[narrator] this time on master distiller...
That is slap on 180 proof.
...It's as close as it gets to pure alcohol.
-Damn. -Dangerous to drink straight
and highly explosive.
That drop fell on this wood and it's smoking.
Ultra-high proof shine was perfected by prohibition bootleggers...
Money dropping in and money flowing out.
...To minimize shipments and maximize profits.
The highest proof I ever made was 176.
And making liquor this hot taste good...
I can sell that. Can you sell that, mark?
...Is a backwoods shiner's biggest secret.
I'll sell every bit of it, if he will make some more.
-Let's get lit. -[all chuckling]
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.
-Thump, thump, thump, thump. -I got a little thumping going on myself.
Little thump keg waltz.
Judged by three legendary moonshiners...
Mark, you're gonna taste it first, right?
[mark] hell, I ain't scared of it.
...And a mountain man with a rep for making high-octane shine.
Slow her down. All you need is a cork.
They'll go head to head in a series of challenges...
[tim] one is running over over there.
[mark] don't let it spill over into your jar, big steve.
You'll be diluting it.
...To determine who has what it takes
to be named master distiller.
Phew, that's hot.
[digger] guys, welcome to master distiller.
I'm digger manes.
Tim smith, and my buddy mark wayne ramsey.
High-proof liquor.
All over the interweb everybody wants to brag on,
"I don't drink liquor unless it's 160 proof."
they don't know any better. They might have a little bit but it's not pledged.
[narrator] in the us, proof was defined as two times the alcohol by volume.
While most commercial spirits clock in around 80 to 100,
anything over 120 is considered ultra-high proof
and must be tempered before drinking.
Despite current fads setting the internet ablaze,
ultra-high proof liquor wasn't meant to be sold that way.
In 1919, prohibition put moonshiners on the map
as the country turned to illicit liquor
to fill the new underground demand.
Transporting product to big cities was risky
so to carry more liquor in smaller hiding spaces,
backwoods shiners concentrated alcohol content
by removing excess water through additional distillation.
After reaching its destination,
the ultra-high proof shine would be tempered down
to a drinkable, marketable strength.
But flavor dies off as alcohol content rises.
So pushing proof while maintaining taste
is a lucrative skill that requires every trick in a shiner's playbook.
We're searching for the sasquatch of the liquor world.
The best-tasting high proof liquor that's ever been.
We're gonna show that it can be made.
What you got at stake here
is your bragging rights, first and foremost,
it's your master distiller, but beyond that you get a limited run
of your high proof liquor at sugar lands distilling company.
Guys, you're gonna start with the same mash build.
It's a house mash, it's called silver cloud,
y'all three got the same steel.
The way it's gonna work is the highest proofed gallons that you bring to the table.
So it's not about the volume that you got in your bucket,
but it's the volume of proof gallons.
Y'all got your instructions?
Bring us a bucket of liquor.
You got three hours to strip this mash
starting now.
[narrator] each shiner has 25 gallons of the house sour mash
to distill into a raw base spirit.
The one with the highest volume of alcohol
will get the first pick of still parts
for the elimination taste test.
This right here would be a very interesting contest
'cause depending on how you run your still,
could make the difference in your alcohol level.
So it's gonna come down to skill.
Easy there.
They keep laying into it hot and fast.
This ain't gonna be no taste test. We're looking for volume.
We got a boo-boo.
-I've got a major problem. -Uh-oh.
My strainer just went straight down in the still.
Old steve's a former cop. Guess he decided
he'd rather go on the illegal side.
My name's steve watson. I'm from south eastern ohio.
This is where I call home. My nickname is big steve.
Here's my distillery cat.
They call me that 'cause I'm 6',7", 300 pounds.
Right in the center of his head.
-The face? -Yup.
I was a former police officer many years ago.
Being on this side of the law is a little different.
I used to chase guys that made moonshine.
And now I'm one of them. Excellent.
I've also been known as a shooting sensei, I'm a firearms instructor
part time, and also a former martial artist.
I've been distilling now about ten years.
I snapped my leg in martial arts
and was laid up for about six months,
and needed to learn how to do something to keep my mind occupied.
To be a moonshiner, you really gotta be part chef, part engineer, part chemist.
As far as high proof goes, you still want a product
that when you drink it, it has flavor.
I mean, nobody wants to produce some paint thinner.
Winning master distiller, to me, would be everything.
And be self-taught, and achieve this kind of level in such a short time
it'd definitely by a dream come true.
-There you go. -Pull it up.
Can we light this any time?
Sure, you can light it any time you want to.
Stands to reason, quicker you get fire under it quicker it's gonna get hot.
My name is elizabeth spencer and I'm from southwest iowa.
I raise fiber sheep. Out! Out!
The first time I built what I thought was a still
I was probably about 12 years old.
This is my thumper.
It wasn't about alcohol, it was about
the chemistry of doing it well.
That's why I'm 56 and still in the game.
These are my pots.
I did find my grandma's whisky recipe by accident.
Who builds a restaurant chain, a trucking industry
and a grocery store chain during the depression?
She built a multi-million dollar industry
off of moonshine. That's the only thing it could've been.
So, being able to put my label on the shelf
would be a neat tribute to
be able to maybe someday label my grandmother's whisky.
[digger] you all right, liz?
I need one more hand but yeah.
Turn both of them right there wide open
and deal with that needle valve.
-There you go. -Yay.
Now you cooking with gas, literally.
Well, you was.
Took hair off my hand.
Darrell's retired navy.
He wants to go by uncle dum dum.
I can't call him that 'cause I don't see that in him.
He knows what he's doing on a still.
My name is darrell flack and I'm from callahan, florida.
Time to get this thing fired up.
My friends back home call me by my nickname uncle dum dum.
You do dumb stuff, you get called dumb names.
Got the 15 gallon keg.
I got tired of paying high dollars for the whisky.
With the four macer jar thumper.
Decided to research and buy my own still,
and it's all downhill from there.
This one's about 120 proof.
My signature recipe is gonna be high proof and really good, smooth.
That's some pretty good stuff.
My ultimate goal is to open a distillery in northern florida.
If I was to win master distiller it's gonna be the world to me.
The nickname of my still is trouble.
Because the wives know once we go out there and light her up,
somebody's getting in trouble. [chuckles]
steve, he's got his going now, I'm telling you.
Yeah, boy.
I probably wouldn't put anything in my thumper.
You want that vapor to come out and molest it.
[narrator] extracting the most alcohol from the same mash and equipment
depends on the techniques used during distillation.
As heat strips the alcohol vapor from the mash,
it brings water vapor along with it.
As the mixed vapors come into contact with the cooler surface of the cap
some water, which has a higher boiling point than alcohol
condenses and falls back into the pot.
The concentrated alcohol vapor then travels to the thump keg.
An empty thump keg provides additional surface area
for any remaining water vapor to cool
so that only the purest alcohol vapors
reach the worm to condense into ultra-high proof shine.
Keeping temperature consistent is key
to achieving the highest volume of alcohol.
Well, I think I'm up and running here, darrell. How about you?
It's up, it's running.
I don't know what's gonna come out the other end.
Man, I can hear yours.
Yours is just... [buzzing]
starting out, I had jitters, there's no doubt about it.
-You just pull straight up? -Yes.
Vapor locked the still because the thermostat was plugged up in it.
[objects clattering]
damn, all the clanging and banging,
it sounds like two skeletons dragging on a tin roof.
Steve, don't you break that steel now.
I'm gonna get mine up for a bit, I'm gonna back her down.
I got a draft to deal with.
I've used similar stills. I'm comfortable with what we're using.
I think it's a great setup.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
-You get some thumping? -Yes, sir.
-Got a little thumping going on myself. -There you go.
Little thump keg waltz.
This is money dropping in and money flowing out.
It's pennies in the pan.
This is like another world to me.
They always say the waiting is the hardest part.
Once I got the still rolling
you don't know what you're gonna get.
As far as this run,
what comes out come out. You know what I mean?
Yeah, but I mean, when I do it at home
I get all the time in the world.
This is a little different. We have time limits,
we got people waiting on us so you can't fart around too long.
You got one hour left.
You're a good old still. I like you.
You should come home with me. We can have a lot of fun together.
There you go.
Once we got running, if was just trying to get comfortable
with the surroundings, the still,
you know, just having fun with it.
It tastes good.
Mine should start here. I just don't have mine turned up like you guys.
At home, I run low and slow.
That's what I did here.
I was used to running for flavor
and we're running for proof.
[digger] is your thumper moving yet? Can you hear it doing anything?
-Oh. -Find a leak?
-[narrator] coming up... -Go ahead, mark, do your work.
In a high proof weigh-in every drop counts.
The numbers don't lie.
-Oh. -Find a leak?
[narrator] a sunshine state shiner,
a cop turned outlaw liquor maker,
and a sheep herding home distiller
are competing to distill the most alcohol by volume...
[liz] there we go.
...From 25 gallons of house mash.
Okay, now it gurgled.
It's like everybody knows how to make a hot dog
but when you go into somebody else's kitchen,
you don't know where anything is to make the hot dog.
As long as I got a microwave, I'm fine.
I don't even own a microwave.
I asked her, what kind of still do you run?
And she said an easy bake oven still.
What even is an easy bake oven still?
I think it's something you put on a stove.
I don't have that much.
I have almost nothing.
I may or may not get a couple quarts out of it.
I've never used something that big before.
At home, I run low and slow.
That's what I did here.
I had a nice high proof but I didn't have the volume.
[mark] I want you to look at that bucket,
it looks like a shot glass with him carrying it.
[tim] yeah, he's a man.
-Good job, steve. -Here comes darrell.
There he comes.
-There you go. -Uncle dum dum.
-Good luck. -Last not but least, liz.
-Good job. -Smells like liquor to me.
[tim] I'm hoping they weren't making buttermilk.
We'll get some scales.
-Get some scales. -Get that fancy hydrometer.
So we can get to proof testing.
I may have less volume
but by the time the math's done,
and they get that final number,
it's hard to tell who's gonna win this.
Darrell's proof is 119.97.
Let's see what the weight is.
13.2 pounds.
Go ahead, mark, do your work.
[narrator] to calculate proof gallons,
the weight of each bucket is multiplied by the percent of alcohol by volume.
This number is then multiplied by two and divided by 100.
I got it figured out.
The numbers don't lie. Go fetch them.
[narrator] the higher the proof gallon,
the more alcohol distillers have to work with for the second run.
Big steve.
Your volume weight was 16.8 pounds of distill.
Your proof was 117.86.
Now you convert all of that and your proof gallons will be 2.60.
Darrell, your weight was 13.2 pounds.
Your proof was 119.97.
So that converted to proof gallons
gives you 2.08 proof gallons.
All right, liz.
Your weight of your liquid volume was 9.6 pounds.
You had the highest proof of the three of you at 122.13.
However, when you break that down to 100 proof
it calculates into 1.55 proof gallons.
So, big steve, you're gonna pick still parts first.
Darrell, you're gonna pick still parts second.
Liz, you're gonna pick still parts third.
Had the highest proof gallons, 2.6.
Going into the next round, I think that gives me a little bit of an advantage.
Time to go pick your still parts out.
[mark] holler for your boy there, timmy.
Tickle!
He won't come for us if we call him.
How y'all doing?
We was doing all right till you got here.
-[all laughing] -y'all come on.
[narrator] commercial distillers use column stills
made up of multiple plates to increase alcohol purity.
While most backwoods shiners rely on a thump keg
or doubler attached to a standard pot still.
Thump kegs allow a second distillation
to take place in a single run
and can be easily set up and taken apart,
helping them stay one step ahead of the law.
Using parts from the still house,
the stillers must build a still that can
increase the alcohol content of their base spirit
without stripping the flavor.
Still parts for your high proof alcohol.
Steve, you are gonna have five minutes. Get to it.
I'm pretty excited about having first pick.
The setup that I used during the first round
was very similar to what I run at home.
It's just bigger and much better quality.
But that's what I know.
[tickle] one minute left.
And to me, you go with what you know.
Cap, cap, cap.
15 seconds, steve. Wind it up.
Okay, darrell. You got five minutes. Head to it, brother.
I think I'll stick with exactly the same way I had it setup.
It had good flavor. Even though they didn't taste it,
I think it was a very good still setup, I'm gonna stick with what I got.
If it ain't broke don't fix it.
[tickle] 30 seconds.
And that is time, darrell.
I believe you got everything you need.
I sure as heck hope so.
Liz, hopefully, these two guys left you something.
Five minutes.
I got last. I should've had more volume.
But I'm not worried about last pick in the still house.
I'm looking for the same type of still we've used.
It was very comfortable, very easy to work around.
Two minutes, liz. Two minutes.
I'm done.
You got a minute and 15 seconds left, liz. Are you sure you're done?
I got extra everything.
[tickle] okay.
Let's get our parts back in there so we can run.
All right, guys, welcome back.
It's time to get busy. Put us a still together that will function.
In one hour. Your time starts now.
Looks like big steve got a condenser, a doubler connection.
That's step one.
Liz, she's putting a cap on the still.
[mark] she's putting a cap. Darrell's got all his laid out in order.
Darrell look like he about ready to run his.
Only had five minutes.
Sometimes you gotta be quick.
Regardless, if they do it in three minutes or 15 minutes,
it's got to be assembled correctly.
Everybody got everything they need?
Did anybody get an extra one of these things?
Extra one of these things?
-It's called a thump post. -No.
That's called a thump post.
-I don't have a thumper cap. -I don't see it.
I didn't...
I do not have one.
I have nothing that is gonna fit that hole.
[digger] she's struggling. She don't know if she can pull that thump keg out
-and go straight to... -Yeah, she's trying to these guys.
There goes the high proof department.
There she goes.
You had to forfeit your thumper?
But that's, you know, that's no unusual in this game.
Thank you.
Everybody's got a functional still together, good job.
Now it's time for y'all to re-run your distill.
We want the highest proof you can bring that is palatable
that we can tell it is corn liquor, not jet fuel.
It's not about the volume or how much you make
but the highest proof, we're gonna measure it,
temper it down to 100,
and that taste profile, that's what we gotta look at.
[digger] at the end of this, somebody's going home.
So I'd suggest we really do our best.
Four hours, starting now.
[narrator] distillers will re-run their house-based spirit
to hit a minimum of 120 proof.
The two with the most alcohol and best flavor when tempered
move on to create their own ultra-high proof spirit from scratch.
Steve had the most volume.
Yeah, he had the most so he's got the most alcohol to play with.
But sometimes more is hard to beat.
My plan going into this second round
is to add my tails into the thumper.
Charge it with a little bit of more high proof
and then put the rest of the high proof into a pot
and run it that way.
Liz has got a small, simple setup.
She don't have to have a whole lot of alcohol to make that run.
Where these guys got the doubler,
they wanna charge that doubler
which they gotta have more volume of liquid
to charge the doubler where she don't.
-[mark] right. -All she's gotta do is run it.
I was hoping to get all of the parts
for the thumper.
But I'm still going to run low and slow
because I'll have the flavor there, and I know I can reach the proof.
[digger] you getting down and dirty, liz.
Liz getting ready to do something.
[mark] she's got fire under it, she's lit.
Liz get lit.
-There we go. -Here goes big steve.
He's lighting his up.
Liz is adjusting her jar to make sure
she's gonna be able to get it out of the worm.
I didn't have my worm spout facing the correct way.
It was over the corner of the box that I had the worm sitting on.
And there was no way I could set a jar under it.
That could be a problem.
She ain't got no coonpecker.
[liz] so, I had to find something
to stick in there to make it longer so it would reach the jar.
Did she saw off to put this?
-Worm spout. -A piece of wood or something.
What do you got sticking out there?
A pin lead. With that box,
the jar couldn't sit flush.
Couldn't you have spun the base of the worm?
Uh-uh, because of the way it's all connected.
As soon as I did it was like mm-mm.
-[narrator] a florida moonshiner... -There we go.
A buck-eye state booze maker,
and a shepherd turned shiner
are on their second run to turn 25 gallons of house mash
into flavorful, ultra-high proof shine.
What do you got sticking outta there?
[liz] a pin lead.
That was the easy solution.
Did you put water in your thumper? Darrell, did you use mash?
I used mash. I warmed it up in the pot.
On this run, I was basically trying to just stay in the run.
The double distillation,
it's another experience, you can get more out of your liquor
the higher you get it.
But you also get the flavor.
We only need one jar.
But it's an important jar.
We are not judging you on volume this time.
Highest palatable proof.
That's where I want it. There, she's trickling.
-Yay. -[steve] she running?
Finally showed up to the party.
What the... Might have gone over there.
How'd that happen?
-By not watching it. -A kink in that drain.
Don't let it spill over into your jar.
Yeah, I see that. I'm up past it.
-You'd be diluting it. -That wouldn't be what you're after.
No, it's not. It kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
[digger] it does.
You got five minutes.
Mount 'em up, get 'em ready. We wanna taste 'em.
All right, that's your jar.
-It is it. -Okay.
Pretty clear jar, liz. Good luck.
-That's the jar. -Big steve bringing it in.
-Good luck. -Thank you.
Darrell and his other brother darrell bringing it in here.
Clear. Clear.
-That's the clearest jar we've seen. -Good luck to you, darrell.
All right, boys, I'm gonna get us some test jars and hydrometers.
We're doing a contest about high proof.
Yeah, but it still has to be drinkable.
All right, steve coming in.
All my jars were fire.
I'm gonna say I probably am 130-ish.
That is slap on 180 proof.
[tim] pretty good for big guy like steve.
I brought us some tempering water out of the spring.
Mark, you're gonna taste it first, right?
[mark] I don't care. Hell, I ain't scared of it.
I would say that'd be 100 proof.
Got good notes.
I'd buy that.S=
sweet. It's good.
Honestly, that's pretty good drink of liquor right there.
Let's do darrell.
I think I got high proof.
Hopefully, there's some flavor there, too.
And looks like we're at about
172 proof.
-Darrell did pretty good. -He did really good.
-Yeah. -We gotta temper it down.
On the line, 100.
-Darrell, his real light on the nose. -Yeah.
-Little funky. -I don't like that as good as I do steve's.
It's not horrible, it's just got that faint water hose.
It's still a decent drink.
All right, it's liz.
I am hoping higher than 120.
And I know that's where they wanted it.
I'm gonna call that 152.
-Let's temper old liz down a little bit. -Yeah, we got to.
All right, boys, that is dead on 100 proof.
I'm getting plastic on the nose.
You'll taste some plastic.
Oh, boy!
I think it's that piece of plastic she stuck out the end of it.
All right, I'm gonna go fetch them folks.
What you did is insane proof-wise, all of you.
Steve, you can see on your jar you had 180.
You got a good nose. You can tell there's a little bit of grain in there.
And it's a good, sweet drink of liquor.
You got the corn in there, you got the sweet from the sugar.
You can really smell what you made.
Build a good cocktail out of this.
And probably sell this liquor and get a return customer.
-Darrell, I think you had 172. -Yes, sir.
Pretty decent. Lacks little bit on the nose.
-Yours did have the cleanest jar on the table. -Thank you.
Liz, you had 152.
Clarity was good on it, um, sadly it just had
a taste imparted in it that
you know, we were not familiar with.
There was plastic in there.
I mean, it is what it is.
It smells like the
you know, when you take the cap off of plastic that's what you got.
Alcohol was solvent.
That marker cap you put in there
every drop of liquor you ran over it,
it pulled some of the fuel taste,
the plastic taste, it pulled it out.
That's where you went wrong.
Liz, your jar brought your ticket home, baby.
-Yes, it did. -I'm awful sorry.
If I wasn't so flustered,
I think that it would've been good liquor.
But I wasn't thinking.
One thing we did learn on this one,
racoon ivory is a whole lot better to run your liquor out on
than a magic marker cap.
[narrator] coming up... Shiners start from scratch...
Are we having apple pie for dinner?
...To hit the highest proof possible in a single run.
It's a backwoods shiner versus a lawman turned liquor maker
in a quest to make the most flavorful,
ultra-high proof shine from scratch.
Men, congratulations, you've made it to the next step.
Today, you're gonna build your signature mash.
High proof liquor, that's what we're hunting for, the white yeti.
The highest proof you can turn in.
One hour to build your mash.
Your time starts now.
[narrator] for the final round,
distillers may use any ingredients they brought from home
to create a mash that can yield the highest volume of alcohol
during a five-day fermentation...
-Here we go, buddy. -...Without affecting flavor.
Do your thing.
What I'm doing with my mash is I'm doing an apple brandy.
I know a lot of people traditionally use corn,
but I've always done apples.
-Are we having apple pie for dinner? -You know it.
I've had good luck getting what I consider to be high proof
yet still palatable.
Starting to get about ready.
You wanna get them all busted up.
Get all that sugar released.
Sugar, yeast, water.
And my secret ingredient is just plain old tomato paste.
It's a great nutrient for the yeast.
I feel pretty confident with the recipe that I use
that the proof and the taste will be equal.
My name for my signature line is uncle dum dum swamp juice.
I'm making cream corn.
My signature recipe for this challenge is gonna be crack corn,
rye and barley.
That's the one that comes out high for me.
I'm gonna do what I can do with my mash
and hopefully, I'll come out on top.
[digger] y'all are done, man. Step away from your kegs.
We'll see you in five day.
[narrator] the amount of alcohol a mash will produce in a given time
depends on ingredients and the type of yeast used.
As the yeast consumes the sugars and starches in the mash
they release alcohol as a by-product.
The more sugars in the mix,
the longer it will take the yeast to consume.
Using turbo yeast speeds up this fermentation process
but it can stress the yeast,
causing them to produce more foul-tasting chemicals
such as sulfur or fusel alcohols.
Like high proof shiners in the backwoods,
the distillers mash must strike the balance
between high alcohol content and drinkable flavor.
Welcome back, men.
We've brought in our high proof guru right here, mark rogers.
-Hi, mark. -Guest judge.
It's hard to make a real high proof liquor
and proof it down to make it taste good.
[narrator] mark rogers is a mountain moonshiner
known for high proof corn liquor.
He's mastered the age-old outlaw techniques
to yield the most alcohol possible from every run,
while maintaining the sweet corn flavor.
What do you think?
It's high, jeff.
Make us your best. It's your mash, it's your run.
Master distiller is at stake.
You got four hours. Your time starts now.
-Good luck, men. -Good luck, my friend.
[narrator] for the final round,
distillers must deliver their signature shine
at a minimum of 120 proof.
The one with the best flavor when tempered down
to a sellable 100 proof wins.
[tim] so, we got steve, he mashed in apples.
Darrell, he just mashed in corn.
Which one you think is gonna come out, mark?
Which one's gonna have the highest proof?
I'd say the corn will.
It'll take longer on that fruit than it will corn, I guarantee that.
It's a little more unstable.
-That's why you charge more corn. -Longer to work with.
-Yeah. -We'll know for sure in four hours.
How you doing over there, darrell?
Getting her going.
Got more sediment in my mash than I'd like,
but I'm gonna get it all out of there.
Big steve's got pretty mash.
Going into the run, as soon as I saw my mash and tasted it,
I thought it was where I needed it to be.
He's got all the solids out of it, that's nice looking mash.
Good color for apple.
Strainers worked really good.
-Straight apples. -Darrell's charging the hell out of his thump keg.
[mark rogers] putting a whole lot in it, ain't he?
Going into the next run, still's going to stay exactly the same.
I'm gonna do what I can do with my mash.
Darrell, what did you drop in there?
Copper to bounce around it there.
-Uh-huh. -See if I can kick it up a little bit.
The thing, they'll scrub that water out of that alcohol.
It'll pull it out and push that proof up a little bit.
Big steve's capping up.
[tim] he didn't add nothing to it or take nothing out.
I believe he's good. He ain't gonna pack his thump arm.
[steve] we have fire.
Big steve's lit up, boys.
Darrell has started sweating, he getting ready.
Trying to wear it off.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Love apples. Good girl.
The highest proof I ever made was 176.
[tim] 176?
[mark rogers] let me explain this, the way I do this.
I'll flame a one-gallon high proof liquor, let everything run.
My liquor, say 140 proof or something,
but I'll proof it down.
I got a jug of high proof liquor.
If I get too low, I'll bring it back.
Put some high shots in it.
But I make every bit of my liquor taste the same.
-Spread it across the board. -That's what's special.
That's a good moonshine,
and that'll be a good master distiller that's able to do that.
Men, y'all got one hour left.
-It's going, darrell? -Yes, sir.
From the very beginning,
it didn't have the head on it that I was expecting.
It didn't have the notes I was looking for with the apples.
Gee.
But to get high proof and have a flavor,
and a desirable flavor at that,
it's damn close to impossible.
It's a hard thing to hit right on the head.
[exhales] that's hot. Whoo.
Damn.
-How you doing? -I'm dealing with it.
Looks like it's running about right, though.
I'll tell you, I'd slow it down just a little bit.
-Little more? -That's running a little fast.
You gotta run it hotter now, huh?
It's high proof liquor, hard to fix.
Yes, it is. It's an art.
-How you doing, old buddy? -Good.
I'd slow that down, too, just a little bit.
-All right. -All you need is a quart.
-Just one sweet jar. That's all it takes. -One quart.
People don't get it. I mean, some hobbyist might bring you
a pint of 100 proof liquor
but as far as anybody that's ever sold liquor,
you can't get the price that that high proof liquor demands.
It ain't a good idea to drink
any liquor, especially above 120 anyway.
Yeah. 120's about right.
Don't go above that 'cause you're gonna mess your insides.
That's stuff's anesthesia and anesthetic.
Can rub it on, ingest it, too.
Next thing you know you won't know what happened.
[all chuckling]
[narrator] an ex-cop and an outlaw shiner are going still to still
to see whose original mash recipe
can produce the most flavorful shine
at a minimum of 120 proof.
They're watching it pretty close.
Yeah, the concentration. That's what we're looking for here.
Hey, darrell. Has it come out how you wanted it?
I'm catching it gets more flavor.
Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for, too.
Steve's got six jars, darrell's got three.
Nice, clear jar.
[darrell] you got the winner, steve?
I don't know, darrell.
Five minutes, gentlemen.
My proof's pretty high. Well, that's clean.
I think I hit the flavor area that I want.
Once its cut down with water, that changes things a bit.
Just trying to dial in and figure out which one I'm turning in.
-Here we go, big steve. -Bring it in here, big steve.
-Big boy. -Gentlemen.
-Good luck. -Good luck.
Here comes old darrell. He's got his shined up.
[darrell] am I nervous? Yeah.
But when the day is through, hopefully we're both still friends.
But we're gonna put out some liquor, I know that much.
[mark rogers] that is pretty.
-I ain't kidding. -Hope you guys like swamp juice.
-Good luck. -Thanks, darrell.
I know I left it all out on the floor in there.
I didn't have anything else to give.
Win or lose, it's been a great run.
Looking at darrell.
Darrell made his out of corn.
Let me tell you something, tim, right there
is the prettiest jar of liquor I've ever seen.
There's a jar full of headaches in that right there.
That's damn skull buster from the word go.
That make you tell all
all we can do is proof her down and try her.
It's high. I don't know if it's as high as yours,
I've been sneaking right below you the whole time.
We'll see how this goes.
I dropped a little on this wood and it's smoking.
I'll see, 140.
158.
-That's pretty damn high. -Pretty good right there.
Hopefully, the flavor's there. I know there was some heat.
Come on.
It's a little hot on the back end,
but it started out at 158.
He can make a ripe smart of it that tastes like apple.
He's got five gallons, he's gonna have seven and a half
the time he gets done tempering.
Yeah.
I'd sell that. Can you sell that, mark?
It's good high proof liquor.
But it's a little hot.
-But it's still good liquor. -I like hot proof liquor.
Now this is big steve's.
Feel like I hit maybe 125.
Big steve, right, 140 proof, even.
I think I found my flavor spectrum that I was looking for,
but to be honest, I'm just not sure.
I like that apple right off the nose.
When you pick it up you know it's apple brandy.
It ain't as hot as darrell's.
-Nope. -It was lower proof.
It's kind of a bland taste, ain't it?
Yeah, kind of disappointed.
That apple, I really though would shine through a little more.
Clean, clear.
It's a good drink.
I would be certain if steve came in with lower alcohol in his mash
simply because them apples didn't have the time they needed.
All right, boys.
Darrell, you know, we smell that and that's corn liquor.
Really good, good strong flavor, good clear liquor.
And you had one of the cleanest looking jars on the table.
-I thank you. -It was perfectly clear.
If it was full, we couldn't tell anything was in it.
Coming from you, that's a great compliment.
-Your proof, you hit 158. -Thank you.
As hot as it was in the making,
when you bring her back down to where you can drink it,
I don't think you can beat the corn liquor.
[chuckles] thank you. Thank you.
Steve, you had a fine apple brandy going on here.
We hit that nose, boy, it was just what you look for in apple brandy.
We told you we was looking for high proof, it was right at 140 even.
-140. -So you did good as running a still.
You did an outstanding job. Good, clear.
-No filter, nothing. -Thank you.
It was just a little bit flat for me.
When you do a fruit-based mash
you need a lot more time for fermentation.
I think that if you'd had another week even,
I think your mash would've been ten times better, it'd brought a higher proof,
but all in all, it was a great flavor.
Both of you did a damn fine job.
But unfortunately, there can only be one master distiller.
Darrell, you're the next master distiller. Congratulations.
I feel like I'm floating on a cloud, like it's a dream.
It don't make a damn which one of you got the master distiller title
'cause both of you are winners.
The information that I've picked up here,
the friendships that I've made, I'm sure not leaving here a loser.
Y'all are my buddies.
-You has done what you were supposed to. -Thank you.
My nickname's uncle dum dum.
Winning master distiller, I'm no dummy.
[laughing]
[narrator] next time on master distiller...
Y'all gonna make us some historical liquor.
George washington variety.
A triple-distilled whisky created by a founding father...
This is old fashioned backwoods distilling.
...To become a foundational recipe
that tries every distiller.
The more difficult challenge of this show so far.