Narrator: This time on "master distiller"...
Yo-ho-ho. We're making rum.
Narrator: ...Navy-strength rum...
Tim: You can have all the flavor in the world you want to,
but if it don't meet that minimum 114 navy strength,
you're out.
Narrator: ...The 114-proof spirit
that fueled the british empire.
That's the best smell in the world right there
with a potency prized in the backwoods,
this legendary recipe can sink even a veteran shiner.
I don't know that a damn bunch of drunken pirates
are mean enough to drink 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.
Now they'll face off to earn their place
in america's liquor-making legacy.
-There! -Whoo-hoo! Finally!
Hyde: Damn. I've waited long enough.
Narrator: Judged by three legendary moonshiners...
A lot of something in there.
Narrator: ...And one notorious backwoods buccaneer...
Tickle: The more complicated you make it,
the more chances you have to mess something up.
...They'll go head-to-head in a series of challenges.
Digger: It's a little bit dingy.
It's piss-colored, if you want to know the truth about it.
Narrator: ...To determine who has what it takes
to be named master distiller.
How many jars you got?
-34. -Okay, 34 jars.
-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
captions paid for by discovery communications
♪♪
guys, welcome to "master distiller."
I'm digger. That's my friend tim smith.
And that's my best buddy over there, mark wayne ramsey.
-Howdy. -Welcome, guys.
Y'all gonna make us navy-strength rum.
The british navy -- you know, they give this to the sailors,
kept the guys feeling good,
and they always stressed that 114 was the minimum.
So if you're above that, then you're good.
Narrator: Rum, made from fermented molasses,
was first distilled in the 17th century
as a byproduct of the caribbean sugar trade.
As its popularity grew across colonial america,
the british navy replaced sailors' daily tot of beer
with cheap local rum.
Drunken debauchery ensued.
To salvage the navy's reputation, in 1740,
vice admiral edward vernon, nicknamed "old grog,"
forced the sailors' daily rum ration
to be watered down.
To avoid mutiny, the purser would show sailors
proof of the remaining alcohol content
by soaking the diluted rum in gunpowder
and lighting it on fire.
If it ignited, the rum was still over the minimum 114 proof
proof is now a term used to measure the alcohol content
in all distilled spirits,
and flavorful, aged, navy-strength rum
is a foundational recipe
made in distilleries and backwoods to this day.
We're gonna find out which one of y'all truly is
master distiller.
At the end of this contest, y'all gonna win a big prize.
Number one is you get your bragging rights.
Number two -- a limited run of your liquor
at sugarlands distilling company.
Mark: You have the same wash.
You have exactly the same type steel.
Time get started. You got four hours.
Your time starts now.
Narrator: Using a centuries-old navy-strength rum recipe,
the distillers must produce a clear, flavorful rum
with a minimum of 114 proof
using only the time-honored shake test,
the winner will get extra time to pick ingredients
for the next challenge, running flavor
into their distillate without sacrificing proof.
Yeah, the wash smells really good.
Molasses, sugar, and water. What else you got in here?
-Secret recipe. -I was waiting for that.
Everything's equal except for what's in between their ears.
Now, what's going on here?
I don't know what he's doing there.
He's putting it in and pulling it out.
Overfilled it.
-Overfilled it? -Overfilled it?
My name is alfredo pena.
I was born in cuba, raised in florida.
By day, you know, I run a shop with four mechanics.
And by weekend, I distill.
I discovered distilling in high school.
My first still was built --
I had it up in my parents' attic,
and I would distill it at night while everybody was sleeping.
To this day, you can still go up in the attic and smell mash.
I have five children.
Everyone who tastes loves the stuff I make.
With my cuban background,
I'm really wanting to perfect rum.
I would like to open a distillery.
Winning "master distiller" would be like
having my sixth child.
I'd probably pass out.
Hyde's charging his thumper a little bit.
Tim: I got damn underwear older than that young'n.
My name's ian buchanan. Most folks call me "hyde."
I live in dawsonville, georgia.
Back in high school, me and my brother shane
were kind of the infamous hellraiser party starters.
So he's jekyll. I'm hyde.
I'm a commercial electrician's apprentice
during the day and at night moonshiner.
My still setup at home is an all-copper setup
with a 10-gallon pot going to just your standard cap.
I built a half-gallon gin basket thumper out of a mason jar
that everything goes through,
rolling over to a three-gallon condenser
with 12 foot of copper pipe going through, shooting out.
It is redneck engineered together,
but makes some damn good liquor.
I'm pretty sure my rum's gonna rock it right out of the park.
Winning "master distiller" would be the ultimate validation
of -- I'm a 24-year-old,
but my stuff is good enough to be on store shelves.
Might not have anything to save.
Do you walk in it, too, jonah?
He's walking in it, like, tracking it all over the place.
Well, I'm a california boy,
so I'm usually sitting in flip flops.
I'm jonah keel, and I'm from arleta, california.
I work in marketing and pr,
so my job is to convince people that they should buy things
that they don't need, and I'm kind of good at it.
I've been distilling for probably about 12 years now.
My wife is a bartender and a bourbon influencer.
We took this love that we had of hanging out
and drinking good liquor and then built into a love
of learning about the process of liquor.
When I'm distilling at home, I'm pretty low-tech.
I have a converted beer keg.
But I am fancy because I have welded copper piping.
In terms of my rum making,
I'm a really big believer in re-running your rum oils
back through your spirit run to keep that flavor
and to keep that viscosity up.
At the end of the day,
I would love to be a master distiller.
I would love to have a limited run of my rum
so that I could point to it on the shelves and be like,
"ah, this is like -- yeah, I did that.
I made that."
tim: Jonah's figured it out.
The funnel will fit on there double.
Still gonna make a mess. It's not gonna matter.
That's okay. We're kind of used to it by now.
Alfredo: Fire in the hole!
Tim: Alfredo's done lift his up.
He's got the deal going up.
Hyde is hiding over there.
He's getting ready to light his up.
Hyde: Fire in the hole, boys.
Well, they're all running, boys.
Most everybody's trying the same tactic.
They're heating up fast.
They're gonna back it down like we'd do in the woods.
Alfredo's put some tape on his gauges where he can see
where he can see where he wants his hands to stay.
I learned a while back to leave the distill pot open,
bring it up the temperature, cook off the bad flavors.
I don't want that going into the thumper.
I draw some pot mash out of the still,
and I fill the thumper with the hot mash.
It's like preheating the thumper,
and it's like a little jump start to the run.
Narrator: Extracting the highest-proof rum from the wash
without impairing the flavor
is a balance of time and temperature.
Once the pot reaches 173 degrees,
the alcohol vapors separate from the remaining liquid,
increasing the temperature
to distill the drinkable ethanol faster
and scorch the sugars in the wash.
The burnt flavor is then infused into the alcohol vapor
as it travels to the thump keg,
where an additional distillation takes place
before reaching the condenser,
where it's cooled into liquid rum.
Guys, y'all got one hour into your run.
Still got three hours remaining.
Oh, come on. I need to hear you going.
I'm nervous as all hell about this still.
I've never used this big of a pot.
I've never used this big of a thumper.
This is a whole new ballgame for me.
Crap.
Jonah: So it's a still I've never worked with.
I've never worked with a thumper.
You're constantly checking temperature,
just making sure you're not burning anything.
This being a timed competition, there definitely is
that ticking clock in the back of your mind.
Oh, look at that! I got juice!
-You got juice? -Hey-hey!
Yo-ho-ho. We're making rum.
Ooh, the alcohol's coming. I can smell it.
That's the best smell in the world out there.
Come on, heat up. I want liquor. Move.
Got it too hot.
Now I'm trying to dial the heat back.
Lost heat in the thumper trying to get heat in the thumper back.
Just to get into the arm
so I can finally start getting something,
'cause I don't like how much time I have left.
Gentlemen, you've got one hour left.
♪♪
narrator: Coming up, a splintered decision...
Tim: Like a beaver got ahold of it.
Narrator: ...And a dry run.
Mark: He didn't turn the heat on?
Digger: He had it on, but it was like a matchstick.
Narrator: A cuban cowboy,
a hollywood hooch maker, and a young shiner
are pushing their proof on a run of navy-strength rum
for the title of master distiller.
Come on. Heat up. I want liquor.
Narrator: Using the same house molasses wash,
they must deliver the best-tasting jar
at a minimum of 114 proof without scorching.
Got a good temperature got good --
got movement.
Mark: He didn't turn the heat on?
Digger: He had it on, but it was like a matchstick.
Crank that thing up until that gets hot.
I mean, it's a rookie mistake on a still
that's got a little bit of size to it.
-There! -Whoo-hoo! Finally!
Hyde: Damn. I've waited long enough.
♪♪
jonah: Oh, is that a little piece of oak you got in there?
Alfredo: I cut it off of the block right here with a knife.
That's so smart, dude.
Jonah: The second that I saw alfredo
take a piece of that block off,
use that to make sure that the drip goes off,
I'm always thinking about what I can get
and how it can get flavors out of wood.
So, for me, this was a chance to try something,
see if I could get some of those wood flavors out.
Jonah: I'm intrigued. I just want to know,
based on how I've done this before,
so I'm gonna put wood in them.
Okay.
Digger: Why did he shave off the damn pine in these?
Tim: He must have drank too much.
I'm telling you, that ain't pine. It's oak.
Like a beaver got ahold of it.
Why would he cut wood off a scrap piece of wood
sitting in the floor and put it in his...?
Jonah: Stellar idea, alfredo.
Alfredo: I didn't do the wood for it to come out aged.
-No, I know. -Just as a dripper,
but you're gonna get a little bit of flavor off of it.
And I was like, why not get a little bit more flavor?
I'll try anything once,
twice as long as it doesn't kill me.
15 minutes, gentlemen.
Yeah, this is the true test of these skills,
that proofing, getting it tempered down.
I mean, this is 114 minimum proof
we're looking at here with some semblance of taste, right?
I just hope they don't bring me nothing that's 165,
'cause after we drink about six shots,
we forget what jar we have.
Hyde: I'm trying this bubble test,
but I've been spoiled by hydrometers.
I've been trying my best to learn bubbles,
but I'm nervous as all hell.
Perfect.
Alfredo: There's a lot of liquor in here.
Jonah: So I've been practicing in my head for 119.
So I mixed in a jar that I knew was lower proof
to try to bring it down just a little bit.
All right, here we go. First jar.
Digger: Alfredo right out of the gate.
He's the first to land. -Yes, sir.
Good clear jar of liquor.
We hope you hit your mark, buddy.
Yep.
Boys, you got five minutes.
Button them up, get them ready.
We want to taste them. -All right.
-That's your jar. -One jar.
Digger: One jar. That's all we need.
Two minutes, jonah.
-Here comes jar number three. -Last but not least.
Head on out.
-Alfredo, alfredo. -That's got a good nose.
Alfredo: I picked the heart.
I added a little bit of spring water to it
'cause it was a little hot.
-Little hot? -Cool down a little bit
and presented it.
That's the first taste of rum I've had today.
And it's good rum.
You drink about six of these right here,
and you couldn't walk straight.
Pour us another one, timmy.
Well, already I see a lot of something in there.
Jonah: Got a little bit of wood notes in there.
Not as much caramel as you'd like,
but definitely a little bit of a hint
of a little sentimental little vanilla.
It's level front to back.
And it's got sawdust sitting in there doing a war dance
on the bottom of the jar.
That's hyde's right there.
Hyde was hours in the run
before we ever saw a drop of liquor.
I'm nervous about the judges telling me my rum's crap.
[ laughs ]
smells okay.
I believe he's a little high.
Yeah, he's a little harsh there on the end.
I don't think it's real fiery, though.
I think hyde's on the money.
I think it's good.
Well, boys, I'm gonna go get them fellers out the cabin
and bring them in here.
Welcome back, boys.
The winner does get first choice
the ingredients that he would like at the farm stands
for the next round.
-Alfredo. -Yes, sir.
Good, smooth drink of liquor.
Good fiery bite on it. Thank you.
We asked you guys to bring us navy-strength rum.
How about I get you a hydrometer?
Narrator: A hydrometer measures the density of a liquid
compared to water.
Since alcohol is less dense than water,
the hydrometer's weighted tube will sink lower
the higher the proof.
We're gonna go alfredo here,
see how deep she floats.
Alfredo is on the money at 115.
Digger: I kind of felt like he was about right.
-Excellent job. -Thank you.
-Hyde. -Yes, sir.
-Good-tasting liquor. -Thank you.
Falls a little short on the back end.
Oh, his ain't got no bubble in there.
It's a-coming out of there like...
Tim: Yeah, his is rolling pretty good.
Here we go.
♪♪
hyde is a little light. 108.
Yeah, you proof was 108. You were a little bit low.
Damn.
Now, then, that brings us to jonah.
Did a good job on distilling.
It looks like you got a lot of product over there.
-It's a little bit dingy. -Yeah.
It's piss-colored, if you want to know the truth about it.
What in the hell were you whittling up that block wood for
putting in your liquor?
Just trying to get a little bit of a wood flavor.
Red oak is not what you want.
Yeah.
The only true wood that you want is white oak.
I thought I would try it.
Number two -- you don't have enough time from the time
you whittled that off into your jar and bring it to us
for it to make a damn bit of difference in your liquor.
Jonah, here we go.
About 85.
I'm surprised,
100 proof. -Really?
If you're shooting for selling liquor,
you hit the mark. But not navy-strength rum.
-Not navy rum. -Fair enough.
All that being said,
here's the way we found the fly, and I think you know.
Just like you're standing -- one, two, three.
What we're after is a flavorful, marketable
navy-strength spiced rum.
We're gonna get you a tour guide.
I will apologize in advance.
-Oh, hellfire. -[ laughs ]
-get him in here. -Tickle!
Here y'all come on.
Get them to sheila b's fruit stand.
All right. Y'all come on.
Narrator: Spiced rum took navy-strength to a whole new latitude.
Before 1784, there was no royal navy standard
for rum quality across the fleet,
so getting good barrels was a game of rum roulette.
Sailors made harsh rum rations taste better
with scurvy-fighting limes.
But enterprising distillers in the caribbean
found a better way by incorporating local fruits
and spices into their high-proof runs.
To test their flavoring skills,
distillers must create their own navy-strength spiced rum.
All right, fellers.
Alfredo, I believe you're up first.
You got five minutes.
Go ahead and get your stuff.
Alfredo: Going into the flavor run first,
picking my spices and fruits,
I'm gonna stick to what I know.
Tim: There is some sugar cane in there.
It's not just for decoration.
-Tickle, I'm ready. -All right, alfredo.
Mr. Hyde, you have three minutes.
Hyde: Going into the flavor run,
I know alfredo knows his stuff.
Touch of nutmeg.
Jonah made a mistake with the wood,
but I really feel like
he might know more than he's letting on.
Tickle: Oh, yes. And some sugar cane.
Hyde: So I think it's my turn to raise a little bit of cane,
show what I know that no one else knows I know.
Tickle: All right. We're gonna give jonah try.
Jonah: Gonna take the advice that I got,
don't mess around too much...
He's really going to town with these spices.
...Push the flavors out, and make sure I hit proof.
Oh, bananas. There we go.
Ah, coconut. I think he -- pineapple.
He's just gonna make him a fruit salad.
That's what it is. You're good?
All right, fellers, I can't wait to taste this stuff.
Welcome back, men.
The biggest thing to keep in mind today
at the end of this run --
one of you guys is going home,
men, what we're after is flavorful, marketable
navy-strength spiced rum.
Four hours, starting now.
Narrator: For this elimination challenge,
distillers will run flavor into the remaining rum wash
in the distillate they collected the first round,
taking care to keep the resulting spiced rum
at or above the regulation of 114 proof.
They got a lot of ingredients here to play with,
and what's gonna happen -- if one clashes
with another one, it cancels out,
they don't have nothing but bad luck.
Jonah's a-pouring his distillant in his still.
He's gonna pour that one in that's got all the wood in it.
-There we go. -Fire the hole!
-There you go. -And he's lit.
-Right here. -There you go.
You can have all the flavor in the world you want to,
but if it they don't meet that minimum 114 navy strength,
you're out.
Narrator: Coming up, distillers spice things up...
Ooh, that's cinnamon and a lot of it.
Whoa.
Narrator: ...To deliver a jar sweet on flavor.
That's not a good sign.
Narrator: A cuban-born shiner,
a new-age liquor maker, and a moonshine prodigy
are fighting to flavor their rum and keep it at a navy-strength
114 proof.
Mark: Now, what's that hyde's putting in his thumper?
Has he cut that cane up, or is that something else?
Tim: Yeah, it's that sugar cane.
Hyde: In the thumper, I'm just putting fruit
because yesterday that thumper and the heat regulation
between the two almost got me.
So I'm gonna do what I usually do at home,
and instead of putting mash in my thumper,
I'm just gonna have flavor come through it.
Alfredo's stirring up something.
I don't believe your damn stir stick's big enough, is it?
-Alfredo. -Tim, how are you?
Tim: All right, good.
Cooking up some sugar over here.
Okay.
Caramelize it for the color.
Got a variety of spices that I'm gonna play with.
Well, it sounds good. Looks like you got it planned.
Can't wait to taste it.
Mark: I know one thing I'm convinced
100% of one thing about jonah --
he is damn sure gonna have spiced something.
That cubeb berries, jonah?
-No, cloves. -Cloves.
So I split my spices up.
I tried to put spices in the pot that I've worked with before.
I like the way he measures it out.
Just put the whole jar in it.
The trick to doing a really good rum run is making sure
that you push through and get those spice oils.
Ooh, that's cinnamon and a lot of it.
-That's a lot of it. -Whoa.
Was that all cinnamon there, jonah?
Jonah: Yeah.
You putting more cinnamon in it?
Just practicing, trying to double up
what I've done before.
-Oh. -Right in the still.
Well, hyde's taking advantage of that coconut juice.
Yeah, he got it the right away.
Course, there's not a lot in a coconut.
I'm gonna shoot for a tropical, spicy kind of flavor.
Oh, hell, he's got a block of wood.
Don't be shaving that coconut hull up.
Jonah -- he put everything he had in the still,
except with the hard fruits and stuff.
So, you know, he's chopping up some coconut and pineapple...
-In the thumper. -...In the thumper.
Alfredo -- a different curry today.
He's not making things not too complicated.
It looks like he's gonna season and spice
right at the end of his run.
Alfredo: I hung my spice bag in the thumper on the gin hook.
I want to get the heads and the top of the hearts
through first, and then right in the middle of the hearts,
that's where I wanted to bring the spice over.
Men, you got two hours.
Halfway into your run.
Hyde: Oh. Oh. Hoo!
Come on. Drip a little faster, now.
Let's see here.
So on the second jar, I've tossed a funnel into the jar.
I took some of the shavings from the inside of the coconut
that I had split open
and made a bag out of the cheesecloth
so the distillate would run through the coconut
into the jar,
kind of imparting a little bit of a coconut note
into everything as it's coming out.
Tim: Now, hyde --
he's more concentrating on flavor profile
without going under 114.
Jonah -- his facial expressions
every time he takes a little drink --
if he ain't liking it, we sure ain't gonna like it.
Jonah: Love the aroma.
The spices are working perfectly,
but the aftertaste is not ideal.
It's a little [sighs] --
a little like a bad gin.
So put my heads back in and I'm rerunning it
and seeing if I can get some magic out of it.
We'll see.
It's not a good sign.
Gentlemen, you've got one hour left.
Mark: Now, there's his caramelized sugar.
♪♪
alfredo's gonna shake that jar,
get that caramelized sugar to dissolve.
Yeah, it's melting down.
Yep, that'll get you some exercise.
Hyde: I need that flavor to blow everybody away,
but I got to make sure that I don't add too much coconut water
or else I am screwed on proof.
Good color.
Yep, we're all melted.
Jonah: I think I need to stop psyching myself out.
The number-one goal is to make sure
that I hit that 114 or above.
I'm ready, guys.
-Alfredo's got something. -Yes, sir.
Number one.
♪♪
think hyde's bringing us a jar.
-Good deal. -Good luck to you, hyde.
30 seconds, jonah.
Your time's a-drawing in on you.
You beat the clock, beat the clock.
15 seconds left.
-Good luck, jonah. -Good luck, my friend.
Tim: Alfredo here.
It smells spicy, but it's not overpowering.
I had a plan. Executed the plan.
You know, front to back, it's rum,
and it's spiced rum.
He put that little bitty dab of that caramelized sugar.
And -- when it was through.
Yeah, that's where the "caramy," buttery taste comes in.
All right, let's go to mr. Hyde.
Now, if there's muscadine flavor in there,
I'm a huge fan of the muscadine.
Beginning, I felt great, and then I started spicing it.
Tastes good. It's really smooth
for high-proof liquor.
It's got a little hot taste, right at first.
It's got a real spicy taste to me, but I like it.
Jonah. Here we go.
You guys saw me try to rerun the heads.
I think jar 16 is delicious.
-Oh, no. -What in the world?
-Oh, [bleep] -it's nothing but cinnamon.
Tim, come over here. I'm gonna lick your armpit
and get this taste out of my mouth.
All right. We good?
If y'all are good, I'm gonna go get them.
Digger: Boys, all the formalities is over.
It comes time for somebody to go home.
Alfredo, it's spiced rum through and through.
Its backbone goes the full length
through your palate.
Jonah, I think you can have shut your still down
an hour or so earlier.
You were running way too fast,
and that makes fierce, fiery spirits.
I don't know that a damn bunch of drunken pirates
are mean enough to drink it.
-All right. -Hyde.
When you look at the jar, it really looks like lemonade,
but it doesn't taste like lemonade.
It actually has a real good taste to it.
Actually, it's real good.
I like it, myself. I really do.
But, unfortunately, it's all about being navy-strength run
at 114 minimum.
A standard hydrometer will not measure alcohol
or proof after you've added flavor into it.
I got you a fancy proofer over here.
Narrator: A digital hydrometer can calculate alcohol content
in almost any liquid.
-Jonah. -114 on the nose.
About as good as it gets right there.
The proof is spot-on.
Taste is spot-off.
Flavor's off.
We're gonna go alfredo here.
-116. Outstanding. -Good job.
-This is hyde's, right? -This is old buddy hyde.
102.69. -Wow.
Hyde, you're going home, buddy. Awful sorry.
Damn.
We're expecting to hear and see good things
out of you, young man.
It's good to know I can hold my own at 24.
Oh, you'll see me again, I promise.
Had his proof been where it was supposed to be,
that would have been you leaving, jonah.
Yes, sir.
Narrator: Coming up, the final round
throws the remaining two distillers off course.
Digger: We added a little twist.
Narrator: And a backwoods buccaneer crashes the party.
The more complicated you make it,
the more chances you have to mess something up.
Narrator: It's the final leg of their "master distillers" voyage
as two remaining shiners prepare to mash in
their original navy-strength rum recipes
using ingredients they brought from home.
We're down to two.
That means y'all got to bring your a-game.
Paint your picture. Bring us your best jar.
Build the finest mash we've ever seen for rum.
You got one hour to do this.
Narrator: Not only must distillers present 114-proof rum
with their own signature flavor,
like navy sailors on the high seas,
they must be prepared for anything they encounter
in the final round.
-Fire in the hole! -Copy that, alfredo.
I am very excited to run my own mash.
I have molasses, sugar syrup, some plain sugar,
and I brought water from home.
I brought my own water from fort lauderdale,
from my well from the biscayne aquifer.
It's the closest water you can get to the caribbean,
where they make the best rum.
Clean tool is a happy tool.
I'm very excited to run my own mash.
This is the flavor that I'm used to.
Pretty simple recipe -- unsulphured molasses,
and I use demerara sugar.
In terms of my recipe, it's my my take on
an old moonshine rum recipe.
So I feel like I'm at least knocking on the door
where I should be for this next challenge.
♪♪
digger: Y'all are done, men.
Transfer your mash to your barrels.
When your temperature's right, pitch your yeast, walk off.
We'll see you in five days.
Narrator: Once the yeast is added,
the mash is allowed to ferment for five days
as the yeast consume the sugars and starches in the mix,
releasing alcohol as a byproduct.
If conditions are right,
the higher quantity of fermentable sugars in rum
allow the alcohol content to top out around 20%.
The fermented mash, called wash, can then be distilled
into navy-strength rum.
Five days later, the shiners return
to find out if their wash can yield navy proof.
All right, men. Welcome back.
Boys, do you see a strange face in here?
It's the closest thing we could find to a pirate.
[ laughter ]
your final run, your signature mash.
This is where we find out which one of you two is truly
the master distiller.
But we added a little twist.
Tim: See on the barrel that we have some oak chips
and also some salt-cured cubes in the smaller ones there.
And this is gonna give this open-air, ocean taste profile.
It's a new trend.
Narrator: The final twist is based on
a colonial-era technique of aging spirits at sea.
Transporting clear caribbean rum across the ocean
in oak barrels mellowed and darkened the spirit.
To get a similar effect in just days,
backwards distillers use oak chips or cubes
to rapidly age their liquor, even adding salt-cured oak
to replicate the flavors of the ocean air.
Distillers will incorporate this technique
into their signature flavors during the final run
to present a navy-strength spiced rum
at a minimum of 114 proof.
Alfredo, since you was at number one from the last challenge,
you get to pick first.
You can take one all or two or three or whatever.
And jonah.
I'll take everything that's left, brother.
-There you go. -Can't argue the logic.
Digger: You got four hours to accomplish your task.
We want two jars on the table.
Your time starts now.
This is a really incredible challenge for them.
They're fighting so many things --
time, good blend,
their taste profile where you want it.
Then they have to imagine
what it's gonna taste like after it's over.
Imagining what that jar's gonna taste like tomorrow --
that would be the toughest one on me.
Got a haircut at the same time.
-Fire in the hole! -Alfredo is no joke.
So when it comes to competition, it is intense.
Alfredo's unrolling some copper.
Digger: No, he's rolling it up.
Right there's gonna bump his proof a lot.
Tim: It'll catch your water and drip back down into your pot,
and the alcohol will go through, and yeah,
he can really raise his proof up there.
Men, you're two hours into your run.
♪♪
for our jamaican friends, some curry.
Tell you what -- win or lose,
I'm looking forward to tasting your rum, sir.
Well, going into this, I'm gonna go in the same way
as the other two -- stick to the basics.
Heat up the same way, clean the pot the same way.
I'm heating up some caramel color on the side.
I'm hoping that the water's gonna give me the oak flavor.
The spices and the way I tone the liquor
will give it the color.
Bay leaves, coriander. A little bit of cumin
two mint leaves, lime extract.
Running a little slower than I might,
making my cuts at every half pint.
Salt cure, medium.
That aging with chips or cubes --
it can be real tricky.
We screwed up a lot of liquor when we first started
aging with chips a long time ago.
Alfredo: Caramel, color up the liquor.
I don't know how the wood's gonna react,
so I know this will make it the right color I want.
One hour to go, gentlemen.
Tim: Jonah -- did he make that many jars,
or did he mix that many jars?
I don't know, pal.
Then some of them jars just has this much in them.
How many jars you got?
34 and 7 little ones.
Okay, 34 jars.
Narrator: Coming up...
That medium french oak picks up color fast.
Narrator: ...The final proof.
Rolls off the tongue pretty good.
Tickle: It does.
Though it don't smell the same as it did, does it, tickle?
I like rum when it's made good.
A lot of fruit. Pretty girls.
Hula dresses.
Get up there and show us how you can do that hula dance.
Hey, I'm gonna be honest with you now.
You know, dancing just runs in the swayze family.
Hell yeah. He can do it now.
I just lay back and I'm envious of his dancing skills.
How many drinks does it take?
He don't need no drinking.
Now, I'm gonna be honest.
He can. He can dance a jig,
but he can't dip worth a damn.
Moving along.
[ laughs ]
narrator: It's a navy-strength rum runners showdown
as a seasoned shiner faces off
against a california cocktail king.
Jonah -- did he make that many jars,
or did he mix that many jars?
Narrator: Winning the title of master distiller will come down
to balancing rich flavor with smooth oak aging
and hitting 114 proof or higher.
Jonah: One of the things that I really pride myself on
is blending.
And, you know, the more options you give yourself,
the more chances you have to blend.
That medium french oak picks up color fast.
Digger: You've got alfredo over here,
and he's just laid back.
He's got a plan. He's got --
he's not veering off his course.
He's staying in his lane.
35 minutes, gentlemen.
Alfredo: It's got some heat to it,
but there's so many other flavors
that are masking the heat.
Alfredo wants to bring his jar.
That is the rapidest aging I believe I've ever seen.
Yeah, he didn't leave no wood in it.
There's one piece of wood.
Twenty minutes, jonah.
Notice the little jars on top of his still
where I think he's experimenting a little bit?
Jonah: I kept my spice in the thumper simple --
what I know is gonna work, what I've worked with before --
and then wanted to create all those little things
that would give me additional flavor.
Blends everything together.
He's not gonna have time to make any changes,
and he has no idea what it's gonna taste like
once it's all blended together.
Tickle: The more complicated you make it,
the more chances you have to mess something up.
Five, four, three, two.
Long as it's in.
We'll be back here in the morning.
We'll gather up and look at her again.
♪♪
the last day, this is the deal --
this is for the belt.
Refine your product, filter it out,
make it the prettiest jar of spiced rum
we've ever seen in our lives.
Your time starts now.
Alfredo: Last night, I kept thinking about the jar,
trying to remember what it --
what that last sip tasted from the jar,
but I had still confidence that it was there.
Alfredo -- he just went for a pretty simple procedure,
stuck some felt over the mouth of his jar
and poured it through.
We'll see what jonah's got going on over here.
I don't know. He done broke out about 10 jars on it.
Jonah: My number-one goal was to use that half hour
to get as clear a jar of liquor
on the table in front of those judges as I could.
You can pour some of your flavor out through the filter.
Digger: When you ring your filter and cloth out,
all you're doing is putting the linen there
and what you already filtered out.
Don't squeeze it. Don't do it.
Don't -- ah.
Jonah coming in.
Good luck, jonah.
-Thank you. -Good luck.
Tim: Alfredo.
Rolls off the tongue pretty good.
-Yeah, it does. -It goes away real fast.
Yeah, it's got a little bit of a sweet note at the end.
I like it, though. It's good.
But it's got that spiced-rum smell.
Alfredo used that salted oak cube.
It's got a great flavor to it.
-Let's taste that other. -Pour us another.
Let's see what we got going on with jonah's jar there.
I can't believe, though, honestly
how jonah cleared that jar up.
-He did a good job of it. -He did an excellent job.
Though it don't smell the same as it did, does it, tickle?
No, he pulled it out with all that filtering.
Honestly, real and truly, it isn't a bad rum.
Well, ain't nothing to do now but come and
bring them on in here and let them know what we got to say.
Digger: Men, welcome back.
Tickle, crack a noggin on one of them.
I've got the parameters set on this rascal.
Tickle: Let's see what we got going on here.
Jonah, your jar is 115.
-All right. -Check alfredo.
Alfredo is on the money at 115.
Fellas,
both of these jars are 114 and above.
So we judged you solely on smell, taste --
everything you would judge a good rum on.
Alfredo, the clarity, the color. The taste profile is perfect,
depending more on your salt-cured oak cube
to give you some of the flavor --
outstanding job.
You know, really great color.
Clarity's good.
All in all, great product.
Jonah, clarity -- incredible.
Incredible that you did what you did right in front of us.
It's just a little bit bland.
You filtered so much, and every time you rang it out,
I was just sitting there saying, "no, no, no, don't ring it out."
you never ring out your filtering medium
'cause there's things in there you don't want.
The taste off your hands, the salts will pick up.
But you cleared it up.
All that being said...
...Alfredo, you're the next master distiller.
Thank you.
I think my heart skipped a beat.
-Congratulations. -I really feel good.
The judges actually validated my hard efforts.
Congratulations to both of you, you especially, alfredo.
You're the new master distiller.
Narrator: Next on "master distiller,"
it's a backwoods battle...
Thumper's firing.
Can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
-Exactly right. -You got a campfire going on.
I love a good fire.
Narrator: ...As three of america's favorite moonshiners
compete for a jar of popcorn sutton's famous shine.
There will never be no more popcorn sutton liquor.
I want it.