Narrator: This time on "master distiller"...
It's not just about having a drink, it's an experience.
Narrator: ...Absinthe... It's a little tricky.
...The notorious green spirit.
Mykala: Bring in a little cardamom to the party.
Narrator: Banned for almost a century.
We heard nothing good.
Its mystery is matched only by the difficulty
it takes to distill.
Whoa.
Man, and this is a completely different deal.
I love it.
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.
Ooh!
Now they'll face off to earn their place
in america's liquor-making legacy...
Did you get detained when you come through the airport?
...Judged by three legendary moonshiners...
We thought we really done something
when we colored outside the lines.
They'll go head-to-head in a series of challenges...
You may be able to build a second still.
-...To determine... -The clouding effect...
...Who has what it takes...
It's like a combination of radishes and seaweed.
...To be named... The electric daisy button.
...Master distiller.
Looks like milk.
It's a mouth opener.
-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
captions paid for by discovery communications
hey, guys, welcome to "master distiller."
I'm digger, my friend tim smith,
and my best friend, mark wayne ramsey down there.
And we're really stoked about what we're fixin' to build here.
Y'all gonna make us an absinthe.
Narrator: Absinthe, a distinctively green
licorice-flavored spirit rumored to induce hallucinations.
Its active ingredient is wormwood, a european herb
used as a medicine since ancient times.
In the 1830s, absinthe was prescribed
to french soldiers in north africa to treat malaria.
Its exotic appeal quickly spread through european
social and artistic circles,
who created a ritual for drinking it.
Tempering the high proof liquor with ice water and sugar.
Tales of its psychedelic properties
added to the mystique,
earning it the nickname "the green fairy."
but the spell couldn't last.
Starting in 1915,
governments in the united states and europe
outlawed the spirit,
driving production to backwoods stills
on both sides of the atlantic.
Finally, legal in the u.S. In 2007,
absinthe made a triumphant comeback in craft cocktails,
though it never fully shed its wicked reputation.
Now, this mysterious potion that you are going to create here,
I've had some of it in the backwoods
and not in the united states.
I've had both that you bought legally and illegally.
If we name you master distiller,
you're going win your bragging rights
and a limited run of your liquor
at sugarlands distilling company.
Here's the dealio, guys, you got one hour
to make your mash. You got five days to ferment.
Your time starts now.
Narrator: Because absinthe can be made from any base spirit,
anything goes when it comes to the mash,
as long as it yields a high volume of alcohol.
Tim: It's almost like gloves is off.
Right now they're just trying to create that base.
Narrator: To make absinthe, fermented mash is distilled
in a stripping run to create
a high proof base spirit.
The resulting base spirit is then macerated with herbs
and botanicals such as star anise, hyssop, and wormwood.
After 24 hours, it's redistilled in a second spirit run.
Finally, the clear high proof white absinthe
is infused with additional herbs to produce
the notorious green color and finished absinthe flavors.
All three of them, just from what I'm seeing already,
is going to make something that's very different
than probably any of us has ever tasted before.
It's gonna be good. I'm excited about it.
Digger: You look like you got some trout
out of the creek there, mykala.
It'll look like that when I'm done for sure.
Looks like a flattened out cat.
My name is mykala stinson.
I'm from portland, oregon, and I'm a distiller.
The thing that I really like about distilling spirits
is the look of satisfaction people get
when they drink what I've made.
It's really satisfying to create something like absinthe,
which is not everyone's cup of wormwood tea,
but if you can take an absinthe and engineer it into something
that appeals to the broadest audience,
then it's definitely worth undertaking.
Winning master distiller would mean pretty much everything.
A huge amount of validation for all of the hard work
trying to get into the industry in the first place.
I really hope I win.
Tim: Tell you what, if she open up any more packs
she wanting to get a bigger pot.
Digger: How much of that is a fermentable
or is that all flavor?
Beets usually have like a 20% fermentable sugar ratio.
So supplementing with the sugar because I didn't want to fly
with a 1,000 pounds of beets.
-1,000 pounds? -Wow.
We only need you to make us one quart.
I was doing a lot of research on how some of the older styles
of absinthe were made
and I had been considering using beets as a ferment.
You could do so many different things to it,
but much like absinthe sort of has the stigma
of like "ew, beets."
mark: Digger, you're on that end of the table there,
what's dylan been putting in his or do you know?
I can't see a thing. He's kept his lid on his.
He's kind of secretive about what he's doing over there.
You know what they say about a watched pot.
-Yeah. -They never boil, do they?
My name is dylan carney.
I'm from napa, california, and I am a distiller.
I graduated with a material science and engineering degree
and I developed a passion for how alcohol was made.
I went to heriot-watt university in scotland
and I made the recipe for scotland's first ever absinthe.
Distilling has just a little black magic to it.
Absinthe of all spirits exemplifies that.
The mysticism to it, the ritual.
Everyone comes into absinthe with a preconceived notion,
but if you give someone a good version of anything,
they usually change their mind. It's always been a dream of mine
to share my love of absinthe with as many people as possible.
So to win master distiller
would be an immense honor for me.
-This is it right here. -Yeah, here we go.
Got some torrified wheat, so some pretty gelatinized wheat,
and I'm going to add that in
at the same temperature as I add my barley.
Okay. Let it stand
for about 20 minutes. So wheat and barley --
that's where you're getting your alcohol from.
And I've got some chardonnay grape concentrate.
Mark: Mena's taking notes. She's writing stuff down.
My name is mena killough pratt.
I'm the head distiller at the wooden grain project
in charlotte, north carolina.
I distill floral waters, also called hydrosol.
They're botanical waters from plants.
Hydrosols to spirits became a natural bridge.
I started discovering the therapeutic values
of the spirits, and that just resonated with me.
I do feel a little bit like a wizard
imagining what it's going to do for the person
and how it's going to change and elevate their mood
or just, you know, have an amazing, fun night.
The cool thing with absinthe is that it's a neurotropic,
which means it stimulates the creative center.
It is aligned with the divine feminine,
the green fairy, the green goddess.
You're just not only creating these amazing flavors,
but you're also creating a mood.
Winning master distiller
would just open up opportunities
to show the world how amazing absinthe is.
You're making a magical potion over here?
Yeah, I'm doing a sugar wash, some dehydrated grapes.
My recipe for absinthe is very much inspired by older recipes.
I really feel compelled to honor the history of the spirit
and spend a lot more time like in the experience
of walking this path
the distillers before me have walked.
Guys, y'all got five minutes left
of your mash time.
Hope y'all are getting buttoned up.
It goes really fast when you need more of it.
♪♪
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Step away from your mash barrels.
Looking forward to tasting your products, guys.
We'll see you in five days.
Narrator: Fermentation time typically varies by ingredients
as yeast consumes starches at a slower rate
than simple sugars,
releasing alcohol as a byproduct.
♪♪
after five days, distillers returned to find out
if there's enough alcohol in their mash to distill
and if the flavors of their raw ingredients shine through.
Digger: Your strip and run time, hoping that mash is ready to go.
Our decision will be based on your proof gallons.
That means your volume at 100 proof.
Your still should heat up very quickly
because you're not heating up a thumper.
Bring us all the volume that you possibly can safely.
After you run your spirits, you will have time
to macerate your botanicals if you so choose.
Whoever's got the most volume at 100 proof,
you get to go to the still parts first off the bat.
You've got three hours, push your stills hard,
but not too hard that they puke over into your condenser.
And your time starts now.
♪♪
mykala, she's got a lot of stuff in there.
I guess she figured she'd be better to go ahead
and pull out them solids and then try to strain it.
It's like a combination of radishes and seaweed.
Dylan's over here isn't finished off
and is primarily like a grain. Look good.
All he's got to do is put it in the still.
And mena, she could do the same thing,
but she's got a lot of raisins floating on top.
Mykala's got a lot of solids going in her pot.
Mykala: My hope is to get the highest proof spirit
and not overcook the beets.
I tried straining it a little bit, in there,
but I think it's light enough and it's little enough
that everything's going to be okay.
Whoa!
Whew! Smells like burning hair all of a sudden.
My man!
Filtering a little bit. I wasn't too precious with it.
When I made my mash up,
I was really focused on the ingredients
and the flavor profile they're going to deliver.
Whoa!
So I knew that some of the things I was using
weren't going to yield as much available sugars
and so I wasn't going to get much alcohol out of it.
But I really like the flavor of what I got out of it.
This round it's all about proof gallon volume.
We got to have volume,
volume, guys.
Completely different deal. I love it.
I can't wait to see how it'll turn out, man.
Digger: Mykala's working.
She's waiting on liquor.
Mena: Oh, mine is dribbling.
My technique was initially to go like a nice medium pace,
so I'd have the volume and a short amount of time
and have the proof.
But I was a little behind everyone else,
so I just went for it.
In hindsight, I probably should have released
some of my volume to make up for time.
No, you'll be okay still, you're not that far behind.
Oh, here we go.
Oh, you got some coming out, mena.
Yeah!
I think you're missing your jar, though.
Mykala: Oh, yep. It looks like it's splashing on the rim.
Oh!
Smells like booze, tastes like beets.
Smell good?
Yeah, yeah, I'm happy now.
Alright, guys, one hour.
Is your proof holding up?
I know that it's disappearing quickly.
You've sent your problems down the line.
Narrator: Coming up, strategies stack up...
Building that high...
Timber.
...And a crushing elimination.
Somebody has to go.
Narrator: Two legal liquor makers
and one botanical distiller
stripped down their signature mash to create a base spirit
for their original absinthe recipes.
Here you go, judges.
The one with the most proof gallons wins
first pick of the stills for the second maceration run.
Alright, tim smith, get busy with your mathematical
geniuses over there.
Dylan's first.
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 2 and divided by 100,
a complicated process
that involves a shiner's least used tool--
a pen.
Alright, guys. I've got it.
Go get them.
Alright, girls and boy, welcome back.
This is for pick of still parts.
Mena, you had 2.6 proof gallons.
Mykala, you had a proof gallon of 1.47.
Dylan, you had a proof gallon of 1.10.
Mena, you get first still pick.
I was excited that I won the challenge.
It was a little bit of a confidence builder
because I am so nervous.
Mykala, you're second, you watch what she brings out.
Dylan, you watch what both of them bring out.
Tickle!
Did you call? I did.
We need for you to take them to the stillhouse,
get some still parts.
I got to get still parts?
They need to modify them for the next run.
Well, I'll tell y'all what, y'all come on with me.
We'll see if we can't find us
some extra parts for them stills, alright?
-Alright. -Alright.
Alright, y'all come on this way.
Good luck, guys.
Narrator: Although absinthe can be made
with any type of still,
alembic or column stills are the traditional choices.
These stills allow a portion of the distillate
to fall back into the pot known as reflux,
which increases alcohol content and refines the flavor.
For the second challenge, distillers will build the still
using parts from the stillhouse
to rerun their distillate with their own botanical recipe
to create a white absinthe.
Tickle: Ladies and gentle-sir,
now, there's plenty of different sized connecting arms.
Make sure everything fits. Mena, you're up first.
See what you can do there.
Mena: I chose the setup that I did from the stillhouse
because it's closest to an alembic.
When I run on an alembic I feel like I get more flavors.
It's an older world feeling as well
with a couple little new techniques.
Mykala, go ahead and get your parts.
Three minutes.
Honestly, not going first probably suited me better
because I get in my head, get frazzled, forget something.
Okay, dylan, hopefully they left you a few parts in there.
Three minutes.
I started with the basic setup that we had.
I knew that would run.
I was able to find all the pieces right away,
and then I ran around and found as many cool parts as I could.
Grabbed some spare parts.
[ mykala laughs ]
-okay, are you done? -I'm done.
I think you may be able to build a second still there.
♪♪
alright, guys, welcome back. Still building.
Y'all got to put them rascals together now.
Correctly, I might add.
You got one hour to play with. Your time starts now.
♪♪
mark: Looks like I see some new parts we ain't seen before in here.
Ol' dylan's moving right along.
He's stretching outside the box here.
He's building a column.
What we've witnessed before with people building
that high...
Timber. They fall.
Mykala: I've been really enjoying working
with these copper still setups.
I have a one gallon pilot still, that I have some familiarity,
but not so much with a direct fire.
I like the way she done that. You see the way she just
split that clamp around there right in place.
Digger: She handles those track lamps as good as you do, mark.
You know, she seems to have chosen
to make her still as simple as possible.
Mm-hmm.
Mykala's done, she went back to the old reliables,
and in four minutes, record time, I might add.
She's ready to run her business.
Let's do this.
I loved legos as a kid.
Still parts are basically adult legos.
Here we go.
Tim: He going to make it happen.
I think he's going to have to jack something up.
I knew if I sat down and thought a little bit outside the box,
I'd be able to figure it out.
There's one thing about it,
if he can get that rascal hooked up,
it looks impressive, don't it?
We got faith in you, dylan. Get with it.
Tim: You'll get there.
Two minutes.
♪♪
dylan: We're just about there. I think that might be it.
Here we go.
I like somebody willing to take a chance.
Good deal. I believe they've got them, tim.
Thank the lord for stills and buckets, huh?
We move on to the next step -- maceration.
Tim: You got all your goodies,
all your spices.
Whatever you need, you better have it.
Grind it up and get it steeping.
Your one hour starts now.
Narrator: Distillers break down the herbs and botanicals
they brought from home to release the essential oils.
These ingredients will then soak in their base spirit
for 24 hours to infuse it with flavors
such as wormwood, anise, and hyssop.
This process, known as maceration,
sets the stage for the final taste profile
when the resulting spirit
is redistilled to produce a drinkable white absinthe.
Now that's wormwood right there, that come out of nowhere.
Mena, she's a bona fide, certified...
Herbalogist. ...Herbalologist.
My plan is to tone the star anise back
and bring the fennel out, holding in line
with the tradition pre-absinthe prohibition.
Is this your recipe or something you just came up with?
I took a journey to switzerland where I met
with some distillers there, and I've taken that and modified
that over the last couple of years,
perfected it to be how I like it to be.
Outstanding.
I think that I have the skills
and the experience to make a traditional absinthe,
I have the knowledge to do so.
But I also have the creativity
to add my own little flair to it.
And I think that I can make something interesting and great.
I'm surprised mykala made it through the airport
with them little baggies with that green stuff in it.
Did you get detained when you come through the airport?
I was asked some questions.
My recipe consists of anise. Fennel, wormwood,
bringing a little cardamom to the party.
Nice little minty finish.
Didn't want to go too crazy, but just a little crazy.
Cardamom is one of my favorite spices to cook with,
distill with, and I really wanted to try
and find a way to bring it into my absinthe recipe
and kind of play around with that.
They're not grinding up powder fine,
they're bruising their botanicals,
letting the oils out. Opening it up.
You know, if anybody in the world
deserves to win on their labors,
it's mykala, and you can tell
she's passionate about what she's doing.
She's an honest working person I've seen come in this.
And then those beets. Yeah.
She bought the beets. She did.
I mean, no one else has brought beets in here.
Dylan, he's got his ducks in a row,
but I believe he's up against the wall
when it comes to knowing his herbs
and spices like mena.
But dylan's got a degree in absinthe.
Well, guys, looks like everybody's all buttoned up.
You guys chase out, be here bright and early in the morning.
Narrator: Coming up, a spirit run clouds the judgment.
-It should begin to cloud. -Look at the layers.
Tim: Definitely looks like milk.
Narrator: Three legal distillers
from opposite ends of the country
are ready for a spirit run
of america's last legalized liquor --
absinthe.
It's run day.
You've macerated all that.
Y'all have the greatest flavor in the world.
Now, we've got our special judge
that we're relying on for our knowledge -- ted breaux.
A few short years ago,
there were very few people on the planet
that knew how to properly distill it.
Narrator: Ted breaux is a chemist from new orleans --
the epicenter of the american pre-prohibition absinthe craze.
He conclusively proved that absinthe is safe to drink
and reversed a 95-year-old ban.
His pioneering work led him to start
his own brand of absinthe -- lucid,
the first legal absinthe sold in the united states.
Regretfully, at the end of this run,
we're gonna say bye-bye to one of you.
We got four hours.
Get us a jar of your best white absinthe
here on our table in less than that four hours.
Your time starts now.
Good luck, guys.
Narrator: For this elimination challenge,
distillers will rerun their macerated spirits
in the stills they built to produce a white absinthe
with a minimum of 110 proof.
The two winning distillers will move on to the final round,
adding true absinthe's signature green color.
So, mykala is using a sugar beet-based alcohol.
That's interesting because as much sugar beet spirit
as one finds in europe, I don't really ever
encounter anyone who's making their own sugar beet spirit.
♪♪
whew!
♪♪
dylan: There we go.
I was expecting more of botanical variation,
and while that's there,
there's so much variation in base spirits.
How are you doing over there?
Good.
Trying to make sure I don't bring it up too hot.
It's doing its thing. I did my thing. [ laughs ]
I have worked quite a bit with botanicals --
dried herbs, seeds, things like that --
so my basic premise going into this was,
treat it like I know how to.
I threw a couple of little curveballs in there --
using two different types of cardamom.
I'm excited to see what the judges think of it.
Just wans that one beautiful jar.
Normally, I like to run my botanicals in the pot.
I do have a tendency to run at a lower temperature,
and maybe if the volatile flavors aren't coming through,
I'll crank up the temperature
so it brings it through the still.
♪♪
dylan: Low volume to work with.
I wanted to make sure that I took some really small fractions
and watch them really carefully.
I have the advantage for this competition --
where I only have to make one really good jar --
and so, I want to make the best possible thing.
Dylan, using his combination of grain and grape
and his attempt to rectify that a bit --
to do a little stripping in the final distillation --
you know, I mean, he's stepping through a minefield.
♪♪
ladies and gentlemen, you've got one hour left.
♪♪
I'm getting down to the tails of my run.
There are a lot of really nice oils that I want to preserve,
help give the absinthe some flavor.
I'd say probably two more jars...
And then I'll be set.
I'm starting to reach into the tails,
so I just dropped down my temperature --
letting it just drip-drop
so I can get as high proof and a clean flavor.
In the meantime, I'm kind of blending on the jars
that I'm really happy with.
Now I'm just playing. [ laughs ]
tim: Ah, look like dylan coming up.
Judges, here's my contribution.
Breaux: Hand it over.
I'm really proud of it,
and I hope you enjoy it half as much as I do.
I hope we do, too.
Mark: Good luck to you, son.
Dylan: Thank you, gentlemen.
♪♪
she's not a full jar,
but she's my best jar. Cheers.
Doesn't have to be full. We just need a taste.
-Alright. -Thank you.
-Good job.
♪♪
judges, hope you enjoy.
-Thank you. -I'm sure we will.
-Thank you, mykala. -Beautiful clear jar.
Thank you. Good luck, mykala.
♪♪
ted: The logical place to go is for me
to bring my absinthe fountain here with ice water.
And I guess you got one of them, right?
We're basically gon' water-temper our drinks.
Yeah.
Now, absinthe was always bottled as a concentrate.
So, high-proof -- never meant to be drank that way.
You always added ice water to it
unless you used it in a cocktail.
So we add slowly, and it should begin to cloud.
If it has good botanical content,
those essences are soluble in ethanol
but not water.
The temperature of the water --
-that's correct. -This is dylan.
So, I'm not seeing too much in the way of clouding,
which tells me the content is a little bit light.
Really happy with how the smell and taste came through.
I can see it clouding up somewhat.
Little bit. If it has good botanical content,
it should cloud quite heavily.
♪♪
so, what I'm tasting there is very, very light, botanically.
Tastes to me like the distillation
was definitely run a bit far.
I'm getting some of the after flavors associated with that,
some of the off flavors a bit.
Either the botanical content was light to begin with
or a lot of botanical content was stripped
by the step that he had to put in the distillation,
yeah, to help recover quality from the base spirit.
Okay, so, let's move on to mena's sample.
It was a little weak, but green anise showed through.
Now, right away, just a few drops of water.
Look how cloudy that became. Yeah.
You've got clouting at the bottom
and a layer of neat liquor that's still floating on top.
So that means she put a lot of stuff in.
Exactly. Mena: I was getting too much
of the volatile oil, so I was trying to, like, run a balance.
Ted: Botanical content is definitely higher.
Definitely. Looks like milk.
Look how it layers. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
I'm getting the sweetness of the anise and the fennel.
That's good. But I've got some structure.
It's got some backbone. It doesn't taste like candy.
It's got the illusion of sweetness.
But there's no sugar.
And it's half proof, then we don't taste it.
That's right. And that's the beauty of it,
because absinthe done well,
you really don't taste the proof.
And that's part of the beauty.
Well, I think she did it. [ chuckles ]
that's really pleasant.
Yeah. Everything we've read or seen or heard
about absinthe is kind of out the door at this point.
Wow. That's crazy.
So, mykala.
-We see no -- -and not much.
A little bit of clouding.
Mykala: I think that I came up to temp
a little bit sooner than I wanted,
but I was able to correct a little bit.
Mark: Almost the same as dylan's.
Yeah, it's starting to get just a little bit of a blue tint.
Exactly. And I don't want to add too much water,
because it's clear that continuing to add water
is not really going to enhance it.
Just ended up being light on the botanicals.
And high proof.
That's it. And high proof.
And I prove I'm probably closer in that like 135, 140 range.
That was a little higher than you were aiming for, right?
Yeah.
I think I'm just getting some artifacts
of the unusual base spirit.
Not unpleasant. Just not too much there.
It tastes like a little butterscotch.
Just really flat, isn't it?
Dylan clouded up a considerable amount more than mykala did.
All the precision in the world,
although it may work out mathematically,
what you get in the end may not be what you were shooting for.
Narrator: Coming up, the final two distillers
meet the green fairy.
Unfortunately, your jar bought you a ticket home.
Narrator: Three legal distillers
have turned in their best jars
of the world's most mythical spirit, absinthe.
Before they can turn this white fairy green,
one of them is going home.
Well, we learned a lot, and it totally went
against everything that we had read and been told,
and falsehood about this drink,
dylan?
I think it's extremely strong.
And maybe that's because of your column-style still
you got rigged up over there
and I know you was a little bit low in the proof
in the beginning,
but I think you did it here. You know, you made it.
The botanical content is a little bit --
a little bit stripped maybe.
This drink should cloud as it has water added to it.
We didn't see as much in yours, but still, it was a good drink.
Mena, I found your product has good mouthfeel.
Clouds nicely, has good botanical content.
Mykala, I found your spirit
to be really interesting, very floral,
had a really smooth taste, plenty of fruit.
Everything that was in there was pleasant.
It was what an absinthe should be.
But I don't think your math was exactly right
to really bring it way to the front.
Unfortunately,
mykala, your jar bought you a ticket home.
I'm awful sorry, hon.
You worked extremely hard, honey,
and it's been an honor to taste your spirit.
I know that I'm going home with two forever friends
at the very least. I've enjoyed this experience immensely.
I've learned so, so much from it.
Most important of all, like, I'm on the right track.
Ted: Well, you two definitely have a challenge moving forward.
The next step is the coloration step.
♪♪
welcome back, guys. The last leg of our journey,
it's not just about having a drink,
it's an experience
dylan, mena, honestly, there is no advice here
I can offer you two. Be interesting to see
how you change the color on it
and enhance the flavor.
It should come naturally from botanicals.
Originally probably incidental,
but became something that consumers demanded.
It's a little tricky, because you already have
a good product right now.
It's -- it's just clear.
You could hurt that taste profile
and make it a perfect color.
So, you know, good luck.
We're giving you all two hours. Okay.
And your time starts now.
Good luck, guys.
♪♪
it's like an apothecary shop in here.
Back in the old days, the unscrupulous producers,
they would color it green, but the thing is,
they would use substances like copper sulfate to make it green.
It's not a good business practice to kill your customer.
No. [ laughs ]
got them finely chopped in there?
Yeah, yeah.
I really do love doing a percolation with herbs,
but two hours is not a lot of time to do it.
Normally, I do it in 12.
I got some nice, green color coming in,
but it's pretty gentle right now.
Mark: Man, this is just --
this is damn chemistry at its best over here.
Digger: We thought we were really doing something
when we colored outside the lines a little bit.
-Yeah. -[ chuckles ]
not ideal, but I'll make it work.
During a makeshift percolation.
It's a quick way to extract herbs.
The chartreuse color is yarrow.
Emerald, I have a blend of lemon balm and yarrow,
and for the deeper olive green, I have roman wormwood.
Southern wormwood, lemon balm, and yarrow, as well.
We'll just see if this works out. I'm hopeful.
I've got a little lemon verbena, mint,
and just a sprinkling of dill.
I'm worried about doing it under heat.
Seeing if I can get -- I'm thinking I can get
a nice, subtle, green hint.
I heard the criticism from the judges about a lack of louche.
So I've taken some star anise
and some of my other blending components,
and I'm doing that at a pretty low simmer.
Got it at about 110 now
so I can get those oils concentrated,
string these out, and titrate that in.
Add it slowly without throwing the flavors off-balance.
I've got a cool special ingredient
to share with the judges
that I'm going to add at the very ending stage.
Alright, guys, you're at your halfway point. One hour.
♪♪
that particular small bottle of mena's --
she's got a little test tube experiment
to see where she's at.
Mena: My background as an herbalist gave me the advantage,
just really knowing the botanicals.
Mugwort, I know how quick it extracts.
I know, like, the flavor profile.
I drink a lot of it. I smoke mugwort.
It looked like she's where she needs to be,
if the flavor's there.
Tim: What is dylan doing to his?
Well, we're seeing some different hues and tints.
Ted: Dylan?
I have a secret weapon botanical,
which you may or may not have heard of --
the electric daisy button?
The electric daisy, it's the acmella species.
It's an annual herb, I think originally from south america.
Creates an anesthetizing, a numbing effect
in the -- in the mouth. A tickle.
Yeah, yeah, interesting. Like sichuan pepper.
Mm-hmm. So I'm using
a real light extraction of that, as well.
It'll add an interesting component.
Definitely an eclectic mix.
♪♪
there are quite a few wrinkles in here.
Complete honesty is this is going to be interesting.
There is a difference in bad absinthe and good absinthe.
I hope that what you bring to the table is way better
than what jeff and lance tried to create.
[ sputters ]
[ grunts ] whew!
[ retches, spits ]
[ sighs ]
narrator: It's a green fairy fight
as an herbalist turned liquor maker
and a legal distiller compete
to master the infamous spirit absinthe.
30 minutes. Mena: 30 minutes. Alright.
Yes, ma'am. Time is drawing nigh.
♪♪
mena: Used to shaking from bartending.
Feels more comfortable standing up.
♪♪
tim: Here comes dylan.
-Bring it up, dylan. -Judges?
It's been an honor. It's been a pleasure.
Thank you, judges. Alright. Good luck, dylan.
♪♪
8 minutes to spare.
Brought that up like it was a new baby.
It is a new baby. Exactly.
And my heart's overflowing with gratitude.
Thank you so much, each and every one of you.
-You're certainly welcome. -Good job.
-Very kind words. -Thank you.
Good luck. Good luck. Excellent. Thank you.
Look at the difference in those things.
Tim: There is a difference.
Behold,
the absinthe fountain.
Alright, here we go.
Do first neat and then we'll add a little ice water.
Ladies first.
Mena's has a deep, bright emerald color,
little bit cloudy,
even though I had the green color,
I think in the process
that I lost some of the aromatics and the mouthfeel.
-Okay. -Wow, it smells good.
-Good licorice. -Interesting.
♪♪
-whoa. -It's a mouth opener,
comes in a little hot.
You've got herbal flavors in there.
It's got a nice structure.
Tastes just like it should taste.
We'll add some water.
And it's got the layers.
The clouding effect.
And that's a good sign.
I've done extractions that were a year,
so two hours, I was losing my mind.
♪♪
adding ice water mellowed it right down.
-It did. -That's what I'm talking about.
Got refreshing anise and fennel and those --
that's crazy, the way that does that.
It actually spreads the flavors out
where they're a little more discernible.
Yeah, I think she did well.
I didn't have a big problem with it
before the ice water was added.
Yeah, it was right on the money. That's right.
But this I can see would be more pleasant in the long run.
Yes.
This is a standalone taste for me.
I mean, really, I've never had nothing like that
when I've heard absinthe my entire life...
We heard nothing good. I went back to the bad things.
Right, right.
Thank you for busting those myths.
If you need any corn liquor,
you call on us. We'll return the favor.
-So, dylan. -Please.
I don't think I made as good of a product
as I normally could have,
but I definitely am proud of what I was able to make with it.
I'm concerned that I couldn't quite get the louche
the judges were looking for.
-That smells nothing like -- -I don't see where he changed --
that's not what I would expect.
I don't see where he changed his nose any.
And it smells nothing like mena's.
I'm still getting this artifact, and it's where he made the cut
when he was doing that base spirit.
It's still there. His nose stayed the same.
Hmm.
I tried to split the difference
and do a cold extraction
and get some nice, delicate flavors in there
and some light color.
Hopefully it's green enough and white enough,
but I think it tastes really good.
Too hot. I don't know.
It's a little spicy.
-It's quite hot. -Yeah, it's spicy.
It's anesthetizing.
I'm not getting a concentration of anise and fennel
that I would expect.
No, the taste is nothing like the smell.
Now, you see? Not getting the clouding effect.
-Yep. -And that's a factor
of his concentration. In the coloration step,
he was -- he was adding some anise to it
in an attempt to get more of that in there.
Of course, the coloration's not the right place to do it.
I mean, it's fiery still right now. My goodness.
Did mention the electric daisy,
which does give an anesthetizing mouthfeel.
But my question is,
I'm not so sure I would want to use that.
With a strong spirit like absinthe,
because I think it might give you the impression
that the proof is higher than it is.
It was an interesting idea. The bottom line is it's flawed.
Yep. He gets props for creativity.
He colored outside the box from day 1.
I mean, that right there just confirms it.
You know, just looking at that, that confirms it right there.
You know, I agree.
♪♪
digger: Guys, welcome back.
There can only be one master distiller.
Dylan, I think that
looking at the wrinkles that you were throwing in,
really quite interesting. Tasting yours, dylan,
it seems to be the same taste profile
I was tasting in the beginning, really,
it's the best I could do with the tools I had to work with.
Best you could do? Yeah.
Mena, I think you did an outstanding job.
It's a great taste.
This something else. I mean, it -- it really shows
what we were supposed to experience. Clouded up,
and just like one of those eye- opening experiences, like wow.
And it's come to that time.
Mena,
you knocked it over the fence, girl.
You are our next master distiller.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
I'm proud. This whole competition
has really shined a light and uplifted absinthe.
Now, dylan, you're right in there, buddy.
You just fell a tiny bit short. So don't get down on yourself.
You all stand head and shoulders
above the rest in your field, I feel certain.
Thank you so much.
Dylan: Thank you, judges.
Narrator: Next time on "master distiller"...
Yo, ho, ho, we're making rum.
Narrator: ...Navy strength rum...
The best smell in the world.
Narrator: ...The 114-proof liquor
that fueled the british empire...
You can have all the flavor in the world you want to.
Narrator: ...And forces every distiller to prove their worth.
But if it don't meet that minimum 114 navy strength, out.