Guys, welcome to Master Distiller.
[Tickle] All right, fellas.
We're all very well-versed in corn and rye,
but now this is a horse of a whole different color.
Ancient grains.
You're going to take those, and you're going to make us a more modern whiskey.
I'm really interested in seeing,
what y'all's mash bills are going to contain,
but I'm even more interested in tasting it.
You know, people's been making alcohol from these grains for a long, long time.
Tickle.
-[Tickle] Yeah, yeah. -Tickle.
-I'm right here. -Hey. Oh!
-I'm right here. -[Tim] Well, Tickle, tell them all about it.
[Tickle] All right.
Here in the US, it used to be that whiskeys could only be made with corn,
wheat, rye and barley.
In 2019, the TTB updated labeling for whiskeys,
allowing them to be made out of ancient grains like amaranth,
buckwheat and quinoa.
This has ushered in a whole new era of spirits
with ancient grain mash bills,
and it's really a growing section of both the illegal market
and the legal one.
Mmm. Tastes ancient.
[Digger] All right, guys, what you got at stake here?
The winner will get their bragging rights, of course.
But after that, you win a limited ground of your liquor at a major distillery.
It's a pretty big deal.
You heard what we got to say.
Make it tough on us. We want a contest.
You have one hour to build your mash, five days to ferment.
Your time starts now. Good luck, guys.
[Tickle] I think, we're gonna have a real unique contest.
Because for one, every one of these liquors is going to be brand new to me.
[Tim] They're gonna be brand new to me, too.
I'm imagining he's bringing in some of his own water.
Hey, Brandon, you care to tell me where you brought you water from,
is that English Mountain Spring water?
Yes, sir.
It could might have been from your... your sacred heart honey hole.
[Digger] Oh, okay.
I'm Brandon Buffington. I'm from Seymour, Tennessee.
I am a finance manager at a coffee company,
so I literally count the beans.
I also have a degree in piano performance,
so I am a freelance pianist.
I've been distilling about 15 years,
started out with just a little homemade pot still,
and have graduated up through my current setup.
And I try all different flavors, all different combinations,
depending on what people enjoy and what I want to experiment with.
So, I've got a copper pot
and then I've got a stainless steel thumper here, a doubler.
The whole purpose behind this doubler is simply to add flavor.
I've developed my skills to a point, where I feel comfortable competing.
And I feel comfortable that I can put out a good product whenever I distill.
So, I'll be making a Kamut wheat recipe
that also has some honey malt in there.
I'm using the Kamut in it
and it has a little bit softer flavor than regular wheat.
And I'm also using some white wheat.
It kind of adds a little bit of sweetness, it's like a honey wheat.
Whenever somebody tastes it, they're like,
"Man, that tastes like honey wheat bread."
And so, that's my goal at this point is to try to replicate that in moonshine.
[Tim] Brandon is dumping some more grain in.
Hey, it looks like he's just dumping a little and stirring,
dumping and stirring.
[Brandon] I want the water to be able to get in there
and soak into those grains.
So, instead of milling those into fine powder,
I just kind of crack them.
Slow but sure.
This thing run?
He's got the gas running, but no fire yet.
-It'll go in a minute. -Are you gonna blow this yet?
[Tim] His is lit?
-[bleep] -[Tickle] Yeah. Yeah. There is the gas...
[Tim] Lord!
I almost blew myself up on the first episode.
My name is Marquas. Marquas Ashworth.
I'm from Des Moines, Iowa.
I'm a music artist, distille and recently a developer.
I think in the world of moonshine and distillation,
I'm probably on the younger end than probably,
I think what a lot of people would imagine a moonshiner
to even look or move like,
but I know what good liquor tastes like.
I have two lines out right now
that are distributed in the Midwest
called Burn the Boats and Silk Road.
Scan the thing, take you directly to the site to purchase
to buy download the album.
Every bottle is an album.
[song playing background]
♪ I can tell they plot my demise, listen♪
♪ Prayin' that I live to be much older than this recipe♪
[Marquas] If you go up with your instincts and just trust them
in your own moonshine-making ability,
you should come out with something that's good and drinkable.
That's... that's the technique, you know.
My mash bill is 70% quinoa, about 30% farro.
That sounds like a whole seed that...
-It sounds like popcorn. -Yeah. Yeah.
[Marquas] But I decided to use quinoa whole,
because I thought it would pull more of the natural flavors
out of it without trying to really alter it or overcook it.
[Tickle] Let's see, he--
He ain't going to let us see it.
-He ain't letting us see what he got in there. -[Tim] Oh, I'm tripping.
[Tickle] Yeah, yeah, let me see what you got. All right.
[Tim] Some big old seed...
[Marquas] I wanted to actually try to create a new experience
and a new spirit just purely on some ancient grain type of energy.
[Tim] Jud ain't blowing up nothing yet.
[Tickle] It's lighting, but it ain't staying lit.
[Tim] Yeah, I know how that is. I hear gas running.
Gas tank. Gas tank.
[Digger] Yeah. Adjust your damper there.
There you go. You need help getting up on the floor there, Jud.
You got a crane. That would be nice for a fat guy.
[Digger] Yeah. Just all I can get is what I tell people.
I'm Jud Henderson. I'm from Sugar Grove, Ohio.
I install and repair commercial kitchen equipment
I've been distilling for about six years.
I started out with a little stovetop pressure cooker system,
and then I moved up to a fully copper system, now.
This is an onion top round pot.
The vapor collects in throughout the copper.
It removes a lot of the impurities
that you would get when you're making a grain-based alcohol.
I like being able to look at some raw material of any sort and go,
"What can I do with that?
What's that going to taste like?"
It's good stuff right there.
So, I try to put it on the coarsest cut, grind it as.
That way it doesn't turn into like a total flour.
I grind my grains down so, that I can
break the starches down and convert them to sugar quicker.
And the sugars to feed your yeast.
And as we all know, yeast is what makes the funny drinks.
Today I'll be making a buckwheat rye using mainly buckwheat,
little bit of rye and some buckwheat honey.
It should have more of the buckwheat flavor in the front
and I'm hoping
that the rye will just slide a little peppery in the end.
Making the biggest pot of buckwheat grits you had ever done witnessing.
Jud over here, his seed was ground.
[Tim] His look like a flour.
You're halfway there? You got 30 minutes left.
Take your time. Good luck to you.
[Marquas] The quinoa.
They move sort of like rye, if that makes sense.
-Where it's... -[Brandon] Yeah, yes.
...it's sticky. Where I can tell a little gelatin and I was like...
-[Brandon] Yeah. It's starting to break down a little bit. -Yeah.
[Digger] Marquas, he's got a good flavor profile.
The only thing concerns me, he didn't grind these grains.
-It's not busted up. -I... I saw that, yeah.
[Digger] And I don't think he's got the time
needed to get any benefit of that uncrushed grain,
you know, you got to cook it for hours just to get any of the starches out of it.
None of us is familiar with this quinoa.
-It very possibly could maybe. -Maybe softening it up.
Maybe... maybe work a little bit different than anything we know. Who knows?
This is going to be some tasty [bleep]. I can already feel it.
Jud over here.
He's got one gallon of buckwheat, honey.
He said it's got a very unique flavor unlike any other honey.
I never really heard of buckwheat honey.
I didn't know that there was any
pollen there much for bees to gather up on buckwheat, but maybe there is.
[Tim] I could see that being a tasteful recipe really.
I use honey quite a bit.
It tends to make the moonshine a bit smoother, I think.
And of course, I spilled a little bit of honey, so now I got sticky feet.
-Oh, there. -[Jud slurping]
Yep, yep.
Two minutes, men.
You're gonna make it?
[Brandon] You're gonna be ready?
I'm gonna be ready. How about you?
Oh, yeah, I'll be ready.
[Digger] Ten seconds. Taking them out.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Kill your fire and step away from your kettle.
All right, guys. We'll monitor your temperature,
when it comes time, we'll come get you to pitch your yeast.
Then we'll see you in five days. Good luck.
All right, men, welcome back.
You know what today is, Stripping Run day.
All right, guys, I wasn't able to be here for your mash bill,
but Digger, he's informed me and filled me in
on what you're working with.
And I got to tell you, these may be ancient grains,
but I promise you, they're new to me.
At the end of this Stripping Run,
you're going to be judged simply on your proof gallons.
[Tim] If you need a thumper or other parts for your next run,
then you need to bring us a bucket with enough volume and proof
to put you in the first place.
Well, you know, I just can't wait to taste it.
What else is new?
No tasting. It's all weighing.
Well, if we're not tasting, what y'all bring me for?
All right, guys, you got four hours.
Time starts now. Good luck. Get with it.
[Tickle] I don't know how that quinoa breaks down.
I can see how it's breaking down, it's foaming at the mouth.
[Tickle] Oh, yeah.
[Digger] Your mash still working that hard.
It's got three inches foam on top of it.
Yeah.
[Tim] If it foams in that he don't have a thumper,
it's going to come out that warm.
It probably will.
[Marquas] We're all working with the time constraint,
and it probably just needed a couple more days to actually just
finish processing and breaking down all those sugars.
[Tim] This is not good for a basic pot setup.
Well, there, look, I see Jud over here.
I like the color of what he's got going on there.
It looks a whole lot like a beer.
Well, he's leaking off the top,
so I can't really tell what he's doing there.
[Jud] My mash is all over the floor.
So, the more I lose, the less goes in the pot,
the less I'm going to have at the end.
I think it's coming off this.. the bag.
[Tickle] No, it's... It's coming out your ring right there.
I'm not so sure, it ain't a solder joint in that cap.
[Tickle] It's coming out your ring right there.
He's got it running out of everywhere.
[Tickle] Yeah.
[Jud] My mash is all over the floor.
So at this point, I'm going to have to get this leak under control,
or I'm not going to have enough mash to get me the proof gallons I need.
[Tickle] I'm not so sure, it ain't a solder joint in that cap.
[Jud] It is 100%, right there.
Take your thermometer out. Let it vent.
It's not blowing back out now, is it?
-[Jud] No. -Yeah.
[Jud] You're right on it.
But I think, it had to do with the pressure in there.
And we're all good again. I got this under control.
All right, gentlemen, you burned half your time.
You got two hours left.
Two hours.
God, I can feel it rolling.
And we're running.
[Brandon] Heck yeah, man.
[Jud] Hey, lookie there.
[Marquas] Ain't that a beauty?
[Jud] And that tastes smooth, ain't it, Marquas?
[Marquas] This is coming off proper, I'm telling you.
[Tim] If they mess up on this flavor,
that's going to contribute to the next round too.
[Jud] With proof gallons, whoever gets the most
gets to pick still parts first.
The only one you don't want to be is number three.
Gentlemen.
Cheers.
Good life, good health, good drink.
Yeah.
[Jud] Yeah. You're in trouble.
That's good stuff.
[Marquas] From what I've got so far, I'm not worried.
[Digger] 30 minutes, fellers.
[Tim] I think that's water, like, leaking over there.
-[lid bursting] -Oh. Oh!
[Tim] I told you something was leaking over.
[Tickle] Jud's condenser exploded. That's what happened.
[Tim] I believe you ought to cut your water off.
[Mark] Jud on the upside. You blew up at the end of your run.
So I got that going for me.
[Digger] 15 minutes, gentlemen. It's getting' there.
[Brandon] 15 minutes. I think I'm done.
[Marquas] Yeah, I'm finished.
I'm about to go ahead and turn mine in.
[Brandon] I autograph it.
[Jud] Yeah, working on my bucket there.
Bring 'em, Jud. Bring it in here, boss.
There you go, fellas.
-Best I got. -[Digger] Nice pretty bucket.
[Mark] Bring it in here, Marquas.
Yeah. Y'all going to like this quinoa-shine, you know what I mean?
[Mark] All right, fellas.
And last but not least, here comes Brandon.
Yes, sir. That's some great Kamut honey shine right there. You'll enjoy it.
-Good luck, Brandon. -Yes, sir. Good luck, man.
[Tickle] Yeah, good luck.
Looks like a lot of liquor sitting there, but they ain't really.
-[Tim] Yeah. We'll see. -Well, let's go get it to scale
and the hydrometer and see if we got some good liquor.
-You go fetch it. -I'll go fetch it.
What kind of damn moonshiner just looks at liquor and don't taste it.
[Tim] We're going to measure how much alcohol is in it,
how much proof gallons.
It's calculated by the weight volume of alcohol and proof.
Well, I can tell you how much is in there.
I mean, can you see trying to drink out of that?
Well, no.
That's a big shot glass.
[Mark] All right, I've saw him drink out of bigger.
[laughter]
You got us some utensils there?
[Digger] I got a bunch of stuff.
Here he is. I'm gonna get all this stuff down for him.
Where are we going to start, gentlemen?
[Mark] Let's light this candle.
Well, I reckon we'll start with a bucket.
This is Brandon. We get the proof, put the hydrometer to it.
That'll give an accurate reading.
We are at 84 proof.
I think, I might be just a little bit light on proof,
but I know whenever we do our next run with that thumper,
it's going to really up that proof.
Well, let's see what the weight it is.
13.2.
And we got a proof gallons of 1.41.
[Tickle] We will go with the next one, now.
Marquas.
[Marquas] Even though it was ancient grains,
it's still kind of cooked like a rye to me.
It's something I was familiar with.
[Digger] Marquas,
59.08.
[Mark] ...proofing.
All right. Well, let's see what we got.
Oh! He's like 13.6.
Marquas's proof gallons is 1.00.
I don't think you can get any more close to a gallon, can you?
-Yeah. That look pretty precise. -Mm-hmm, yeah.
[Mark] All right, Big Jud.
I don't think my proof was super high or anything,
but smells and tastes and the way it ran, I'm quite...
quite content with what happened.
62.25.
Time to weigh.
12.4.
Jud's proof gallons is 0.96.
I can tell you I know and I love you all.
I'm grabbing everything first.
-You got to-- -That's fine.
You got to leave... You got to leave Jud
at least a condenser 'cause he blew his.
[indistinct chatter]
Boys, I'm gonna go fetch them.
All right, guys. Welcome back.
[Mark] We weighed each of your buckets. Brandon,
you had a proof gallons of 1.41.
Marquas, you had a proof gallons of exactly 1 gallon.
Jud, you had a proof gallon of 0.96.
You guys were four hundreds apart.
With that being said, Brandon you're going in first.
Marquas, you'll go in second and, Jud, you'll go in third.
All right, fellas. Just so happens,
I know where this still house is,
and I know what all parts is in there.
So, if y'all come on with me, we'll get you out some still parts.
All right, fellas.
We're here today to pick y'all still parts. Brandon?
-Yep. -[Tickle] You're going first.
Your three minutes starts now.
I know that I need to grab my pot.
I need to grab my thumper.
I'm going to grab a condense
Getting the first pick of still parts.
That means I get to pick exactly the setup that I want,
puts me in a fantastic position to win this.
We have got a condenser, that is not the one Jud messed up.
Oh-ho, right.
[Brandon] I think I got almost everything.
[Tickle] You got 10 seconds.
All right, nine, eight...
You bet... You got enough time to go back in,
you might be able to get your stuff.
All right.
Marquas, you got three minutes starting now.
All right. See what you can find in there, boss man.
[Marquas] Oh, man.
Going into the still pick now,
I just started rampantly just grabbing as much as I can.
I took about every pipe that was left in the building.
I'm sure Jud isn't going to be happy with what I left hi
but I didn't have no choice
I'm not showing up without no good pipes.
-All right. -Oh, nice.
-You got what you need? -Yes, sir.
[Tickle] Or you need some more? All right.
It appears Marquas can connect
everybody's stills together for them.
All right, Marquas.
[Tickle] Jud. Your three minutes starts now.
[Marquas] Go to it, Jud.
I open the door and thank God there was still a pot
and a condenser in there.
But other than that, there was really not much and nothing left in there.
No thumper.
He's awful quiet in there.
You guys suck.
No thumpers, I'll just have to make do and make it happen.
One minute left.
I got what I gonna get.
Say what, what you got here, boss? What you got here?
Very little, brother. Very little.
-Very little. You good? -[Jud] I'm good.
[Tickle] All right, fellas.
Now that we've got all of our still parts,
let's get this stuff in here and get these stills put together.
Welcome back, men.
Got your still parts?
Now it's time to show us some still building skills.
It looks like Brandon, you got a thumper, right?
Yes, sir.
But, Jud, you didn't get one?
No, I'm a sad pony here.
You got one hour, but Put them together in a safe functioning manner.
Your time starts now. Good luck, men.
[Marquas] Jud, give me one of those.
Can I go get a sandwich now?
[Digger] He's done.
-You're going to need both of those. -Yeah.
[Marquas] Thanks, buddy.
[Digger] I believe that's not the quite right size, Marquas.
[Tim] One's too little. One is too big.
[Tickle] Yeah, one is too big.
Bend that [beep] around.
[Tickle] There you go. Yeah.
Had everything he needed the whole time.
I have everything that I need. I'm ready to go.
[Mark] All right, guys.
Looks like you've got them all assembled in a quick, timely manner.
The next step is your Flavor Run.
Well, you're all in the same ballpark.
But what's going to separate you is your ancient grain recipe.
Make sure you make those cuts right.
Don't get more flavor and not enough alcohol.
Or get too much alcohol and it takes away from your flavor.
One goes home at the end of this run.
You got four hours, put us your best jar of finished spirits up here.
Your time starts now. Good luck, guys.
Going into this Flavor Run, I'm confident.
Oh, it's good stuff.
Don't spill a drop.
The flavors that I'm going to put into my thumper
are really going to infuse some...
some fantastic flavor.
I'm going to put a little bit of honey in there,
and I'm going to put just a little bit of blood orange in there
to help pull out those flavors that the Kamut has to offer.
[Marquas] My goal is to make sure that these flavors in these fruits
really, truly come out and complement
this base spirit that almost create like a quinoa fruit salad.
[Tickle] Actually, interesting flavor combinations
he's got going on there.
He kept banana, the watermelon
and just a little tiny bit of a pepper.
So, typically with my thumper, I typically fill it up halfway.
But in this case, because of the extra flavors and all the fruits
and all that, I wanted to make sure that they have time to soak
and really take those flavors and carry them over,
I've gambled and put a little extra water in my thumper.
So without a thumper, I had to go with putting my water
distill in and plum puree all in my pot.
Look at this.
[Marquas] You're already getting...
[Brandon] They're getting ready.
[Marquas] My boy is not joking around today.
Brandon come in here ready to play.
-[Brandon] Yes, sir. -[Tickle] He did, didn't he? He got liquor all ready.
-[Brandon] I can hear you ramping up. -Yeah, you know, I'm...
[Marquas] Yeah.
Right now, I'm having a hard time getting my thump to temperature,
um, on top of the fact that I've got massive leaks.
[beep] I am leaking.
[Brandon] Make some oatmeal paste and paste up your joints, you know.
Watching this leak, that's definitely stressful,
but trying to catch it the best I can so
I can save proof and, you know,
keep pumping this flavor through it.
No, man. My [bleep] is still leaking, see?
Cannot clog these leaks.
[bleep]
No, man. My [bleep] is still leaking, see?
Watching this leak, that's definitely stressful
Cannot clog these leaks.
Trying to catch it the best I can,
so I can save proof and, you know,
keep pumping this flavor through it.
Okay, Marquas. That may have done it.
You may have saved it.
Non-detrimental. So, all is well.
[Brandon] Okay. You haven't started running yet. I mean...
No. I just... Crisis averted. Crisis averted.
[Brandon] Yeah, you're good.
Two hours burnt, two hours left.
You got plenty of time.
That's exactly what I was going for.
Are you getting good flavors out here, Jud, without the thumper in there?
Good.
All three of 'em have three different grains,
all the three different kind of infusions
and really three different kind of setups and how they run it.
We're gonna have three completely different taste profiles.
I'm glad that we get Tickle here to make the decision.
Set us straight.
If we're dependent on Tickle, we're gonna have three winners.
-Yeah. -Yeah, you... you might be right.
I might like them all.
[laughter]
Shake it. Show me what you're working with.
I'm pretty conscious that I have a low proof,
but making the best sip that I possibly can.
Fifteen minutes, guys.
Yep. That's it.
That's my... that's my mix right here.
I really like that jar.
It hit exactly the flavor profile that I was going for.
Using Kamut, even though it's an old grain,
it is a new, different flavor profile
than has been brought to the table before.
And then complemented with honey and with oranges is something special.
[Jud] I could taste the hone
I could smell the buckwheat
and I could smell the plum and taste the plum.
So, I was really happy with it.
[Marquas] I keep almost putting the same top on it.
And that's what I keep [bleep]...
[Brandon] That will confuse you just a little.
That's all she wrote, fellas. Think I'm ready.
[Mark] Bring it in here, slim.
[Jud] Here you are, fellows. Hope you enjoy it.
[Mark] All right.
Well. Are you satisfied with what you brought to the table?
I am.
And I was quite happy with the proof on the jar after mixing,
I had about, I'd say, 95 to 100.
And I know that's what the judges really like to drink.
-All right. Appreciate you. -Good luck.
-Good luck, buddy.
Yeah.
-Bring it in, Brandon. -[Tickle] All right.
[Brandon] Fellas. That's the one right there.
That's a pretty jar, buddy.
-Thank you, fellas. -[Mark] Good luck.
[Digger] Good luck.
[Marquas] Honestly, the flavor profiles
that I was able to hit with this quinoa and farro,
it's exactly what I was looking for.
This is it right here.
Well, you're proud of that one?
[Marquas] I am.
-[Mark] All right. -Good deal.
-All right. Thanks, guys. -Good luck, Marquas.
-Good luck. -Good luck.
[Mark] Let's get to drinking, Timmy.
I'm just going with the closest one to me.
Jud.
-Jud's good. -Good.
-All right. -Yeah.
All right. Tickles is smacking his lips already.
-[Tickles] That's right. I'm ready. -[Digger] Beautiful clear jar.
-[Tickles] That's clear, ain't it? -All right.
-[Mark] Good proof? -Yeah.
Well, he didn't have no thumper to help his proof any.
[Tickle] Mm-hmm.
-Well? -It got honey liquor on the nose.
Wow! That's nice.
That buckwheat, buckwheat honey actually finished it off well.
The buckwheat comes in before that plum.
I believe that's where it starts drying out
for that earthy buckwheat.
It comes in just enough, I think, to let you know
that there's grain there, not just honey.
I think, if he didn't put the plum in it,
it would have been too hot all the way.
My flavors, my aroma, the buckwheat.
It was all there, I thought.
And I couldn't believe how much that plum came through.
The whole plum came through strong.
Especially between that, that second jar that come out of yours.
That plum was just perfect.
Lets you know you're drinking, huh?
It does. That's a real unique drink.
Moving right along to...
[Tim] Marquas.
You know, I was a little concerned about Marquas.
He put a lot of water in his pot and he put a lot of water in his thumper.
Still I'm concerned to be honest.
[Digger] Oh, yeah.
That one's very little proof.
I was nervous at first because I think I may have put
slightly too much water into my thump keg,
but once that got going, and those aroma started coming off
the way I wanted them to, I was in a happy place.
-Right. -Yeah.
I love watermelon. He put a lot of it in that thumper.
I'm smelling pepper. And... and I watched.
He didn't put much in there.
He's doing a number one on flavor.
[Tim] Well, he had quinoa and a little farro.
[Digger] But you don't get no alcohol.
What liquor he was able to get out of that pot
got stolen by that thumper right there.
He lost a lot of it.
I was trying to balance out the,
because the quinoa, I feel like it had a lot of vegetable type of...
-Right, yeah. -So I was trying to create a more...
-Sweet-bitter. -...sweet-bitter type of balance.
-[Brandon] Yeah. -Hopefully, they like it.
[Digger] You know, had he been able to get
a little more alcohol out there where we could taste that grain,
we might very well be looking at a game-changer.
But I think, he spread it too thin to get the quinoa and the farro.
It's a valiant effort.
[Digger] Brandon.
-[Mark] Pretty Jar. -That's a very pretty jar.
It is a very pretty jar.
-Not bad. -Yeah.
I'm going to say he's north of hundred.
Yeah. Yeah.
-Hmm. -[Mark] Hmm.
-Light on the notes. -Wow, Kamut.
-Kamut. -Whoa.
Oh!
[Digger] Exactly. That...
-Ooh! -[Digger] That's really nice.
You know, mine started off really high proof,
but it had a really good flavor to it.
The flavor profile with the Kamut, I really thought that,
you know, the honey and the blood oranges that I put in there
was really complementary and kind of bringing out that Kamut flavor.
You know, he didn't use a whole lot of blood orange.
Now citrus is finicky.
You can get not enough or you can get way too much.
What he's got facing him right now is kind of a conundrum.
He could mess this up really easy.
I wouldn't touch it.
It's all it needs to be right here at this point,
but they've got to bring something else to the game.
Well, I know where I'm at.
I know where I'm at, boys.
Yeah, that's pretty easy.
-Go get 'em, fellas. -I'm gonna go get em.
All right, guys.
Some really, really good liquor out here.
-Fine job by every one of you. -Thank you.
Jud, the buckwheat
and the buckwheat honey, they came through exceptionally well.
I think, running without a thumper did you some justice.
-The plums, didn't get a lot of the plums in there. -Just a little.
But like to have seen a little more of that.
But good jar, good proof.
Nice presentation of your jar. A good clean jar.
Thank you very much.
[Mark] Marquas, flavor is spot out.
I'm a pepper man.
I'm a jalapeno eater.
I got it really heavy on the nose
and I got it in the flavor of the taste profile.
And it really complemented
the watermelon and banana flavor that you had in there.
Thank you.
Marquas, you did an excellent job for what you had.
Unfortunately, your proof was a little bit low.
Well, Brandon, I've never even heard of Kamut,
-and I was very pleased with it. -[Brandon] Thank you.
That citrus comes through,
that honey goes away and bounces it out,
and it finishes really good.
-Fine job. -[Brandon] Thank you.
Guys, outstanding job.
But unfortunately, this is the part of our job that sucks.
We got to send one of you home.
Guys, outstanding job.
But unfortunately, this is the part of our job that sucks.
We got to send one of you home.
Marquas, unfortunately, that jar bought you a ticket home, my friend.
Awful sorry.
I appreciate the opportunity to even learn from everybody
and cook next to these guys.
Learn and kickin' with y'all, it's been a blessing.
Brandon and Jud, I mean,
if there was anyone to lose to, I'm proud to have lost those guys.
I mean, those dudes are incredible distillers and learned a lot.
You got the skills. You just need to hone them up, my friend.
As a young distiller, this is only the beginning for me.
And I'm gonna definitely take these skills that I picked up here and...
Thanks y'all.
...take them back home and keep repping.
This is your final challenge,
your final flavor infusion.
I can't tell you enough times.
Exercise caution from this point onwards.
Both of you fellas have got mighty fine jars of liquor.
I don't know what y'all are looking at doing to flavor or enhance them,
but keep in mind, this much over just enough is way too much.
Our criteria, taste, marketability, appearance.
At the end of this, one person will be named Master Distiller.
So like we said, just be careful.
You got one hour.
Your time starts now. Good luck, guys.
-[Mark] Good luck. -[Digger] Make every minute of it.
[Jud] Oh, that's nice. That's a pleasant sound.
[Brandon] Right.
Good.
[Mark ] Dried orange peel.
[Digger] Is that orange peel?
It is, but it may be a mistake.
Well.
[Brandon] I'm going to try it on. I'm going to test it.
[Tim] So, what'd you cut up?
So, I've got a little bit of sweet orange peel,
so it didn't have that bitter taste to it.
So, you want to maybe pull out the orange just a tad,
but I may just end up leaving it where it was
just a splash.
Right off the bat, I can tell...
that first, even just from the aroma of it,
that this is just going to put a funky flavor to it.
[Jud] What?
I don't like it in there.
It's too much.
Ooh. No bueno.
I know that the jar that I turned in to the judges is a good jar,
so I'm going to experiment,
but I definitely don't want to ruin the jar that I know is good.
[Mark] He's got some ginger beer.
You know, it's really hard to do the flavoring run,
because I already knew I have to improve on it
so I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to do with it.
Jud, what's your plan going on over here?
Tried a little bit of ginger beer.
I kind of like it, but I'm not really settled on it.
So, basically, you're doing just like
I'm assuming that Brandon is, you're experimenting at this point.
Yep.
I could live with that.
I know that I didn't like it that much, though.
Boys, I like the fact that you're not sacrificing the other jar.
Not as dumb as I look. Thank God!
I had a good jar of liquor to begin with.
The only thing I could think to do to improve it
would be possibly to rapid age it as fast as I could.
I was trying a little bit of wood chips and see...
see what I can do with just a little bit of it
and if I want to sacrifice my jar with it or not.
You're just trying to enhance it a little, you're not trying to change it.
[Tickle] You know, Jud, any wood chips is going to
enhance flavor and give a nice color to it, too.
Crazy wood chips mellowed the nose out a lot.
Mm-hmm. That's their nature.
Wanna try it?
[Brandon] Yeah.
Oh, it did mellow it. Wow.
That's with the ginger beer and the chips.
Hmm. Yeah...
-It's weird. -...I like it.
I don't know what to do.
I didn't expect that.
-[Jud] I didn't either. -I didn't expect that.
That's a predicament.
I knew going into this that...
that Jud was going to improve his flavor
and the judges had stated,
"Hey, this is your opportuni to make your liquor better.
And so that put a lot of pressure on me.
We'll try a little bit of honey and see if that does anything.
[Jud] Mm-hmm.
So, Brandon, you took out the orange peel.
You took that out of the equation. So now...
-[Brandon] Correct. -...now where are you going?
Yeah. So the next thing, I've got some of this
East Tennessee raw honey that I brought with me.
And so, I'm just giving that a little bit of a taste to see
if it will pull out some of the, some more of the honey flavors
and see if I like that.
I feel for these boys.
We've all been in a situation
where we had something that was good,
but we make it fantastic. That didn't quite work out.
Yeah. Even if that does accentuate the flavor,
it's turned it cloudy, so I wouldn't... I wouldn't turn that in.
[Brandon] Okay, this is not good.
Is there something I can do to fix the cloudiness,
or am I just going to be stuck with this?
Yeah. Honey is real bad, if you're going to infuse about...
-Right. -...clouding your liquor.
Yeah.
I'm not going to do that.
I'm not going to turn in a cloudy jar of liquor.
I know the jar that I have from the last round
is a great jar of liquor.
It's a huge risk in turning in the exact same jar.
But I'm going to turn that jar right back in.
I've noticed that here lately, everybody is trying to
really get back to their roots.
And that's what we have here with these ancient grains.
These are grains that's been used for thousands of years.
And people have kind of walked away from using them.
Well, they died.
Well, yeah. All the old folks died.
I'm thrilled to see it and coming to the forefront,
especially in hobby distillers.
The farro grain, far as I go back as 1800,
as far as I go back. I don't...
I don't go back any farther than that.
-[Mark] Right. -But when you get past 1500,
it kind of you lose track of actually what it was.
-Right. -[Tim] You know?
I wasn't around back then.
-[Tickle] Yeah. -I'd like to call on you...
He was. He was.
I think, he's remembering from when he was a kid.
So, it definitely was a risk to...
to not change my flavor profile at all.
But I really felt it was the right thing to do.
[Tickle] If I was Brandon, I'd be scared right now.
But this is a competition for them to enhance this.
That looks like a very light jar. It's not cloudy.
Well, I put the new on top of it,
so I'm hoping the odor underneath of it catches any
crazy stuff coming off of it.
I had to do something to beat his jar
and I think what I did there helped tremendously.
Boys, you got 30 minutes left to get done what you want to do.
I think that at this point in time,
I'm pretty set on my original recipe.
I'm going to put that right up there for y'all to enjoy.
So, you're going with what you had in the last run?
Yes, sir.
I'm pretty happy with it.
It's a huge risk.
I'm trusting that y'all going to like that.
Alright. Good luck.
Thanks, Tim.
Bring it in here, slim.
Well, I didn't think I was going to improve on it,
but I think I might have just a touch.
Good luck, sir.
Let's get to taste them.
Well, get with it.
Jud's back was against the wall here.
He knew it.
You know, I don't think that what he's done to it will hurt it any at all.
It really helped his nose.
Yeah. It's got a oaky nose on it.
[Mark] Yeah. Yeah.
But I'm still... I'm picking up the buckwheat honey.
Yeah, me too, Tim.
On the nose and the taste.
That's buckwheat all the way.
-It had some horsepower too. -Yeah.
-But it went away real quick.
And he put just enough aging on it to show he'd done something.
To change it. Yeah.
Give that another six months in a barrel,
that'd be a really, really marketable drink.
You got Mark, Digger and Tim Smith saying,
"Yeah, this boy's stuff's good."
Yeah. It's like a stamp of approval, you know?
Oh, 100%.
Pour us a little this, we're gonna be reminded, Tim.
I was hoping Brandon was going to pull out some woodchips.
That's the only thing I think he could have did.
It's hard to beat that.
I've never tasted anything like that.
A Kamut, we ain't never had before.
Everyone else is bringing in wheat, bringing, you know, rye.
That may be what puts a little category
of shelves in liquor stores for ancient grains.
But the fact that Brandon stayed the course,
I mean, that could be a problem for him.
We've got quite a quandary here.
Winning that title changes everything.
I mean, it really gives you the credentials
to put your name out there and put your product out there
because it just opens the doors.
Yeah, and it don't matter where you're at.
Everybody knows who those three are.
Just as good as Brandon's jar is,
Jud makes me second guess myself a little bit.
Moonshiners for life, brother.
Till the end, my friend.
Boys, y'all know where you at?
I believe the decision's been made.
Go get em, boss.
-I'm going after. -Here we go.
Oh.
All right, guys. Welcome back.
This whole panel entirely was impressed by what y'all have done.
You go away with your head high no matter what the outcome is.
Brandon, tastes the same.
I don't think you changed anything at all,
which was good.
And again, fine drink.
Thank you.
With good marketing, I think this would stand alone
as something very special, limited edition run.
I do think there's a special place for that jar.
Jud...
Ah, crap.
...you did some justice to that.
You did bring it up a notch.
It was a fine drink to start with.
And you improved on it. You built on it.
You added color
and you enhanced your flavor.
I like the oak notes that it added to it. All around, fine job.
Thank you.
Well, guys, here comes the sucky part of our job.
There can only be one Master Distiller.
If you win, you'll win the bragging rights
and a limited run of your ancient grain liquor
at Sugarlands Distilling Company, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
It's a pretty big deal.
I got to say, Brandon, it takes a lot of moxie.
You stood your ground.
Brandon, you became the next Master Distiller.
Congratulations.
That was one of the finest jars of liquor
that I've ever tasted in the history of this show.
Being named the next Master Distiller, it's indescribable.
It is so much pride and so much joy
in what I've done and what I've been able to accomplish.
For it to come from a legendary group of judges that say,
"Hey, yeah, this is phenomenal."
I don't even know what to say.
-[Jud] Nice job, my friend. -Thank you. Thank you.
Jud, you're so damn close to being the next Master Distiller,
you ought to be able to feel it.
[Jud] This whole thing was a learning process
and be able to learn even just a small amount from the masters,
it's well worth it.
No matter how I look at it, I still come out a winner on this.
Congratulations to both of you. Now get out of here.
It's an honor, gentlemen.
It's been an honor too. Thank you, gentlemen.
-Appreciate it. -Yeah.
Well, Tickle said he'd clean all this up, boys, let's go get us something to eat.
I'm... I'm gonna go get me something to drink...
-[Mark] Come on, bud. -[Digger] ...then I might get back here.
[Tickle] Yes, something to drink.