of 'e
Out this competition.
[howard] don't forget that candy apple.
One minute. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there you go. Peach.
I'mma just throw that in to that mix.
You're coming up on 30 seconds.
Now is not the time be window shopping.
I love to change the recipe
Just creating it and making it my very own.
[tickle] five, four, three,
Two, one.
-You are done, mike. -[mike] uh-huh.
I got to pick everything
That I really needed and wanted.
Every ingredient to make a good apple pie.
I've got this. I'm going to win this.
All right, mike, get you three rocks
And look, make sure they is big'uns.
You don't want to just chip something.
-All right? -All right.
-Here we go. -I'm kind of nervous.
Mike really scares me with this
Because mike is capable of doing things with that slingshot
And I would just be left with slim pickings.
I'm gonna take out apple cider right there
In the left corner.
-We need that. -[tickle] yeah. You need it?
For my go-to recipe, I know I need apple juice, apple cider
To make a good quality jar apple pie.
How bad you want it?
Listen, here. We'll see how bad a shot you are.
We think we should find out.
I've been on many a year.
-[tickle] all right. -[richard] whoa, it's something.
-Peace, butter. -Oh, no, no, no, no.
Well, I guess, I won't be getting that ingredient.
[mike] no, you ain't getting that.
I hope you didn't want peach when you're apple pie.
Mike can hit the broadside of a barn with a rock.
You got two more shots.
[tickle] whoa.
Well, I'm kind of mad about that.
[tickle] I mean, lord.
As each shot went through, I was shaking in my boots.
[tickle] apple cider again.
Dang it. That was a pretty good shot.
Oh, my god. I had lost it all.
There goes my ingredients.
[tickle] oh. There we go.
[richard] that was a pretty good shot.
[howard] damn! There goes my ingredients.
Now, I gotta think outside the box
To make a good quality jar of apple pie.
There's one jug of apple cider won't be great.
[richard] and I have my eye on it.
Oh, my god. I had lost it all.
All right, richard, you are going to have one minute.
Your time starts now.
[tense music playing]
You got you eye on anything special in there?
We'll take this one right here.
[tickle] look, 10 seconds already gone.
Well, golly, tickle, how fast you countin'?
I'm telling you. I mean, it goes quick.
[richard] I need some apples, too.
It goes... Some apples? About time.
[richard] I think culinary helps me a lot here.
My whole plan is to make an apple pie moonshine from scratch
Just like I were making apple pie from scratch.
You've got 30 seconds.
You're halfway through.
I have fried apples, canned apples,
Every possible apple solution you could think of.
Cinnamon, brown sugar.
That's a staple in the drink
I'm making a real apple pie the right way.
You got 15 seconds left,
That's the main thing to keep in mind.
All right. Look... All right. Look, richard.
-I'm good to go. -[tickle] you're good to go?
[richard] and with time to spare.
You sure? Look, you still got 10 seconds.
-If you wanna use it. -That's okay.
-I'm gonna save it for howard. -[tickle] all right.
Now, you get three rocks and three shots.
Three rocks and three shots. Okay.
All right. What are you going for there, richard?
[richard] I'm going for that cherry cider.
That cherry cider's got to go.
[howard] mike and richard gonna leave me with no kind of cider.
It's gonna limit my basket.
About to find out right now how good I am with this thing.
I think you should go harder than that.
You got to tighten them pitchin' fingers up there, richard.
[laughter]
[howard] thank god.
[richard] come on. We're gonna try it again.
Are you gonna shot the same one again?
[richard] I'm gonna shoot 'em again.
It didn't work it's obviously, broke
That's the closest...
That's the closest anybody got to it.
[tense music playing]
[tickle] you knocked it out.
But you'd failed some, richard.
[howard] that's good.
[richard] we're gonna try it one more time. Watch.
-[richard] watch. -[tickle] all right. Look.
-Look. Look. Look. Look. -[richard] let's see.
-Cherry cider. -[tickle] the cherry cider is gone.
[man] it's gone.
You did get the cider. I needed the cider.
I got less and less ingredients.
I don't know if I'll be able make it.
Howard, your minute starts now.
[tense music playing]
-[tickle] all right. -[howard] oh, no, sorry.
[richard] oh, you're too short for that.
[howard] I thought it said apple, I'm sorry.
Oh, you thought it said apple?
What kind of stuff are you making, howard?
[howard] it's slim pickings around here.
Look, your time is running out, howard.
I didn't know what I was doing.
And I'm gonna try to take everything I could take
To get all the apple pie flavors.
Apples, some apple pie filling, white sugar.
-Yeah, I need this. -Your time's halfway up.
You got 30 seconds left.
Get one of them candied apples over in there.
[howard] that's the bribe to the judges.
Oh, you're gonna bribe the judges then?
All right. You've got 10 seconds. All right?
Apple butter. I'm trying. Shush. Shush. Shush.
All right. You're down to five seconds, howard.
Four, three,
Two, one.
You are done. All right.
[howard] oh, I'm done. The competition over now.
I ain't got nothing but apple butter and apple filling.
I have a feeling I'mma lose.
I was really beside myself, a little nervous.
I was gonna be able to take what I had
And apply it to the mashing process
And the running process to come up with a quality jar.
Let's take our ingredients
And let's roll on with this thing, all right?
All right.
[upbeat music playing]
[digger] welcome back, men.
Yeah, I had a big old speech laid out for y'all
And I got to looking and...
Howard, I don't see anything peeking out of your basket.
Uh, I got the weight watchers of baskets around here.
I'm a little slim pickings.
You picked last, did you? I did as you can tell.
Mmm-hmm. Don't show a bit though.
Don't... No. Don't let that worry you in.
Now you've been wondering what the prize is gonna be,
I'm sure, because we promised you a little prize there
At the beginning.
I'm gonna let ms. Dana white do the reveal here.
[laughter]
Well, I watched some of you shoot
Your little slingshot
And I can see all of you need a little bit of practice.
So we got you something that would help you.
-Check that out. -All right. What in the world?
That's a jacked up slingshot right there.
[digger] that is the poachers version.
[tim] that's the souped-up three band night version.
Laser and flashlight.
It's professional-grade, custom made.
Probably have to be licensed to carry that.
[laughs] you know?
Yeah, I could use that in louisiana, trust me.
[howard] when I laid eyes on that slingshot,
I knew I wanna take that home.
This is the best thing I've seen.
I mean, the things I can knock down with that,
Beer cans I can knock over, deer, hasenpfeffer.
Me and tickle gonna tear the woods up with this bad boy.
That's what we needed outside, boys.
All right, gentlemen, and howard.
[laughs]
All right. It's time.
Y'all run your signature mash,
Make us some delicious apple pie moonshine.
We wanna see your best.
You got four hours to get you your jar on this table.
Your time starts now.
-Good luck. -[man] good luck, fellas.
[tense music playing]
It's gonna be fun right here.
I have to really, really watch these two guys.
Mike really scares me
Because mike is capable of doing things with alcoho
That most people don't even think of.
Howard has been around the best.
I cannot even say that enough.
Howard hangs with tim smith like I hang with my clothes.
We're gonna have to do something different.
We're gonna definitely come into this equation
With a different apple pie.
I'm gonna try to start cooking with the cinnamon
And fried apples because these judges
Do not wanna taste a typical alcohol.
Well, I can't tell it's gonna be too fair
As much as y'all gotten that basket over.
Y'all don't leave nothing for me.
I got some apple pie filling, a candy apple.
[richard] that's for us to eat, right?
That's all I can do with it, I believe.
I don't know why else they'd have done this.
I'm a little...
I'm in the big leagues. So I'm a little nervous.
I'mma be working on my daggone kiss recipe.
Keep it simple, stupid.
[mike] ooh, happy day.
-How that mash look, mike? -[mike] looks good.
Are you saying that just because you did it?
That's exactly right.
[laughter]
[mike] with the mash, I like a white corn.
It's got a higher sugar content.
White corn tastes better to me
So I go with the white corn
That my family taught me to run,
But we're going to add a little bit of
A good sweet apple it's a marriage.
It's great together.
It makes a really great apple pie.
[richard] how does that mash taste, howard?
-It's good? -[howard] it's good.
She's sweet.
Oh, you ain't gonna make no liquor then.
If it's sweet.
[howard] mash build I brought with me for this competition
Was kind of simple.
It's yellow corn, sugar, water,
And yeast and let it ride.
It's gonna do the work for me.
[digger] richard, you got any apple?
[richard] yes, I do.
Throw one over here, let me see what you're working with.
Let me show you.
You got one sour green apple,
Let's see if them's good, firm apples.
That'll be good enough.
We're just helping old howard out.
He paid us 10 bucks to eat your apples.
Exactly. Get all the apples away from the can.
[laughs]
I got a few apples but that's about it.
[tense music playing]
You got any hot air left over there, howard?
[howard] I had her going she's got a little something.
Blown itself out.
[tense music playing]
[digger] whoa.
-Mmm. -[mark] blow off your face.
[digger] with dynamite.
[man] what the hell is wrong with that?
Can't it going, howard?
She won't go. Let's try this again.
I got a lot to prove to tim
And then you got mark and digger,
They're like the godfathers of moonshine
So for me to fail them puts a added pressure on me.
I heard gas.
I got gas and I can get a little flame right there to spark.
But then when I'm turning the gas to her, she blows.
[mike] don't blow us up.
It's a lot of pressure on me at the end of the day
Because I don't wanna ever look like a failure in their eyes.
-Ooh, baby. -[digger] contact.
[howard] how many people does it take to light a fire?
-[mike] I heard gas. -I got gas
And I can get a little flame right there to spark.
But then when I'm turning the gas to her, she blows.
Don't will blow us up.
-Oh, baby. -Contact.
[richard] hold on. Let me show you something.
[laughs]
How many people does it take to light a fire?
-Three moonshiners. -[laughs]
Stand back.
[tense music playing]
-[digger] there you go. -[howard] there we go.
[digger] oh, that's pretty now.
We better send howard back to flame lab 101.
[laughs]
I'm gonna need a little education in that.
Mike is charging that with everything
But the kitchen sink ain't you?
No, he put it in there when you weren't looking.
Just apples.
My strategy is I want to do something
That the other two contestants are not doing.
I don't want to give three
Identical jars up on the table
For the judges to taste.
I wanna be that guy that they say wow,
You know there's something else in there.
That's nice.
Let's pop a little cider, too.
[man] he might be onto something there.
Here, at this competition,
You see your competitors tweaking and playing,
It makes you think what can I do
To make mine a little bit better?
What are they doing that I'm not doing?
You gonna put any of your apple cider in there?
I got a little apple butter I'll put on if you want to.
-You did get apple butter? -Yeah, I got apple butter
You put a little spooch on it, it'll be all right.
My ingredients which had lack of,
I didn't know what I was doing.
Put a little bit of this in here
Because I can't use my recipe,
But I'm gonna try to twist and play with it
And see how far I can push it to make it better.
That's good right there.
Apple pie seems so easy to everybody,
But it's one of the most complicated things
Because it is serious moving parts.
A cinnamon will play with you real bad.
Not enough apple, not the right apple.
When you say apple pie,
That covers such a big range
Because everybody's got their own secret
Twist or recipe they put on.
The way they do it. Yeah.
And it came from a great, great, great, great grandpa.
-Oh, yeah. -[laughs]
-They used brown liquor with popcorn inside. -[man] oh, yeah.
[laughter]
You got two hours left.
Halfway through.
[man] here we go. We're running now.
Playtime's over. We're running liquor.
Howard, you running?
[man] oh, got a little liquid gold here, boys.
-[man] you running yet? -[richard] no, man.
But howard started off slow, now he done pass me up.
Mike and howard know what they're doing.
These gentlemen have been in it far longer than I have.
I kind of look at myself as being the true underdog
In this situation.
Storage number one, look how clear, son.
-Yes, it is. -[mike] woo.
[man] man, y'all gonna have five jars out there
Before I even start running.
[richard] oh, yeah, I'm coming now.
There we go. Finally.
But I know my alcohol
Is gonna be something superior.
I got apple pie in a jar right here.
A clear jar. Smell it.
Ooh, damn, that smells good.
-That's cinnamon. -A little bit.
Put it in the thumper and that's the first jar.
That's kind of heavy right here. So...
[mike] you put cinnamon in your thump keg too?
No, I didn't add no cinnamon.
I used what was from the apple butter
Because I figured it had it in it.
-It had cinnamon there? -It had cinnamon on it
Because that blend's already there.
When I'm picking my jars,
I wanna go into this that sweet spot of the hear
And usually by the time I hit that sixth to seventh jar,
I'd have that right note of flavor
And that little proof that had a good, good product.
-[man] let's see over here. -[man] get the apple spice.
I'mma try it.
[man] I used a capful so...
Oh, to put it in that jar?
[howard] yeah, so run that through.
I wanna hit all the points of what they like, you know what I mean?
If I can do that one time, because last time, every round
I hit it, I was negative on one point, you know?
I'm trying to be a teacher's pet here.
[richard] yeah, yeah, yeah.
[howard] I'm tired of being the embarrassment
Of the competition.
We need a jar of your best clear liquor on this table.
Oh, hell, I should've done that.
Goddang, I'd had made green tea over here.
[richard] what? You put it in the jar?
[howard] pull off, pull off. Abort mission, abort mission.
Damn, when the run goes wrong.
Thirty minutes, gentlemen. Thirty minutes.
God almighty, man.
If I can get this jar, I think this would have to be
The money jar and shut her down.
I surprised myself right there.
Y'all gonna have a problem here in a second.
You coming all together?
Oh, dammit.
[richard] that looks pretty good.
-Good. -That's jar number nine?
[mike] no, this one's number.
-[richard] eight. -Eight.
Getting more flavor.
Calming down just a little bit.
[richard] this is it.
You still running?
No. I shut it down.
I'm done, man.
[digger] mr. Landry is bringing it in.
This is my jar right there.
That the winning jar?
I think that's the winning jar.
-You head on out. -[richard] I'm out of here.
We're gonna get you when we reach a decision.
[richard] it's a competition now.
Spit out what you got, baby. Go on.
Give everything she got. Let it go.
Let it go till she blow.
[mike] mine's done.
I'm ready.
[digger] bring it in here, mike.
[mike] here's mine, boys.
[digger] all right. Chase on out after, richard.
We'll drink a little.
We'll get a decision, we'll come get you.
-[mike] all right. -Looks good, mike.
[mike] thank you, sir.
All right, boys. Sea monkey free
And I even put a little note on top for you,
You know, this may be number eight
But y'all are my number one.
A little flattery will get you everywhere.
[howard] you know, I'm trying to get somewhere.
-We'll come get you. -Good luck.
-Good luck, howard. -Thank you, old buddy.
Them jars of liquor ain't bad.
[tim] yeah. All three of them look good.
Whiskey push.
Let's get with it.
All right. Turn it up.
[tim] richard first right there.
-And that is a... -[digger] crystal clear.
[tim] clear jar.
[digger] if that's a diamond, you'd be saying no occlusions.
-[tim] good bead. -[digger] yeah, boy.
Yeah. Good-looking hundred proof there.
-Oh, yeah. -Yup.
[howard] you didn't charge the thumper, did you?
-I did charge it. -Oh, you did charge it?
-Okay. -I put cinnamon in it,
So that way I don't have to deal with it in the post.
[howard] post.
-[tim] all right. Here we go. -[digger] mr. Landry.
-Bon appetit, sir. -Thank you.
Smells like liquor.
Smells like apple.
-Yeah. -It smells like apple pie.
That cinnamon note comes in.
It makes you wanna taste it.
It's cinnamon-y.
Big time cinnamon.
That's where we get the bite.
You know, that cinnamon hangs
Just a little bit right there on me.
-[tim] yeah. -It makes it finish real dry.
That overpowers it there on the last.
[tim] yeah.
You know, I don't dislike the taste
Of cinnamon but it'll chew at you some, won't it?
-It'll... -Yeah.
-Sometimes it'll fight back. -Yeah.
Especially when you don't like it.
You don't care for it, do you?
I don't care none about it, no.
Taste ain't apple, too.
I like it but it's just a little bit
Stout on cinnamon.
This one says mike on it I think.
Is this mike?
This is a nice, clear, pretty jar.
We ain't saying nothing in 'em,
Except what's supposed to be on it.
-Oh, he's looking pretty high. -That's a good deal.
[tim] he's looking at about 108 right there.
-Mine went good. -Yeah, you did real good.
I had a bunch of jars out there.
You high proof.
You usually don't taste apple like that.
You can still taste apple. That was pretty good.
No cinnamon.
-No cinnamon. -[tim] no cinnamon.
Very light on the nose.
Real light. Mmm.
Got a real good apple note.
He had cider, apples in his thumper but...
It seems to fall a little flat.
-It goes way quick, don't it? -Yeah.
Too much alcohol kind of kills the flavor.
I think it could be better if it was a little lower.
But that's smooth.
It looked like a hundred proof.
-Yeah. -It's smooth.
It's very smooth.
It may be the best one I've had today.
I ain't sure yet.
Okay.
-Howard. -Howard.
Not bad.
About 95 maybe.
Many will turn those up to the hundred ten,
Hundred twenty proof but you put
A little sweetness into it.
A little apple, little cinnamon like you say.
-[richard] exactly. -I mean...
-They like it. -You're damn right.
A little bit of that moderation
Can make a damn good apple pie.
You could throw a candy apple in the mix
Or whatever and make a candy apple pie high...
[mike] yeah.
Make a candy caramel apple pie.
-Caramel... -Pie.
Hey.
Y'all go with caramel apple, apple pie,
I'mma keep it simple. Slide on in the back door.
I am getting a little bit of nose.
Yeah.
Yeah, a little bit of apple.
That's pretty smooth too.
It's almost like apple sauce.
That's really good right there.
That changes the game right there.
That don't need anything really altered in it.
Thing about it is he put apple butter in his thumper.
See, that apple butter, it's got everything
You'd want in there anyhow from the get-go.
-Yeah. -[digger] you got cinnamon,
Brown sugar, apples.
The one that had the least amount of stuff.
That's worked out in his favor.
[mike] it's a tough decision, boys.
You know, it always makes it real easy
If one of them is really bad, but this ain't the case.
Bring them in, big man.
[digger] I'll get them.
Mmm-hmm.
Welcome back, men.
Time to hear where you fell short.
You brought a ton of apple through, richard.
-Damn fine job on that. -Thank you.
Richard, I'd say a hundred proof,
Right on the money. Tastes like apple pie.
Thank you.
Richard, you had a little more cinnamon
Than the other guys.
Pretty heavy on the cinnamon,
But that nose on that liquor, that's wonderful.
Mikey got a little apple in there.
Got plenty of alcohol.
I think if you've proofed it down a skosh bit more,
Bring a little more apple,
I think it'd been a game changer.
But good drink of liquor.
[mike] thank you.
Mike. My man. No pepper.
-Good job. -Appreciate it.
Howard.
Fine job, buddy.
With no more than you had,
You pulled a rabbit out of your hat.
-Thank you, old buddy. -I mean, it was smooth.
Not too high proof, not too low.
Couldn't find a whole lot of negative in there anywhere.
Tim looked hard.
-[tim] did a real good job. -Thank you.
That apple in a jar that you poured in,
I think that was the icing on the cake.
Howard, you ought to hug these boys for preventing you
From getting any more ingredients
Than you got but now...
Because you didn't need to put anything else in.
I think really that they did you a big solid.
Really, really good job.
Nobody goes home but what you're gonna win
Is this really nice spice rack.
There's a lot of stuff in there you probably
Wanna stay away from but there's some things in there
That could enhance your flavor just ever so slightly.
So we're gonna cut to the chase.
And howard, I don't know
How you came up with it
But you're the number one jar.
I'll be damned, boys.
[richard] damn good job, howard.
-Good job. -[richard] damn good job, man.
Let me get my rack.
You know, I needed this more than anybody though.
I mean, have you all seen y'all baskets?
-You be very... -Uh-oh.
Oh, that's a bad omen.
[howard] all right. That's thyme. Don't worry.
-We don't need that. -All right, gentlemen.
Flavor those apple pie spirits however you see necessary,
However you don't see necessary.
To screw either of these three up, gentlemen,
Would be a sacrilege, that's alcohol abuse.
Do not screw up these jars of liquor.
[digger] you got one hour.
Give us our post-distilled spirits on this table.
One hour starts now.
Get with it, boys. Good luck.
[mark] please, please, don't mess that liquor up.
[howard] I'm just blown away, boys.
I produced a good jar.
[mike] hey, man, you deserved it, man.
[howard] but there's one dilemma I have here.
[mike] what's that?
I need some apple cider, I ain't got a lick of that.
How much apple cider you need?
-What's that, cider or juice? -[richard] cider.
Yeah, I need that one.
That's the thing about moonshiners.
They ain't greedy with their liquor.
They don't care to share it.
[howard] you know, I have no brown sugar still.
Hey, you can't give us nothing out of there
But we can give you anything out of here.
It is our fault he doesn't have none, right?
[mike] yeah. Technically, yeah, you're right.
[howard] y'all put me on the path to race
Now I get the brown sugar. That's all I needed.
[richard] so you follow a recipe?
[howard] I'm following the only one I know.
[richard] what is that?
[howard] that's tim smith's wife's recipe.
She gave it to me 10 years ago.
I ain't bucking the system.
A lot of people put their own spin on apple pie moonshine.
But for me, I learned a long time ago
From a great source, shelby
She taught me that it's five ingredients.
Brown sugar, white sugar, apple juice,
Apple cider, and cinnamon sticks.
If you go with that simple combinatio
And just boil it right and simmer it correctly,
You can come up with a great apple pie.
My wife's apple pie recipe gotta be the best.
[digger] I don't know what that was, richard,
But it looks all the goodies still at the bottom of it.
I think I'm gonna leave them goodies in there.
You might not wanna drink that in your drink.
If it's apple, it's gotta be good.
These judges thought I had too much cinnamon with my alcohol,
So I started putting some more fried apples
And I'm gonna try to bring the taste of the cinnamon down.
I hope it reconstitutes like it did
In mike's drink right there.
Mikey, how you feeling?
[mike] I'm feeling good, bro.
[richard] you got all quiet, you're making me nervous.
[mike] I'm just doing my thing.
There's nothing wrong with my original apple pie.
It's delicious.
But why not step up the game just a little bit
To see if you can incorporate your own flavor and spices,
A little bit of nutmeg
And a little bit of vanilla bean
Into an apple pie and make it even better?
Most apple pies are somewhere around 50 proof.
You wanna taste the alcohol,
But it'll approach scap you needed.
You wanna feel the effect more than you taste it.
[howard] yeah, that's gonna be tricky, right?
I need less of the two higher proofs.
A back note of that one.
I think there's a way to do it though.
He's overthinking in there.
I can't do equal parts.
[digger] I'm just gonna throw this out there.
Don't overthink it.
After that first jar I won,
I felt like I shot my wad by this time.
But I knew I had the spice rack that was gonna help me.
Well, boys let me head over here to my spice rack.
Huh.
I'm gonna dabble a little bit,
See I got that organic cinnamon.
[mike] yeah.
That's that good stuff right there.
And there's a reason that top is on there.
Only a dab will do.
[howard] don't worry, I got you in mind, tim.
I ain't get this far without thinking of you.
See, they got to deal with cinnamon right now.
I put it out on the other end so I don't have
To worry about cinnamon anymore.
[mike] yeah.
That's a real fine line across that's easy to do.
You do not have to worry about cinnamon.
Unless you don't know how to use cinnamon.
True.
[richard] you put a lot of brown sugar in there.
I haven't put it in there yet.
[richard] you didn't put in there?
Uh-uh.
Damn, who used all that brown sugar?
I guess howard did.
He's gonna make a pie.
A real pie?
How many jars you making?
I'm trying to turn it in one quart.
I'm used to doing everything in gallons
And now I'm doing quarts,
So I'm breaking everything down even bit more.
All right, gentlemen,
30 minutes gone, 30 minutes left.
I'm gonna tell you the truth, I've never made apple pie,
But one or two times in my life
Because you post-distill.
I don't like doing anything post.
Yeah.
So any apple pie we're making would come up
The still as an apple pie.
So I'm learning from you, guys.
So I might have not won that spice rack,
I wanna win that 4,500 right there for sure.
-[mike] tickle special. -Yeah, man.
I ain't... I mean, I want it too. I mean...
I'm just thinking that's a bad move
Naming anything that fires projectile.
-After tickle. -Tickle.
I mean, that's just a recipe for disaster.
Somebody call my name?
[laughter]
-[digger] yeah, pretty much. -I know.
[digger] your timing is impeccable.
Well, you know, I finally killed that rabbit
I've been chasing around out there
In the back with a slingshot.
I don't believe he could hit a volkswagen rabbit
With the damn slingshot.
[tickle] well...
So what we got going on here?
[mark] they're flavoring right now.
-[tickle] okay. -[mike] yeah.
We all three gonna bring something a little bit
Different to the table but at the end of the day,
My apple pie is gonna win this competition
Because I know flavor.
Oh, it's good.
Mike cockrell's here to win.
It looks like a good setup for scowl, right there mike.
[mike] it does, don't it?
[richard] all right. You're a big boy.
These judges do not wanna taste a typical alcohol,
So we're bringing a serious apple pie.
I think this is it.
You want apple pie and alcohol
In the right proportion and this was that drink.
We came here to see who was the best
And I really think I have the best.
A lot of business going on over on that same table,
I'm telling you.
I knew I had a quality product
And I'm thinking, "don't mess it up, howard.
Do not mess it up."
[digger] if your went through trouble
Straightening that off,
Why are you squashing it in?
Well, I'm not squashing real hard
To filter anything through. I'm just trying to get off
Some of that good flavor in there.
-Oh. -[howard] but it ain't bad.
It's all clear in there. Well...
-[digger] it was. It was clear -[howard] it was clear.
Oh, hell, I shouldn't have done that.
You had the best draw on the table
And now there's little chunks in it.
It doesn't even look nothing like what you started with.
Damn.
Damn, gina, damn!
[digger] it smells awful good in here.
[tickle] almost smells good as that possum,
I mean rabbit I was cooking for y'all.
I got dinner for all of us when this is done.
I saw it. It was a possum.
Well, they taste the same.
Now look, I'll save you a drumstick
-Off of that rabbit. -Okay.
No, no, no, no,
That's for digger, you get the wing.
[laughter]
At this point, I'm pretty sure it's a possum.
[tickle] yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
-I'll remember those. -Yeah.
You see, tickle, if you'd had the tickle 3000,
You'd have been able to kill a possum and a brother.
Well, it was a whole lot better
Than running over them in the road
Because when you run over them in the road,
It flattens them out.
[laughter]
Oh, hell, I shouldn't have done that.
You had the best draw on the table.
And now there's little chunks in it.
It doesn't even look nothing like what you started with.
Damn.
I might not have misled him more
Than I already have.
Fifteen minutes.
I'll pick some ice for them.
[digger] that's a good idea.
[richard] what you think, howard?
I got something.
I knew I had a good quality product
And I'm thinking, "don't mess it up, howard.
-Do not mess it up." -five minutes.
I ain't gonna play with this no more
Because if I do stay here, I'm gonna wind up
Grabbing stuff and putting something else in it.
I'm gonna take my rag and I'm getting out of here.
That's my jar.
You head on out, we're gonna taste,
We reach a decision, we're gonna come get you.
-Bring it in, mike. -Bring it in.
That's the one.
Well, you chase on out after richard.
-Good luck, mike. -All right. Thank y'all.
-[tickle] coming on all fours. -Here comes howard.
That was the one number jar, tickle, right there.
-Chase on out, brother. -[howard] thank you.
[mark] good luck, howard.
Good luck, buddy.
I'll tell you all what, fellas, before we get to doing
All these things and I might out to get me a chair
And sit down, way I don't fall down, all right?
[tim] well, I think tickle's staying a while.
-I think you're right. -Yeah.
We was afraid he was gonna say that.
We ain't gonna have no problems. I mean...
No, everybody's gonna do good.
I mean yours came out good.
That's the good thing about being a moonshiner,
You know, we could take an apple pie
And put a little bit of us into it.
We ain't gonna get no drinking done if we don't get started.
Start wherever you want, tim.
That's richard's.
That is a cold jar.
For apple pie, colder the better.
It's got a different color, light color.
[mark] not as dark as the other two.
-No. -And he still got alcohol.
[mark] one thing about this kind of drink.
You don't have to worry about judging
On clarity, or clear or...
[tim] it just comes down to flavor.
[mark] strictly flavor.
You wanna keep it as close to the original as possible,
But we got to be able
To do something with it, you know?
-Smells like apple pie. -Yes, it does.
I can still smell some of that cinnamon
And I can taste some of that cinnamon.
Plenty of cinnamon.
But it ain't as powerful as it was. Is it?
He made a point of saying,
"I've put my cinnamon in during the distillation.
I'm done with cinnamon. It's got what it's got."
-[tim] yeah. -Good.
I can taste the cinnamon on the back.
But it ain't a lot.
No, but I taste some of that bitter.
It makes it finish dry.
Let's move on to mike.
Well, mike is a little bit darker.
Mike and howard are really close in color.
They used a lot of brown sugar and...
[tim] yeah, it looks a little thicker.
Apple pie is a pretty basic flavor.
Apple juice, apple cider, cinnamon,
Brown sugar and white sugar.
Make it a little bit different,
But yet keep it the same.
That's a good jar as far smell.
It smells like it might be a touch stronger
Than richard's.
It's got a little more liquor in it.
I ain't... This is from a friend.
It's real light
On the nose on apple.
It ain't real bad on alcohol. It's pretty balanced.
I'm getting some more of the brown sugar in there.
It's not real strong on apple.
No, it's not.
Not on the nose or the taste.
He put a lot of cider in there, but...
He had cider, he put apples in his thumper.
-Yeah. -How did he not get apple?
You know, this is apple pie.
That needs to be your dominant flavor.
I'm not getting apple, I'm getting sugar.
That's loaded with sugar.
If this one's too brown sugary,
Then howard's really is though.
Howard used more way brown sugar than mike did.
Half the jar.
[tim] howard's got a few little floaties in it.
Still don't want a whole lot of stuff floating in it.
[mark] no, I don't want no chunks in it.
I know what he's done for pushing that apple...
-Yeah. -Because I see him.
I mentioned it to him,
He stopped immediately.
Right on the nose.
I'm getting plenty apple on mine.
I'm getting the brown sugar and I'm getting the cinnamon.
Yeah. I think it's a little cinnamon-y.
It's always about that proper balance
With that cinnamon, man. And I mean it's hard to do.
But cinnamon has got to be there.
[howard] yeah.
It ain't apple pie without cinnamon.
Oh, you can drink that.
I can drink all of 'em.
Howard just has that apple flavor.
-Mmm-hmm. -It just has apple.
It could use a little bit more alcohol.
That don't change the fact that that's a grade a
Apple pie right there.
It's still good and sweet.
It's good. I like it.
Best of luck, gentlemen.
-Cheers, brother. -Cheers.
Cheers to the winner, winner, chicken dinner, baby.
-Good luck to everybody. -This is it.
I believe we've got it rock solid.
I'm gonna go fetch them.
Found them.
Welcome back, gentlemen.
You notice your jars' a little light,
That's because everybody's going back for a second,
Thirds, fourths.
Richard, freaking awesome.
That's all I got to freaking say.
You got plenty alcohol, apple pretty good,
Not too sweet, not too tart.
The only downside I've come up to you,
It finished a little bit dry.
Mikey, damn fine job.
You're proof was spot on.
Believe you left a lot of the apple in your kettle.
I'm not getting apple, I'm getting sugar,
Just a little too sweet, but damn fine drink.
Howard, you got that wrapped down,
Apple, little nutmeg.
You nailed it.
But it doesn't even look nothing
Like what you started with.
I was trying to make apple pie.
I mean, you put apples in it
Because there's little chunks in it and we saw.
Well, I'll take my bow in grace.
[mark] howard, little pieces of apple
Is acceptable in apple pie.
We still love you.
-[tickle] good job. -Thank you, old buddy.
All right, gentlemen,
We got to crown a winner, a lot of deliberation.
A lot of separation, a lot of fleshing out,
It was tough, but that being said,
Ain't everybody gonna be a winner.
Somebody's gonna win that fine tickle 3000 there.
[tickle] yeah.
Richard,
Mikey,
All I can tell you is you both got skunked.
-Howard's the winner. -What?
-[digger] congratulations. -[richard] congratulations.
[laughs] I did it, man.
Man, today's best day of my life.
Beside my son being born,
This is the topnotch right here.
This is what I've always wanted.
This is what I came here for.
Oh, my god.
Going up against these guys in this competition.
For me to be the master distiller I am now,
The sky is the limit.
I wanna keep coming back and compete
Against everybody else until I'm the number one
That wins them all.
Who's got a... Who's got apple left in their bags?
All right. You want me to show you how to use it?
-Anybody got an apple? -I got in my basket.
All right. Give that to tickle,
He's gonna stand over there and put that on his head.
-Put that apple on top. -Bull[bleep].
[laughter]
[digger] congratulations.
Thank you, fellas. Man, it means the world to me.
Y'all get on out of here and get to drinking.
Me and mark's gotta mop this place up.
Get your gun. Get your gun, howard.
[richard] yeah, get our gun, howard.
-Get our gun. -Get our gun.
Thank y'all, fellas.