There ain't no doubt about it.
That's law enforcement.
[narrator] This time on the season finale of oonshiners...
I don't know how much time that we got,
but we're gonna clear out of this site immediately.
It really makes you think twice about this business.
Right here. I think we should do lavender moonshine.
Danielle Parton makes spirits with women in mind.
[Henry] This is gonna tell the story if she gonna work or not.
[Tickle] If we can help her out,
this could be a big win for us.
She's strong, man.
But distilling high-proof liquor is very dangerous.
Bad time to light a cigarette, huh?
[Jerry] Look like it's gonna be a good peppermint shine right here.
Me and Jerry both took two partial orders
without each other knowing about it.
[Jerry] Eggnog on that side,
peppermint this side.
[Mike] If we can go in there and fire up this pot one time
and create two orders in two different proofs,
that's a game changer for us.
Money in the bank, son.
[bleep], we're done for.
Put your hands up on the car.
Hell, they got the burners,
got everything in here ready to go today.
[man] This is how we make the moonshine.
[Kelly] We have had an event go on.
See if youse can recognize anything out of this.
[Digger] Hatty, look a little familiar?
That's him. That's the same one that approached us
wanting to buy liquor, Digger.
Yep. This cat ain't just snooping around wanting to buy liquor.
He's wanting to put us in jail.
This is the nightmare finally come true.
[narrator] In Cocke County, Tennessee...
Well, let's go see what these sons of bitches want.
There he is.
...after six weeks of unusual encounters
involving a man driving a black pickup truck...
This ain't no good at all.
...Mark and Digger find convincing evidence
they're the target of an active law enforcement investigation.
[Mark] There ain't no doubt about it no more.
That's law enforcement.
It's time we shut it down.
Shut it all down.
Yep. We're gonna have to go clean up every still site
and get all the equipment up.
I'll call Jeff
and see if we can use that barn over there
on that priceless Grove Farm he's got.
First and foremost,
we got to get your still site cleaned up.
[Digger] Yeah, that's the priority right now
because he's already been there.
You know, I checked that game camera
as quick as I got this notification
and there's no activity on it at all.
Okay.
Kelly has other cameras up at the still site itself,
and no one has been there.
But at some point,
this young man's going to gather enough information,
and he's going to travel on up that hill,
and then it is too late.
Our biggest card in the hole right here is
he don't know that we know he's been there.
[Kelly] That's what I'm thinking.
If we can get in there, there's an old logging road
coming around the backside into that place that--
That don't bypass that camera.
It's actually off of another whole road way on up the hill.
Let's get on up there and let's get movin'
before they gather up reinforcements.
[Mark] Right.
We're gonna clear out of this site immediately,
and we got to get the words to the other teams
to shut them down, close up shop.
But the upside is I'm not in handcuffs
and neither is Kelly and Amanda
or any of the other teams,
and that's what we're going to try to prevent.
[Digger] Yeah, we're done for
if he gets up there before we do.
He can get us just for the equipment.
[ringtone playing]
-Hey. -What you got there?
Danielle Parton. Hey, Dani, what you got going on, girl?
[Danielle on phone] You know, I'm just out hustling,
making that money.
I heard that. We love that money, don't we?
Danielle Parton is the niece of the queen of country music,
Dolly Parton.
She owns a distillery that caters to female drinkers.
She's also worked with Henry in the past.
-Dani, you gonna mark this over? -Yes, sir.
I think I need a bigger one. I can make it into a hot tub.
[man] I used to have one on my back porch.
How many ladies did it hold?
Quite a few.
[Danielle on phone] I'm working on a new project.
I got a new liquor I'm wanting to make,
and I'm hitting some roadblocks.
I was gonna see if I can get you to come
help me work through some of this.
What kind of product are you talking about?
Oh, now, you know I can't go talking out in public.
There's too many big ears listening.
[chuckles] I don't know. I guess we could come down that way.
[Tickle] I'm a little hesitant
just to jump and run down to Tennessee
when Danielle called, asking for help.
She won't even tell us what we're working on.
And if we don't know what we're working on,
how do we know we can even accomplish this?
[Henry] I worked with her before, man,
and she's right on point.
I mean, anything she goes to do,
money is going to be made.
-Okay. -Think about it like this.
How often does two outlaws, like us,
get a call from Dolly Parton's niece
and asks for help?
Well, hell, Henry,
I guess, Tennessee, here we come, right?
Let's roll on down and take care
of that country music royalty, hoss.
All right, let's do it.
[Mike] I tell you what, old man wintertime has come
in a daggum hurry around here, buddy.
[narrator] In Haywood County, North Carolina,
after an ill-advised turf war
cost them their $4,000 copper still...
and hurricane-fueled flooding caused
hundreds of dollars of damage to its replacement,
outlaw shiners Mike and Jerry
need a big sale to avoid losing money on the season.
I've got a smaller order for a clear eggnog from a guy,
but he don't want but like 25 gallons.
I would rather, you know, make a 40-gallon run,
you know, the whole amount that we run on one mash,
and get it all gone at one time.
But this is not the case.
So I'm gonna go and talk with Jerry
and see if we want to take this kind of order on or not.
-It's about time you show up. -What's up, man?
Ah, I'm just having me a cup of coffee.
[exclaims] How much colder it got up out there, ain't it?
-Oh, my God, man. -Jeez old Pete's, man.
Tell you what,
I got us a good end-of-the-season order.
Do you?
I've got an order as well.
25-gallon order.
Mine's only 20.
It turns out we both got partial orders to fulfill.
My customer, he's wanting a clear eggnog.
Clear eggnog?
Yep, he's lactose intolerant.
He don't want no milk.
He don't want no egg in it.
He just wants that flavor.
He just wants that eggnog flavor in it, huh?
Yeah, but here's the kicker.
He wants it at 80 proof,
and he said do not temper it down,
add nothing else to it.
Obviously, this guy knows how to run liquor.
My guy just said he wants 20 gallons of 120-proof peppermint shine.
But he's willing to pay $120 a gallon for it, though.
I tell you what, Jerry, it sucks that we're gonna have
to do two different partial orders.
We just don't really have the time for one to be able to...
We don't.
...mash in twice, run twice.
And we're gonna have alcohol left over.
When somebody wants something of a certain nature,
that's what we try to give to them.
But if we can't sell the whole thing,
we just end up getting stuck with the rest.
You know what'd be nice,
if we could actually run both these orders at one time.
How in the hell would we do that?
You know, with the setup that we've got, me and Jerry,
we could possibly do these two flavor runs
in one particular run.
But the problem that we're going to have
is we've got two different flavored runs
that's two totally different proofs.
You got a low proof.
-Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm. -And mine's a higher proof.
What if we just tapped into the column
in two different places?
We've already got one coming out the top.
But if we pull off the bottom just right out of the pot,
-we're gonna be a very low proof. -Mmm-hmm.
So we can probably pull that 80-proof off
closer to the bottom of that column.
-Okay. -And then, you know,
let it-- let it travel on up
and we can get my higher proof at the top.
I see where that'll work,
because your topper side's gonna be higher proof anyway
because it's reflux, and it's moving up.
It's gonna be like we're manning two systems
with one pot under it.
We've got plenty of cold water to do both.
And we got 350 gallons of mash sitting under it.
I believe it'll work.
I believe it will fricking work.
If this works like we think it's gonna work,
man, that could be endless possibilities of things we can do.
We get this modification done,
we'll be able to run two different jar rigs,
two different condensers,
bring off two different flavors,
all at the same time.
Can you imagine next season we get started
fulfilling two different orders
and making one trip into the woods
-and the time and money that would save us? -Oh, my God.
You know that's right up my alley.
If what we've got up our sleeve works,
we're gonna change the moonshine world as it is today.
Since we're here, let's order some food,
have a bite to eat.
[Mike] You paying for this?
To have us come all the way to Tennessee,
it's got to be something very challenging.
You know, she's got some heck of connections.
Dolly Parton is her auntie.
[Paige] So I guess whatever she got,
we just gotta make sure we can make it work.
I always liked that Dolly.
We're here in Tennessee to help Danielle Parton out
with a project she's got at her distillery.
Now, she wouldn't really tell us what it is,
but when the niece of the queen of country music calls,
you answer that call.
She's got a nice place here, doesn't she?
[Tickle] Yeah, it looks nice.
Oh, my goodness,
look what the cat has drug in.
[Henry] What's up, Dani?
-It's been a while. -Good to see you, baby.
Danielle's got a beautiful distillery here.
-[Danielle] Come on. -Show us what you got here.
Come on. Welcome.
These are my toys.
[Tickle] She's got a really nice setup here.
It's quite a bit more high tech
than what I'm used to using.
What do you do with this little bitty baby thing?
It look like a little spaceship right there.
[Danielle] Well, if I'm gonna test something out,
and I don't want to waste a whole bunch of money,
I do it in this.
I like this.
I mean, that's some unusual-looking stills for us Virginia boys.
We've never quite seen anything like that.
-It works like every other-- -So what did you call us down here for?
Well, I just hadn't been harassed in a while.
No. I need your help with something.
Come on over. I got a new idea.
-This is what I brought you here for. -This?
It's lavender.
I think we should do lavender moonshine.
[Henry] You've lost your ever-loving mind.
Lavender.
Ugh.
I've never in my life tried anything with lavender.
Well, I mean, it's damn sure got a smell to it,
that's for sure.
Lavender has an extremely strong floral smell.
It's used mainly in aromatherapy.
It's very good for de-stressing people.
It's very perfumy.
Kind of like if you ate one of your grandma's scented candles.
I want to make that into a shine.
I love like lavender mojitos
and a lavender tinge to something.
Targeting the women and all?
If women will drink it, men will buy it.
I don't know much about lavender,
but I know we could get some essential oils off of it.
So you're talking about oil?
We had a problem with oil a while back
with some of that CBD we was running.
We couldn't get it to mix.
There's an abundance of oils in this stuff,
and all you gotta do is rub the plant,
and I swear, I could go home
and my wife would think I was cheating on her.
So if you get essential oils from this...
-[Danielle] Yes. -We might run into a problem.
We worked with hemp before,
and we understand that a high-proof alcohol
can extract these oils,
but a lower-proof alcohol that's more drinkable,
the oil does not dissolve in it.
-It's pure CBD oil there. -Man.
[Henry] Let's see if it'll dissolve.
[Tickle] It looks like it's mixing.
[Henry] I see a few little flakes in there.
[Tickle] I don't like that.
Who the hell is gonna buy that?
It's very unappetizing to have an oily drink,
so we want to avoid that
in order to help Danielle make the best moonshine possible.
So you's looking maybe for a mash bill?
Or are you looking for an infusion? Or...
-What do you got in mind? -I don't know, maybe a little of both.
We gotta figure out what works best.
It's gonna be a challenge.
[Tickle] So we're gonna have to extract the lavender oil.
In order to do this,
we're gonna need a very high-proof alcohol.
But we can make this
taking some of Danielle's shine that she's got here
and redistilling it in a mini submarine pot
that we built several years ago
just for this purpose.
I don't know how good this stuff's gonna be in an alcohol,
but I tell you what, if anybody's gonna figure it out,
we're gonna do it.
Hell, let's go get it and get started.
-Well, let's go get it. -Get that done.
-[Danielle] Get 'er done. -Let's do it!
Hopefully it'll work.
[Mark] I ain't never come in this a-way.
Ain't never had no reason to until now.
[Mark] We had hoped against hope
that we wouldn't have to shut down our entire operation,
but we are under investigation by law enforcement.
I hope he ain't got no damn cameras
on this side of the damn hill.
Kelly knows a back way in to the still site.
It's just an old logging road that's been there for years,
and we follow him in.
He tells us we'll not pass the game camera
and, you know, we'll get in there
and, sadly, bring this site to an end.
[Mark] I hope, I hope he ain't got no damn cameras up through here.
This is our only option, old Hatty.
We gotta get the stuff out of the way.
[Digger] You know, if there's anything on the planet
that I didn't want to happen, it's this right here.
But we've made the decision,
with the heat we've got on us, it's too risky,
we're pulling the plug on all operations at this point.
This really sucks.
You're telling me.
At this point, the walls are closing in,
and one false move on our part,
we could get busted.
[groans] Oh.
Yeah, there's a reason we don't use this road coming and going.
[Amanda] I see why.
Our still site is way up on top of a mountain,
and this logging trail,
it's a pretty rough back road.
It's just not easy to get in this way.
[Mark] Man, I hope your truck can make it,
because I think we've lost Kelly.
Yeah, my damn truck tires
ain't gonna get no traction through there,
I'm sorry.
Well, you know, when they cut these fire roads in there,
they just bulldoze a route for firefighters to get in
when there's a wildfire.
There's a reason we don't come up through here on a regular basis.
We'd bust every jar we tried to bring in here.
It's not an easy ride,
but it beats getting pulled over
and going to jail.
[Mark] I'd hate to get stuck out here.
All right, here we are. We're about to come out to the still site.
I think we lost Digger a few minutes ago.
Let's get this crap out of here as quick as we can.
[Amanda] Okay.
Right now, our mission is to remove any evidence
that could get us convicted of a crime.
Basically scrub all signs of what we've been doing up here.
I'm gonna say we take this all the way down
so it don't look like it's ever been a furnace.
Okay.
Oh, I can't believe we're having to do this, Amanda.
I know, Kelly.
[Kelly] You know, we're all nervous as a bunch of cats
in a rocking chair convention,
so we're trying to get this stuff out of here.
You know, hopefully we don't miss anything.
We don't want this to come back
and bite us in the butt.
[Amanda] I'm constantly learning new stuff, man,
about making liquor,
but this is the first time I'm learning
how to really burn a still site from the cops.
If we can get everything out of here,
then that's one step closer to our safety.
This is the make-or-break moment right here, Amanda,
in a lot of situations.
This is technically a hunk of metal if it won't hold water.
Mark and Digger taught me this very valuable lesson a long time ago.
Got to know your loopholes.
Exactly. So we ready?
Yeah.
-Ouch. -Technically a yard ornament.
[Amanda] Did that hurt a little bit, or what?
[Kelly] It hurts my feelings bad.
We got to get this stuff loaded and get out of here.
[Amanda] There's a lot of stuff for us to haul out of here right now.
I hope something didn't happen to Digger's truck.
[Amanda] That road was freaking rough.
I don't know.
Couldn't have picked a prettier day to do a mash-in.
I heard that.
It's pretty and cold, ain't it?
So me and Jerry both took two partial orders
without each other knowing about it.
He took a peppermint shine.
I took an eggnog shine.
You ready to get some sugar wash made up?
Yep.
And the reason we can do two different flavors at the same time
is because we mash in a sugar wash.
Fire it up.
[yelps] Whoo!
Sugar, water, and yeast. Odorless tasteless alcohol.
That way, we can flavor any type of alcohol you want to
at the end of the run.
Is this getting warm?
It's starting to.
If we can go in there and fire up this 350-gallon pot one time
and create two orders of two different styles
and two different proofs,
that's a game changer for us.
We've got steam, Jerry.
Just throw 'er in the pot.
[Mike] It won't take long, will it?
[Jerry] No, it won't.
So, what we're doing right now is we're actually
heating up our water via our steam pot.
All we're doing is just dropping the end of our hose in the water
and what it does is heat this water up really quick for us,
and then we have melted sugar.
That got us melting fast, ain't it?
Yeah, it is.
That's what happens when it hits hot water.
[Mike] Yep, buddy.
Looky there, dissolved into a simple syrup.
The biggest thing, important thing here
is we get that sugar dissolved into a liquid.
It's less stressful on the yeast
to consume a liquid than it is a granular.
Well, steam worked perfectly on that.
Then we'll transfer that hot liquid, you know,
clear syrup water over into our pot
and then fill it up.
There we are, baby.
We can top that off with water now.
There we go. We got water.
I'll grab that yeast.
One of the things we're gonna do this time of year
is we'll actually use a turbo yeast.
You want to grab that paddle and stir this one in?
[Jerry] You know, just normal bread yeast,
they'll eat the sugars and consume them,
but they don't do it real fast,
and they don't really put off a lot of heat
because they're not working as hard.
And by creating more heat,
it's going to cause this mash to work off a lot quicker.
I think she's stirred in pretty good right there.
[Mike] Looks good.
While me and Jerry wait for the mash to work off
and get ready to rock and roll,
we're heading back to the shop
to try to create this valve system
and everything that we're gonna put into our column
to make these two runs work.
We'll make it happen, brother.
[Jerry] Oh, yeah.
I got the condenser, Paige.
Let's do it.
[Tickle] Well, we're here in Tennessee
and we're trying to make a lavender moonshine
for Danielle Parton.
First thing we need to do
is extract all the oils out of this lavender
because that's where the flavor is.
All right, I got my part in.
Now, there are no barriers in the illegal world,
so we've experimented a whole lot,
and we've got knowledge of techniques
that legal distillers just don't know.
[Henry] Not but one like it in the world.
I got that little submarine still
that we used several years ago with some CBD extractions.
-Ain't she pretty? -Beautiful.
-As long as it works. -It'll work.
It'll hold 6 gallons of Danielle's liquor.
We should produce 2 gallons of that high-proof alcohol.
Put your burners down.
We're going to put that 100-proof alcohol
in our pot right here,
and we can get, like,
180-proof alcohol out of this thing.
We're going to basically use it as a solvent
to strip the essence out of this lavender.
That's all right. We got her now.
[Henry] Get some alcohol in there.
You think you can find any around here?
-I got a little bit. -[chuckles]
Now, distilling high-proof liquor
is very, very dangerous.
The vapors off of this are highly explosive.
It's strong, man.
You damn sure don't want a match around it.
If it hits that open flame, it'll blow all to hell.
[Tickle] You cannot use an open flame,
so we use electric burners.
But if there is a leak and this gas gets out
and any spark or ignition source hits that...
-Let's get the burners on. -[Danielle] Okay, let's plug 'er in.
Have you ever poured 5 gallons of gas on a bonfire
and just lit it?
Well, that explosion right there,
it's got nothing on this explosion.
There we go.
So long as we keep it between 75 and 85 degrees Celsius...
Ethanol has a boiling point of 77 to 80 degrees Celsius.
We've got to keep these burners at that temperature.
If we don't,
the water is going to start to come over,
and we do not want that.
We're trying to strip the alcohol from the water.
And that's what gives you the high-proof that we're looking for.
[yelps] Uh-huh.
We ought to have something any time now.
[Paige] I can smell it, y'all.
[Tickle] Bad time to light a cigarette, huh?
Very bad time to.
-There we go. -[man] There we go.
-[Henry] Here we come. -[Tickle] There it is.
[Danielle] Math happenin'.
Throw some lavender in there and see what we've got.
-[Tickle] Yeah, start steeping that lavender in there... -[Danielle] Let's do it.
-Yeah. -...getting some extraction.
Let me see if I can't find something to stir it with.
[Danielle] I think that smells good.
[Henry] That's some strong stuff, isn't it?
Here we go.
She turns purple quick.
[Paige] How long are you supposed to let it steep?
[Henry] Ten minutes.
[Tickle] We check our high proof-alcohol,
and we put the lavender over in it.
-All right. -[Tickle] All right.
We can actually see the extraction happening.
-[Henry] Oh, yeah. I think-- -[Danielle] I think it's working.
I think we're gettin' more out of it
than I thought was gonna get out of it.
Now let's squeeze that.
[Henry] Yeah, squeeze it tight.
[Tickle] We can watch the colors change.
You can see the oil coming out of it
mixing with this high-proof alcohol.
Yeah, well, look at that.
It looks like it's got the oil in it already, don't it?
Because it's breaking everything down in this lavender.
This right here is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
All right, I think that's good.
[Henry] It's got this strong lavender smell, too.
[Tickle] It does, too.
Now I want this to work. I really do.
But the smell of this lavender is extremely overpowering.
I've got serious doubts on how this liquor is gonna taste.
Well, that's the best y'all have smelled all day.
Well, take some of your house mash with us?
Yes, sir.
What our plan is now, we're gonna take it,
put it over in the thumper and run some of her liquor,
one of her mash bills,
and let it come over and pick up the essence
and the flavors of that lavender,
and, hopefully,
that's exactly what she's looking for.
[Tickle] All right, set that pot back up...
-[Danielle] Hope for the best. -Hope for the best.
[Digger] You got to look at it this way.
We're not running from the law.
We're just getting out of the way.
-[Mark] Okay. -Yeah.
[Mark] Yeah, that might make me feel
-a little better about myself. -[Digger] Yeah.
[Kelly] We was worried about you.
[Mark] We got away from youse back theres a little bit.
Damn, it looks like a furnace collapsed.
[Kelly] It did.
The chore right now is to remove anything
that could be considered contraband
and send us to jail.
That steel pot,
...the thumper and the condenser,
any ingredients, any heaters, any burners.
they gotta go.
Let's put everything we can in his truck
and knock this stuff down and let you guys get going.
We're moving with purpose. We're not wasting our time.
We know that time is of the essence here.
We've got to get out of here as quickly as we can.
[tense instrumental music]
Well, the way I feel right now is like I'm at gunpoint.
Getting out of the way of the law
when you're doing something illegal at the same time,
it really makes you think twice about this business.
[Mark] When Digger and I decided to expand our business,
honestly, looking back,
that might not have been such a good idea.
We got the potential here of building us an empire.
I want to get from state line to state line with liquor.
Certainly, the bigger you get, the more eyes you draw to yourself.
So, you know, in hindsight, maybe bigger isn't always best
All right, let's get you all loaded up.
It may not always be this way.
Push it on in there, Digger.
If this law enforcement problem goes away,
then, yeah, maybe we can come back at some point.
-All right, see you guys in a little while. -[Amanda] Be safe.
Let's get out of here, Kelly.
[Jerry exhales] Tell you what, Mike,
I believe we get all this put together
If this successfully works,
it's gonna be a game changer.
I do believe you right, man.
You know, one of the challenges me and Mike's got right now
is we got two different orders at two different proofs.
It would save us a lot of time, money, headache, energy,
if we could do it all in one shot.
You know what's gonna be cool as all get out, man, to have,
you know, two different jar rigs on there
doing two different flavors at the same time,
one coming off of a higher proof
and one coming off of the lower proof.
[narrator] To make two liquors at different proofs
during a single run,
Mike and Jerry will install a valve module at the base of the column,
splitting the alcohol vapor into two paths.
The first will send vapor straight from the pot into a copper arm
through a spice-packed jar rig and into a condenser,
yielding a lower proof eggnog shine
with just one distillation.
The second path lets vapor rise through the column,
condensing and re-vaporizing across perforated plates to increase in proof.
It will then pass through another jar rig packed with candy canes,
creating a high-proof peppermint shine.
So, right above this, we're gonna have this module right here.
-Yup. -[Jerry]...to the valve.
So, this will go right here in the middle.
-[Mike grunts] -[Jerry] So, we can actually control the amount of steam--
We can shut this on and off as little or as much as we want to.
So, we can control what goes up and what goes out the bottom.
The column is set up with modules,
and it's different sections.
We're gonna tap into the bottom of this column,
valve system in there.
[Jerry] That'll let a little steam through.
Half of the steam's getting higher in proof,
half of it's getting lower in proof.
[upbeat instrumental music]
-We're close. -[Jerry] I like that one.
My God, that's all the money, ain't it?
[mimics inhaling]
[slurps, laughs]
I don't make one to toot on with it.
You know, one good thing about this gate valve being in place
is that we're gonna be able to adjust this on the fly,
as needed. So, if we see that one jar rig's getting more pressure than the other,
all we gotta do is simply either open it up or close it, one of the two,
and we'll have a lot of stability with that gate valve
in both the jar rigs.
It's gonna be a steam-regulating machine, son.
You know, this still comes out a lot more flexible
to do whatever we need for our customers.
Take this bad boy and put it on top of there, like that.
-Then, we just barely crack this thing. -Crank it. [whistles]
Let it start warming up and going, traveling over.
Then, mine will start running by the time.
-Yup. -We're playing it just right,
-we'll be done at the same time. -Done at the same time.
[Jerry] I'm excited, man.
Now that we got all this stuff built,
now it's time to get it in the woods and run it for its maiden voyage
and just see how well it works.
Well, by golly, we're ready to get this thing to the woods now.
It's time to go, son. I tell you, our mash is ready to rock and roll.
-Let's do this, son. -Let's go.
[Tickle] All right.
He's gonna tell his story, is he gonna work or not?
We're trying to create a lavender moonshine for Danielle Parton.
Fortunately, Danielle has some family land around here
that we can go and run this stuff outside.
Now, the reason we're running this stuff outside, because it's extremely dangerous.
It is still a high-proof spirit with an open flame.
Plus, let's be honest,
I really don't want to be in an enclosed building
with this much lavender scent for too long.
-God damn, it smells strong. -There's a smell to it.
-Mmm, that smells good, don't it, H? -[Henry] Mmm-hmm.
[Tickle] We've got our lavender essence.
We're gonna put this stuff in the doubler
and, hopefully, that pulls some flavor
and aroma through to the finished product.
And we might oughta throw some water on that, Henry,
-before we light this flame. -Yeah, man. I got ya.
[Tickle] We've got to be very careful with this run because we do have
a 180-proof alcohol involved.
Light that baby up.
Throw the fire into it then.
All right.
Labyrinth time.
Well, she done worked out, that's for sure.
-[Henry] And that's one of your main mash bills. -[Danielle] Mmm-hmm.
So, I know that my mash is a good mash
'cause I use it for all my flavors in the distillery.
What I don't know is what this lavender extract is gonna do to it.
I don't know if, when we heat it up,
it's gonna be too much heat for the extract,
or we're gonna get that bitter carrying through
-We don't put that cap on it. -Mmm-hmm.
-Nothing. All will boil off. -Mmm-hmm.
So, you don't have to worry about it getting in the system.
[Tickle] Yup, there she goes!
[upbeat instrumental music]
I've got a few concerns with how this liquor will turn out.
If we over-extract these oils out of the lavender,
our liquor is gonna be bitter.
Now, if these oils don't mix properly with the alcohol,
we'll have an oily residue on top.
I just hope it tastes good.
-[Tickle] That's what we're trying to figure out. -[man] Yeah.
And to be honest, even if we get all these things right,
I'm not sure lavender is a flavor
that people are even gonna wanna drink in moonshine.
I can tell you right now,
-something's happening, 'cause she's coming over. -[Tickle] It's hot?
-This is gonna work. I have full faith. -Is that right?
[gas hissing]
-[Tickle] Lookie yonder! -[Henry] There you go, Dani.
-She's rolling, ain't she? -She's atomic.
[Danielle] There we go!
Magic is happening.
Well, here it is. It's finally started dripping and running.
[Henry] Check it out, Dani.
[tense instrumental music]
All right, y'all ready?
I was ready, baby. Been a long time coming.
[instrumental bluegrass music]
[Tickle] Lookie yonder!
-There you go, Dani. -She's rolling, ain't she?
-[Henry] She's atomic. -[Danielle] There we go.
Well, here it is. It's finally started dripping and running.
-[Henry] Check it out, Dani. -All right, y'all ready?
I was ready, baby. Been a long time coming.
[music fades out]
Mmm-hmm.
It's not overpowering,
and I think it's something I can take back with me to the distillery,
all the lessons that we've learned.
It's exactly what I want it to be,
enough lavender flavor, but not overpowering lavender, and not bitter.
-[Henry] We think-- -Wow!
The flavor is there.
It's not overpowering.
So, I think this is a perfect base for me to go work with in my distillery
to turn it into a commercial product.
I like it.
I think I can make a slew of cocktails with this.
My imagination is fulfilled.
You know, Danielle might be onto something
with this lavender moonshine right here.
It'll be hard to get it any better than that.
It's pretty good
If we start making this out in the backwoods,
we could have the illegal market driving the legal market,
as well as the legal market driving the illegal market.
This could be a win-win for everybody.
Well, I tell you, it is pretty good.
You're being awfully selfish with that jar over there.
It's a brand new product, right? I mean, you oughta let a man try it.
[upbeat instrumental music]
[exhales] Damn, you smell that?
-Smell that alcohol, can't you? -[whoops]
Now is the time. We're heading to the woods to make our two runs of alcohol,
high-proof peppermint and low-proof eggnog.
Let's get some still parts in here and get this column built.
Yeah, we gotta get everything put together.
Today, we're gonna be running two different jar rigs with two different condensers.
One of the new little additions, ain't it?
Nice little T-connector going in.
So, we're running the eggnog off of the lower jar rig,
which, automatically, that's gonna be a lower proof.
And with that valve in the middle, we can open that on up a little,
let it run up to the top, which, that's gonna be reflux, and as it goes up the column,
and producing the higher proof alcohol for Jerry's peppermint shine.
That valve right there is very simple,
but yet very essential to what we're gonna be doing here today.
-[Jerry] Wanna hold it right there? -[Mike] Yeah, I got it.
You know, every time we add something to this still, you know,
we're definitely making it more complicated.
But it's given us a lot more features
that, really, no other still's got.
Eggnog coming off on that side.
-We got some good old peppermint on this side. -Peppermint on that side.
-Low-proof and high-proof. -[Mike] Well, it's ready to fire up baby.
[intriguing instrumental music]
The way we're gonna infuse the flavors
is just like any other time we're out here running this pot.
I've got damn allspice,
I've got nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla bean, clove.
I'm just gonna drop it in the jars,
let it infuse nice and slow, and get that lower proof
eggnog flavor that we're looking for.
I believe this is gonna be a good peppermint shine right here.
The candy cane shine.
Lookie yonder, we got steam going into the eggnog.
We got liquor, Jerry!
[Jerry] Lookie there! Lookie there!
Boy, smell that aroma.
Smells good.
I mean, that smells like Christmas time.
-We'll dump these heads out. -Get rid of it.
Now, we got our eggnog running pretty smooth here.
Let's let some steam go, baby.
We're gonna open the valve up a little bit more,
let that steam travel up that column,
and get Jerry's peppermint jars to dancing.
-[gas hissing] -[Jerry] You hear that?
You can hear it rattling up through there.
Seems like it's traveling pretty good. Are you still running over there?
Still running over there, looking good.
-We got alcohol. -[Mike] Got a little liquid in there.
We're just gonna do...
Ooh, it's hot.
-It's just about at the bottom of the thump post. -[Mike] Hmm.
We got liquor on it here, man.
-[Mike] Liquor, liquor! -[Jerry] It's there.
[Mike] Pepperminty!
See what it smells like.
By God, that, right there, is high-proof dry peppermint alcohol.
I tell you what, man, these jars are starting to do their thing on both sides now.
-Here we go, brother. -[Jerry] Yes, sir.
That's two clear jars right there, baby.
I'm gonna tell you what, either one of these customers are gonna be tickled to death.
Let's get 'em down there and see.
-Oh, my God. Dude, that smells. -[exclaims]
[Mike] Mmm.
-What do you think? -Surprisingly pleasant.
-[Jerry] You like that? -Oh, it's good.
-[Jerry] Well, here-- -Tastes like a spiced rum.
No. Hell, no. Wait a minute!
I'm liking these flavors coming through here.
And it's in a clear jar.
I think the only thing that's made me sick with eggnog
is the thick sweetness of it,
because the taste right here that I'm tasting,
I believe anybody would drink.
What do you think about the double peppermint?
I smell it coming off the jar right now.
[instrumental bluegrass music]
[exclaiming]
Son, that is high-proof.
This peppermint shine, I'll tell you what, it's right on the money.
It's got just a little bit of sweetness from that candy of the candy cane.
It's got the peppermint taste.
It's very pungent.
I'm gonna tell you what, this customer is sure to be delighted.
To eggnog and peppermint, baby.
Two runs!
-On one thing of mash. -Two different proofs.
There you go.
[Mike] Me and Jerry's been through the wringer this year, man.
Our still's been blowed up.
We've had to go down to Mississippi and back.
We went through Hurricane Helene.
The whole nine yards, man.
But here we are, dead of winter,
running the best liquor of our time.
The potential is endless for this still, and for what we can do coming up.
We're gonna change the moonshine world for good.
Y'all better watch out.
Yeah, we better cool it on the drinking, son.
We got a long night ahead of us.
I hear that.
[soft instrumental music]
I cannot believe we've had to clean out all these still spots,
shut 'em down.
I mean, as hard as we've worked our whole damn life,
-who would have thought it would have come to this? -[Digger] Yeah.
I wouldn't have, but yet here we are.
I ain't never been to this place. Have you?
[Digger] Yeah, been years ago. Jeff's got a barn.
We can put some stuff there.
[Mark] I mean, I'm worried about me and you,
but I'm worried about all of our teams.
We're the ones that got 'em in this situation.
I mean, if there's anything that's gotta be done, we gotta take it on our own.
Oh, hell.
Hattie, I don't mean to cause any alarm or anything...
[dramatic instrumental music]
That is one sheriff's car behind us.
[bleep]
Damn, watch the road. Don't be watching him.
[tense instrumental music]
[siren wailing]
[bleep]
[Mark] We're done for.
[bleep]
[dramatic instrumental music]
[theme music playing]
[man] Kenny, you gonna help us or you gonna talk all day?
What's wrong with you?
How many times did y'all go to prison again?
If I rake up a big pile of leaves, are you gonna jump in it?
-[laughs] What money? -[both laugh]
[dramatic instrumental music]
[officer speaking]
Yes, sir.
[tense instrumental music]
[officer speaking]
-It's just scrap. -It's copper.
[Franco speaking]
[Mark] We was headed to the scrap yard with it.
[tense music continues]
[Franco speaking]
-We understand. -Yup.
[Franco speaking]
[dramatic instrumental music]
-[David Robertson speaking] -[Franco] Hey.
-[Robertson speaking] -[Franco] Yeah.
Damn, if it isn't Captain David Robertson,
the one that's chased us so hard in the past.
Look like you was heading into no good today, are yous?
[Mark] No, sir, we're not.
I'm gonna put your ass in jail, I'm telling ya.
It's getting about that close. I about got ya.
Yes, sir.
[Franco speaking]
Well, I remember what you told me the last time you seen me.
[Robertson speaking]
You said, "You boys gotta be lucky all the time. I just gotta be lucky once."
[Franco] All right.
[Mark] Oh!
About 30 seconds from them being 100% totally sure
that we're in violation of the law.
Damn, these handcuffs hurt!
We're done for.
[suspenseful instrumental music]
[Robertson speaking]
[Franco speaking]
[Robertson speaking]
[dramatic instrumental music]
[Franco speaking]
[Robertson speaking]
[intriguing instrumental music]
[bleep]
[Robertson speaking]
[Mark] David Robertson said,
"It does have a hole drilled in the bottom of it.
It's no longer a functioning still.
Therefore, it's no longer illegal.
[Franco speaking]
[Digger] You may have to help me.
I'm not real graceful under the best of circumstances.
Right now, we're just feeling like we won the lottery.
We're just tickled to death to get out of these damn cuffs.
No hard feelings. You've got a job to do, and I understand.
You know, nobody wants their liquor still to leak,
they don't want any holes, no matter what size they are,
but I'm as proud of that hole in that liquor still
as I am anything on this planet at this point.
[Mark] What in the world just happened here, Puss?
You know, hell, the only thing I can figure out,
maybe Kelly did that when we weren't looking.
It had to be Amanda or Kelly, Digger.
We know that we didn't do it, so one of them guys has had to,
and bless their heart, whichever one it was.
You know, five minutes ago, Puss, we was on our way, 100%, to the penitentiary.
-Yeah. -[Mark] Now, we're on our way home.
I mean, how does that even happen?
-I don't understand. -It don't happen often,
but I'm ready to go and I'm ready to get rid of the liquor still.
We've been pushing our luck a long time, I guess.
And now, you know, we just feel so blessed
that just something as simple as this
means the difference in incarceration and freedom.
But, you know, come spring...
we'll be back.