[dramatic music playing]
[digger] you know how to make liquor,
you'd make it in a teacup. Plain and simple.
I can make liquor out of damn coal.
[tim smith] you wanna bring some...
-Something to table? -[digger] blindfold me.
Hell, I'll still make better liquor than you.
[tim smith] so what are you getting at, digger?
You wanna compete again?
You owe me $1,000.
Ten one-hundred dollar bills.
My bet that you ain't paid up yet.
[narrator] this time on master distiller.
You're welcome [indistinct]
[narrator] three of the best moonshiners
in the country are back in the hot seats.
Best I've run today right there.
[tickle] you're gonna have to ante up.
You're on the other side of the table now.
[narrator] after last year's contestant victory.
[man] I [indistinct] I would make a milkshake.
[man] diego.
[narrator] it's time to settle the score.
[man] pepto-bismol as moonshine? No way.
[narrator] judged by two of the country's
best whiskey men.
[man] tim's using his t-shirt.
[man] he's gotta use his t-shirt for something.
-He doesn't wear them. -[laughs]
[narrator] and a moonshine maven.
-[man] you're not in line. -Sadly, yes.
[narrator] it's a double or nothing
rye whiskey rematch.
I am 100% confident in that jar.
[narrator] for the ultimate backwoods bragging rights.
[digger] it sound like [bleep] to me.
[tim smith] well, mash in did a whole thing
all over again.
They told us make a run of rye.
Rye? Why you gotta do rye?
Rye's the hardest thing to run.
[digger] exactly.
That brings him skills to the table.
[tim smith] all right. Can you pick corn?
You can try corn.
[mark] hell, anybody can rum corn.
[tim smith] yeah, but to make it taste good.
Then you have to be from tennessee.
We're going [bleep] [indistinct]
[tim smith] whatever.
I read [indistinct] all the time.
Grudges never go away, I guess.
Last time, my understanding was we was bringing
our own recipe, make the best-looking
we could, and that's what I did.
These guys made a milkshake
and put a little bit of alcohol in it.
No, I'm not playing that game.
Everybody make the same thing, get to the end of the day,
and be done with it.
[tim smith] we're gonna have to get somebody in here
that really knows the law
and knows how to run this thing.
So I'm gonna just pick up tickle on the way back.
And we'll meet back here and get it all set up.
-Get with it. -[tim smith] all right.
[narrator] american rye whiskey is made
from a mash bill of at least 51% rye
and aged and charred oak barrels
for a minimum of two years.
Notoriously difficult to distill with a spicy bite
that can overpower subtler flavors.
It's the perfect all-or-nothing test
for the three veteran shiners.
They'll rapid age their signature rye recipes
and bring their final jars to be judged
by the discerning and refined palates
of two world-renowned whiskey experts.
And tickle.
[tense music playing]
[tickle] all right, fellers.
Y'all are here to mash in y'all's own recipe of rye.
You wanna stick your foot in and stir it,
swish your sock around in it,
whatever you think's gonna give it that edge.
That's for filtering.
[tickle] whatever y'all seem fit, all right?
We're all grownups and we can all act like it.
This is a rematch.
If you ain't got nothing good to say, well,
hell, we ain't never got nothing good to say.
I can't put that rolling, right?
Fair enough.
[tickle] you're gonna have one hour in order to do that.
The only way I'm gonna know when that eye is up
if you get me that watch, digger.
-[digger] oh. -[tickle] yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
You're gonna have to ante up.
You're on the other side of the table now.
Protect that.
I'll take care of your papa's old watch.
All right. Now,
you've got one hour starting...Now.
[dramatic music playing]
-[tickle] is that water? -That's cold water, tickle.
[tickle] I tell you what,
that's a damn good start to a match.
[clicking]
[mark] you got anything look like that, digger?
Virginia-grown rye.
No, we wanna make good liquor.
[mark laughs]
[digger] you know, on the other race,
we were going for a crowd-pleaser.
This time, we're not putting it
out there for general public.
We are using real liquor men.
They know liquor. They know aged liquor.
Therefore, I give bill my a-game.
My region, it's known as the moonshine capital
of the world.
Making liquor gets into your blood.
Anybody that's ever made it tell you it's in their blood
and they're not lying.
Mark and I have made an un-measurable amount of rye.
We make a rye apple.
We're gonna put apple in one of these pots.
We're gonna put the rye mash in the oven.
It flies off the shelf,
we can't keep up with production on it.
We've conquered that part already.
This on the other hand is something different.
There's gonna be a good liquor.
There's one thing I'm certain
of when you're dealing with tim smith,
nothing's ever on the up and up.
-Hey hatty boy. -Huh?
I'm looking over here, I see apples.
It looks like somebody's trying to mimic
a recipe we like real good.
[mark] oh?
They say the highest form of complement
is, uh, emulation.
I was understanding we have making our grain recipe.
Well, I think while I was mashing in,
I can make me a little side dishes from apples.
Yeah. Have your little snack there.
[tim smith] I mean, while I'm getting
the water hot, why not, right?
Last challenge it didn't work out
in my favor.
This time, I'm making rye whisky from grain.
I know what I'm doing, I know how to do it.
And I'm gonna have professional
rye whiskey tasters tasting it.
They're gonna put it in order as it comes.
And hopefully, mine is gonna be number one.
There's money to be made,
as long as you don't get caught there.
My name is tim smith,
through my dad and through the family,
I kinda grew up around moonshining all my life.
I'm okay in running grain.
Grain comes out of a field.
You grow it, you cut it, you [indistinct] it,
you grind it, you mash it in.
And that's what I know.
In the woods, you make everything count.
You know, you want a one-way train.
And you're gonna make it and sell it,
or you're going to jail.
You gotta make it work.
So this is where I'm coming from.
When I came in this contest, I come in to win it.
[tickle] what are you pouring in there, digger?
What is that?
[digger] that is liquid malt extract.
[tickle] liquid malt extract?
[digger] they take grain, steam it, roll it,
squeeze all the protein carbohydrates
inside that grain,
then they cook it down to serve.
That's probably, uh, about a hundred pound of grain
that went into that right there.
So now is that...Is that gonna ferment, to me...
It's made out of grain, tim. Think about it.
It's made out of grain, it's same stuff over there.
[tim smith] I don't know, it looks like to me,
it's honey, so looks like me
is gonna make like a sugar shine or something.
Nope. There's no sugar in it other than this converted
carbohydrates out of that grain.
And I'm just making all grain.
No other ingredients.
[tim smith] that's what I'm doing.
All grain.
No, you're adding apple juice.
No, I ain't adding no apple juice.
Well, pour it out on the floor there, then.
[tim smith] this rye is very difficult to run
to make it smooth.
Probably be breaking some kind of rule
if put the apples in the mash.
But I'mma do a [indistinct] apples,
you put apples in my dough.
Don't wanna put all your eggs in the same basket.
Y'all get broke at the same time.
[tickle] what you working with over there, mark?
Any secret ingredients?
[mark] I'm just using what digger brought me.
[tickle] you're using what digger brought...
You do realize you're competing
against digger, right?
That's all right.
[country music playing]
[mark] I've known digger for 40 years.
Digger's my partner.
He's somebody that I trust and we have each other's back.
I'm the still man. But I know how to make liquor.
I never made mash with extract before,
but I don't doubt digger.
If he says it works good, I'm okay with that.
I'm gonna challenge myself to, uh, get it right.
I just stem my extract down with some hot water
and stirred it up, bend it down a little bit.
I'm not real familiar with it.
My water gets hot, I'm gonna cook it,
shut the heat down and toss in a little rolled oats
just for capping it.
I came in third place last year.
I don't have anywhere to go but up.
Whoever says they don't care if they win
or they lose are telling a damn lie.
Everybody wants to win.
Y'all have got 20 minutes left.
[tim smith] you see, I'm old-school.
I went to the field and I harvest my rye.
And I ground it up.
This so what I know how to run, ground rye.
Tim won't stop at old-school and he's old-school.
He didn't grew up in the same area I did.
It don't get no more old-school
than this right here.
This right here is what everybody
in [indistinct] to the woods during wartime
when you couldn't get sugar, there was two ways
during wartime to get liquor.
You had to steal somebody's sugar cube palms
out of the [indistinct] or resort to extract.
Man, that smells good.
How you doing over there, timmy?
Doing the best I can with I got to work with.
[mark] stirring it up over here, both.
[digger] that's what mark says about working me all time,
doing the best what I got to work with.
[mark] yup.
Mine looks a lot like your does.
[digger] it's only had work like that, ain't it?
Same color.
That done mean nothing, though, does it?
Nope.
[tickle] five minutes left.
That time to start wrapping her up.
[digger] bill's kinda odd not dissolving no sugar.
[tickle] five, four, three, two, one.
Hour is up.
Nothing to do now but let this cool down
a little bit, see y'all [indistinct] yeast.
I reckon we'll come back in a few days and run this.
I'm looking forward to tasting some of the finest liquor
we've ever seen.
We're making rye.
And just to complicate matters,
we're making a 100% grain extract liquor.
Something nobody's comfortable with
and I had no problem with it.
Mark had no problem.
Tim on the other hand, had a problem with that.
He's not willing to step outside the boundaries
and test his skills at the distillery.
I am.
-Smells good. -Time will tell.
I got all the faith in the world in you.
I'm glad you do.
Because, hell, I'm over here sweating.
[narrator] three of america's best shiners are competing
to make one of the world's trickiest whiskies.
After a five-day fermentation,
their signature rye mash is ready to run.
But first, they have to pick their stills.
[tickle] all right, fellas.
We're here to pick y'all still parts.
You got three minutes in there.
That sounds like a lot of time
but it goes a lot faster than you think.
You got three minutes starting now, mark.
[mark] you know, I'm working with a unfamiliar mash.
So I wasn't gonna get myself a handicap
with an unfamiliar still.
This is not the time to experiment.
Bring what you're familiar with.
[tickle] you got one minute, mark.
[mark] I'm gonna run my still in my little corner.
And do the best all I can do.
There's always a chance I might win this time.
[tickle] all right, mark. Gotta wrap her up.
[mark] woo. Hot dang.
[tickle] thirty seconds. Are you done?
Is a 50-pound-baby-fat?
Depends on how big his mama is.
I reckon. Yeah, I'm done.
[tickle] all right. Digger?
You got three minutes in there.
Get at it, son.
Digger, you wasting time.
[digger] don't need no time.
[tickle laughs]
[digger] mark knows a still inside out.
I'll never beat a still man that he is
because I'm not a coppersmith and that's okay.
It's not my field house.
But I'm not afraid of it.
[tickle] two minutes, digger.
-Two minutes. -Good to know.
I'ma keep my design old-school and simple.
But it don't matter.
I'll bring a coffee pot and make better liquor
than tim smith could.
[tickle] make sure you got all your little parts.
That's your main thing.
I'm paying attention to my little parts.
[tickle] all right.
It's running down, digger.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five,
it's [bleep] late, maybe get to one.
Two... Oh, there he is.
He come out on two. All right.
You got three minutes, tim.
[tim smith] when I go in the still house
I was the last one, I was third pick.
It's a little tricky for me.
I've never ever used a still this small in my entire life.
But I was actually able to get a sight glass
and I always wanted to use one of those.
It has a little window to see the alcohol vapor coming up.
I'm gonna be looking in.
I'm gonna see that rye coming out.
[tickle] thirty seconds, tim.
[metal rattling]
[tickle] ten seconds.
If I ain't got nothing else,
I got $20 worth of [indistinct]
[metal rattling]
he's headed to the scrap yard.
I think I'm gonna need a hand truck.
[tickle] yeah, yeah, you might need
a hand truck for all that.
[laughter]
[tickle] oh.
Y'all, let's grab your parts and we'll head on back in.
[tim smith] all right.
[country music playing]
kinda feel like I'm in a shiner parade.
[laughs]
is this kinda the 12-step program
to get your license back?
Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
You gotta start off on one of these.
All right, fellers.
Y'all are gonna have one hour to build your stills.
Y'all head to it.
[digger] I know I need this.
[mark] digger? Did you end up with that shotgun?
I did. I'll use it.
[mark] well, I don't think
you can ever go wrong with that.
[digger] no, not usually.
[mark] what the hell is tim doing to still, man?
[digger] I don't know yet.
We're harvesting a lot of liquor out of it,
that's the main thing.
[metal clanks]
[digger] uh-oh.
You see, we have a problem.
What's the bail with that?
[digger] it says that's what...
Oh, it'd be me.
I got anything over here you need first.
I doubt it.
It's the small parts that's so easy to overlook
when you get under the pressure.
I've been busy looking for all of this stuff.
-[tickle] yeah. -You don't think about this.
[digger] or you're gonna use of this.
-Let me see if... -Maybe one of that?
Let me see if I can use it.
If I can't, I'll give you a good drink lift.
I believe that's about what you need there, dig.
[mark] that's gonna hype the battle.
You know, that still don't help you
with that other side.
I might've had it on backward, mark, boy.
We'll know here in a minute.
Oh, look at that.
[tickle] you know what we say about that rum
where I come from?
Bless him.
-Bless him. -It ain't hard.
[tense music playing]
all right, fellers. Y'all are 20 minutes in.
But y'all about got this stuff wrapped up.
[digger] we just wanna make sure
we don't have no leakages.
I'm done.
Well, I'm... I think I am.
But I... At this point, I ain't swearing to nothing.
I'll have to say that's a fine job.
I don't think anybody else could've got
these things together any quicker than that.
And that's just time we get some liquor out of it.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
All right, fellers.
Now, we're gonna have four hours
to run y'all's mash.
And then we'll figure out what else we gonna get you
to do with after that, all right?
You got four hours, start now.
-[tim smith] good luck. -[digger] good luck, fellers.
[narrator] the shiners will run their signature mashes
and rank the resulting whiskey themselves
in a blind taste test.
Knowing where they stand against the competition,
they'll have 24 hours to rapidly all gauge
their best jar and one chance to impress the expert judges
in the final round.
[digger] I never knew what went and mash smelled
like until I stuck my head down this barrel.
[tim smith] let me drain same amount here.
[digger] well, I can smell it over here.
I thought you took your shoes off.
[mark] mine smells like bananas.
Mine's still working pretty fierce.
[tim smith] yeah, mine's still working too.
[digger] there's work in it, tim.
For a bit. I'm gonna need another.
We got it probably.
[tim smith] oh, getting ready to light up.
[mark] he's bringing his a game today.
-[tickle] hey, digger? -Yes, sir.
You don't have a lot of grain to strain out.
[digger] I put just enough amount too probably in there,
put little enzyme back in it.
-And cap it all? -[digger] cap it all.
[tickle] yeah.
One thing I can assure you, it ain't cheap
to make a rum or liquor like this.
It's a little expensive nowadays, huh?
About 250 bucks.
That hell is our only money.
Hmm.
These old moonshiners were telling me
about making syrup liquor.
I thought they'd make their syrup
but they were talking about raw syrup,
barley syrup, malt extracts.
As I look a little further and come to find out,
distilleries were selling malt extracts
that they had stored and it makes beer liquor.
That's how brewery survive in the prohibition days
and I know from history and what the old timers
[indistinct] would tell me, it'll make fine liquor.
Needless to say, you ain't gonna make it
to sell cheap, making good money...
No, I don't reckon either.
All right, tim. You went with regular grains.
I'll pour that with some rum and ground it up.
That... What it'd cost you to make your mash share?
Probably with the yeast in it, uh, made by six dollars.
-By six dollar? -Yeah.
Everything I bought came from the farm.
Everything we use came from the farm.
Yeah. But y'all got a canary over there?
I don't know where they came, they had...
They did a damn finer job cooking grain
than any else ever with.
We'll know something here in a little bit.
All right.
Whether we've made good liquor
or damn dill pickles.
[tim smith] I like dill pickles.
We don't need a $250 jar of dill pickles, do we?
[tim smith] you know, I don't reckon we did.
Y'all, feller, just got two hours and 45 minutes left.
All right, tim.
What do you got in your little bucket?
There's some apples and I'll ferment it on the side.
I'm not gonna put it in the still,
I didn't put it in my mash or nothing,
I just put that in a damper, it's 100% right in my still,
and just a little hint on the apple on the end.
So I wanna call this apple split rye.
You sound like a whole lot of [bleep] to me.
Tim's is just a mimic of our recipe.
Stimulation is one of the greatest compliments
in the world.
They're gonna call me out on it
because mark and dig had a apple rye.
You know, they... These guys own the apple rye.
You're welcome. [indistinct] tim.
Hey, boy. How hot is your mash?
One hundred and seventy degrees.
Well, I'm almost 180.
How are you out there now, timmy?
Let's see. I'm looking 120.
-[mark] one-twenty? -Yeah.
It takes a long time for a watched pot
-to heat, don't they? -[digger] it does.
Oh, yeah.
There's vapor coming.
I 'd love to unless I get a big shot of wasabi in it.
[digger] yeah, boy.
That's a pretty mature distillation right there.
Pretty mature distillation?
Here she goes.
-[tim smith] you got wicky? -[mark] I got wicky.
Right here. I got it dripping.
All right, gentleman. Can I use the term loosely?
Y'all have two hours, y'all are halfway through.
[digger] do you have any like it, tim smith?
No, nice drum.
That apple mash actually made me run
a little bit slow behind the other guys
and there is nothing you can do about it.
[mark] it smells like liquor.
[digger] a lot of history is in there.
I got it ain't buttermilk, ain't it?
-Mother pearl. -Good or ain't it?
It's crawling down that damn side of that cup
like it's got feet.
[digger] well, I had it coming and then going.
I think that's liquor.
[mark] that's probably still
about a hundred and sixty proof.
Do you have any like it, tim smith?
No, I ain't got nothing over here.
Two hours in this thing and nothing is coming out.
I think I got sabotaged.
Two hours in this thing and nothing is coming out.
I ain't got the first drop.
I'm really worried about the timeline.
I can really feel the stress level.
[digger] tim, if you don't make no liquor,
I'll give you a jar of mine.
[tim smith] I might need one. I don't know.
Mark and digger, they're still running good
and their product is coming out
so I have to get to still operate.
Yeah.
-There we go. -[mark] finally.
I think I'd just go ahead and make my own, man.
Five minutes and we'll something to draw.
[digger] then get nailed to it.
Uh, I just, kind of, went through that.
Where am I at and I don't know but I'm hoping I'm...
I'll have enough time.
Digger? You're the apple of my rye.
[digger] oh.
You're just saying that because it's true.
Then use both sticks, say all right
to get your big mouth full.
[mark] do what?
Damn. It's spicy hot though.
Come on, mark. Let's see what you got.
[mark] my third jar.
Jesus. That's hot but she's got
a damn good flavor to it, mark.
-You have perfect it. -[mark] yeah.
Too hot for where I need to be at this point.
[tickle] you never know.
She might drop off and give you
a good low-proof jar for flavor profile.
-Maybe. -You never know.
If I can get... Make one down to 120,
I'm all right with it.
[tickle] sounds good to me.
I'm gonna go check out and see what tim smith has going on.
See what tim smith is up to.
Oh, boy.
Tell me that you know better than that.
-Right there. -All right.
We're here. I'll make you see this.
[tim smith] you might not wanna tell nobody else.
Hmm. I don't know what to tell you.
It's got... It's got a nice flavor, tim.
The base is breaking over there right now too.
If that was my jar of liquor, I'd be proud of it.
All right, digger.
One, two, three, is this your fifth jar?
[digger] fifth jar.
I'm gonna say I'm probably still at 140.
But that's good proof to be at for cash drunk liquor.
If you ain't lowering that,
that's some good smoking [bleep].
-It's 100% right then. -Yeah.
No sugar, there ain't... Nothing but grain in there.
Yeah. I'll have to say all three of you
so far well done, gentlemen. Well done.
Money honey.
It just... It just keeps getting better.
-It just keeps getting better. -Digger?
We might help tim smith up before he gets calluses
on his hands for patting himself on the back.
Oh. He can go along if he only wants to.
Don't be an educated palate to taste this.
It don't matter what palate tastes it right there,
see, it's never good.
I'm glad you finally made some good liquor, tim.
You all got 20 minutes left.
Six jars ain't gonna get me where I need to be.
Are you gonna tamper yours now?
I don't know. My liquor taste off a good way
except right now, I'mma run with it I believe.
I don't think I got enough time to run that jar.
I'm just not into the hearts where I'd like to be.
If I try to tamper it down with a little spring water,
I'm afraid to try it now.
[tim smith] that ain't raw whiskey.
It gotta be half proof because it has a little bite to it
-the end of way. -Mmm-hmm.
And then has a different taste profile so a little spicy.
There's a fine line between proof and flavor.
Oh, yeah.
[tickle] when you can get that a hundred percent dead right,
that's always gonna be your best jar.
All right, fellers. We're down to five minutes.
It's time to start mixing jars or picking a jar one.
Whatever you wanna do.
I'll tell you, I'm good with that.
There you go, steven ray.
[tickle] thank you, sir.
I mean, you can't beat this.
All right. Settle down, now.
I'll have to say that's a mighty
fine-looking jar of liquor.
Well, here's what's gonna happen, fellas.
So I won't cover up the tops of these jars
and we all gonna come back in here
and we're gonna taste this stuff so...
So y'all heard it out and we'll just see
what we think about everybody else's liquor.
-All right. -[digger] all right.
[mark] I'm all about that.
[tim smith] I'm telling you.
[digger] I'm all about going to pee-pee.
[tim smith] that's what I'm saying.
[tickle] digger.
Digger.
I'm the next best thing.
[tickle] well, you know, I didn't know if digger
would come unless you called him.
Hell, I'll follow him wherever he goes.
Will you...Will you follow him wherever he goes?
You blame him that.
I called you, he come and running.
Well, fellers, we've got three jars right here.
They're all covered up.
Well, the best one is mine.
[tickle] I don't know. Let's see what we got here.
This is jar number one on the left.
I would like number left.
Good thing it beads, there's liquor in it.
Let's taste it.
[dramatic music playing]
let's try.
[tickle] as far as I can tell you right now, who knows?
This is excellent.
So far it's the best thing I've tasted.
This thing right here is a little bitey to me.
-But rye has got a bite. -[tickle] yeah, rye does.
It has a little spice to it.
It's the characteristic it shouldn't have.
I hope that's mine.
[tim smith] tastes pretty good.
Smells out good.
I ain't gonna lie and tell you
I'm willing to bet we're fixed.
You come across and tell you more jars,
damn, and you're like it.
Jar number two.
All right. Let's see what we got here.
It beads so it's liquor.
-[mark] yeah, a lot of it. -[tickle] yes, sir.
There's a lot of bead in there.
I can't say.
That's just because it's high proof,
it's not good proof.
[tim smith] hmm. Good and clear.
Good and clear but high proof.
It's got a great nose on it.
I know one time both of them try.
There's a little candy taste there
or something going on with...
That's got a funky aftertaste.
That one ain't quite got what it needs.
It fell a little bit short
but it has a good smooth drink in there.
Good high proof.
It's very high proof.
Maybe if it was a little bit lower
it might've been a lot better.
It is...It is high proof
because I ain't gonna lie and tell you.
[tim smith] pretty high. Pretty high.
Inside of my lips is a little numb.
You got anything in a bottle over there.
All right. Now we got jar number three.
I'll be damned that one beads too,
there's liquor in that jar.
[tim smith] she hot. Way up there.
I didn't get the proof.
A lot of proof there.
It has got a different nose in it...
All of them.
That one finishes better than anything I've had so far.
But that's got to be high proof.
It's a damn good drink alert.
All right. Jar three.
I can't find a thing wrong with any of them.
[tim smith] I can't go with the two and three.
Uh, it's got a different...
It's a real, real sweet smell.
I'm gonna have to go back to number one.
That's your rye right there.
I'm going number one.
It's number one, number two is number two,
and number three is number three.
I might be at three, two, one.
I'm going one, three, two.
I may agree in all of that.
I'm sticking at number one at number one,
number three then number two.
[narrator] coming up.
The reveal of the best tasting jar.
I hope it's me.
[narrator] but no one is out of the woods.
Too much oak taste.
Just a pinch over, it's too much.
[narrator] three veteran shiners devoted
on their own rye whiskey and a blind taste test.
I might be at three, two, one.
I'm going one, three, two.
[narrator] now, they'll find out where they rank.
Who's signature is that?
That would be mine.
That would be mark ramsey.
Yeah. He just called me in third
in a world competition of the best here.
Nothing to be ashamed of, right, john?
Let's see who's second.
Here we go.
Mr. Digger, I'm not sure who the hell number one is.
[tim smith] I hope it's me.
I'll be damned the winning jar belongs to tim smith.
[country music playing]
this competition ain't over yet.
What we're going to do, y'all each gonna have 30 minutes.
You're gonna take your jar,
you're gonna put you some wood chips in it,
you're gonna wrap and age your stuff.
Fellers, take your jars.
I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna sip
on what's left on the rest of these jars.
[narrator] rapid oak aging is a back wood solution
for shiners who can't afford to wait years
for a liquor to barrel age
by putting charred oak chips directly into the whiskey.
They can use multiple types of wood
with varying degrees of char to create a signature color
and flavor in a fraction of the time.
Using chips they brought from home,
the shiner will have 24 hours
to age their rye whiskey
and earn the expert judges seal of approval
to win the competition.
-Uh-oh. -[tickle] all right, fellers.
We have some very distinguished
palates here today.
I'd like to call them our super judges.
-Fred minnick. -Gentleman.
And we have tim jones.
And I hope you all know who I am.
Sadly, yes.
[narrator] fred minnick is a bourbon aficionado,
professional whiskey competition judge
and editor-in-chief for his own bourbon magazine.
He's previously ranked jars and broken spirits
at a moonshiner secret summit.
This is the highest rating
I've ever given a flavor with anything.
-I gave it an eight. -Yeah.
-Bravo. -Love it.
[narrator] kentucky native, tim jones,
who judged master distiller in a prior whiskey showdown.
[tim jones] it's masher still, it ain't distiller.
[narrator] he's a whiskey connoisseur who works
with some of the biggest names in the business
giving him access to some of the rarest
and most coveted whiskey labels
in the country.
Together, their knowledge of american whiskeys
is unmatched.
Y'all have got 30 minutes to rapid age
y'all fine rye liquor you all got.
[fred] I think rapid aging comes down to the people
and the skills that they have to make the liquor.
[tim jones] talent is key.
I mean some people know how to use this rapid aging
better than others. We'll see.
[fred] I'm excited to find out.
[tim jones] me too.
Your time starts now.
Mark ramsey.
Tell us about the wood that you all use
in the aging process.
[mark] I have a medium toast oak
and a very, very light toast oak.
I'm keeping a bottled sample stupid as you can get it.
There's a very fine line, if you ain't careful,
you get too much oak state.
Just a pinch over just enough is too much.
[tim jones] looks like tim has got a lot more variety
of jars over there.
[tim smith] mine's a lot different.
We got some plain toast american white
and we got some french toast.
I also got some apple sticks.
[tim jones] have you ever used that combination before
or is this brand new?
[tim smith] no, this is brand new to me now.
You only got a few hours to make this thing change color,
change flavor profile.
Not too worried about the color but I was very worried
about the taste profile because you could
destroy this thing.
[tickle] digger, what you got going on over there?
[digger] I got secret oak.
Trying not to over oak it, but just to get a sediment,
that big and vanilla in there hopefully.
-Okay. -[digger] and I'm gonna hope
that I make a fine jar of liquor.
[tickle] he's down to 15 minutes.
[digger] I got beautiful mahogany color
and tim smith's still over there, making a milkshake.
[tickle] you got a great color going on right now.
It'll be mahogany in the morning.
Tim smith over there had such a nice color too.
-I'm done. -I'm done.
[mark] bring it in here, pals.
[tickle] all right. I have to admit,
that one fine looking jar of liquor.
-Here. -Oh,
it's got a beautiful color to it.
A little bit of apple and a little bit of french oak.
[tickle] I'll go along with that.
Sure.
One rapid aged in jar of liquor.
I'll see you all fellers in the morning, all right?
[digger] you do what you gotta do.
I'm going home and take a shower and...
[tickle] if y'all leave me here long enough,
I'm drinking some of these.
Let's try this stuff.
It probably wouldn't hurt to take a sip
out each one of them.
[dramatic music playing]
all right, fellers.
We're gonna have 15 minutes
to strain, filter and blend
that one jar as much as you can.
I'm really ready for it.
[fred] yeah. I'm excited.
I'm really excited to taste that.
Fifteen minutes start now.
So I'm noticing like they all have
very different filtering techniques here
so we're gonna see the distillate
and some of the aging that came through
is going to shine where others who, you know,
want to filter it out a little bit.
Tim is using a t-shirt.
You know, I mean I hope he at least cleaned it before he...
[tim jones] he's gotta use this t-this for something.
He doesn't wear them.
[tickle] yeah. This is true.
[fred] tim, why are you using a t-shirt?
[tim smith] back in my growing up days,
we have to use what we had.
And if you had something you need to strain that out
and you have a piece of clothing on you,
you pull it off and use that to strain it.
Thank you for not using underwear today.
I appreciate that.
That's for date night.
That's what that is.
[fred] so I'm curious.
Did everybody have the same recipe?
I put us together a prohibition type liquor.
It's about 55 to 57 percent rye, malt extract.
All extract whiskey.
[mark] it's a cask strength whiskey.
It's about 125.
[fred] well, that's what tim brushes his teeth with
is cask strength whiskey, so...
I ain't scared of it.
So, mark, is this is the first time you've ran extract?
[mark] tim, this is my very first run of extract.
I used rye extract then I added a [indistinct]
-in the rye. -Okay.
Rye, you know, it's a finicky mistress
but you work with what you got,
do the best you can with it and move forward.
[tim jones] I think there is a little bit of an upper hand
with extracts because it's pretty dialed in.
But the nice thing about using grain is that
you can experiment and do your own thing.
Tim was using grains.
[tim smith] it's 100% rye in my mash bill.
Only thing that I added to my recipe
is I did add some apples to my thumper
so the rye came through that.
[tim jones] so we got an apple, rye with grain
and two different extract builds.
[fred] we have some bizarre rye...
-Yeah. Yeah. -...Coming out way.
It's before the rubber hits the road ain't it?
I can't say hella lot about this
but it sure is attractive.
[mark] yeah. I'm happy with my color.
[digger] here goes nothing.
Good luck, fellers.
[mark] I'll lay it. Go in with an open mind.
I can't say I've seen a prettier jar turned in so far.
Yeah.
Got a little less in his jar.
-A little less than your... -Because I drank some of it.
-[tickle] yeah. -But I'm gonna have to say
this is the best jar of whiskey rapid aged
that I have made in my life.
And bringing in the confidence, huh?
He is.
I am 100% confident in that jar without a doubt.
-That's great. -So good.
He's got our mouth filled water over here.
[tim jones] I know. We look forward to it, tim.
He thinks he wins master marketer out of these?
-[tickle] exactly. -[tim jones] that's right.
[tickle] if it turns up, damn, I'm gonna be upset.
[mark] all right, fellers, I'll say this.
It was full and from the time it got from here to here,
it got a lot better. So...
Yeah. All right.
We have seen a dramatic difference in one day
when it comes to aging this stuff.
[fred] tickle, I'm not actually in favor
of rapid aging when it comes to, like,
the commercial products.
There's no replacing time
when it comes to making whiskey.
You're right about that.
[tim jones] father time and mother nature
are best two ingredients.
[digger] you know, in our neighborhood back in the day,
you'd have people that would pour
a little coke or dr. Pepper it.
When it turned into pretty color,
they would jar it up and they would sell it for age lift.
They would get $10 more out of it.
[fred] that's the old fashion rectifier technique.
They used to pour prune juice and tobacco spit in the 1800s.
Well, I told mark, I thought about putting
a little tobacco juice in mine to color up.
[narrator] in the final round of the ultimate rematch,
mark, tim and digger have turned in their best jars
of rapidly aged whiskey
to two of america's top whiskey experts.
And backwoods' moonshine master, tickle.
First jar we have up here is digger.
Well, first nose in a three,
smells more berry to me.
There's a funk to this.
[digger] this was an experiment.
I have never ran any of that malt extract before.
[fred] it takes a whole better than it smells.
Tastes a whole lot better. Yeah.
It smells like I don't wanna put it anywhere near my lips,
but once I taste it, I'm getting some honey notes,
uh, like some maple syrup, a little rye toast.
[tickle] you nailed it dead on the head right there.
Even going back to it,
I think it gets a little better.
But I think the finish is really great too.
A high proof, the rye helps cut through the aging process.
So here is tim smith.
I am very confident.
[digger] well, it don't show. I mean...
You haven't tasted it yet.
The nose is light years. So much better than...
Yeah. We're talking this is real rye.
Oh, yeah. I actually get a touch of the apple on it.
-[fred] this nose is gorgeous. -[tim jones] it is.
[mark] I'm in intimidated by a lot of things.
Tim smith ain't one of them.
I almost feel like tim is really onto something.
-[fred] this is complex. -[tim jones] it is.
There's some really, really nice notes
that are still standing strong against the wood.
[fred] this has chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
It's got ginger cookies, it's got cardamom.
-It does. -[fred] it's got cinnamon.
Every memory of my holidays growing up
sitting around the fire with my family.
[tim jones] think if you can somehow put nostalgia
in a bottle, you've got something.
[fred] it's smart to go with what you know and tim...
-[tim jones] true. -...Did what he knew.
Mark ramsey.
[mark] I only got four jars.
Uh-oh. Uh-oh.
-You know what's funny? -Smells great.
[mark] it has made me the respect for the pressure
that the contests are under by being
on that side of the table myself.
He really played it down.
-He did. -[tickle] he did.
And I think there's humbleness in this jar.
[fred] my goodness. Uh-oh. Watch out, tim.
On the nose, fred, I don't get the complexity
as tim's but...
[fred] there's one note in here that sticks out
in a big, big way and that's cherries.
It's good. It's got a drier note for me.
I don't know, fred. I like the finish of it.
Mmm-hmm.
It's got almost like a raw dough.
It's not a cookie dough but it's like a bread dough.
And that can be a very enticing flavor
if you're in the mood for it.
On the other side, there's just a touch of spice.
I mean I don't know where you guys sip but I think...
Yeah.
[tim jones] ...There's no doubt on it.
[tickle] all right, fellers.
I'd love to say this was an easy decision,
but it was not.
Digger, when I first smelled it,
I didn't wanna drink it. The nose was...
-It's harsh. -...Peculiar to me.
Pretty sure that was the extract.
Then I tasted it and it did a 180.
The palate was so much better.
I think that's probably a little bit of that rapid aging
but your jar was absolute
a master of his craft in distilling.
No flaws in it.
Digger, on the nose, I'm not as harsh on it.
There was just a little bit of funk on it.
But on the palate, it is really good.
[fred] mark, drinking yours,
I was not thinking I was drinking a whiskey,
I was thinking I was drinking a beer stout.
And so when this is all over, I'm gonna go get a beer, so...
[mark] okay.
[fred] much like digger, you're to be commended
for creating something that is very, very drinkable
because people are not out there distilling extract.
-Right. -[fred] and you made
something here that could be put on the shelf.
Thank you, fred.
[tim jones] but I felt like balance
of what you were doing with your distillate
and in the extract and the aging,
there was a much better balance on the palate.
It was really well done.
Tim, you bragged that thing up so much
that you almost planted a seed in us for us to not like it.
You know as my mama told me growing up,
nobody likes a bragger, but when I tasted that,
they remind me something else from my mama.
And that was her cookies when I was growing up.
So your technique in using the various pieces of wood
compensated for the 100% rye, brought some balance to it.
You know, I thought the complexity on that,
as soon as we went to the nose,
there was a lot of surprise and delight in there,
rye notes, the apple balancing that out
was really impressive.
It's hard to make rye smooth.
It is and I think the assortment of wood chips
really played in your favor.
And that was a first for me.
-[tim jones] it was. -That was a first.
[tim jones] and I think you rolled the dice.
Have to say there's a little bit of luck in that one.
[tim jones] but we taste a lot of the same things.
And over time, you get a little bored
and I think what you guys did for us today
was challenge it, made it interesting.
We had to pick it apart a little differently
than we normally do.
And all three of you are masters, we know that.
-There has to be one winner. -[fred] yeah.
But I think all three of you brought
-really great jars to us. -Thank you, tim.
-[tim jones] yup.
[tickle] they were all winners
and that made this hard to judge.
[fred] but I feel like we have one jar
that stood out to me as something
that I'm buying tomorrow if it's on the shelf.
[tim jones] yup.
Tim smith,
that's your winning jar right there.
-Yup. It is. -Like a commercial drink jar.
I made a lot of mistakes in my life
and that jar is not one of them.
-It's great. It was... -I was very...
I was very proud of it.
[digger] it's a noble experiment on our part.
To have the winner chasing our original recipe,
that don't hurt too bad either.
But it's a whole lot better with another drink.
They always say that imitation
is the best form of a compliment.
I'm ready to taste tim smith's.
Digger won first last year.
I won first this year.
But right now, I think it's time for mark
to put one on the bowl.
I'm tasting the [bleep] I'm ready to start now.
-[tickle] yeah. Right. -Yeah.