We put a lot of stuff in our stills
to give it a little different flavor,
and I've never put a chicken in still pot.
Narrator: This time on "master distiller"...
...The spirits head south of the border
as the competition tackles mezcal,
the moonshine of mexico...
They're hiding in the forest. Like us.
...Using indigenous agave mash
and ancient distillation techniques.
Jerrod: I don't know if the judges are gonna like
that much of a bite to it.
Narrator: Tackling this traditionally small-batch booze
will show once and for all...
Well, hello, beautiful.
...That a true master distiller can master any recipe.
This jar bought you a ticket home.
♪
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...
Digger: Jar's on the table, no more piddling with it.
...Judged by three legendary moonshiners,
they'll go head to head in a series of challenges...
He put his two jars of tails in his thumper.
Whoo!
...To determine who has what it takes...
Whoa!
...To be named master distiller.
Seems to me like me and you need to hang a possum
in our still pot. [ laughs ]
-- captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
captions paid for by discovery communications
♪
y'all know why we're here. We're gonna find out
which one of you all is the master distiller.
The winner's gonna get the bragging rights,
and you're gonna get a limited run
of your signature liquor.
Here at sugar lands distilling company,
we're gonna do something that's got all of us
pretty stoked up.
Y'all, we're gonna make some agave-based spirit.
Tim: You'll be making a pechuga mezcal,
so you'll have to triple distill it.
Mezcal is the moonshine of mexico.
Narrator: Mezcal is a mexican spirit,
distilled from the native agave plant.
The best known type of mezcal is tequila made from blue agave.
Mezcal is traditionally produced in small villages
using old family recipes.
The heart of the agave plant, or peña, is harvested
and then cooked in an underground pit.
Once cooked, the peña is crushed to break down the sugars
and starches, combined with water,
and left uncovered to allow wild fermentation to occur.
Like the backwoods shiners of appalachia
infuse their spirits, the mezcaleros add fruits, nuts,
and, in some cases, meat to their stills
during the final distillation.
This style, known as pechuga,
produces a rich, complex finished flavor,
rarely made outside of mexico.
Digger: Ladies and gentlemen,
first, you're gonna make you a blue agave mash.
Then you're gonna run it on three identical stills.
Nobody's got the upper hand.
The only thing that's gonna separate you all
is gonna be your skill set --
what you brought with you in your hip pocket.
Let's go make some mash.
You're gonna have one hour, and your time starts now.
♪
narrator: Using the same three ingredients --
water, agave concentrate, and yeast --
distillers must produce a mash that yields enough alcohol
to last through three separate distillations
over the course of the competition.
♪
there we go. Whoo!
Digger: You know, I think it's pretty evident
that jerrod didn't take safety in mind
whenever he got dressed this morning,
being around the open flame.
[ laughter ]
it's a little fancier pot than what I'm used to,
but, you know, we'll make do.
My name is jerrod, and I live in los fresnos, texas.
Distilling is really my passion.
It's what I think about at night.
I spend my weekends working inside the shop,
perfecting my craft.
My first real job was actually running moonshine.
Now, I did have a few run-ins with the law.
In here we have, oh, right now, about 40 gallons of mash.
I ended up picking up some kegs that were left at a party
on south padre island one time.
I started designing my own stills and still parts
and doing my own copper work.
I do have some experience with making mezcal.
That's a good, clear mash.
My wife is from san miguel de allende,
which is in the northern part of mexico.
I love to incorporate the tropical flavors,
the fruits and vegetables
and things that come from mexico, into my spirits.
Mexican vanilla is one thing I like
to add in a lot of my stuff.
There are mexican hillbillies too,
and I tend to identify with those people.
Have y'all done y'all's agave?
-Oh, yeah, we weighed it out. -I got yours.
Okay, I haven't done mine.
Just go ahead and do what you got to do.
We're a little short on the agave,
so I'm gonna improvise it and just wing it and go by eye.
Let me get out of your way.
That's how you got to do it out in the sticks.
Y'all came out of the gate looking out for one another.
You know, whether it's mezcal or moonshine, there's still a code.
Are you doing okay over there?
Doing great, how about you?
I am delightful. I'm just stirring my yeast.
Okay.
Miranda is proving a point that liquor people,
teetotalers have said for years.
That's all they're doing is sitting on their ass,
making liquor.
[ laughter ]
my name is miranda, and I'm from lizella, georgia.
This is my setup, using an induction plate.
Once the still comes up to temperature,
it's just a standard 10-gallon still.
Monday through Friday is full-time job,
take the kids to and from school.
I can swap to the next jar.
Sunday is my day.
We started taking little distillery tours
as we went on vacation places,
and started going through the process
of learning a little bit, deciding, "you know what?
I really enjoy this."
thank you. That was it for me.
We're gonna open a distillery.
This is a blue form mixture, which is what we're hoping
to feature out of our distillery here.
I'm here to compete and show tim, mark,
and digger that women are strong competitors
and we're here to win.
♪
got a good smell to it.
It smells nice.
This is more of a sickly sweet.
Well, he said he had a brewery.
Mark: He had a brewery, yeah.
That's a different ballgame.
My name is lawrence and I'm from napoleon, ohio.
I own and operate the flatrock brewing company.
We opened the brewery here in 2014.
Now, we're transitioning away from craft
brewing into distilling.
These are our three and a half barrel fermenters.
We use these for beer fermenting,
but now they can hold the mashes
and the washes for the distilling process.
This is my grandfather, lawrence albert prichard.
He was a moonshiner during the great depression.
When I opened my brewery,
I really didn't know my grandfather
was this famous moonshiner. When I was younger, I mean,
you're just playing catch with your grandpa.
He's not gonna come out and say, "oh, yeah.
By the way, I was making illegal liquor
and, you know, distributing it during the great depression."
in southern ohio, there was a lot of farmers
that had to do that,
because farming wasn't profitable
during the depression.
Let's go in, it's cold.
There was really a lot
of really great african-american distillers,
but they just don't get the same notoriety as their counterparts.
For me to win master distiller,
I think, will enable me to kind of tell my story
and tell about their contribution into distilling.
All she wrote.
Narrator: During fermentation, the yeast consumes the sugars
and starches from the agave mash,
releasing alcohol as a byproduct.
The fermented mash, called mosto,
is then ready to distill.
For the first stripping run,
the mosto is heated to 173 degrees,
separating the alcohol vapors from the remaining liquid.
It then travels through the arm into the condenser,
where it's cooled into liquid alcohol.
The weak alcohol produced during this run
is then re-distilled in a second spirit run.
Finally, the resulting clear high-proof mezcal blanco
is distilled for a third time,
using unique pechuga recipes to produce the finished flavors.
♪
digger: Alright, guys, your mash is ready.
I've checked it myself.
Time to get over and put them stills to work.
You've got your equipment behind you.
This run is the stripping run,
and the goal is to make as much product as you can.
You bring us your finished product,
we're gonna weigh it.
We're gonna figure out the proof gallons,
and this is gonna determine first, second, and third place.
Who gets first place gets the first pick of the still pot.
You've got four hours, starting now.
♪
lawrence: Looking at the mash this morning, I was pretty happy.
It was already starting to clear up.
I think my mash actually finished fermenting.
As a brewer, I make yeast starters all the time.
I actually added a little bit of a concentrate
to the yeast starter,
and I think that really helped the yeast kind of take off
because it has something to eat and multiply.
♪
she's got stuff running out.
She's got her drain open, just running out.
She is. She left the drain open.
Are you kidding?
[bleep]
she done lost some tonic already.
Miranda: I didn't double-check myself
when I started loading the pot.
That was my fault.
Much too, too late.
Lawrence: Mine cleared up from the tox.
I think it was done fermenting.
He left somewhere around the same amount, okay.
I need as much as I can pull.
I just don't want to burn anything on the bottom.
Straining to light that out. Was there a lot in there?
A lot of particles?
Yeah. I've got a little less mash,
so I've got to work with it.
Got you open there.
Tim: He's getting ready to light up something over there.
Get ready. You may catch on fire over there.
That comes on now.
Coming now. There you go.
Whew. What else do you want?
Less hair.
That's what I am, the problem solver.
[ chuckles ] you're a good man.
-Whoo! -Whoa.
We got fire.
Then we've got a new technique here.
We have a new technique.
He's taking a wrench and putting against it and listening to it.
Oh, yeah. She's starting to move in there now.
What'd that monkey wrench have to say?
My ears are 50 years old.
They've been around too many diesel engines,
and I don't hear so good anymore.
I've worked on commercial fishing boats.
I've owned a commercial shrimp vessel.
Right now, I drive a truck.
I usually just put a towel on it and lay my ear on it.
Driving a truck isn't what I'd like to do
with the rest of my life.
I would prefer to open up a palenque and distill,
legally, if possible, in south texas.
Lawrence, it looks like you've got something on the move, man.
Yep. Got product coming out now.
Yes, you have. Yeah.
Jerrod: Doing this strip and run,
we're trying to get as much volume out as we can.
I'm gonna try and run it hot and fast on this one.
You know, we hope we don't scorch this liquor
and come out with a good product.
I love low and slow. This is not a process
I feel like you should rush, even doing a stripping run.
How many jars do you have?
Working on my fifth.
I'm slowly getting there, but I'm at one.
Narrator: Coming up...
Miranda: I need to get into that room first
and get my still parts to get the parts
that I'm comfortable with.
Narrator: ...The stripping run bares all.
I am a risk taker. I like to gamble.
Digger: Alright, boys and girls.
You're at the one hour left mark.
Narrator: Three of the country's top amateur distillers
are competing in uncharted territory
for the title of master distiller.
Lawrence: Smells good. I'm happy with it.
Sometimes that wash smells good
and when it comes out that worm, smells like hell.
Narrator: With the goal to make the best triple-distilled
mezcal de pechuga from a single barrel of agave mash,
the competitors are first facing off in a stripping run
to determine who can produce the most alcohol by volume.
-Got another little rag? -Yeah.
Tie that around that.
Keep this because it's getting some splash in it.
This is what I'd like to see right there.
He's over there helping him.
Tim: He's gonna him his last rag he had.
Digger: He's right, right there.
I mean, that cold water will soak up in that rag,
and won't contaminate his liquor.
Plus it'll cool that spout as well as the rest of the worm.
Lawrence: Look at that.
Getting in tails.
Jerrod: Yeah, it's already cloudy.
I think what I would like to do is save
a little bit of a tail,
it's the pit in my doubler for the next run.
Jerrod, where are you at, brother?
We started to get a little cloud in there.
We got a little bit of water in the liquor.
I'll mark that as tails and save that.
My plan with my tails is that if I make it to that last round,
I want to add a little character
to my mezcal de pechuga in the end run.
A lot, a lot, a lot of water in this, low proof.
I'm willing to sacrifice for volume now to get
where I need to be later.
I'm looking to win the war. Not the battle.
Y'all got 20 minutes. I hope y'all where you need to be.
Miranda: Honestly my temp just jumped.
That tells me I'm heading into water
so I may be done after this draw.
I'm about to stop too.
Yeah, I think I'm gonna finish this jar 'cause
I just don't want to mess anything up.
Nice and clear. Smells good.
Tastes good. Couldn't be happier.
I didn't run as hard and fast as they did.
I knew we had the same amount of time
and I wanted as much clean, good product is I could get.
I need to get into that room first
and get my still parts to get the parts
that I'm comfortable with.
Thank you, sir. -Alright, guys.
-Appreciate it. -Good deal.
-We'll be with you shortly. -Good luck.
Thank you.
Here's a bucket.
Digger: You got a big bucket full plus some.
Sure do.
-Alright, lawrence. Thank you. -Thank you.
-Good luck, buddy. -Thank you.
Miranda.
Did you get the volume you wished for?
Time will tell. Thank you.
♪
yep.
How about 25.2?
Mark: 25.2 pounds for jerrod.
Narrator: To calculate individual proof gallons,
each bucket is weighed,
and the alcohol content is measured using a hydrometer.
The weight of each bucket is then multiplied
by the percent of alcohol by volume.
This number is then multiplied by two and divided by 100.
A complicated equation not usually attempted
by shiners in the backwoods.
Here we go, guys, nobody goes home on this round,
but the winner will get their pick of still parts.
Here is the total. Jerry.
Sir.
I see that you've kept quart to the tails.
You had 2.1 proof gallons.
Lawrence.
You held out two additional quarts of tail.
You come free with 1.8 proof gallons.
Miranda.
You chose to hold out none of your tails.
Correct.
Put it all in the bucket. Put it all in the bucket.
So if that was the plan of winning this first step
of this contest,
it was successful.
You have 2.3 proof gallons in your stripping run.
So all of you are going to the next round.
They're all gonna make us some mezcal,
but you're simply gonna get first pick of your still parts.
Jerrod, you're going to get second pick of your still parts,
and, lawrence, you'll get third pick.
Miranda: This just kind of guaranteed
a little bit of a leg up
since I can choose the parts that I'm familiar with.
Narrator: Unlike tequila, which has been mass produced
in mexico for decades,
mezcal is still traditionally distilled in clay
or copper pots connected directly to the condenser.
But like their moonshiner counterparts
north of the border,
many mezcaleros have long operated
under the cover of darkness
to keep from the prying eyes of the law.
This means they learn to build stills quickly out of anything.
To carry on this tradition
and truly make the moonshine of mexico,
distillers will have to build a working still out
of whatever they find.
Alright, miranda, go get what you need, girl.
Alright. Five minutes.
I'm going back, just a basic build,
just like I use it at home, a carbon copy of it,
so I'm gonna use a thumper and keep it simple.
Use what you know.
Pack it up, miranda. You're done.
Alright, cuz, you've got five minutes from now.
Jerrod: I personally felt comfortable with the still setup
that was there,
and I think I will probably follow the very same line
and run the very same thing again.
Alright, lawrence, you're up. Five minutes starts now.
Lawrence: Gonna grab a doubler and a shotgun condenser 'cause
I'm used to using those as well.
And that way also I can kind of really focus on the drip.
I want to be really, really low and slow.
Be able to taste, that way I can make my cuts properly.
Alright, lawrence. Bring it out. Set it down.
Tim: Alright, guys.
It's time to show us that you can build a still.
Get to it.
♪
miranda: In georgia, I have a store-bought still
instead of making one of my own.
So this was a first for me today.
Tim: Lawrence, you see he's getting a little complicated
with his setup, but he knows what he's doing.
He understands the importance of a thumper
in a situation like this.
Jerrod: I went with a traditional design,
just the pot, head, worm.
The mash we ran on that stripping run
had a very nice flavor.
I'd like to retain as much of that as possible.
Mark: Three stills, boys,
three different complete still setups, yep.
Narrator: Coming up...
Tim: And he's putting a special
something from the mason jar in there.
Narrator: ...Three jars of mezcal and one last shot
at making it to the final round.
Do you ever do anything fast?
Only when it's necessary.
Miranda: I'm going to open a distillery.
There's no if, ands, or buts.
This is on the money.
It's time to start the second phase of your process.
Narrator: One texas shiner, one legacy liquor maker,
and one distillation aficionado are starting a mezcal spirit run
and a battle for the title of master distiller.
That's running that second run. We need to get busy.
We ain't gonna get done.
You got four hours starting...
Now.
Narrator: For this elimination challenge,
contestants will use the alcohol
collected in the first stripping run of the agave mosto
to produce a clear flavorful mezcal blanco.
The top two will advance to the final round
to make mezcal de pechuga by infusing the mezcal
with an original mix of fruit, nuts, and meat.
I'm looking forward to see if lawrence can work this out.
I like that setup.
Lawrence: I took the tails from the stripping run,
so that it has a lot of flavor,
and that's gonna carry over into the jars.
♪
miranda just poured that mash into her thump keg.
It is going to change the taste profile,
and then it also gonna change the way the run comes out,
head, hearts, and tails.
Miranda: I used the leftover from the still
before to load into the thumper
because I didn't hold any tails back.
Jerrod: I didn't add tails into this run
because this is traditionally a second distillation
that's kind of saved for your final distillation.
I think I'll come out fine with my hearts,
and then I'm gonna leave those faints to add in
if I make it to that last round.
He done turned it right up,
so get ready.
Boom.
I love seeing flames
when there's a lot of alcohol vapor around.
I'm telling you.
We've got ignition over here. Everybody's hot.
You don't get excited?
Oh, he ain't stressed at all.
-Hey, jerrod? -Sir?
Do you ever do anything fast?
I ain't seen your pace change yet.
Only when it's necessary.
♪
jerrod: I know what I'm looking to produce,
and I think I have the strategy and the game plan to get there.
Now, you had a little bit leftover tails.
I charged the thumper with that.
Okay, alright.
So the vapor is gonna go through there and --
I see right there.
Yeah, pick up a little bit of that flavor.
This probably don't worry any of you,
but you've got two hours left.
Tim: Smell something burning other than
what's supposed to be burning -- your bucket's on fire.
I knew it was something burning. Your bucket's on fire.
Already told you my nose don't work.
Thought you said your hearing was off.
That don't either. And my eyes are bad.
Lawrence: Selective hearing.
Everything else works fine.
[ laughter ]
digger: Yeah, we got liquor flowing.
♪
you doing okay?
Yep. I'm moving heads now, it's moving right along.
Jerrod: How's the taste?
Tastes pretty good.
I still taste the mash in there.
It's got like a spice to it, a little pepper.
The key to a master distiller
is really watching for the taste and smell.
I think over time, your palate kind of gets...
Evolves to a point where you can taste the cuts.
Narrator: During a spirit run, additional water
is separated from the distillate, refining
and purifying the resulting alcohol in the process.
First off, the stills is the heads
containing the highest alcohol content and harshest bite.
Next is the hearts, the purest, smoothest ethanol,
followed by the flavorful but lower-proof tails.
Finding the right cut of hearts
and blending it with a small amount of tails
is key to a balanced final product.
♪
tim: We only need one jar, one jar each now.
Don't bring us no two cases over here, lawrence.
Okay. What I would like to do is move our family name
from illegal distilling to legal.
Learning that my grandfather was this famous moonshiner
really made me want to learn the trade from the ground up
and I think my grandfather would probably laugh his head off
to know that I have a bottle legally on the shelf.
Guys, just so you all know,
you're at 25 minutes away from tables covered in pretty jars.
I'll bring in the jar that I don't empty.
Okay.
We've seen that happen.
[ laughs ]
for me, my family has been a huge encouragement to this.
When I turned to my husband and saying,
"I think I want to be a distiller
and I want to open a distillery,"
and without missing a beat, he said, "okay, let's do it."
♪
support is everything.
I'm going to open a distillery. There's no if, ands, or buts.
That your jar?
It's a jar.
You happy with that?
About as happy as I'm gonna get.
♪
is that the one?
That's the one.
Alright, we're gonna take your word for it.
Alright, here they come. They didn't use up all the time.
Thank you, lawrence. Yep. Thank you.
Digger: Thank y'all. Y'all head out and wait on the back porch
and I'll come get you here in little bit.
Good luck to all of you.
Well, boys. The time is nigh.
Jerrod -- it's real low. It ain't got big bubbles in it.
It's got all in bubbles in it,
he's done put too much water in that thing.
♪
well, it's smooth.
That's because ain't no alcohol in it.
I mean, it's got a good taste to it.
That tastes like weak backin's.
Yeah, it's a good drink,
it's got tails in it, that's what it is.
It's good. It's got a great taste.
Now, miranda's has got a little liquor in it.
It's gonna about to make you sneeze,
there's so much vapor coming up.
It's kind of rye spicy on the end.
You get a little floral up front.
A little fruity in the middle,
and a whole lot of alcohol on the back bite.
Tim: I think I liked that one. It's probably 110 proof.
I'm thinking it's between more than one team.
Lord have mercy.
It's heatin' you up, ain't it?
Yeah, I'm damn hotter than doughnut grease.
It's supposed to be prized for its smoothness.
That ain't smooth. Ain't got no smooth.
Yeah, it'll burn the piss out of you.
Lawrence.
Honestly, this is sippable.
Tim: Now I'm getting a little pepper on this one.
Yep. There at that back end, you've got a ball of pepper.
Got a little pepper on the back end.
I got a little fruit on the front.
Yep.
Lawrence is the one,
he put his two jars of tails in his thumper.
I can even smell some of that hint of the pepper.
-Go get them. -Go get them, digger.
Narrator: Coming up...
They're hiding in the forest.
Like us.
...It's no foods barred as the distillers face judgment
from a true mezcal master.
Be careful about how much sugar you add in to it.
That can be extremely spicy.
Narrator: A booze traveler, a legal distiller,
and an aspiring distillery owner
have brought their best jar of mezcal blanco
to the table for judging.
We had a tough decision to make. It was pretty hard.
Only two will make it to the final round.
Lawrence, you know, this thing has got a fantastic nose on it.
It starts and finishes well.
You get a little bit of fruit, tiny bit of floral.
At the end, you get a spicy bite like a rye, really.
Mezcal is to be kissed. It's a sipping drink.
It's not meant to be harsh. So this is on the money.
You've got the number one jar buddy.
Jerrod, you got a pleasant drink here.
I mean, it comes out, you know,
you get that initial little burn on your tongue
and then it finishes weak.
Yes, sir.
I didn't add tails into this run.
I am a risk taker and I like to gamble.
We're gonna find out if that was the right move or not.
Miranda, you know, that's a beautiful jar of liquor,
crystal clear. It had a good initial flavor on it...
But unfortunately, it finishes a little harsh.
Right.
What'd you think your proof was at?
I'm hoping it was around 90.
Okay. Well, you were actually at 115.
I was way off.
-Yes, you were. -Pretty high.
You've been sampling too much.
And as much as it pains me to do it,
this jar bought you a ticket home.
If I had just proofed it down,
it would have been a much harder decision.
Thank y'all. Thank you, honey.
It was nice meeting you.
-Nice to meet y'all too. -Good luck to you.
Thank you. I have the skills
and the instincts to get a distillery open,
and that's what we're gonna do.
Let's get on it, y'all. We're here for one purpose
and one purpose only,
to figure out which one of you all is master distiller.
So you'll be making a pechuga mezcal, for your final run.
Narrator: Like the regional moonshine recipes of appalachia,
mezcal de pechuga is crafted in small batches
using old family recipes, made for celebrations.
Fruits, grains, and nuts are added
directly to the pod of double-distilled spirit,
and meat is hung from the still cath.
The raw meat is cooked during the third
and final distillation,
infusing the liquor with flavor from the fats
and juices dripping back into the pot,
and adding body to the final product.
For the third and final distillation,
the remaining contestants have brought ingredients from home
to make their own unique pechuga recipe
to flavor their mezcal blanco,
and determine the next master distiller.
Welcome back, boys. We phoned a friend here,
world-renowned erick rodriguez.
And he is gonna help us refine our skills
to know what we're looking for, so we fairly judge you two.
Narrator: Known as the indiana jones of mezcal,
erick rodriguez travels to remote villages across mexico
searching for mezcaleros who distill in the ancient style.
Driven to preserve this heritage,
he brings their small-batch products to market,
and holds tastings at a storefront in mexico city
to educate clients about true mezcal.
I'm glad to see that you guys making pechuga.
I'm here just to help master distillers
to know what is mezcal, what is the true mezcal.
Wish you luck for both of you.
Thank you.
Today's the day we're gonna find out
which one of y'all truly is the master distiller.
Now, that's not just a title,
you're gonna get the bragging rights,
and you're also gonna get a limited run of your liquor
in a major distillery.
You've got four hours,
and that four hour starts...
Now.
Now, in mexico, do the distillers in the villages,
do they face legal repercussions?
Is it illegal? Is it illegal for them to just...
As it should be, here.
Erick: One of the ones that I work,
they're hiding in the forest, until now.
Like us, yeah.
Jerrod: My plan for the final run
is to make a traditional mezcal de pechuga.
I use turkey,
star anise, pineapple, banana, almond, and rice.
And what I can recommend is,
this one, they need to be cleaned perfectly.
Any of the white part is gone. Yeah.
♪
I'm using tails in the blend.
Think of it is as sharing a little from the first run,
and add body to the spirit.
Hey, alright.
-What's going on? -What do we have here?
I'm gonna toast to my henry county, ohio,
sweet corn, drizzle a little bit of the raw honey over it,
add in my spices, let it cook up a little bit, strain it,
and add it to the doubler.
The mash didn't have that deep smokiness
that we were looking for, so I made sure
that I had a smoked chicken to go in as well,
and hopefully it picks up some of the smoky notes
once it goes through the doubler.
You need to be careful about how much sugar
you're adding to it. Right.
Because when I distill something really sweet,
let's say we have spicy and mangoes,
they can be extremely spicy
and pretty aggressive to your taste.
Once it's done distilling? Yes, it is too...
Okay, thank you.
♪
lawrence: I didn't put anything into the pot,
because it's a precious amount of alcohol in there.
So I just wanted to... Just a nice clean run,
and let it kind of go through the extract that I made,
instead of putting it into the pot, and risking scorching.
Digger: We put a lot of stuff in our stills
to give it a little different flavor,
and make it the next big thing,
but I've never put a chicken in the still pot.
What happened is...
It seems to me like you and me
need to hang a possum in our still pot.
[ laughs ]
♪
jerrod: And it's on.
Men, you've got one hour left.
Hope y'all are where you need to be,
time's getting short on you.
Oh, the liquors nice and clear.
I'm guessing 130 or 140,
130 coming off that pot. I might've made a mistake
putting a little too much anise in there.
I don't know if the judges are going to like
that much of a bite to it, but at this point,
I'm committed.
Lawrence: So I'm getting out the hearts right now,
so I'm really watching the drip.
It's getting a little bit sweeter.
So I'm probably gonna make that transition now.
♪
lawrence: Definitely going to add a little bit of tails back.
It just depends on the flavor of it.
I really don't know what the tails are going to taste like.
♪
do you see the color?
Yeah.
I think he added too much tails into this one.
I hope it's the only one.
Narrator: Coming up...
This one tastes like a normal tequila.
Narrator: ...The third distillation is the charm
for the first-ever mezcal master distiller.
Mark: Right off the bat, I just smell cinnamon.
For me, it's just real hot on the back.
You're the next master distiller, my friend.
Really, pechuga, it is for specific celebrations.
They make this pechuga to impress the people
are coming to the house.
It's special. It's special.
Do people tend to keep track of their recipe?
Yes.
Or do they just haphazard through it?
No, they have recipes. Yeah.
We do a lot of things. And unfortunately,
you know, we try to keep track of them now,
but back in the day, we weren't real --
digger and I was on a little pot still,
a little bit bigger than one of these, one time.
And we took what we had, we threw it in,
didn't measure nothing, and our mash fermented it all.
Oh, I can't wait to come back in here and taste this.
Honestly, it was some of the best liquor we ever tasted.
Oh, it's fine liquor.
But we ain't got no idea how to replicate it,
because we don't remember what we put in, you know?
Of course, yeah.
You know, so...
[ sighs ]
one minute, men.
Narrator: It's a mexican standoff,
as a texas booze bandito and a legal distiller
craft their own mezcal de pechuga recipes...
Here comes jerrod.
...But only one can be named master distiller.
Thank you, I hope you like the fillers.
-Good luck, jerrod. -Good luck.
Thanks, guys.
Digger: Y'all brought it right down to the wire.
Yep.
I like people that use their time.
We'll come get you when we reach our decision.
We appreciate it. Alright, thanks.
Gentlemen, we've got to figure out
which one of these is the top.
Tim: Check it. And you call it the pearls?
-Perlas, yes. -Pearls.
And we have the beads.
In some of the areas, it's the eye of a snake.
Yeah, a frog eye, we say a frog eye.
The eye of the frog. A frog, okay.
This is the moonshine of mexico.
That's the coolest part.
Mark: I guesstimate it's 65%.
-Were you're right? -65%.
Erick: 65%, yeah.
Jerrod: I know it's a hot jar, but it's a smooth jar.
And I guess at this point,
I just have to see what the judges say.
It's a little spicy.
And it does have something to do with the fruits,
the specific fruit.
Like I mentioned before, I think it's pineapples,
the one that brings this really spicy.
Too much sugar. In the front.
But the after taste, I think, is really good.
All of the fruits going on, a lot of after taste.
Somebody can sip this one.
For me, it's real smooth, which is high proof.
But it has a pepper in the back, a little bit.
What you really want to do in pechuga
is just to strike all the flavors
and oils all the sugars, everything the fruits provide,
even the chicken.
Mm-hmm.
Digger: Nice. Let's look at lawrence.
We've got jerrod all figured out.
Mark: Let's see what happens with lawrence's.
Full jar.
Yeah.
♪
this one tastes like...
Just like a normal tequila for me.
Like it has been watered down.
But this is specific aromas that you can find here,
distilled from the agave.
Some people say it's a hobby, but for a lot of us, it's not.
It's a way of life and --
it's an obsession.
Yeah. You can't call it a hobby when you have
that much tradition and heritage invested in it.
Yeah, no.
It's a different taste than I'm used to.
Let me and tim get a little pour of it.
Tim: Alright, you want to let this...
It isn't harsh on the back end at all because it's weak.
Right off the bat, I just smell cinnamon.
The cinnamon that he used, but --
did he use some cinnamon?
I think that helps a little bit with the flavor.
Yeah. I mean, lawrence's is smooth,
and not too strong on the nose, you know?
Nice, nice drink.
Well? I've got my winner.
Yeah, I'm good. Me too.
I've got my choice.
Well, boys, I'm gonna go get them,
and unfortunately swing that ax.
Somebody's got to go home.
♪
boys, welcome back.
Since erick understands them so well,
I'm gonna let him bring them to you all.
Lawrence, I think it is really low in proof.
Mark: It's 70 proof.
You taste a lot of the heads,
and you lost your palate, basically.
So they have really good flavors,
but it is really, really low proof.
Tim: You have more of the tail flavor into it,
but you don't have that bite or that oomph.
Alright, jerrod, when you take the top off of this one,
you really smell it,
and then when you taste it, the taste carries on.
Your product is really outstanding.
You can really taste the depth of this product.
Even though it is, for me, a little bit high.
120, 121 is ideal, you hit it at one 125.
I would have said 110.
This is the part of the job we don't like,
and you all both know one of you has got to go home.
It's the only way we can come up with the master distiller.
In light of everything...
Jerrod...
You're the next master distiller, my friend.
Thank you, guys. Yes, sir.
Congratulations, man.
I'm gonna take what I learned from them
and take it back to ohio,
and continue on in my journey distilling.
Congratulations, jerrod.
Thank you.
I just couldn't be happier.
My wife and sons are gonna be proud.
I've done a good job in my life of accepting
and blending with other cultures,
and I would hope that everybody else that sees
and hears this would be more willing to look into,
and accept, other cultures that are around them as they can.
Narrator: Next time, on "master distiller"...
Man: This is the mountain brandy.
Narrator: ...Mountain brandy, the hillbilly hybrid
of fruit and grain...
Gonna be real cinnamon-y.
...Gets the top-shelf treatment.
Tim: There you go.
...But only one original, regional recipe
scores the ultimate prize.
Digger: If I were you, I'd be concerned.