[narrator] this time on master distiller...
Battle of the backwoods...
-I'm perspiring. -Can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Three of america's favorite moonshiners,
josh owens...
-I got knives. -I'm worried about that.
...Mark rogers...
When I get in the kitchen, I make a lot of racket.
And up-and-comer, daniel maner...
I've perfected that shake test.
...Compete to determine who makes appalaches'
most authentic backwood shine.
That's about 180 proof.
-[mark] are you cheating? -[daniel] no.
[narrator] across the country, a handful of amateur distillers
are heirs to a centuries-old tradition.
With skills and recipes passed down from their forefathers,
they carry on a legacy of practicing their craft
beyond the reach of the law.
Quit drinking that liquor.
It's like a 'tater chip, can't eat just one.
Now, three of the best will face off to settle a regional score...
-Oh, [bleep]. -[laughs]
...Judged by a jury of their peers...
[shudders]
-it's got it, ain't it? -That's a damn fine drink of liquor.
...To earn the ultimate backwoods bragging rights.
[digger] welcome, boys.
Y'all said you want a little action
now here you are. You goin' get it.
You're gonna run a little corn mash we built.
We're going to see who's got the best skills to change that flavor profile
with that copper still. Timmy, got any words for me?
You got three stills here. They're all built the same.
All of you got the same mash build.
So how do you fill your still? How do you fill your doubler?
How you run your heat? How you make your cuts?
One good jar sitting on the table.
That's what's going to make the difference in y'all three.
The winner of this round gets to go to the farm shed first,
second, third, however you finish
and pick out your ingredients for your apple pie flavor run.
I know that you are each very capable to make an outstanding liquor.
Thank you.
You gonna win your braggin' rights. That's pretty much it
except for I brought a little something from home.
Whoever becomes the master distiller of this group wins this.
A jar of popcorn sutton liquor.
-I just wanna taste it. -Hell, yeah.
And if I was you I'd cherish it.
'cause there ain't no more.
Powerful [bleep]. Watch this.
[narrator] popcorn sutton was the most notorious moonshiner of modern times.
[popcorn sutton] nobody can take me like I am,
they can just kiss my [bleep] damn ass.
I am popcorn [bleep] sutton.
[narrator] not only did he distill the best white corn whiskey
in all of appalachia...
This right here will be second to none.
[narrator] he shared the secrets of his craft
with an entire generation of backwood shiners...
-Learn from the best. -I ain't a braggin' or nothing but you damn sure did.
[narrator] ...While his legacy lives on through his moonshining proteges,
jars of his infamously smooth shine are on the brink of extinction.
Might fight over it.
[digger] all right, fellers, you've got four hours
starting now.
Good luck, y'all.
[narrator] for the first time in these shiners' careers,
they'll run a mystery mash
on stills they haven't built
to produce their best jar of clear corn shine
at a minimum of 100 proof.
Does it have solids in it, digger?
[digger] I think it's mostly strained out,
but it don't hurt to double strain.
Whew! Doggone! Smell that alcohol in there.
She's in there.
My name's josh owens, I'm from columbus, north carolina.
I'm 100 miles an hour on full throttle with everything I do.
-[bleep] damn near tore my ass up! -[bees buzzing]
just a bee sting, but that baby has swole up.
I got a badass bite.
I'm a very competitive person,
but I lose a lot more than I win.
Here's my broken nose.
But one of my happy places is when I'm making moonshine.
So I got totally fascinated with it. And then I met barney.
He's a local moonshine legend.
Bonnie was like my mentor, man, he taught me everything I knew.
Once I got to making moonshine,
I fell in love, it got in my veins.
And once moonshine gets in your veins, you'll never get it out.
Take you two hours to strain that.
It's taking a little while for sure.
You go on and strain that.
I can run it without forcing it though.
I know you can't.
He said I poured solids and all in there. To hell with that.
That's what he said.
He's catching mostly solids in the bucket though, he's doing it right.
When I get in the kitchen I make a lot of racket is all I can tell ya.
My name's mark rogers and I'm from robbinsville, north carolina.
Well, I always considered myself being a mountain man.
I've lived in the mountains all my life.
Survived... Know about hunting, fishing, making moonshine.
My favorite liquor is corn whiskey
what I growed up on,
but, you know, I like peach brandy, apple brandy.
All of it's good.
I'm getting at a pretty good age now,
and I'm gonna do it as long as I'm able to get darn doing it.
I ain't never gonna quit.
Whew! I'm sweating, perspiring.
[mark] this is a hell of a lot different
than running shine in the backwoods.
-Can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. -That's exactly right.
My name is daniel maner and I'm from sevierville, tennessee
I learned how to make shine when I was 14-15 year old.
I actually run into an old man running a still when I was hunting.
Hey, knew who I was, luckily.
Or I'd have probably got a shotgun barrell.
He befriended me and he trusted me enough to teach me.
The first time we lit a fire under that still,
I was hooked.
You know, it'd feel real good
to have bragging rights to beat two seasoned professionals.
And me being, in their eyes, the greenhorn.
That's high quality h2o.
-[josh] you put water in yours? -Just a little.
About a gallon.
[tim] now that's a good strategy
because this mash has a lot of solids in it.
So he's adding some water to it to thin it up a little bit.
That's the idea. Put a little bit of water in it.
Now you're cooking with smoke
or gas, in this case.
I lived in the mountains all my life, you know, I hardly use propane.
I held some, but I use wood way, the way I run.
Sometimes you just gotta finesse it a little bit, marky.
Watch this.
There, you got gas now.
-It ain't gonna work. -I need a flak vest on in a minue.
-Try now. -I hear it.
Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off. I'll blow us up.
[digger] nah, you won't. Give me some [bleep]. I ain't scare of it.
Now we're cooking.
What did you do?
Aggravated my hernia.
Josh's got his thumping over here
and he ain't got the cap on it yet.
Better not quit stirring or she'll be stuck and your put'll be ruined
and your run will be ruined.
[digger] well, I'm gonna tell you that heats you up faster.
-Daniel better get him some fire going. -Yep.
Gotta adjust your air, daniel.
Yeah, now you're looking good.
[narrator] running on much smaller stills
than when working in the backwoods
means shiners must take extra care to control the heat
as the mash approaches 173 degrees.
Too much direct heat could scorch the remaining solids,
imparting a burnt taste
as the alcohol vapor is stripped from the remaining liquid.
This soft flavor follows the vapor as it travels to the thump keg
for a second distillation before reaching the condenser,
where it's cooled into liquid shine.
Oh, [bleep] I'm running liquor on the floor.
[mark] how'd you do that? Are you cheating?
-No. -[josh] how'd he do that?
Mine was hotter before his.
Josh is actually a wildcard. He's gung-ho.
He wants to do it right now and if he don't watch real close,
he'll make some mistakes because he's doing stuff too fast.
Let's see if it's scorched or not.
It's hotter than hades.
-I just spit it out. -Make sure it's good and clear.
That's about 180 proof.
Ain't nobody here tough enough to swallow that [bleep].
Whoo!
Can I have my tongue back?
I'm running now.
If I run, it's getting flow. There really ain't no way to mess up.
Just do the best I can and see what it turns out like.
[josh] ah, there it is. Hot dang!
We're all whiskey makers.
And we're all doing our own thing our own way.
But I'm up against some stiff competition.
-That your top end? -I done put it over here.
Oh, okay.
Don't get in that too much.
You'll be over, laying against that wall.
You never drink liquor while at work.
-Josh? -Hey.
[digger] back at throttle. Your drink's run over.
No, don't do it, don't do it!
Don't go in the liquor.
Buy him books, send him to school,
what'd he do? Eat the damn covers off the books.
I was busy drinking the damn liquor.
That's why he said don't drink it.
Just remember, boys, we're just looking for the best jar.
Not a whole bunch of it.
Ten minutes, fellers.
Where do you think you're at?
Between 110 and 120-something.
I like my drink of like at about 90-95.
-Really? -What about you, daniel?
Looks pretty clear from here.
I got one jar. Won't be needing more anyway.
That's all we need, mark.
-Come, mr. Daniel. -[digger] big d.
And I don't mean down there.
Best I can make with what I had to work with.
Okay.
You head up on that cabin. We'll get a decision,
maybe we'll come get you.
-[tim] here comes mark. -[digger] bring that jar in here, marky.
-Got you a jar of liquor, you're gonna like the heat. -Outstanding.
[mark] that's what we're looking for, brother.
-Corn liquor. -How does it smell, though, good?
Clear jar of liquor. I ain't proofed it.
Something like this, what I got to work with,
there's only one way I can do it.
-All right, thank you, then. -All right, buddy.
This, this straight liquor.
Look like you've been sampling some of that.
We've been hitting it pretty hard.
I didn't want to overthink this, but I do want to win.
And I do want that popcorn sutton jar moonshine really bad.
Get on up that cabin with the rest of them boys.
-Okay. -Good luck, brother.
[narrator] coming up... One shiner gets burned...
Ain't no use even tasting that.
...Cooking their way to the final round.
Tastes a little bit like a charcoal briquette.
He scorched the piss out of that one.
-All right, guys. -Time to get drinkin' a little liquor.
[narrator] a veteran shiner, a legacy liquor maker
and a young moonshining master
have placed their best jars of corn liquor
in front of a jury of their peers
bringing them one step closer to the ultimate prize,
one of the last remaining jars of popcorn sutton's famous white whiskey.
-Start with josh? -Yup.
[digger] josh just might have the clearest jar ever.
-[mark] I think he does. -[tim] I think so, too, yeah.
But that could be good and bad.
That could be high proof.
[digger] his proofs are pretty high.
He might have been running. It may be a little too fast.
It ain't light on the proof.
[digger] josh went to drinking early.
This alcohol will cloud good judgment.
I done hit my jar so many times
by the time it was time to turn a jar in,
I couldn't tell what it tasted like no more.
-Smells good. -Oh, yeah, good smell.
Not really that high. Might be 105-110.
-Definitely smooth. -That's a damn fine drink of liquor.
That's 'cause he was slowed it down to a drip,
and I watched it, would drip, then it'd run, then it'd drip and it'd run.
That's the right kind of stream
out of a little still like that.
-Daniel maner. -Daniel's not as clear as josh.
-It is not. -All right, mr. Daniel.
It's got a different smell to it.
It ain't got a whole lot of smell.
They've got corn in there, but...
It's kind of falling flat on proof a little bit.
He may have added a little bit of water to it.
He's flattened it out a little bit.
They're both a good drink.
It's a good drink. It's just a little cloudy.
All right, let's try mr. Rogers'.
-Ah! -Ah!
[tim] hm, nice proof.
He's got the best beat of the three.
Yeah, it's a nice beat.
95-100. Right on.
There is scorch in that.
You can get it right off the hit.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah, you see 'em tasting that.
Can't get it past the nose, it ain't going on the lips.
That stuff right there hurts you.
-Oh. -[tim] don't even go there.
Tastes a little bit like a charcoal briquette.
He's scorched piss out of them.
He poured all of them solids in there.
He didn't strain 'em. But most of the time,
mark rogers cooks only with wood.
He never could figure out how to burn around.
He never did back down.
I expected him to back it down after I got it burned.
They got a flavor, this liquor now.
Mark is going to have
a very difficult time fixing that.
We're going to have apple pie, apple pie, burnt apple pie.
[digger] welcome back, boys.
I'm going to hand my job off to tim smith
because I said you're all my friends
and I love you, but he said,
"I'll cut anybody's head off."
[laughs]
josh, uh, your liquor
was the cleanest on the table.
Clear.
And I think you hit it on the money, 115 proof.
And I think that's going to carry
a long ways on the next run
because you need that high proof to work with.
Now, daniel, you've got a problem.
Yours is about 85 or 90 proof right now at the gate.
So you may be winding up with
some of that store-bought stuff,
about 60 by the end of the day,
by the time you quit your maceration.
But you can use some of your other product.
Yeah, I've got six more jars.
You still got a dog in the fight.
Now, mark, uh, you burnt yours.
You don't want to take the time to strain it out.
I think you had some of the solids in the bottom there,
-so... -That's a problem.
-Yeah. -I tried the change.
It's different from running in the mountains,
you know, running propane.
It ain't just exactly right for me.
But for the jar-old popcorn flakers,
I'm gonna try to beat 'em.
That may cause you a little bit of problem down the road
'cause you're gonna have to cover that up
with the apple, cinnamon, or whatever you can get.
Josh, you're the number one man standing in front.
Danny, you're number two.
Mark, you're number three.
So you're still in the game.
Ain't nobody going home on this one,
or any of these, for this matter.
All you're getting around here is a trip to the fruit stand
first and foremost to make you have your apple pie.
Well, you forgot the jar.
I ain't tell you. Shh, adults are talking right now.
-I'm actually... -[digger] shh, shh.
Shh. When I get done talking,
-you talk. -My lips are sealed.
The big prize, that popcorn sutton jar liquor.
That's what you're fighting for.
Boys, you've got to go to the fruit stand.
You can't walk because it's too far.
So I had to get somebody to take you.
Uh-oh.
Tickle!
You might want to walk.
Y'all call me?
-Yeah. -Guess what?
What's that?
We got three young gentleman here
that need to go to the fruit stand.
-Yeah. -The farmers' market.
Is he driving?
-He's driving. -Oh, hell.
[tickle] yeah, yeah.
All right, fellas, look, y'all come on with me
and we'll get you what you need.
-Thank you, gentlemen. -See you in the next round.
Now, that's a damn trio of misfit children.
[tim] I bet they don't make the date today.
Oh, no.
[tickle] I'll tell you what, fellas.
When that raccoon come jumping up out of that mash barrel,
I just knew it was naked just right dead on that.
You know, I bet that was funny as hell.
Well, you know, it wasn't the best thing.
We got all kinds of ingredients in here.
Take whatever you want.
You're each going to have three minutes.
[josh] right on.
All right, josh,
you've got three minutes.
It's three real minutes, josh, I'd run.
We'll see what all we've got.
Brown sugar, granulated sugar.
You've got to have apple cider to make apple pie.
[tickle] you've got two minutes, josh.
When you're messing with cinnamons,
there's a fine line between just enough
and too much.
[tickle] yes, sir, apples.
Key ingredient.
Very good, very good.
One minute.
-Are you done? -Yeah.
You have five seconds left to spare.
Daniel, you have got three minutes.
[tickle] that's a peach.
You're gonna eat that, ain't you?
I'm going to eat that.
Eh, a big old boy like that,
he got to have a snack, right?
[daniel] I've got apple juice,
-cinnamon sticks. -Two minutes.
[daniel] I can handle it.
I've made a lot of apple pie, but I'm in between
two real strong competitors right here.
And, you know, I'm not intimidated
by either one of them.
I don't know what that is.
One minute.
[daniel] I'm getting me some apples.
[tickle] you're not gonna go with coconut?
[daniel] no.
I'm done.
You made it with 30 seconds left.
Great job, brother.
Mark, you're going to have three minutes.
[mark] there's a lot of stuff in there.
There's apple cider, apple juice,
cinnamon sticks.
Trying to make us an apple pie
as good as I can, but I might mess up,
you never know.
One minute left.
All right. Well, mark going for green apples.
Oh, yes.
Some of that sour apple candy.
Taking whole jars.
-And are you done, mark? -I think I am.
Forty-five seconds left to spare.
Let's take your stuff on back in,
and I can't wait to see what you all make.
All right, men, welcome back.
Time to make us some east tennessee apple pie liquor.
That's gonna be tough on you guys
from the north carolina area.
Daniel might have a little bit of an upside on you here,
so you might all be careful, he's a sneaky snake.
The winner of this round will get an extra 30 minutes
to run their mash
and make us the best possible liquor they can.
Make us some good apple pie.
That's all we're asking.
One jar, tempered out, cool, crisp.
One hour starts now.
-Gentlemen, good luck. -Good luck.
Organized chaos right here on out.
[narrator] coming up, one bad apple spoils the jar.
Oh, [bleep]!
It's supposed to taste of apples, it's apple pie.
Five minutes in, no burns or bloodshed yet.
[narrator] three experienced shiners
are making their plain corn shine stand out
with their own take on the classic moonshine flavor,
apple pie.
The winner of this challenge
gets extra time in the final round,
bringing them that much closer
to winning one of the last jars of popcorn sutton's
famous corn whiskey.
-Hey, josh. -[josh] hey, buddy.
No bloodshed.
-I got knives. -I know,
I'm worried about that.
I don't want to find no finger in my liquor.
That might change its flavor,
and everybody might like it more
with a little blood in it.
Oh, yeah, you've got some fire now.
And I'm telling them boys... That's it!
Any time I ever do this,
I always have more than an hour.
Right now, I'm up against these guys.
You know, daniel already had a recipe.
He knew what he was gonna do.
I didn't really have a recipe wrote down.
I just knew how to throw it in here, and I'm just doing it.
What you got there, mark, peppermint?
That's apple cider candy.
Apple cider candy?
Yep. It might happen, it might not, I don't know.
Daniel keeps pulling stuff from jar after jar.
I can see him mixing stuff in the jar.
I used light brown sugar, dark brown sugar,
just a little bit of black sugar,
and cinnamon, and just a little bit of nutmeg.
[digger] you know, josh, he had the top jar.
He just got to make sure he don't make up
a big bucket of swill over there,
and just complement it a little bit.
Every time I ever make apple pie,
I put all this stuff in there,
and when I'm done, it's overpowering,
so I'm just kind of going at it light and easy,
and then I have to work my way to where I need to be.
That's probably a smart move.
I've made a lot of apple pie, but I'm in between
two real strong competitors right here.
But I'm gonna give it, uh, I'm gonna give it my all
and see how good I can do 'em.
Twenty minutes, boys.
And you got a flame over there like a campfire.
[josh] yeah, buddy.
You can't sat around and wait on a slow burn on this.
If we just gotta hire, we gonna do it.
I love a good thaw.
I don't care what I've been doing,
I love to get the part.
[josh] when you're messing with cinnamon,
you've gotta be careful
because there's a fine line between just enough
and too much.
Oh, [bleep]!
What am I going to do?
I just dumped about a half a pound
of damn cinnamon in this thing.
How can I get that out of there?
Oh!
I hope them boys like that stuff
'cause it sure is strong.
Josh already got his jar in the ice.
[mark] okay, here we go.
All right, mark's getting ready
to pull it in there. Look at that.
Here we go. Uh-oh.
I've got a strange feeling.
Mark, can we hold that for you?
[mark] well, I'd appreciate it.
[daniel] then I'mma coming.
[laughter]
just don't pour it on his hand.
Hell, yeah.
I'll tell ya, it smells good.
Fifteen minutes, gentlemen.
-[mark] dang. -You better go
and cool that stuff down, mark.
[mark] I know, I'm thinking on it.
I've got it on ice over here, boys.
[digger] let it get good and cold, then bring it to us.
Boys, you've got five minutes.
Keep it in there, under here.
[indistinct]
to flavor it, putting the right amount
of alcohol in this first.
Three minutes, brother.
-Keep it here. -That's the best I can do
-with what I had. -All right.
I hope it's cool enough.
-I hope it is enough. -It is what it is.
I got all the faith in the world in you, brother.
[josh] thank y'all.
Bring it in here, marky.
Guess I can do it right.
-Okay. -[mark] that's far enough.
-We'll come and get you. -All righty.
All right, tim smith, pour us up some.
-[tim] mr. Mark. -Kind of looks like gatorade.
Well, ain't no score clicker smell in here this time.
Well, he cleaned it up good.
He's hiding behind that cinnamon stick.
And all that candy he put in it.
That candy was really good, though.
Only thing that I'm worried about
is my score.
I was trying to get the taste right.
I still taste just a dab of the scorch,
but not much. He's done excellently.
I think it's a little bit light on the alcohol.
I think he was scared
'cause he scorched it.
-He put more in it. -Yeah.
That scorch is gonna be a friend.
I'm gonna give him really good marks for overcoming it.
Yeah, he dressed that up like he was going to church.
Let's move on to josh.
I don't get a lot of cinnamon.
I smell moonshine.
A little bit of cinnamon.
[tim] I'm tasting apple in here.
Getting good, strong apple in it.
-Strong apple. -There's a bushel in there.
That's what I'm saying, I'm tasting a lot of apple.
Yeah, it's got some liquor in it.
-It's got some horsepower. -Pretty tasty.
All right, let's go to daniel.
Well, that smells really good, too.
Now, daniel's has got a lot of damn liquor in it.
[digger] yeah, and a lot more nutmeg.
Yeah, I smell it, too.
I don't smell nothing but moonshine here.
The lowest proof.
-Whoa. -Oh, that's good.
You know, you won the last time,
what they said, by 140 proof?
Well, I put a quart and a half and one egg in less,
so it ought to kick your ass.
Yeah, you can taste the alcohol in that one.
I think daniel re-blended his jars.
Oh, that's the way it is.
That's what it is. He had some mellow shine.
He did.
Boy, that'll work you over right quick.
I really like that.
Oh, I'd judge you if you gotta put these in order.
[digger] welcome back, boys.
Y'all all did a damn fine job.
I'm going to tell you that right off the bat.
Marky, your liquor was fantastic.
You overcome that scorch really good.
There's just barely a little hint of it in there.
So you did a good job. That green apple candy
that you was talking about,
that really worked good in this.
The down side of it, a little light on the alcohol.
Daniel, really good drink.
You had plenty of liquor.
We looked at it and thought,
"well, it's gonna have a lot of cinnamon."
it didn't.
That might be the downside.
That might need more cinnamon,
but had plenty octane in it.
That horsepower's there.
Josh, I'm telling you, you was worried about that cinnamon,
you don't need to worry about it.
It's there, it's got plenty of cinnamon, front to back
to complement that apple and that brown sugar.
Good, solid drink.
Thank you, both.
Josh, put too many apples in it.
It's supposed to taste of apples, it's apple pie.
[tim] you could have put more alcohol in it.
There's about 140 proof I poured in there.
You should have put a little bit more.
And I believe the apples sucked it out.
I don't think so. They had a lot of time
to suck the damn juice out. I just made it.
-Come on now. -Let me tell you what.
Ain't none of you going home.
We're just going to name one winner here.
Boys, the winner of this round will get an extra 30 minutes
to run their mash and make the best possible liquor
-they can. -With that being said,
the decision here is...
...Daniel, you're going to get the time.
You other two guys, great job.
And I advise you, just drink the hell out of them all
'cause they're good.
All right, boys, time to run your own mash.
Well, boys, here you are. You've got one hour
to build the best mash we've seen y'all ever make,
starting now.
This is a little bit of history being made here.
They're three of the best [bleep] against each other.
It's gonna be interesting.
Well, boys, here you are.
[narrator] three veteran shiners
are mashing in their signature shine recipes
using ingredients they brought from home,
bringing them one step closer
to winning a jar of popcorn sutton's
famous liquor.
Mark, what are you making?
Liquor.
What kind? I mean, what are you making?
[mark] corn.
This straight corn?
-Yeah. -How about you?
-You makin' apple brandy? -Apple brandy.
I ain't never making a complicated mash.
I'm just using water from the creek.
You bring your own water?
I brought mine from creek. I know it's--
hurry up, boys.
Really, I have no strategy.
I just figured it be easier just to go the traditional corn.
Just keep it clean and simple
and just make the best whiskey that I can with what I got.
Hey, you got another stick?
Josh will show his true colors 'cause he don't help anybody.
I figured you needed all the help you can get.
You're damn right.
[daniel] I'm making apple brandy. I like brandy better than anything.
I'm not really worried about what the next man's doing.
I'm just worried about being in the zone and doing what I do,
match my click.
I think you got it, boy.
Mark's got a lot of meal...
Yeah, he's got probably 50 pounds.
I've got a strategy... This new thing's the way I wanna do it.
You know, see how it turns out.
We coming up the steam. Won't be too long.
Got 15 minutes, boys.
I'm gonna dissolve my corn sugar in the the bucket.
-[digger] what you got there, josh? Just a sugar. -[josh] corn sugar.
-[digger] corn sugar? -[josh] yep.
Corn sugar, white corn, and, uh, corn malt.
-Yeah. -And bourbon whiskey yeast.
[digger] that's a slick move on josh's part.
Corn sugar will ferment completely away.
Cane sugar leaves a little bit behind.
[daniel] I'd rather have it myself,
but I wanted to put some brown and that'd change the flavor.
Yep. Make it more rum-y.
So we've got three different sugars in.
Yeah, we've got corn sugar, we've got brown sugar,
and we got granulated white corn liquor, you know.
It's corn sugar. It's really the easiest liquor.
You got five minutes.
Better get to where you need to be.
They got tired...
I got mine mixed up. Malt, black corn, bourbon whiskey yeast.
-[grunts] -a little bit more.
[digger] uh, four, three, two, one!
Let go of your paddles, boys. Y'all are done.
Boys, we're going to wait. Let it cool down.
[narrator] after a five-day ferment to work off their mash,
the shiners returned to set up their final signature run.
[digger] welcome back, boys.
This is the last of it.
Your run, your signature mash.
Corn liquor, apple liquor, whatever you made.
Bring us a jar.
We want the best on this table in less than four hours.
Daniel, you got an extra 30 minutes.
Other than the bragging rights,
what you stand to win is that right up there.
Jar on the popcorn sutton.
That was years and years ago.
Share it, drink it, just don't drop it.
That'd be alcohol abuse.
[laughter]
four hours, guys.
One jar each.
Your time starts now.
Mark's got a good-looking mash.
It's settled down good.
Everybody straining.
Looks like mark is double-straining his.
Gonna be no scorch in there today.
-[digger] josh has got his still run. -Yeah.
What are you doing, josh? You got that still lit up.
What's going on? Close your eyes again? [laughs]
-we're in a competition, ain't we? -Yes, sir.
How many gallons are you gonna put your still?
I'd say I'm somewhat right in here right now.
-[digger] okay. -I'm going to leave headspace.
Yeah, more you put in, the longer it takes to heat up.
[daniel] you dang right.
Daniel, you're getting ready to light up?
Ah, look. There's fire in the hole.
You're right now at two hours, boys.
Marky, damn, you're cadillac-ing in that thumper there, buddy.
-Over here. -The thing's going... [mimicking]
[laughs]
it's a dripping bowl.
You cut the power button, and you just drip her out.
Yeah, I'm okay to back a little more. I'll get them heads out of the way.
Mark rogers, he likes to run and just a drip, drip, drip.
I'm turning mine up. I'm sick of waiting.
-Hey, the turtle won the race, didn't he? -I hope he does today.
Slow down, stay in your lane.
I got liquor running.
I got it coming up.
[josh] can get impatient making moonshine.
I mean, that's just the bottom line.
-...We packed the baby josh. -Oh, yeah. There she is.
-[digger] it looks clear. -It does. That's good and clear.
[digger] you smell the corn.
There's going to be a stiff competition.
-[daniel] I'd give a dollar for it. -Hey, be nice.
I've perfected that shake test.
I trust myself pretty good.
It's got five... [speaks indistinctly]
-so it's... -That's 150.
That's 150.
[josh] pour me little shot out of here.
-This right here? -Yeah.
-You surely don't want drink it. -Yeah.
Well...
Ah, it's good.
[daniel] what do you think?
[exhales sharply] whoo! [bleep]
-nobody drink this. -That put you down...
-Damn! -Cut that [bleep].
What do you think?
Here.
Looks like 158.
Is that the first one? Yeah, it's what you want.
Mine's has a lot of alcohol per volume in your mash.
[digger] that's still pretty stout there, daniel.
Got plenty of oomph in there...
Yeah, boy, you're still running good liquor.
45 minutes.
Daniel, where you at, buddy?
Jar five. I'm working on right there, and it's still hot.
He's in good, sweet liquor there.
You're headed that way.
Quit drinking that liquor.
Josh's supposed taste it and then spit it out.
[indistinct]
I didn't learn my lesson about that.
-Obviously not. -Just like a tater tip.
You just can't eat this one.
Marquis, you're checking around along.
You running slower than anybody I've seen so far, I believe.
You got half shot into your second jar.
-You're getting there. -[exhales]
everybody seems to be where they want to be,
...Run a lot of liquor, ain't he?
Yep. He runnin' a little faster than I would.
-How many jar have you got? -Eight.
Eight? Oh, damn.
-It's still hot. -It's still hot.
This is still hot proof.
I might not be able to produce one good jar for the judges to judge.
I hate that stuff, but I got to have it back.
-[indistinct] -yeah.
I hate it, but it gets in the way of every five we got to have.
Well, I'm trying my best to play it, mark.
I ain't going to quit making a lot.
-You never quit making a lot. -No.
...Fine by it for me a lot.
Drinking, cussing, biker.
...Fine by it a lot.
And if he's fine, good for me. They don't forever work.
-[all laughing] -never work out.
20 minutes, gentlemen.
[narrator] three backwoods shiners are working the straight and narrow
with the first legal run of their signatures shine.
The one with the best tasting jar will win the ultimate bragging rights.
And one of the last drinks from popcorn sutton's moonshine empire.
We all need one good jar.
Have you got you want, you're going to get him?
I just don't know which direction to go here.
-You're just making them twirl? -Yeah.
I just have to get good liquor out there.
[indistinct]
we're going to get three really good jars.
I don't have a tip to see who is laying before us.
Well, they ain't got no more time left.
They ain't no time for no blending.
Two minutes.
You just got the sweet jar.
[indistinct]
I figured I might as well.
Go and park at your rocking chair and lay back,
we'll come and get you in a little bit when we get to this decision.
-Good luck, brother. -Thank you.
-Marky. -I got bored.
Got to get it out and running.
All right buddy, get their, find your rocking chair
I bet I would.
Daniel, you got an extra 30 minutes.
I was thinking to myself, I've got that time.
So I said, "hey, there. I'm gonna keep running."
I stand down jar.
-You've got a production run over there. -I try.
-You'd run a damn four barrel. -After jar number ten,
-I've gotta run what I've got. -15 minutes.
I've got ten jars.
All they want is one jar,
but I've got to pick out the perfect jar for the judges to judge.
Bot them up. Get them ready.
I'm going to say we're done.
Big day.
-Well, it's a pretty jar. -Hmm. Yeah, pretty.
Daniel, just head on that porch.
We'll be getting you in a little bit, brother.
All right. Let's start with mr. Josh.
-Chilled, of course. -Yeah, looks good.
I'm gonna drink it a little later.
All right.
-Not the best smell. -No. It ain't corn liquor.
That's like sweet corn.
It ain't got no fire in it at all.
And it's damn good proof.
Might be a little under a hundred.
That's an excellent jar for anybody.
All right. You want to move on to mark?
You're the...
This is a pretty clear jar.
That's a little higher proof than josh's, ain't it?
Mark likes his liquor a little higher.
Could be dangerous.
Retro roared.
It's all for now someone to know.
They don't put that much distinct corn in this.
[indistinct]
here we go.
Whoo!
Is that enough to land in a corner, must be.
I think mark brought that I'd be back from...
-Deep. -I don't know where he brought it from,
that's a good drinking liquor and I ain't kidding.
That's damn fine liquor out there, boy.
Well we're through the corn liquor section,
we'll move on into the apple.
-Here we go. -Yeah, here we go.
Now, this is brandy now.
That's a good 120 any.
-Easy. -If it's good and smooth, I'm on this corner.
She going to be dangerous.
I don't think it's done like those two.
-[shudders] -yeah bo, it's got it any.
Dan knows it. It's a base a lot on the nose,
it's damn fierce in the mouth.
You cannot drink much of that.
No, it's harder than the the three peg to billy go.
He run it off hard,
too afraid there's no coming through of that.
Mark rogers's out of excellent jar later.
It's clean.
[sniffs] it smells good.
Got a good nose on it.
It was a little trickery going on with josh
'cause his jar's ice cold.
No doubts.
There's a one, two, three on the table.
They're definitely there.
Boys, welcome back.
Thank you for giving us a damn hard job.
Josh, good, clear jar liquor.
He cooled it off really good force, and...
You proved, you danced around that jar when I was worried about you.
Can't get them confused.
Well, you've got confused...
Correctly. I've tried to find something negative to throw in there,
but, uh, only thing I can figure out, you did bring us to josh.
Josh, good job.
I can't really tell you how much that means to me to hear you say that.
I just hope you've got more of it over there.
Outstanding.
Daniel, you made fine apple brandy.
Unfortunately, I think it's over there.
-Yeah, you think you do. -I do.
I think you was afraid of that low proof you made last time.
You brought us a little high proof,
and, uh, when it gets in your mouth
it's your boom, it's all over the place.
But, in spite of that, that high proof is damn fine liquor.
-Oh, yeah. -Proof it down a little bit.
Set it all day long.
-Oh, yeah. -Marky, corn liquor.
I watched you run it . It's slow and it is good.
But I don't think you got any hard stuff just yet.
That means you already ran out.
I had little over.
It's damn fine corn liquor.
Just a little bit hot.
You bought us what? Number three? If you got into the fifth and sixth jar,
probably have been another story.
This is really hard for us to do.
It's all good.
All right, swing that axe, digger.
[digger] and boys, when it comes down to it,
we don't declare any of our bunch being the master distiller.
We're master moonshiner.
Somebody's going to take this home.
I need the you, josh. You knocked her out of the park, son.
Don't get that jar mixed up.
[josh] winning that jar of popcorn sutton liquor
put me over the top today. I'm flying high right now.
It's yours. You do what you want to with it.
We're going to split three ways.
[mark] wait a damn minute.
Oh, okay, let's do that.
Get your shot glasses out.
I'm proud of josh for winnin' but I'm ready for a rematch
at any point in time.
All he's gotta do is give me a call.
[josh] popcorn's liquor.
There won't never be no more of this.
Old josh.
He's learned a lot over the years,
and I'm just tickled that he won.
Hell, yeah.
[mark] good job.
Drink up.
[bleep] dawg, that was good.
[narrator] next on, master distiller...
That's probably one of the most complex liquors
we've ever tasted.
-Gin... -It's making me sweat.
From medieval plague cure to bootlegger favorite.
-Never anybody who wants to take a thump keg apart. -In the middle of the brew.
It's complex flavors challenge
even the most diligent distiller.
Wow, I've been missing out.