[narrator] this time on moonshiners...
This is popcorn's old still site in north carolina.
I ain't never in my life hauled water to a still site.
If we stay here, it's going to kill our season.
[digger] this is insane.
We've got to get off this still site and get closer to home.
[mark] we thought we'd put brandy into the wine,
make a lot more product,
and a whole lot more of money.
Wouldn't hurt to put a tad more of that in it.
But we're down to our last gallon.
And if we could get this mixed up right, may be up a creek without a paddle.
[james on phone] they said they want the green one,
the absinthe, man.
This guy wants absinthe. I've never made anything like this before.
-[richard] that's wormwood. -Oh, my, it tastes like a worm.
[mark] this is how we make the moonshine!
[digger groans]
[mark] have you talked to daniel?
[digger] I have. He's going to meet us up here on the highway.
[narrator] in cocke county, tennessee,
after police raided their small warehouse still site,
mark and digger sneak back under cover of darkness
to fill up on their most precious ingredient.
We got to have that limestone water.
We got to have it.
The thing about this is
if the chief of police gets wind of this,
he will bring the damn vengeance.
One of the big deals about tennessee whiskey, as anybody knows,
is limestone water.
That sweeter water quality that goes along with limestone water,
it pairs well with that corn
and it brings it to the forefront really strong.
It's crucial we get this water.
If we don't, we can't make anymore tennessee whiskey.
[mark] hey, daniel, how are you doing, boss?
[daniel] well, I generally know if you're calling me,
you got something on your mind, so.
Well, we're up a stump.
-Okay. -[digger] we was making our tennessee whiskey
down there in town.
We got a visit with the police.
That ain't no good, never.
[digger] and we've been evicted.
We got a still site, daniel, across the mountain.
[digger] but we need this rascal here filled up
with that water, so we can build a little mash.
[mark] we'd like to take your truck with the tote in it.
We'll take it down there
and we'll pump the water in it.
They don't know your truck
and they won't have any reason to stop her and check that truck.
We're just going to stake you out down there on top of a building.
If you see the cops headed our way,
just give us a heads up.
[digger] this is a big ask, so we got
-the big resolve for it. -All right.
So we want to bring you in as a partner on this run of tennessee whiskey.
I need to know right there, you in or you out?
Well, hell, that ain't hard to decide. I'm in.
Good deal.
[daniel] given the heat that the local police
and everything has got on mark and digger,
it's kind of risky doing this for them.
A lot of the times, though, you'll find out in life
that the risk is worth the reward.
We're here, boys.
Daniel's role is he's going to be a lookout.
If he spots something that might be a threat to us, he'll let us know
and then we can make ourselves scarce, hopefully.
[digger] let's get this [bleep] done.
[mark] yeah.
[daniel] I'm heading up to this big, tall building, where I can look down
and make sure that there's no cops or anything.
[mark] well, the plan is digger and I will
sink the pump in the spring,
pump the water in the tote.
All right, I'd say the coast is clear.
Got you, man.
You know, pumping water
is not illegal,
but we've already tempted fate
and we've been warned by the chief of police.
We're, kind of, reneging on our word by coming back here.
If the police find us, we'll be in even more trouble.
[mark] I'm a pigeon and I'm a nervous wreck.
If this is the stuff we got to go through to make liquor, really.
[daniel] I'm seeing a black suv.
[digger] oh, damn it. Where's he going?
I can't see.
He's just, he's a creeping in, yeah.
-[mark] oh, hell. -[digger] oh, hell. Get to that side.
Radio silence.
Man, he's looking around here at us.
Damn, if that's the undercover, they're had.
[mark] he's backing up.
[mark] he's getting out.
He's going on, he's going west.
[daniel] it looks to me like he's leaving right now.
That don't do nothing for my wet drawers right now, though.
[digger] well, you know, the lucky thing about it,
while this guy was cleaning his fingernails in his car,
whatever he's doing, this tote filled up.
We've got all the water, we can haul.
Let's get the hell out of here.
Next thing is we're heading out bright early in the morning,
north carolina, to make a little liquor out of this limestone water.
[mark] what do you say we skedaddle, old buddy?
[daniel] we'll get the hell out of here.
[mark] hey, you can't see nothing from over here, huh?
We get to running, though, we might cut
a piece of laurel through this trail.
[narrator] in graham county, north carolina,
after spending last season helping those in need,
mark and huck kick off the year
by rebuilding capital with an old favorite.
Now people are getting back to work,
now things are getting back to normal.
People getting little money in their pocket.
Usually we just, you know, make corn liquor and brandy,
you know, but this year we thought we'd make some good fortified wine.
Our old buddy, steve, said he had
about a hundred pounds of good quality grapes.
What we're going to do with these grapes is work it off into wine,
use about half of it to distill, make it into brandy.
Getting water, huck?
[huck] got plenty!
[mark] then we're going to take our brandy and pour it back into our wine.
That's what they call a fortified wine.
It's got a real good taste.
Still good and stout. Make a lot more product
and a whole lot more of money, too.
So our old buddy, steve, we're going to go check him out
and see what he's got.
[narrator] fortified wine traces back to the roman empire,
but its use increased during europe's golden age of sail in the 1700s,
because the product's high proof saved on cargo space
and ensured it wouldn't spoil on long ocean voyages.
The heady mix of liquor and wine quickly gained widespread popularity
and became all the rage on the mainland.
Today, fortified wine is commonly consumed in the states as vermouth,
the staple and cocktails like the martini and the manhattan.
It can also be drunk on its own as a sherry,
port or madeira wine.
Oh, look at that, boss.
Damn pretty, ain't it? Yes, spring time
and grapes ain't in season yet here,
our old buddy, steve, he went into mexico
and he brings them back to these fruit stands and sells them.
But he had some extra.
We wound up getting them from him.
-What do you want for them? -[steve] last year y'all made that juice for me.
If you want to put a jar or something in there,
when you got it back, that'd be fine. There ain't no hurry for it.
Make a little fortified wine, there.
-[steve] yeah. -[mark] yeah, this might be
a pretty good thing for me and huck.
We'd be the first ones to be able to make some liquor out of grapes this year.
-[mark] thank you, man. -[steve] thank you, mark.
-Thank you, huck. -[huck] steve, appreciate it.
Yes. Fortified wine.
It's in between a good brandy and a wine, too,
so it should be some of the best liquor we ever made.
[richard] man, you see the fish jumping in this bayou?
[craig] there's a whole lot of things in that bayou, fish,
alligators, turtles.
[richard] stop. I ain't eaten lunch yet. Let's go.
[narrator] in new iberia, louisiana,
richard and his brother craig are returning to their still site,
as the rainy season turns to moonshine season on the bayou.
[richard] everybody wants a good drink.
I've been having people coming to me left and right.
Hey, can I get some? Can I get some? So this is the time right now
that we're going to get out here and we're going to produce some liquor.
It's a lot of growth over here.
We ought to have a lot of shade back here.
It's been a couple of months since we've been at the old site,
so we're gonna go over there and see what we got going on.
Look at this mud, craig.
-[richard] oh, my goodness. -[craig] all right.
-So, we're underwater. -[richard] damn!
Our spot from last year,
it's currently sitting in a couple of inches of water.
I'm not going to deal with this right here.
It's a no go. We're going to have to find another spot.
Let's see if there's something else, man, we could deal with.
This area right here is just a little bit too wide open.
Let's see what we can do over here.
Stay pretty close to the bayou,
because that's our main thing, having this cold water.
That's why we're here, not to drink, but for a condenser, it's a1.
I like this little area right here.
It's hidden enough. We got a little brush here.
What we're going to have to do is build a deck or something
to put everything on, so we don't have to go through this.
Even if it's muddy, we could come back here.
This new spot, it's a little higher than the last part that we had.
It's not muddy there.
-[craig] twelve feet by eight feet. -[richard] perfect.
There's enough room.
What do you see?
That is an alligator right there, son.
I told you, I seen that big thing.
[craig] if it come up here...
We ain't got to worry about what we're going to eat
for the rest of this week. I can promise you that.
That will be over.
This is a perfect spot.
The faster we can get this site set up,
man, the faster we can get some cash rolling.
[cell phone ringing]
-what's up, james? -[james on phone] hey, man, what's going on, rich?
Nothing much, man. What's happening?
[james on phone] oh, man, I'm down in new orleans, man, at a barbecue, man.
I had a little bit of that shine with me, man,
that moonshine the one that I got from you...
-[richard] uh-huh. -[james on phone] my people tasted it, bro.
Come on. What do they think?
[james] oh, man, they loved it. And look, what else, man?
They're wondering if you can get some more for them,
you know, I told them, a little.
-They want the green one. -Green?
[james on phone] oh, yeah, green one, the absinthe, man.
Oh, absinthe.
[james] they said that's the good one, man.
From what I know about absinthe,
it has a lot of ingredients in it.
I've never made anything like this before.
Definitely got to do some research on it.
But I mean that stuff is expensive, man.
-[james on phone] -you got that money, charged about 250 for a gallon.
-We can do it. -[james on phone] we could make that money.
All right. I appreciate it. I'll take care of you on the back end.
[james on phone] all right. Thank you.
All right, appreciate it, my brother.
250 a gallon, that's not bad.
No. But, what the hell is absinthe? What's in it?
I know what's in it. Money.
[narrator] absinthe, the legendary liquor known as the green fairy,
has been shrouded in mystery and myth since it was first invented
by a french doctor in the 1700s.
A potent mix of grain, spirit, and over 12 herbs and botanicals
give absinthe its licorice like flavor
and evocative green hue.
Absinthe was outlawed in 1912 in the united states
when rumors spread that wormwood, the same ingredient
that's said to give absinthe its psychedelic properties,
caused madness.
It was later discovered that no scientific evidence supported the claim.
However, it wasn't until, nearly a century, later in 2007
that the ban was finally lifted
and americans could legally dance with the green fairy once again.
Ain't nobody making no absinthe.
New orleans is all about drinking.
This is a new client and a new city.
I mean, this is the type of customers we're looking for.
If this works, this can open up a whole big market for us.
We got to set up this still site.
I'm gonna leave this here. We're going to let this alligator know
we're here now.
But our reputation is at stake.
What if we turn in a product that's not really good?
It's a high-end customer in new orleans we're dealing with.
I want to give him our best.
We should've got a softer brush.
[huck] make sure you get around your toenails.
You'll have to help me up.
-[laughs] -[mark] yeah, me and huck
just stomping them grapes, you know,
like they done back in the old days.
[huck] oh, you're doing good. I hear them pop.
[mark] talk about slick!
[mark] never, ever had to haul water to a still site to mash in with.
We're gonna have to do something different. We can't live like this.
[digger] well, you know, it's either stupidity or commitment.
We've hauled 275 gallons of water 60 miles across
the mountains of north carolina.
This is probably more effort
and more work than we've ever put into a run of liquor in our lives.
[mark] I'll get us some water going.
To make mark and digger's tennessee whiskey,
it's got to be limestone water.
We got to rig up the pump,
pump the water up the hill.
If we didn't have to have this water,
I certainly would not be doing this.
We've got to drag hoses up that bank,
all the way up this hill to the still side.
Then we've got to fire a generator up.
It's a damn sight amount of work to make a run of moonshine liquor,
I'm telling you.
-Hey, it's getting there. -[daniel] oh.
[digger] oh, hey, cramp that hose now. Don't waste it.
We ain't got, but one tote.
You know, we don't have an endless supply of water right now,
so we've got to be careful not to waste any of it.
[daniel] that's tennessee holy water.
Yeah, boy. We're at hallowed ground, I guess
you'd say. This is popcorn's old still site.
-Come on, daniel. -[mark] this is a nice place,
but it ain't the handiest one, is it?
-[daniel] nope. -[digger] so, you know, as far as what we're doing today,
it's worth it.
But as far as making a career, making liquor up here,
ain't going to happen.
Too much work.
-All right. Get her. -Let's get her hot.
Give us a little gas.
[mark] whoa! I think I like your old lady, digger,
-just putting that all over town. -Putting that all over town.
[both laugh]
[digger] you know, beyond this water,
we've got to have our white corn,
our malted barley and a rye.
The way we measure up here, 'cause we're not going to bring scales,
we just mark the graduations on our bucket
and we know where the weights are at for which particular grain.
There's the rye.
[mark] as good a guy as daniel is and all the help he's given us
looking out for us, you know,
we feel it's just fair to bring him in as a partner on this tennessee whiskey.
Right. This old stir stick. I got here made out of black walnut.
It's got tennessee shaped holes cut in it.
[daniel] yeah.
So will that have any bearing on tennessee whiskey,
if we make it north carolina?
That'll help make tennessee whiskey, I bet a dollar on it.
[both laugh]
it'll make it a hell of a lot better mash
if it's from tennessee.
Yeah, you'd have to think.
I mean, the mash may not know, but me and you and digger know.
That's right.
Well, you always say, it ain't a lie if you believe it.
No, no. It ain't a lie if you don't believe it.
[digger] oh, yeah, that.
[daniel] you know, today they're actually
teaching me the exact measurements
that they put into a 55-gallon drum of mash.
[digger] we've got to stir the hell out of it.
And I am completely honored that...
That mark and digger would trust me with... With the recipe.
Digger, do you think popcorn would be proud of us?
No, he'd have thought... Well, he'd be saying right now,
"I don't know what the hell you boys think you're accomplishing."
[mark] oh, if popcorn know that we was hauling water to make mash and stuff,
he'd call us everything in the book and tell us how damn stupid we was.
And, you know, I'm not so sure that he wouldn't be right.
He made some good liquor and he made terrible liquor,
but now he used whatever he had.
-Oh, yeah. -And that's what--
[digger] that's what I say all the time, you know,
they holler the popcorn recipe, popcorn recipe.
Which one? Hell, there's nine millions.
He never did anything the same.
Well, we got the mash made.
We just need to bring it down
to temperature, where the yeast will thrive.
Then we're ready to let it ferment, then we'll come back here and run it.
What do you think we cover these things up?
[digger] yep, let mother nature do its thing.
[birds chirping]
[richard] we're ready to go. We're gonna get this set up and put a still on it
and start running.
The faster we can get this site set up, man,
the faster we can get some cash rolling.
[craig] I'm wondering if that alligator is coming back around here.
We're about to see if it came up.
All right. Let's get to work, man.
Put one on the bottom.
The quicker we do this, the quicker we can start mashing this in.
It doesn't have to be the most beautiful thing in the world,
but it does have to be functional.
This is it.
All right, we're done.
They didn't build rome in a day because I wasn't there.
Come on, let's get some stuff and mash in before it gets too late.
Now that our deck is build,
we're going to do our sugar wash,
the high proof neutral spirit for our absinthe.
I've done a lot of research on it.
The first thing we have to do with absinthe
is run a base spirit, a neutral spirit,
something that doesn't taste like anything.
Sugar and water, most neutral you can get.
The only flavors that we're gonna introduce into this
is the things that we bring into it with the fennel, the wormwood.
Oh, all the botanicals.
-[richard] the botanicals. -That's where the flavor comes in
on the back end.
All that stuff combined is going to give it this vibrant green color.
And when you lose it, when you introduce the water to it,
it turns this whitish color and you could see it kind of darting around,
that's when the oils separate themselves and they start to develop
their aroma and flavor.
This is some mad science [bleep].
It's the kind of science that will make you mad.
All right. We're at a high enough temperature,
let's start dropping some sugar in here.
-[craig] all right. -[richard] in absinthe,
there are so many complex flavors.
So going in with a base neutral spirit makes so much sense.
It's a hard process, it's a hard product,
but there's never been a liquor that we touched that we couldn't conquer.
Grab the yeast. Let's go.
It's a real good yeast, real good yeast nutrients.
[richard] that's good.
[richard] we'll let that work off.
Hopefully a couple of days, that'll be done.
We'll go ahead and start sourcing all our botanicals.
You got everything out of here?
-That's it. -[craig] I'm going to drink a beer.
[richard] it's beer 30.
It's five o'clock, somewhere.
[huck] oh, god, that's kind of like being a pallbearer, ain't it?
-[mark] it is. -[huck] let's let it down for a minute.
Yeah, we're going to work our grapes over good,
get all the stems out of it, make sure some of them,
you know, ain't molded or nothing,
make a little fortified wine and get a lot of money out of it.
We got a lot of grapes to mash.
[huck] if we have to mash these up with our hands,
like we did once before, we'd probably end up with that carpal tunnel.
Yeah, that's too mean to mash up by hand.
We ain't got no press.
[huck] well, we'll stomp it in with our feet.
You clip your toenails last night, mark?
Yeah, back in the old days. I guess they didn't have press
and all that stuff to mash the juice out of the wine.
I guess they just did foot treading, you know.
We might try that. We got a lot of grapes to mash.
[huck] do you like that brush I got you?
What is it? Is that a commode brush or what is it?
[huck] yeah. It'll work, won't it?
It ain't been used, I got that at the dollar store.
Brand new.
You're brushing your teeth.
Make sure you get around your toenails. Feels good.
[both laugh]
me and huck knows what our feet's been through.
So I don't think I could drink that liquor if I didn't clean my feet good.
Well, you should have got a softer brush. Well, that's burning.
I mean, it's cleaning.
Wash the bottom of my feet, I done got that dirty.
Oh, that's cold.
Clean the toes.
Now look how red my leg is turning.
[huck] that's good for you.
[mark] like sandpaper.
I got them cleaned, huck.
Yeah, they're clean.
You'll have to help me up.
Talk about slick!
Ah, bigfoot moonshine.
You'll have to help me up.
[huck laughs]
talk about slick!
Yeah, me and huck, just stomping them grapes, you know,
just like they done back in old days.
Ah!
[huck] oh, you're doing good. I hear them popping.
-[mark] yeah, they're busting. -[huck] yeah.
Bigfoot moonshine.
Feels like a bucket full of snails or something.
-Bucket full of snails. -[laughter]
we always have a little fun out of everything we do.
[huck] you're about the best at that I've ever seen.
If I had a drink or two I could do this a little faster.
-[huck] they say it's good for your feet. -Oh, is it?
-[huck] yeah. -They need 'em.
[huck] knowing him, he'd probably make a brandy out of it.
Back in old days, they just got some pretty women, you know,
and mashed them up with their feet.
Their feet are softer and they're lighter,
wouldn't mash the seeds, you know, and all that stuff.
-That's slick. -It's slick.
[mark] we ain't got no women around here,
so I guess it's me or huck,
so who do you think is going to do it?
Get some dirty hands all over my--
[huck] I've done washed my hands.
[laughter]
yeah. Crushing them seeds would make that wine real bitter.
I'll just step real easy and try to bust them real gentle, like you know.
Mashed it pretty good, though, ain't it?
[huck] yeah, they are.
Let's get that mash barrel cleaned up.
Start laying the sugar and yeast to it and everything,
and get her to working.
Yeah, fortified wine is just making a good wine
and making it as strong as you can.
These grapes, just we'll use about half of it, we'll work it off as wine
and then probably use about half of it to distill into brandy.
This wine, you know, it might come out 10%, 12%.
And then when we pour our brandy back into it, maybe get it up to 20%.
We just want it stouter than most wines,
maybe charge a little more for it.
Me and huck, we've got to make us money this year.
Oh, only thing we need to do now is cap her off.
[mark] we're gonna let it work all the way off.
Run it whenever we think it's about right.
It should have a good flavor.
Still want it to have the moonshine kick,
but to have a real good wine taste.
[huck] that's good, mark. Good shape.
-[richard] check this wash out, man. -[craig] yeah.
-[richard] I'm nervous about this stuff. -Check this out.
Oh, man. That's crazy. Look at that.
[richard] man, I done kept this mash barrel,
and this thing is rolling like a pot of gumbo.
-This is a good yeast. -[craig] this is so crazy.
[richard] it doesn't smell like anything, but alcohol.
If this is any indication of how our final product is going to be,
we're gonna have a kickass absinthe.
Hell, yeah. It smells like it's ready to drink now.
[richard] yeah, but it needs to go a couple more days.
Come on, we're going to leave it alone, come back.
Hopefully it'll be ready to drink.
[richard] we'll let that work off.
It gives us a little time to sit down
and look at some of these botanicals and try to figure out
what we're gonna put in our absinthe.
[richard] and I got all the little botanicals that we need.
Absinthe has a lot of different characters and flavors.
There's fennel and wormwood. There's anise seed.
From my research, the most important ingredients in absinthe
are fennel, wormwood and anise.
Fennel and anise, this is where
we get the licorice flavor in the absinthe.
It helps counter the bitter taste in the wormwood.
[richard] lemon balm.
[craig] lemon balm.
Lemon balm, it adds a citrus flavor.
It smells like what it sounds like.
Some spearmint and hyssop.
Hyssop is something different, it's in the mint family, too.
Hyssop, it's an old, old, old herb,
and this is going to give a little softness to our complexity.
Come on, I want to try some of this.
[craig] all right. Let's try it.
[richard] you know, some of these herbs I've never really even heard of,
just tasting them is taking your taste buds
somewhere it's never been before.
I'm gonna bite this whole star anise.
[richard] true licorice tasting plant.
It tastes just like licorice, man, very overpowering.
This is anise seed right here.
This little bit of seed right here has way, way, way more flavor
than this bigger seed in this thing right here.
Wormwood, major ingredient right here.
What is this going to taste like?
It actually smells good, so I take a little pinch to taste.
And man...
-Oh, my... -That's wormwood.
[craig] tastes like a worm. Oh, my god, don't taste that.
Whoo.
Okay, now you see that right there, ain't good for you.
Wormwood definitely surprises you.
This is complex that's why you taste so much in this drink.
We've researched a lot of recipes.
We've researched a lot of history with absinthe.
So we're gonna take all of those recipes
and kind of take a little bit of this, a little bit of that,
kind of muddle some... Some of the stuff.
We're gonna give it a little early start.
We're gonna put all that together
and come up with our own absinthe recipe.
Trying to get that, that smell and that taste consistency
right, kind of in a powder form.
All the time and the effort that we're investing in this,
I mean, it's a lot of time it takes to do this drink.
This is a real complicated process.
If this doesn't work, not only we will be losing a customer,
but we'll be losing a lot of time
and that's something that you can't get back.
Let's see what we got.
Man! It smells good, man. This is different.
I don't know if I want to wear it, drink it,
eat it, something.
The stakes are real high with this,
but I think we're really going to nail this.
We're going to leave it right here.
-[craig] time to make that money, man. -That's it.
[siren wailing]
[digger] today is the day, girls.
Today is the day we run tennessee whiskey
in the great state of north carolina.
Let's see what we got here.
Oh, yeah, caps failed and it's very little left on top.
[mark] the mash is dead as last year's calendars.
We've done everything exactly as we did in tennessee,
but you never know what you're gonna get till you put it in the still.
Three tennessee moonshiners in the tar heel state.
There you go, dan, there's the lighting device.
All right.
How about like that right up there, buddy?
That looks good to me.
[daniel] you know, this is the sacred spot right here
that me as a moonshiner, I'll take to my grave.
[mark] with that being said, my thing is,
this is a damn extremely out-of-the-way place.
[digger] yeah.
And I ain't never in my life hauled mash and water to a still site.
It's an honor to run at popcorn sutton's old still site,
but it's completely inefficient
hauling water 100 miles each and every time
we want to do a run of tennessee whiskey.
I think it's just crazy.
[digger] figure our time into it
and the time we've got driving all the time trying to get over here
and make a run of tennessee whiskey,
plus our fuel for two and three vehicles,
it's cutting in on the profits.
So we... No, this is, this is insane.
We need a still site in the same location as the limestone water source.
If we stay here, it's going to kill our season.
[huck] want to smell it, mark?
Let's see if it's ready.
Mmm-hmm.
[exhales sharply]
got the alcohol in it.
Well, it does, don't it?
[mark] when making fortified wine, what we're gonna do is
we're gonna save half of the barrel of the wine for later.
And then we're gonna run half of it
into some good high proof brandy to
mix back into our wine.
Well, that's pretty right there.
People this year, they want some good stuff to drink
and this... It ought to be about as good a tasting liquor as we ever made.
Huck, probably that's about enough,
or that's about half of it, ain't it?
-Got it, don't you? -[mark] yeah.
[mark] the best wood in these mountains is locust.
We got some locust right here.
Now this is fixing to get hot.
It's less smoke, more heat.
It's really the best wood you can burn.
Well, let's see if we can cap 'er off.
Yeah, it feels so good.
Cap'll make it run off all day.
I've used rye, meal, oatmeal.
I learned a few years back this plumbers putty
is getting soft and it seals good.
You reuse it, but every dime you can save,
that's just more that's going to help you get through the winter.
We're going to turn this 25-gallon of wine into brandy.
We should get at least five-gallon out of it.
When we mix it all up, we should wind up around 30 gallons
of good fortified wine.
That's a pretty good bit of liquor.
We should make some good money off of it.
[mark] yup, she's running.
[huck] yeah, I see that, it's starting to drip pretty good now, isn't it?
We got our stream about right.
We'll throw them heads off.
Well, it's stout.
Make your eyes water right there.
Oh, it is, ain't it?
-Are you ready to make some mixing? -Yep.
What we're wanting to do is put the alcohol to the wine,
maybe get it at 20% or even better if we can.
-Them big beads. -Mmm-hmm.
Make a good high proof fortified wine.
That's a pretty color, ain't it?
-That's color of a pink grapefruit, ain't it? -[mark] yeah.
But this might be just a little bit low on the proof though,
just a little bit.
Checking it, and tasting of it and noticed it's a little bit too sweet.
[huck] it's a little bit low, ain't it?
[mark] just a little bit.
The beads were small and going away quick.
We know it is low proof,
so we need to put some more good, high proof brandy in it.
So I reckon a gallon makes her about right.
[huck] let's try.
Mixing the brandy in, we got to go real slow.
We don't want to change the taste of it much.
We want to have it to get grape taste and a good high proof.
Hmm. Watch... Smell this. Smell that. Just try it, mate.
-Well, it smells good, don't it? -Just try it.
How did that taste?
Hmm. Probably wouldn't hurt to put a tad more of that in.
[mark] I'm glad we saved this.
Yeah, we're down to our last gallon.
It's ain't burn off, I'll tell you that.
[huck] no, it ain't... It ain't much.
If we can't get this mixed up right, we're out of grapes.
We can't send steve back to mexico to get more grapes,
so we may be up a creek without a paddle.
Try it again, huck.
You wouldn't believe how good that is.
That's perfect.
Oh, my goodness.
You get that good grape taste.
That's about right, right there.
That's right, mate. The wine part of it cools it down, doesn't it?
I believe we need to leave it alone.
Yeah. I'd say it's about the smoothest and the stoutest wine
that we've ever tasted.
But I guarantee you, you take about three drinks of that,
that there good drinks,
you'll be ready to dance.
Got a little bite to it,
you know, the brandy has, but it's a smooth bite. Fortified wine,
we won't have trouble selling that.
-That's pretty, ain't it? -[huck] mmm-hmm.
The only problem we got, me and huck will have to stay out of it.
We don't want to drink our profit up.
I tell you what, it's really an honor to get to make liquor here.
-Yeah. -With you, daniel, and you, digger.
But after this run, I say we pack up
and get the hell out of north carolina.
It's time to vacate it.
[mark] we cannot continue hauling hundreds of gallons
of limestone water a hundred miles
to a still site to make tennessee whiskey.
Time to let it... Go on back to nature the way we found it.
We need a still site in the same location as the limestone water source.
Oh, oh, look at here, boys.
Yep, you got it, boy.
-Hot dang, daniel, there you go. -Like a fist.
-Yeah, boy. -[daniel] all that pop needs is a clicker stick in it.
[digger] here she comes. That'll warm her up.
Perfect stream right there, boys.
[daniel] that does look good.
[mark] don't matter if you do it one time or a thousand times.
When the liquor starts coming out of the worm,
it gives you a little boost of adrenaline.
I'll get these heads out.
I'm charged up. I'm ready to see what we've made.
Phew! Damn!
That'll make your damn sticker pack up and your feeder feel good.
Tastes like mark and digger's tennessee whiskey.
You can, as we have proven, make tennessee whiskey in north carolina.
Yeah, let's just get drunk.
Whoa! Damn, damn.
This is way too high proof jug to be drinking out of.
Oh, that's got to be tempered.
It's spot on to what we've been making in tennessee.
So the only difference is real estate
it was run on with just a little ways across the state line.
You get that block and I've got a rag. I'll get the cap.
That being said, we're going to break this still down.
We're going to take it out of here.
And this was the last damn run of liquor made at this spot.
[mark] I want to get this still up on digger's back.
I wish other one was was a lot narrower.
Yeah. It has a little narrow body. This is a fat boy.
-You got it? -I got all I can get.
That's all for this place, jb rader.
That hump on the old man's back helped him out a lot.
[mark] he had something to balance it on, didn't he?
-[digger] yep. -[mark] ain't but one thing left to do
other than get out of dodge.
The last thing to do is to take down popcorn's sign and go home.
I don't guess this will ever be hung back here again.
I'd say you're right.
[digger] let's get the hell out of here.
You know, digger and myself, now we've got the unenviable chore
of finding not only limestone water source back in tennessee,
but we've got to find a suitable still site
next to that water and move forward in our season.
-If we go ahead and sweat this end of this hook. -Yeah.
[mark laughing]
son of a bitch.
[mark laughing] I forgot to open the valve!
Woo-ee!
We made a gun out of that thing.
I'd say that was shot.
Well, I'm saying I forgot...
[mark laughing]
[huck] damn. Whoo. Dangerous.
[richard] what time is it, craig?
[craig] it's time to fire up again.
It's time to run some moonshine.
Today is the first actual run of our absinthe.
It's going to be the best absinthe anyone's ever made.
Today is the day we run the sugar wash.
All right.
[richard] all right, we're going to get this pumped in.
Smells awesome, smells like sake, smells like a rice wine.
I know it's just sugar and water,
but man, it has some different notes to it.
We got 30 gallons in the barrel.
We're gonna get right close to three gallons out of this run.
All right. We're going to put some heat on this thing.
Man, that smells good. Mmm-hmm.
[richard] so, craig, we got a decision to make, too.
-What's that? -The guy that made this order for this absinthe,
he said, "I could pay you in crypto."
really?
He said he'll probably give us more than it's worth in crypto
-'cause it's easy for him to give it up. -[craig] he's not lying.
That cryptocurrency back in the day when I tried to get you in
was worth 7,000.
That same cryptocurrency is worth $35,000 today.
If we accept this crypto from this guy,
we stand a chance of doubling, maybe tripling our money.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah. But can I walk in the bank and say, "I want to see it"?
I walk in the bank and tell him, "let me see my money.
-I want to see it." -[craig] no.
I can see this.
I know what this is.
Cryptocurrency, you have to hand it to me
on something like this, a flash drive.
I don't trust something I can't see.
It's being held in your wallet off to the side.
You're your own bank.
Plus, crypto moves up and down. I mean, this can go down.
This can take a nosedive and we could lose everything.
I think we should take a chance.
You take charge of this one, I'll let you talk to him about that.
Craig knows a lot about it, so I'm going to trust him,
see if what he says actually works.
There we go. It's dripping.
We're getting our first little drip drop,
the beginning of something good.
Go ahead and throw that off.
This is 160, 170, for sure.
That's strong, man.
So we're hoping to get at least three gallons of our base spirit.
-Get another jar so we don't lose all of this. -[craig] oh, yeah.
It's putting off more liquor than we thought.
[richard] it's running like crazy.
Man, this is the last jar, man.
Give me that bucket.
This'll be good to go.
All right. The next thing that we're gonna do
is we're gonna take all this distillate that we got out of here.
We're gonna through a maceration process.
We're gonna take the fresh herbals,
the fresh botanicals that we have,
and we're gonna put them in here, let them sit for 24 hours.
Now that we have our base spirit,
we're gonna add all of these herbs to it.
All right. So that's 40 grams of anise seed.
Dump that in there. Dump.
I'm gonna write that down.
We're weighing all these herbs.
We want to be able to replicate this
if this comes out right and don't have to guess.
Star anise is something else, man, this is powerful, strong.
I look at this sugar wash like a blank canvas.
All we have to do is put it on the easel,
get our botanicals and paint them on.
Spearmint. A little of this goes a long way.
This high proof alcohol is going to start to break down
all of these oils, which is an essential part of absinthe.
We're gonna go with your friend here,
mr. Wormwood is a staple in this.
-I know. -[craig] I don't really know
with what we're gonna end up with.
Hopefully, it doesn't taste nothing like wormwood.
Man, we got a concoction here.
[richard] so we dump all this into here.
We let it sit for 24 hours.
All of these oils are gonna soak out.
Hold both sides of the cap.
We lose that, you're gonna have to swim home.
We'll come back in and run it through the still.
What comes out at this point is a white absinthe.
We want to be careful with this. There's a lot at stake here.
We don't have a whole lot of alcohol to work with.
All right. Well, that's it. Let's go ahead and get out of here, man.
The stakes are real high. We got one shot at this.
We're gonna make sure we do this right.
[birds chirping]
there are springs in every cave over there on that bluff.
That's all limestone.
[mark] pull in here and let's look.
Digger and I, you know, we're back in tennessee
on a hunt for a limestone water.
In order for us to continue in making tennessee whiskey,
we need both our limestone water and our still site
in exactly the same place.
Every bit of this is limestone, end-to-end.
Now there's a spring, comes out of that bluff right there.
[mark] there's a lot of limestone springs around here,
but, you know, sadly, we've not found anything very promising at all.
And we're getting down pretty low on the bottom of the list.
So, you know, it's... It's soon or never, I guess.
We'd be safe over there, but...
Can't get to none of it.
[digger] when I was, you know, 15, 16, 17 years old
it wasn't anything to climb up them rock bluffs,
but anymore, I can't, I can't do it.
[mark] and don't matter how much good water we find,
if we can't access it.
-[digger] moving on. -[mark] moving on here, boss.
Well, let's go up here at this one little old spot.
I used to own that property.
Wish I still did.
It's got a real good spring on it. It's right up here.
Well, that pretty much says it all.
[mark] oh, yeah. Well, that don't look good.
We're getting nowhere in a great big hurry.
Well...
We have zero options after a whole day of hunting.
I'm horribly disheartened with this.
We need a still site that's close a good source of limestone water
that we've got a footprint to set a bigger still,
where we can ramp up production, and we need it now.
The only thing I know to do ahead is go down here
and talk to john down here at english mountain spring water.
You know, the guy that owns the english mountain spring water
is a guy by the name of john burleson.
Digger knows john better than I do,
but english mountain spring water was judged
and voted to be the best tasting water in the world.
Hell, we ain't got nothing to lose.
We'll just approach him with kind of bended knees and hat in hand.
The mineral content's perfect. It's... It's good and sweet.
I know it's limestone water.
We've got tempering water out of it for years from the runoff.
Reckon you can pull a nose hair out of your nose
-and maybe tear up a little bit? -I don't know.
Hell, we've looked hell west and crooked for limestone water.
This is pretty much the end of the line for us.
We don't know where else to look.
We have to make this source of water work for us.
[digger] it's our last resort right here.
We're going to ask john at english mountain spring water
if we can run liquor at his facility, on his spring,
you know, away from his business.
Um, but I think the likelihood is slim to none.
[mark] well, I guess, no luck.
That's what we'll call it. We're kind of out of choices here.
Right.
Can I help you?
Hey, how are you?
You wouldn't happen to remember us, would you?
I do.
[digger] well, we've... We've come back to you again to talk.
[john] good to see you.
We have a request we'd like to make.
We'd like to talk about your water.
We really was wondering if you'd care if we captured a little of it.
And let us come in here and run on this spot.