Narrator: This time on "master distiller"...
Cherry you want, gentlemen, cherry you'll get.
...Cherry bounce... Whoa!
...The legendary high-proof favorite
of george washington himself.
Started sweetenin' up pretty good for me.
Another half-hour, it'd have been beautiful.
Sucks, don't it?
Its secrets survived the passage of time...
This is the moment we've been waiting for.
...Through shiners in the backwoods.
I believe I could find myself on the floor with this.
It wouldn't be the first time, would it?
But with so many recipes...
Now, you ain't got no cherries in yours.
He's got somethin' up his sleeve.
...No two distillers can agree on how to make it best.
This smells like cough medicine.
I've been in business a long time, and you don't wanna sell cough medicine.
Well, I don't know what kind of business you've been in,
but it don't smell like damn cough medicine.
-Tickle! -Y'all call me?
I told you I'd call, and he'd come runnin'.
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...
Richard: Darn! Got competition out of this world now!
...Judged by three legendary moonshiners...
I'm telling ya, it's like wasabi. Whoo!
...And an heir to a cherry-bounce empire.
They're so good, maybe I need to
get drunk on both of 'em a time or two.
They'll go head-to-head in a series of challenges...
Richard: Louisiana molasses.
...To determine...
This is the moment we've been waiting for.
...Who has what it takes...
Can't forget that thumper, can we?
...To be named master distiller.
-You need a hand over there? -I'm good. Thanks.
I'm worried about you.
♪♪
-- captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
captions paid for by discovery communications
digger: Boys, welcome to "master distiller."
y'all are gonna make us some of the finest cherry bounce
we've ever seen.
You win this contest, you gonna get a limited run
of your liquor in a major distillery.
Cherry bounce. Been around for a long, long time.
We're talking about george washington times.
♪♪
narrator: Cherry bounce -- a cherry-flavored spirit
so popular in colonial america,
george washington never left home
without a canteen full of his wife's recipe.
In georgian England, cherry bounce
was made by steeping sugar and cherries in brandy.
But in the new world, where whiskey and rum
ruled the roost, base spirit was a matter of taste.
Pioneering shiners took this flavoring a step further,
incorporating cherries directly into the mash
and fusing them during distillation
and even adding cherry flavor to the finished spirit.
Cherry bounce spawned a multitude of diverse recipes
passed down through generations, all united in one thing --
rich cherry flavor and a proof of at least 90.
The contestants will build their cherry bounce
using each traditional method,
from crafting a base spirit to post-distillation flavor,
all to deliver the hallmark cherry flavor
without a medicinal aftertaste.
♪♪
now comes time you gotta make your mash.
We're gonna give you two hours. Your time starts...Now.
♪♪
narrator: Distillers will mash in their signature recipes
using ingredients they brought from home.
The resulting mash is the base for the entire competition,
so planning how they'll layer their cherry forward flavors
ahead of time is crucial.
Richard, he's my kind of people.
He hunts, he fishes,
and he likes to make liquor and sell it.
Richard: My name is richard landry.
I'm a truck driver from new iberia, louisiana.
But my dream is to own a distillery.
I discovered distilling 10 years ago.
This is the first sill I ever made.
The first time I made alcohol, no one wanted to drink it.
I was scared to drink it.
But it wound up being really good.
It hooked me after that.
How that taste?
Whew. Heatin' me up on this cold day.
One time is too much, and a thousand is not enough.
This is an art form.
Some people can't sing, some people can't dance,
but this is something that, really,
if you put your heart and soul to,
anybody can do.
Tom, he's a home distiller. He just makes it for himself.
Doesn't sell it.
My name is thomas spisak, I'm from middletown, ohio,
and I'm an industrial mechanic in a paper mill.
I started distillin' about 15 years ago
kind of out of necessity.
Pretty hard to find a good jar in middletown, ohio.
Then it just blossomed into, you know, chasing the spirit.
My family's heritage was a determining factor
in me startin' to distill.
On my dad's side of the family,
my great-grandfather, kelly wills,
was a true moonshiner.
On my mom's side of the family, my actual grandfather,
he had a moonshiner conviction.
I didn't know about it until 1992
when he was awarded a presidential pardon
from george bush for that conviction.
Having legacy on both sides of the family,
that's why I'm chasing the craft and I'm looking to be able
to make some of the best drinks you ever drank.
You'll have king kong forearms this afternoon.
Adam: I'll tell you what, man, I should've worked out
the past two weeks before I came here.
I don't know about adam. He is awful young.
Mark: But he works in a legal distillery.
Working in a legal distillery don't make you an expert.
He might just sweep there. You don't know.
♪♪
adam: My name's adam bachman.
I'm from tigerville, south carolina,
and I currently am the distiller
at six & twenty distillery in greenville, south carolina.
So, I started distilling for the first time when I was 19.
I guess I figured I can't buy alcohol;
I guess it'd be better to make it.
Going to school for biochemistry
and being a distiller,
you got to kind of be a jack of all trades in a sense.
It gives you a leg up in the competition
when you're able to do lots of different things.
Winning "master distiller" would mean a lot to me.
I'd love to own my own distillery one day,
and so I would love to have a jumping-off point.
I would love for this to be that jumping-off point,
what's up with the trash bag, man?
Any time you're making something cherry,
it's almost hard not to make it taste like a cough syrup.
Now, you ain't got no cherries in yours,
and you're makin' cherry bounce.
It's not gonna go in this dip.
There's malted barley in here.
My plan is, I'm gonna create a malt whiskey.
There's a couple of different types in here.
There's one called a munich,
which would be a little bit chocolatey.
But most of what's in here is called carolina gold.
Secret weapon.
My plan, the next round, the flavoring round,
is to somehow work in the cherries.
What about it, there, slim shady?
-How we doin', buddy? -I'm all right.
What are you gonna do here?
I'm getting ready to make an ohio version
of cherry bounce,
sourced with all local ingredients.
I've got about 30 pounds of cherries.
I'm doing a mix of tart and sweet cherries.
For me, the tart cherries is what makes it bounce.
And then I've got a raw, unfiltered honey base.
Well, the unfiltered honey is one of my secret weapons.
I mean, he got a five-gallon bucket of honey.
Digger: Oh, yeah. He's got $1,000 worth of honey over there.
Honey itself is a standalone fermenter
that will just make an unbelievable liquor by itself.
Put your sniffer on that.
[ speaks indistinctly ]
that'll make an old man feel young
and a young man just wanna feel.
[ laughs ]
-richard. -Yes, sir.
Tell me about your game plan over here, buddy.
We're gonna do some rum.
Really?
You're gonna do a cherry rum. Cherry rum.
Bringing a lot of sugar sucrose from louisiana,
louisiana honey, a little bit of brown sugar,
louisiana cane syrup.
Just takes the bitterness off
of the granulated brown sugar that you will see.
You gonna use molasses?
Louisiana molasses. The pure stuff.
Louisiana cane syrups are phenomenal.
Digger: It's just raw sugar-cane syrup.
It's got plenty of sugars to bring to the party
and a lot of flavor.
Yeah, that's a tremendous amount of flavor.
Richard: I'm certain that this recipe
is different from the other guys.
The louisiana that I bring to it makes it more unique.
You got 30 minutes left in your mash build, boys.
Narrator: Once the ingredients cool, distillers add yeast
and allow the mash to ferment for five days.
If the conditions are right,
the yeast will consume the sugar and starches in the mix,
releasing alcohol as a byproduct.
Once the mash's alcohol content reaches 10% to 20%,
the yeast dies off and is ready to distill.
Fermentation time varies
depending on climate and mash ingredients.
After five days away from their barrels,
distillers could be in for a rude awakening
as they return for their first run.
Digger: Boys, I'm gonna tell you,
I'm gonna be eager over the next five days.
I'm excited to taste each and every one of these liquors.
♪♪
welcome back, men. It's your first run.
We're looking forward to tastin' some of this liquor
y'all gonna turn out.
Nobody goes home today. What you stand to win right now
is pick of the litter of all the still parts.
I'm looking for good, rich flavor profile.
I know you can do it. You got four hours.
Bring us your best jar.
Your time starts...
Now. Good luck, boys.
Narrator: For the first run, distillers must produce
a clear, high-proof base spirit
as the foundation for their cherry flavor,
using simple single-pot stills.
The winner will get first pick of additional still parts
to use during the second infusion run.
I mean, he just got a primarily grain build.
Adam: Checked my mash. The mash has worked off.
Bubble here and there, but pretty much done, ready to go.
I need to strain the grain out real good
to make sure I don't scorch it.
Once I get that fire going, run it as slow as I can.
Tom: That's a fire.
Narrator: A single-pot setup
allows for only one distillation.
As the mash approaches 173 degrees,
the heat vaporizes the alcohol,
stripping it from the remaining liquid.
Without a thunk keg to repeat this process
and remove additional water, the alcohol vapors
travel straight to the condenser,
where they're cooled into a flavorful
but unrefined base spirit.
Volume-wise, I'm looking at probably a couple gallons,
and it's gonna take a while to run that off.
I was hoping to be running at the two-hour mark.
Hopefully it works out.
Tom: Sweet jars come in at the end of the run.
Four hours is a tight time frame.
So I'm gonna have to, you know,
put some heat to it without scorchin'.
♪♪
and richard needs to get him a fire built.
I don't know what he got workin' on over there.
Like, hold on. I'm having a problem with something.
When I looked in that mash barrel and saw it still fermenting,
I just knew I was in trouble.
[bleep]
it's the only time you're ever gonna hear me say that.
Narrator: Coming up, two distillers run their hearts out...
Another half hour, it'd have been beautiful.
Sucks, don't it?
...While the third attempts to run out the clock.
Richard, I didn't really like that look on your face, buddy.
Narrator: A legal distiller, a backwoods booze maker,
and a legacy shiner are running the base spirit
for their own takes on the trickiest of american liquors --
cherry bounce.
Mr. Richard. His mash is still workin' a little bit.
It hasn't reached its full abv yet.
Richard: Yeah.
This cane syrup is real pure.
It's a yeast's dream...
...Take that time consuming... That's slowing the ferment.
Digger: It stopped fermentation. It slowed it down to a crawl.
Mark: It ain't ready to run.
Narrator: During active fermentation,
carbon-dioxide bubbles released by the yeast
are visible on the surface of the mash.
Running the mash at this stage results in a lower-proof spirit,
with a higher potential for scorching any sugars
that have not been consumed by the yeast.
Richard: The first thing I thought of when I knew my mash
wasn't finished fermenting was, "don't cook all of it."
digger: Well, he didn't use a lot of mash.
He probably didn't use half of his mash, did he?
I'm definitely gonna leave some mash on reserve.
I have to use it as sparingly as possible
to make sure that I can save some of it for the later run
when this is finished fermenting
and get as much of the alcohol out of it as I can.
Workin' out the nervousness factor.
If that liquor gets drippin' out of there,
all that nervousness will go away.
Men, you're two hours into your run. Halfway there.
♪♪
richard, you need a hand over there?
I'm good. Thanks. I'm worried about you.
I think I'm all right right now
unless I overlooked something.
It's a learning curve trying to figure out a new still.
These small stills are a different animal.
Started to realize I probably have to bump it up a bit.
Well, it heated up a little bit slower than I wanted it to,
but keeping it rolling along right now.
You always gotta be make sure you don't scorch
anything with grain on it.
You do, the whole thing is gonna be ruined forever.
♪♪
oh, yeah. Yeah. That's getting good.
'cause you're losing the heads.
Right. The heads are -- the heads are about out of it.
Once you get rid of that bite and it sweetens up,
then I can pick a jar.
It's just a process.
You go into your heads, and then it transitions.
Tom, you had any luck?
Yeah, I'm, uh -- jar seven in there right now.
All right. Good deal.
So, number six, it started sweetenin' up pretty good for me.
Another half-hour, it'd have been beautiful, but...
Sucks, don't it?
♪♪
digger: Five minutes, fellers.
We're gettin' to the end pretty quick.
Why didn't time fly like this when I was in school?
♪♪
whew. That's nice. I like that.
I'll say that jar right there is gonna be my magic one.
♪♪
all right.
Digger: Bring it in here, adam.
There you go.
I'm just gonna deal with the cards that I've been dealt
and try to make the best hand out of it.
Richard, I didn't really like that look on your face, buddy.
As best as I can right now.
Head on out the cabin. We'll be to get you in a little bit.
That's mr. Richard's over here.
Little bit cloudy. I don't think he got anything in there.
Looks awful low to me.
I'm gonna say 80 proof or lower.
Yeah. It's down there.
Tom: So how you guys feel about it?
I tried. [ laughter ]
♪♪
yeah, it's not harsh.
-He ain't got nothing in his. -No.
♪♪
I think he's playing possum on us 'cause he knew
that mash wasn't done, either.
He's lettin' it finish off, build a little more flavor,
and he's probably gonna build off of that.
So he knows tomorrow is gonna be another day.
-All right. Y'all ready? -Yeah, man.
-Yeah. Pour us another'un. -Okay.
Tom did an outstanding job of making it clear.
You know, I kind of had a plan of where I wanted to be
at certain times and just tried to hit those numbers.
That's a little bit stouter than richard's.
Decent. Decent.
-Good liquor. -Nothing wrong with that.
But that's honey. That's not cherry.
We're judging the spirit right now.
We're not judging cherry bounce.
Good job. I give him an "a."
[ laughs ]
adam. Now, adam didn't use any kind of fruit.
Real clear jar.
Pretty liquor.
Adam: I wanted to see how this run came out
before I made any decisions.
Mmm-mmm!
Oh, it's got some -- it's got some barley
coming out there on the top.
-Mm-hmm. -Oh, yeah.
I mean, you know, this ain't the same mash.
This is nothin' like these two.
-Totally different. -Yeah.
Man, and it sure does show on the nose.
As far as his liquor goes, he's made a good grain liquor.
I'm thinking adam is going the wrong direction.
To make cherry bounce from this, he's gonna have to --
he's gonna have to turn some somersaults.
If he can make cherry bounce out of this.
Then he is the master distiller.
♪♪
welcome back. We're gonna tell you where we stand on it.
Then we're gonna tell you where y'all stand in your rank.
The winner of this round gets pick of the litter
of the still parts.
Richard...
How'd you feel about your mash when you looked at it?
Oof. My mash was still workin' a little.
Your liquor, I think it suffered because of that.
Everyone fermented the same length of time,
so it is what it is.
You held back probably half of your mash
because you knew that it was not full fermented.
Richard: I did sacrifice this run.
I knew this was gonna be the result,
but it's for the greater good.
Now, when we get over here to adam...
You know, you went completely against
what these boys were doing.
You went with a grain spirit, building you some spirit.
And I gotta add, you got a fine jar up here.
It's got that great barley smell right off the bat.
I mean, that nose is strong.
As good of grain spirit as I've ever tasted, adam.
♪♪
now, on tom's...
It's got a good nose. It's really good.
I think you got the higher proof of the three.
I done had two shots of it, and I'm sweatin' now,
so good job on that.
It's a really good base spirit
for your end result that you're looking for.
♪♪
tom, you're gonna be the first man...
It was a successful start. Just lit the fire within me.
We gotta get tickle in here and let him put you to the task
of picking your still parts, boys.
-Tickle! -Y'all call me?
Digger: He did. He did. You see these fellers out here?
-Yes, sir. -They need still parts.
All right. Fellas, we's goin' on a detour.
Y'all be safe.
Narrator: Traditional cherry-bounce ingredients
are costly and difficult to find off-season,
so moonshiners often stretch their resources
by introducing cherries
and other high-end additives during distillation.
This requires much smaller quantities
than needed to make a mash
but puts the onus on the shiner's skills
on the still to achieve the desired result.
I don't care how many apples you feed that horse,
an apple and a horse turd just ain't the same thing.
For the second run, distillers will infuse flavors
into their base spirit
to produce a clear, high-proof cherry bounce.
To do that, they'll have to assemble a still
with the limited parts available from the stillhouse.
The winner of the first challenge goes first
with extra time to choose, giving them an advantage.
All right, fellers, we are here to pick your still parts
for your second run on your cherry bounce.
Make sure you get everything you need.
So, tom, you're the first one up.
You're gonna have five minutes to get your still parts.
Head to it, tom.
♪♪
tom: I'm looking for the addition of a thumper,
where I can get my sugary goodness in,
where I carry the cherries with it.
That is everything I do need, I do believe.
I am feeling confident.
I've been at this a long time, and this is what I'm here to do.
Now it's your turn. Three minutes, adam.
♪♪
adam: Thinking basic pot, thumper, worm setup,
but on top of that, I'd like to get some copper meshings
to put in the pot so I can get some reflux action going
to help purify my spirit a little bit.
Richard, I hope they left you something in there.
I hope so. I hope so.
Three minutes, richard.
Y'all make sure y'all got everything y'all need?
Has everybody got clamps?
Yes, sir. I got...
You know what? I did forget one clamp.
Adam: Hey, richard, you mind grabbing an extra 4-inch clamp?
-I got you, bro. -Appreciate you.
Tickle: There we go. That's what I'm talking about.
Moonshiners always help moonshiners.
Richard: The variety of cherry that I used --
by adding some into the thumper later on in the next run.
I think that's gonna bring even more of the flavor of the cherry.
Definitely by that time, it should be finished fermenting.
Yeah. Can't forget that thumper, can we?
-No. -All right, gentlemen.
Everything else is on your skill, your knowledge,
a whole lot of luck.
Let's get this stuff in here
and see if we can't get some cherry bounce made.
Narrator: Coming up... Bring it.
...The cherry on top.
This is the moment we've been waiting for.
This is the introduction of the cherries.
But one shiner has to bounce.
-It's the spice. -No, it's hot.
Digger: All right, men, time for y'all
to show us them still-buildin' skills.
You got one hour, startin' now.
Narrator: A louisiana liquor man,
a legal distiller, and a legacy moonshiner...
Tim: Tom, you get everything?
Tom: I think so.
...Are competing to make a founding father's
favorite recipe -- cherry bounce.
Hey, adam, didn't you need a clamp?
Adam: Yes, sir. That'd be awesome, man. I'd really appreciate it.
After an initial run of their own signature mash
to create a base spirit...
Tell you what, in a speed competition
against you with your job...
Being an industrial mechanic does kind of help out a little.
...They're building stills for the second flavor run
to determine who makes it to the final round.
All right, boys, you got those stills put together in record time.
Now we want some cherry bounce.
We want something that's gonna set our taste buds
back on their haunches. Bring it.
Tim: You showed us what you can do on your first run.
Now's when you're gonna have to really do it
because someone is going home today.
Your time starts now.
♪♪
and they're off.
Mark: Here we go.
You know, I feel pretty certain,
after all that dilemma with richard's mash
fermenting slow, I believe he's where he needs to be now.
He should have a good run.
Already said a prayer,
so my strategy now is to just do what I do
and cook it like I'm cooking at home.
♪♪
what's really gonna be interesting to see --
how you choose to use your thumper to infuse flavor.
Narrator: For the second challenge,
distillers will infuse additional ingredients
into their signature mash to improve the base flavors.
The resulting spirit must be crystal clear
and a minimum of 90-proof with a strong cherry taste
to be considered cherry bounce.
♪♪
I think it's very challenging for adam
to get that cherry flavor.
'cause he's so concentrated on grain base.
This is the moment we've been waiting for.
This is the introduction of the cherries.
I'm just kind of mashin' 'em up right now.
Starting to be a little juicy and a little easier
for that flavor to get out.
So, I put three pounds of cherries in the thumper.
It's gonna be interesting trying to find the balance
between the barley flavors I'm getting off, as well as the cherries.
I've made a last-minute decision to put more cherries in.
Tom: Well, it can't hurt. You said cherry?
That's what I'm saying. They said cherry.
I'm giving you cherry. I'll give you cherry.
-Okay. -I'm looking forward to it.
Some of my favorite liquor in the world -- cherry.
Richard: I'm gonna put some of the distillate back into the mash,
up the alcohol volume,
and get as much flavor into it as I can.
First reference that I can find to cherry bounce
came from martha washington,
and her recipe called for nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.
Give it a kind of a spice-rum texture.
Man, that last couple minutes before it takes off
is, like, the most nerve-rackin' part.
I'm not really gonna add any additional honey
because I had plenty of honey in my first round,
so I'm focused on the cherry.
I added a lot of cherries to the thumper.
I used a amish-made cherry pie filling.
And then I've also got some toasted wood chips
that I'm gonna put in.
See if I can do this without making too big a mess.
Gonna give it a nice, light, smoky flavor on the back end,
hopefully just a hint on the finish.
And I even snuck a jar of cherry jam in there.
That'll work.
We are on our way, fellas.
♪♪
what's it taste like, adam?
-Yeah, that flavor... -Coming in for you?
I mean, the malt definitely is now.
Like, the malt always comes through,
like, further on in the run, you know?
Adam: So, when the run started going, you know, I was still getting
some of those awesome notes from the barley,
but there was never any point really where I was getting
any great cherry notes.
Think I need to take some of that liquid out.
Trying to get more of that cherry in there, you know?
I am a biochemist. That's always helpful
when you're trying to figure out the chemistry of things.
If you understand the whys, it's a lot easier to fix things.
Tom: I was getting some very subtle notes of cherry
more on the nose than on the palate.
I was a nervous wreck over this one.
Let me taste this.
Real soft on the palate, though. I mean, that's a real good drink.
Now I get a little bit of that wood, that cherry wood.
That's what I was about to say.
Tom: It's starting to -- it's starting to come on through.
Boys, we're down to 15 minutes.
♪♪
man, that's high.
♪♪
I'm not even gonna go with the water.
This is the end of it right here.
Cherry you want, gentlemen, cherry you'll get.
Tom: You giving out free samples like at the fair?
Yes, sir, we are.
Looks like they've enjoyed each other's company.
Tim: They have.
Yours is softening, too, bro.
Richard: It's coming down a little bit.
-It's the spice. -No, it's hot.
It's just a little bitey.
It's either the clove or -- you got cinnamon in it?
I'm afraid if we vote any of them off the island,
they're all gonna hate us.
Richard, you got your jar picked out yet?
Yeah, pretty much.
The more it went, the more prevalent the flavors got.
Came out to a real balanced flavor.
I'm good with it.
My grandfather always told me if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
-Good job. -I like the way you do business.
Good luck, my friend. -Thank you.
Mark: Good luck, richard.
♪♪
tom: This'll probably be my jar.
Throw some water at that and see where we're at.
I thought it was a really nice-tastin' jar of liquor.
That's close right there. That is close right there.
I knew the proof was gonna be maybe a little high,
but I'd rather err on the side of too strong
than not strong enough.
Digger: Jar number two.
Mark: Big tom. Bring it in here, buddy.
There it is, fellas. Straight from southwest ohio.
Some cherry bounce.
I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants.
Getting some, like, almond in it.
You're kind of just in god's hands at that point in time.
There's not a whole lot that you can do.
You've kind of swung your bat,
and you're just kind of hoping to hit it.
-Jar number three. -All right.
All right, adam. We're looking forward to it.
Mark: Damn. They all look good, don't they?
Yes, they do.
Narrator: Coming up...
Whoa! ...Elimination is the pits...
Mark: This is absolutely the best jar
that I've ever had to send home not a winner.
...And a cherry-picked moonshiner decides
which jar holds up to his family legacy.
He's like a mad scientist over there.
He's putting a little of this and a little of that.
Narrator: A legacy shiner,
an illegal-liquor maker, and an up-and-coming distiller
are competing with their own original cherry-bounce recipes
for the ultimate title.
Cherry you want, gentlemen, cherry you'll get.
With jars on the judges' table,
the two with the most unique cherry flavor
will make it to the final round.
Richard's jar. Think it's pretty low.
It's got some big bubbles in it, though.
That may be a good sign.
I'm nervous the good jar's still sitting on that table in there.
And it smells good.
Definitely. It got a good nose.
♪♪
and it tastes like cherry.
Got some alcohol to it,
but it ain't got a horrible bite.
Very, very pleasant.
It's got a little funny back taste on the back side there.
That's that cherry. That's how cherry falls out.
-Yeah. -Maybe cut that proof
just a little bit more.
I think that cherry wood is shinin' through a little bit.
Move on. Let's try another one.
Tom.
-Uh-huh. -Yeah-huh.
I'm worried about mine maybe being too hot.
Richard: Yeah.
Whoa! Damn. I'm tellin' ya, it's like wasabi. Whoo!
I like the taste of it.
Yeah, I mean, it ain't horrible, but it ain't cherry liquor.
Honey on the front, and cherry pie on the back.
Let's taste barley boy down there at the end.
All right, mr. Adam. Let's see what he's at.
That's a good clear jar. She's bouncing away pretty fast.
I'm gonna say he's 110, 115.
I just hope he put some sugar in it somewhere.
I don't know if they're gonna see a big-enough change
from the first run to the second run.
I'm not smelling no fruit, no cherry, no pie, no nothing.
Mnh. Real, real earthy.
Very little cherry.
There's just a slight little hint at the end.
All right. I'm-a go get 'em.
♪♪
welcome back, gentlemen. You gave us a tough one.
Richard, you found them cherries in every corner, man.
They were popping out all over the place.
Good alcohol content. You did a good job.
Tom. Good job. About 120 on the proof.
A little bit hot. You got honey out front.
I'm still looking for the cherries.
Tom: My knees started knocking.
I just thought that was the kiss of death for me.
Adam.
This is a delicious drink of grain whiskey.
Thank you.
Digger: The unfortunate part of it --
you didn't bring no cherry to the table, brother.
Were you any particular barley, or did you just get barley?
No, I got 30% munich
and then I did about 70% carolina gold.
If I'd been coming into this contest
and I knew I was gonna be making cherry bounce,
I'd have went for a honey malt.
We gotta cut somebody loose.
♪♪
adam...
Unfortunately, that jar bought you a ticket home, old buddy.
This is absolutely the best jar
that I've ever had to send home not a winner.
It's really cool to hear how good the jar of whiskey was.
Thank y'all very much.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get quite the cherry notes
that I needed in the spirit on that last run.
Digger: Well, y'all head on out,
get ready for that post-distilling flavorin'.
And we're looking forward to it.
Narrator: For the final challenge,
distillers will have one hour
to add their own unique post-distillation concoction
to their clear spirit.
The ability to layer additional flavors
without overpowering the base bounce
is a test for even the most experienced distiller.
♪♪
digger: Welcome back, men. Final round -- cherry bounce.
You might look around, you see a strange face in here.
Josh owens. He's the mack daddy of cherry bounce.
Narrator: Josh owens is a fourth-generation shiner
known for his hot temper and famous cherry-bounce recipe.
Man: Famous family recipe. You gonna show it to me?
Well, I've changed it up a bit.
Josh's great-great-uncle, amos owens,
bought a stretch of land
in rutherford county, north carolina,
known as cherry mountain.
After the harvest each June,
owens would combine the wild cherries with corn
and locally sourced wild-wood honey
to create his legendary elixir,
a backwoods tradition josh carries on to this day.
Men, you got one hour. Your one hour starts now.
♪♪
good luck, my brother.
Good luck to you, too, man.
What was that you just dumped in there?
Cherry juice. Freshly squeezed.
This is agave.
That's lemon juice. Crystallized honey. Very fine.
Look like richard making a complicated drink over there.
Josh: He's like a mad scientist over there.
He's putting a little of this and a little of that.
What was that?
Richard: That was cherry pits.
My secret weapon was the cherry pits.
It comes from martha washington's recipe, of course.
The cherry pits offer a little complexity to it.
It does give it a real smoky flavor
it gives it a different essence.
I was always told when you cook down seeds,
it makes cyanide.
I tried to do a good job at not giving you cyanide today.
I've never put the pits in mine myself,
but from what I understand, it gives it kind of like a --
like a roasted nut flavor or something or other.
Tom's over there filleting a vanilla bean.
For post-distillation flavor, I wanted to keep it simple.
You know, I wanted to make something not too complex
and just let the spirit speak for itself.
What all you puttin' in yours over there?
I've got some tart cherries and some sweet cherries.
Predominantly the sweet cherries.
About a handful of the tart ones.
-I like that. -And then I've also got
about a half a pound of a reconstituted dried cherry.
Give it a real soft, nice flavor.
And then I'm also using raw, unfiltered, pure cane sugar.
We oughta have some cherry taste in it this time.
I am bringing the cherries.
Bring the cherries, tom.
30 minutes, boys.
Richard's trying to decide which one of them jars
he's gonna put that in, ain't he?
I've been making this for a decade.
I've been down the wrong roads and I've had a chance
to see what works and what doesn't work.
Tom: That smells like fried ice cream.
That cinnamon is strong.
♪♪
there. I'm catching some vanilla.
I'm more worried about getting the heat back off of it
once I get it strained and --
I'd rather not set a jar of hot liquor
on the table for you guys.
I like mine right out of the freezer.
I like it when my lips freeze to the jar.
[ laughter ]
-how we doing, man? -Awesome.
I'm taking this off the heat, gonna let it sit.
♪♪
let me try that.
♪♪
okay.
♪♪
that's real good, tom. We can market that.
We could make a new snow cone or something with it.
It's bringing the cherry.
-The cherry brothers' bounce. -Hey, I like that.
♪♪
10 minutes, gentlemen.
Torn between two lovers feelin' like a fool.
I love them both, and I don't know which one to let y'all have.
I want you to try something for me, tom.
Free samples?
A free opinion. A true, honest opinion.
♪♪
will it start a party?
And finish one.
Man, you got a lot of different spices in there
than what I got.
Martha made george come home from war for his stuff.
[ laughter ]
you don't want no cherries that taste like cantaloupe.
No.
It wouldn't be a cherry then, would it? [ laughs ]
tim: You know, honey will taste like
that if you got cantaloupes around.
-Do what now? -The honey would taste like that
if you had cantaloupes around.
'cause the bees go to the -- when they bloom.
Pollinate. And that's when they go back.
I learned that planting cucumbers and cantaloupes together.
You don't wanna do that, neither.
No way.
Cantaloupe tastes like cucumber.
[ laughs ] you're pulling my leg.
No, cucumbers are dominant.
It will make your cantaloupe taste like cucumber.
-How did I not know that? -I just told you.
I think he's the only one that knows that.
I mean, I'm a country boy. I ain't never heard that.
I ain't never told a lie to you.
I never told a lie in my life.
I just change my mind a lot.
Narrator: Two moonshiners are locked
in a cherry-bounce battle to be named master distiller.
I'm ready for the slaughter, man.
I think we ought to do it together.
Let's go.
Mark: I like the way you boys do business.
Here we go, fellas. That's the best we got.
Well, let's get to drinkin'.
It looks like both of 'em pretty equal on color.
I can't get over how they made it so much different,
but, yeah, they come out the same dang color.
Tom: How you feeling about it, man?
Should you have done anything different?
-No, -this is gonna be richard.
Mark: That's richard.
Digger: Hey, it's not harsh on cinnamon.
Oh, my.
Plenty of liquor in it.
Josh: I smell a little cinnamon.
♪♪
you're gonna taste a little cinnamon, too.
It's good. I like it.
The fine line between too much cinnamon
and just enough cinnamon
is about like this crack right here.
-You ain't kiddin'. -I'm following martha.
Martha said do this. And not martha stewart.
Martha washington said, "do this."
the original martha?
Richard definitely put a lot of love into it.
I think it's pretty good, no doubt.
I believe I could find myself on the floor with this.
It wouldn't be the first time, would it?
I hope tom brought his "a"-game.
I wanna taste something better.
♪♪
tim: Now, this is tom. He chilled his a whole lot.
I can feel the jar.
Josh: You can see the difference in color
now that it's a little smaller.
I can smell a little bit of honey,
and I smell a little bit of cherry.
You can definitely smell the honey.
Tom: Man, I was needing to bring the cherries. I hope I did it.
They wanted a touchdown. You gave 'em a touchdown.
Stand-up double, anyway. Hey.
I don't know. They're both good, boys.
They are good. When you first take a drink out of it,
it's got a "pow" to it, but it seems like it smoothes out
just after it hits your tongue, you know?
Yeah, it's good.
Damn. It's actually really smooth.
I'm smelling that honey, and when I smell the cherry,
it reminds me of the cough medicine.
I mean, if you smell the cherries, it's cough medicine.
If you don't smell the cherries, it's honey.
You can't have it both way.
But you gotta smell it right.
This smells like cough medicine.
I've been in business a long time, and you don't wanna sell cough medicine.
Well, I don't know what kind of business you've been in,
but it don't smell like damn cough medicine.
It smells like liquor.
I think richard's was a little flatter than tom's.
They're so good. Maybe I need to get drunk
on both of them a time or two.
[ laughs ] well, welcome to the table, josh.
♪♪
tough decision we faced.
And I think you can tell by the amount of alcohol
gone out of your jars,
we kind of enjoyed our deliberations just a bit.
Richard, right off the bat,
cherry -- boom -- all over your tongue.
You had the cinnamon.
It was good and strong but not overpowered.
We were worried about that because it's easily overdone.
You are the spice king.
I mean, it's obvious -- you know more about spices
than the damn jackrabbit knows about runnin'.
It's totally different --
totally different than anything I ever had.
It seemed like a whiskey that I would sit down and start drinking...
And find myself on the floor before I got up.
Now, tom...
All in all, real good drink front to back.
Tom, you make a great liquor.
When I first take a sip out of it,
yours just seemed like it hit me harder off the rip.
I like honey.
And I like the fact the vanilla bean --
you know, I like the way that softened it up a lot.
It's a good drink,
but it's a little bit like a medicine.
It reminds me of a cough medicine
when you added that cherry to it.
That cherry wasn't up front and poppin'
right at the front like cherry bounce should be.
Honestly, I like both of your guys' liquor.
-Thank you. Thank you. -Thank you very much.
Outstanding job.
♪♪
digger: Well, boys, I reckon you know what time has come.
We're fixin' to crown the next master distiller.
Richard...
You're the next master distiller, my friend.
Tom: Congratulations, bro.
Richard: My mission in life is to teach the next generation,
to pass this art form on,
and winning "master distiller" is just affirmation
that I'm teaching them the correct things.
I learned so much from this man.
He's got nothing to be ashamed.
Tom: I'm on the quest looking for the perfect jar.
Unfortunately, this wasn't it.
Y'all were like an old team of mules working in unison.
That was outstanding in our eyes.
We had a good example.
Well, we don't always agree on everything.
Richard: I met a real good friend in tom, and who knows --
we might go into business together one day.
Digger: We hid some of your liquor, and we're gonna drink
some more of it, so y'all get on outta here.
-Thank yinz, gentlemen. -Thank you.
Narrator: Next time on "master distiller"...
It's not just about having a drink. It's an experience.
...Absinthe... It's a little tricky.
...The green fairy... Man: The clouding effect.
...A barely legal spirit whose mystery is matched
only by the difficulty it takes to distill.
Whoa! This is a completely different deal. I love it!