[narrator] this time on moonshiners...
[digger] you know, any old-timer
that's been involved in this craft will tell you
water's the most important ingredient.
Is there any chance you'd let us set up here,
make a little liquor?
That's a... That's a big question.
Now, it's time to meet the green fairy.
Let's go get her.
Our buyer wants to pay $250 for this one gallon of absinthe.
But if we can impress him with this product,
there's no telling how much money we can make.
Ooh! To hell with liquor, we're gonna make pie.
We're gonna do a trade but we've never run any brandy
in this new rig.
Damn it! So wet, man.
If we can't make it work,
we're gonna be out thousands of dollars.
[digger] this is how we make the moonshine.
[suspenseful music playing]
[digger] it's our last resort right here.
[narrator] just north of cocke county, tennessee,
mark and digger take a long shot
on gaining access to a prized source of limestone water
for their tennessee whisky.
The problem is that source is owned and operated
by a legitimate business.
We've looked tail west and crooked for limestone water.
Well,
I guess no luck.
At this point, this is the only option we've got.
If we can't find a good source of limestone water,
where we can set up and run,
then we're dead in the water on tennessee whiskey.
-And we're kinda out of choices here. -Right.
Can I help you?
[digger] well, hey, john.
Do you happen to remember us?
I do.
Been a while since I've seen you all.
Well...
-We're like bad money, we'll always turn up. -How you doing, buddy?
[mark] the english mountain spring water.
This is the greatest water in the world.
We've always got water there for tempering our liquor.
But we've got to have access to it
where we can set a still site up.
We're kinda up a stump, um,
we're kinda on a bended knee right now, if you will.
We'd like to talk about your water.
John's a business man,
I'm kind of a business man,
and I approached it from that angle with him.
We really was wondering
if you'd care if we captured a little of it?
We've emulated tennessee whiskey pretty good,
and that involves
good
hard limestone water.
Your water's hard enough that it will suit our purpose.
I don't see how we can go wrong
with your water.
But we got to have your blessing as well.
You know, I don't know really what john's thinking,
his legitimate business here,
and digger and myself wanting to
participate in illegal activities.
[john] well, you know, I'd have to think about it a little bit,
but I think we can definitely sit down
and have a chat.
He's not shutting us out completely.
That's a good sign.
[john] come on in, see what we can find out.
[digger] age before beauty there, hey.
[john] come on back, guys. We'll show you around.
[digger] you got a lot of cameras in here.
-That makes us nervous. -[john laughs]
[john] well, our spring puts out about
2.5 million gallons of water a day.
Our water has a very unique chemistry to it.
There's a lot of minerals in there,
potassium, magnesium.
Things that give it that unique taste.
But all that stuff is really engineered by nature.
-That's something else. -Amazing.
Well, let's head outside.
[digger] this hillside that leads up
to english mountain,
the forest here is untouched.
John said that he's traced it back to the early 1800s.
You'll notice that
tree that's right up there has got a real unique bend to it.
I was doing some research online
about native american history and
what I found was
native americans had a tendency to fix those
so they could mark a spot.
So, I figured that that's a marker tree.
I can't say for real that that is,
but it looks identical to everything that I saw online.
-[digger] yeah, it's been there a while. -[mark] yes, it has.
Looky there, puss.
[digger] that's a spring right there.
You don't see anybody's water bubbling up that big.
This water's beautiful.
Gem-clear water running right out of the mountains.
Water travels through that limestone spring,
it picks up the minerals out of that limestone.
[john] we've got a valve inside the plant,
-so when we're not processing... -Wow!
...That water goes back to a settling pond.
It just goes right back into the environment,
so we don't anymore than what we need.
That water is constantly moving.
-We never let it sit in a pond. -Yeah.
[digger] you don't get no closer to the source
than you do right here.
Down through there, I saw green rocks,
and that's an indication of copper.
First thing I see on these rocks, that green color.
That tells me that that's copper in those rocks.
So, that's a good sign that
this water's some of the best if copper's in it.
[mark] you know, this water's so clear,
-if it was 100 feet deep, you could see the bottom. -[john] yeah.
English mountain spring water, it's incredibly famous.
It won an award for
best-tasting water in the world.
And, you know, I would love to have access to it.
We know it's fantastic water.
Would you be opposed to us bringing a little, small still
in here and doing a little
experimental run and see what it'd do?
Could be a selling point on down the line, you know,
there might be some big distillery somewhere
wanna come in here and
buy tanker truck loads of it.
You could say, "hey, look here
what this water makes when it comes to alcohol."
well,
you know, I've always wondered,
you know, what else it could do.
I think we could...
I can allow you to make a-- maybe a small run.
I don't need to know anything about it.
-Fair enough. -If that's agreeable, then the two of you--
-that's very agreeable. -Well, I'ma climb up on a rock to shake your hand, my friend.
I think that's, too...
I think it's very kind of you.
[digger] I can't remember when I've been any more excited
about making one run of liquor.
This is a dream come true for this old boy.
If you had told me no,
I'd have been just as happy going out here,
because of what I got to come look at.
[john] well, I appreciate that.
[mike] it's cold and rainy. He better hurry up.
Sorry I'm late.
I reckon so.
[narrator] two counties south across the state line,
mike and jerry arrange to meet a local farmer
with a surplus of in-season blueberries.
-How y'all guys doing? -[mike] what's happening, man?
Let's take a look at these berries,
see what kind of taste we got in 'em.
Check 'em out.
You know, butch, he's a local farmer,
uh, a friend of ours,
and he's got a crap ton of them blueberries for us.
[jerry] you know, I'm pretty excited about making brandy.
Especially in this new still design we got.
We're gonna be able to make a small batch
of high-quality shine
with a charred oaky flavor
like none other.
[butch] they ought to make y'all some fine brandy.
[mike] butch loves our moonshine.
And he's always wanted a blueberry brandy,
so we're gonna do a trade.
So, he gives us his product
and we give him ours.
Butch will get the first cut of the run
and we get the rest to sell.
-Oh, my god! -Ooh!
The hell with liquor, we're gonna make pies.
Pies and pancakes.
[mike] these blueberries are fine, man.
Big rabbiteye blueberries, really sweet,
and there's some mixed in, it's got a little tartness to 'em.
Top-damn-shelf blueberries, I can tell you that.
And I believe this is gonna make some good brandy.
Seem to be good berries, so I'm looking forward
to a good high yield off of 'em.
They got plenty of sugar, they should yield pretty good.
Well, you're looking at the two that can make it for you
and make it right.
I hope so, blueberries is prime right now.
I'm looking at 750 a barrel, $1,500.
[jerry] we can give you the first run off of these blueberries.
All we need is time.
About how long?
About a month.
You're looking at about a month.
So, if you can wait on us,
we'll put the best blueberry brandy in your mouth
you've ever had in your life.
I promise you that.
[butch] all right.
-We got a deal. -All right.
I'll get the truck, we'll load 'em up.
Appreciate you, brother.
With all these blueberries that butch is given us,
it ought to make several damn runs of brandy.
We've got a good deal going on here.
If we bought these at a grocery store,
we'd be out thousands of dollars.
[jerry] tell you what, if this blueberry tastes as good as that rye did,
man, we got no trouble getting rid of it.
[mike] if this blueberry brandy turns out
the way I expect it to,
me and jerry, we stand to make a lot of damn money.
But, we've never run any brandy in this new rig.
You never know how a new recipe's gonna turn out
till you taste it out the money pot.
You never know what you gonna get.
This might be a bust or a fail.
If butch don't take this liquor for payment,
we owe him some money,
one way or another.
We got us a few more barrels.
And, by god, these things are heavy.
Whoo, man you ready to cut some holes?
[jerry] let's do it to it.
We're gonna mash inside the actual pot itself,
but, you know, we've got 600 pounds of blueberries here.
If you don't hurry up to get it
fermenting the way it needs to be,
they'll spoil on you, then you can't use 'em.
These traditional barrels
and some white oak charred barrels,
cut the lids out of 'em and mash 'em in.
It'll give the same concept of what we're doing in the pot itself.
We gotta mash these blueberries up,
just like anything else.
So, I've got a fruit press,
a manual one.
We'll just throw these blueberries in there
and turn the knob.
Two different set of gears in there
that just sucks that fruit down in there and crushes it,
and throws it right in the barrel for you.
Then we can put our hot water in on it
and steep it in, and it's good to go.
And putting this on it right here,
we're gonna have something
wrapped and ready.
Ho-ho!
That's gonna make some blueberry kool-aid right there, baby.
When you mash in a fruit mash,
you turnin' it into wine first.
You distill it off and make a brandy out of it.
This is a little bit longer process,
but
everybody in america wants something different.
All right, buddy, we'll get this blueberried up and in.
They want something new.
They love to see the times change
and that's what me and jerry's doing now.
Gonna be a lot of money, son, if all this works out.
Five barrels of mash sitting here.
-And after the rye run that we made... -Yeah.
...And putting berries in on top of that,
man, it's gonna be good, bubba.
We put about 20 gallons of blueberries per barrel.
These white oak charred barrels,
it's gonna give a really great
deep and bold flavor to this mash.
This is beautiful sight.
It smells so good out here in these woods,
I believe it's gonna be one of the best runs
we've ever done.
Hell yeah.
What's in your other hand? You ain't got nothing in your other hand?
[craig] yeah, both arms full.
They might be the two lightest things,
but they're both full.
[narrator] three states away on the louisiana bayou,
opportunity is knocking for richard and his brother craig,
if they can produce an authentic absinthe recipe
for a discerning new orleans bar owner.
I got the magic potion right here, man.
Let me see what that smells like.
-Oh, yeah. -Yeah.
-It hit me straight off the lid. -Whoa.
Making this absinthe has been a multistep process.
We started with 30 gallons of basic sugar wash.
We ran that through our still
and got three gallons of high-proof neutral spirit.
Then we had to mix in about a dozen different herbs.
It's green now.
When it comes out that pot, it won't be.
Yeah, it'll be clear.
Today, we're gonna put it back into the still, run it again.
That's gonna come down to
one gallon of a very, very nice white absinthe.
And then, we're gonna take that white absinthe,
and we're gonna turn it into a green absinthe.
This is a lot of substance in...
This right here.
This is a lot of work for one gallon of product,
but this is a real big investment into our future.
Our buyer wants to pay $250
for this one gallon of absinthe.
But if we can impress him with this product,
there's no telling how much money we can make.
[craig] you don't wanna strain it?
No, no straining.
We're putting all this in the pot.
Most of the time, we would strain.
But in a situation like this,
we need the oils
and we need the fragrances and the taste profiles
that come out from being in there.
Can't waste any of this, man. This is precious.
This guy that we're selling this to is a true absinthian.
We wanna make sure that it's right when they get it.
All we gotta do is get some water in here.
That water is gonna help
carry over some of the essential oils
and flavors into our absinthe.
[craig] all the botanicals, you're not worried about
scorching the pot?
A little bit, but we're about to get a stick.
We just gotta stir it in the beginning,
make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.
I'm gonna start setting stuff up for you.
Man, this actually smells delicious.
If this absinthe tastes anything like it smells,
man, we are in the green.
My instincts are telling me we can cap this thing off.
-That's hot. -It's hot.
I can't wait for this...
To come out of there.
And we can put it in, uh...
Here.
Which is where it's supposed to be.
[mark] you ready to get busy?
[digger] we gotta get with it.
[mark] we need to pick us out a spot first, don't we?
Check out and see where exactly we want to set up.
You know, we got permission from john
to do a run at his spring site.
Right there looks like it's got the best ground right now.
We're gonna mash in today
and try to replicate our tennessee whiskey recipe
using english mountain spring water.
I mean, honestly, if this turns out
a very good, exceptional product,
then we gotta figure out a way
how to get access to this water all the time.
[digger] hang on, I'm gonna hook that other one up to it.
We got permission to run here
at english mountain spring
for an experimental run.
What do you reckon?
He didn't understand about...
"hold on, I was gonna connect
the second hose to it."
damn it.
[digger] hell, before I get close and he's yanks on it again.
If you don't slow down,
we ain't gonna have enough hose.
We're no strangers to wet, muddier
tiresome working conditions.
I don't mind, but I'm not a spring chicken anymore.
And a damn hose, if anything can hook,
hang, tangle, it will.
You got water?
[digger] it's a-coming.
[mark] don't tug on it none. I hope you got all you need.
[digger] that's about a full stream right there.
Let's get a-something a-cookin'.
It's a slow stream, but it's steady.
[digger] you know, any old-timer
that's been involved in this craft will tell you
that water's the most important ingredient.
You don't have good water,
you ain't gonna make good liquor.
John's doing us a solid, though,
by letting us make this run here.
You ain't just a-kiddin'.
Anything that man asks for,
shy of hiding a body, we need to do it.
Time to get my grain measured out.
This holds two pounds,
so I just have to keep track of how many I dump in there.
We're gonna use the same grain bill,
of the barely, corn and rye.
The water is gonna make a huge difference in this.
This water has been scrutinized
by the best in the business,
and it has been declared the best water in the world.
It's good water, it'll make good liquor.
But how good is what we've gotta find out.
Now if you'll get busy stirring that,
I'll get us another pot going.
[mark] the goal here is to produce good liquor,
so, you know, that's all we wish for.
We're not wishing for miracles,
we simply want to make a good product
with the ingredients that we're working with.
All right, you ready?
[digger counts in spanish]
[grunts]
john, gave me a copy of his water analysis
for the mineral content.
And, honestly, it's better than that spring in town.
Right here is one of the best still sites that could ever be.
Let me make motion here on something.
Making a motion.
Maybe for future endeavors,
however much this makes us,
let's just give it all to john.
[digger] I'm all for it.
He might look at us in a different light
if he likes it really good.
You know, we're having a lot of conversations about,
if it's good, how are we gonna approach john about
maybe staying here or what we're gonna do to
continue using this water.
There's a lot of questions running through our mind.
You know, it maybe a good opportunity
for john to expand and, bully for him,
-I'm all for that exactly. -If we can.
[digger] if this lives up to our expectations,
then he's gonna have something to brag on.
Sure he does.
John's a business man
and he's a sharp business man at that.
There's a demand for limestone water,
and I'm sure he thinks, "well, maybe
we can go further here
and maybe I can start selling this to distilleries."
I'm ready to dump some of this yeast in there.
Well, you know, as it stands,
if this makes the best tennessee whiskey
that's ever been seen,
then that's another dilemma.
We ain't gonna need this stuff no more.
-No, we can load it up. -Let's take it home.
We're not guaranteed access beyond this run.
But, maybe if john tastes this and sees how good it is,
maybe he'll let us continue on working right here.
[digger] I'll see you in the morning.
[mark] all right.
[richard] it's coming in the worm, buddy. It's in the worm.
[craig] how we looking?
-Where is the coon pecker? -Here we go.
Boy, we're dripping, too.
-[craig] there we go, our first drips. -Looking good.
We're out here running our white absinthe
and we're hoping to knock it out of the park.
Oh, I'll be damned.
That's a good shine.
[craig] when it starts flowing,
I'm blown away.
I could not believe
all the flavors that carried over.
That's pretty damn good.
Man.
This ought to be against the law.
It is against the law.
This is awesome, we could deal with this.
I'll drink to that, damn it.
We drink to anything that is good and positive.
This is absinthe
and this is only one part of it.
Now that we have our white absinthe,
we have to turn it green by infusing it.
We have to be really, really careful.
We need to get our color and flavors
perfect on this one.
But we don't have a lot of alcohol to work with.
So, we're gonna do this in small quantities
to make sure we get it right.
If we make a mistake on this,
we'll ruin the whole batch.
You got some more lemon balm?
[craig] I got some more.
Now, this is the...
...The raw stuff right here.
I want you to gimme some of that spearmint.
As if the work wasn't hard enough already,
now we have to balance flavors
and make sure that we turn this green,
and make sure that the end result
is a proper louche.
A louche is when you introduce
cold water into absinthe.
It turns kind of
a cloudy opal
greenish color.
That looks pretty good.
Wormwood
with the lemon balm.
We're using herbs that we already have as flavor
in our drink already.
I'm gonna do hyssop.
There's a balance here
that we're gonna have to accomplish
between color and flavor.
We don't wanna overpower our absinthe
with something that's already there.
That's a nice pretty green color.
You know what?
This [bleep] is good.
This is this.
It is? Let me see.
I swear it is.
There's no change in the taste.
None, it's only green.
Wow!
And look at it green.
This might be it, craig.
We're gonna see if we can get a louche with this thing, man.
That's a good idea.
The flavor's perfect,
the color's perfect,
but if this absinthe doesn't louche properly,
it's not a true absinthe.
When you add cold water into this drink,
the water causes a chemical reaction
that releases the oils.
The oils bounce around at the bottom of the glass.
Kinda reminiscent of the little fairy,
the green fairy.
That's what a proper louche is.
That's what a proper absinthe will give you.
We're gonna just see if it works.
-Ooh, look at that. -[craig] oh, yes.
Wowie!
[richard] look at that.
This is what it was supposed to do!
Tell me what it tastes like.
Oh, I can drink this without burning.
Little slight bitterness,
slight spiciness,
slight liquorish
and my friend, mr. Fennel,
comes through in the middle.
Man, this is so awesome.
It tastes real complex.
I actually made a drink
that I can taste five different flavor profiles in.
All right, we got it.
This is the verdict.
Gotta get a good gallon of that going
and bring it to the man.
And collect the l'argent.
Give me my money.
[craig] I'll drink to that.
Just gonna check this, man. Make sure it's ready to roll.
Yeah, our blueberry mash has been working off
for a couple of weeks now.
It's time to run this stuff
and see what it's gonna taste like.
I can drink that just like that, hey.
That's damn good, son.
We're running our fingers down in there and tasting this mash,
it's phenomenal.
That can be strained out of them barrels and bottled right now.
You can taste the char
from the barrel.
The whole nine yards.
If we can get half of this taste
out the other end of the worm,
we gonna be on to something.
All right, man, if you wanna start kind of seeing
if you can get a fire started,
I'm gonna get this thing capped off and connected up.
[mike] all righty.
The unique thing about our setup,
it's going out of a white oak american charred barrel,
fusing that flavor in lightly
through a clear brandy.
Well, you know, the big question is
if it's gonna work.
We'll soon find out.
Get her fired up.
We're smoking a little.
Damn it.
It's so wet, man.
That's why it won't light.
I'm sick and tired of trying to make
wet wood burn in this damn thing.
You know, the whole idea is
that we didn't have to pay for fuel this season.
We've got to come up with something
more consistent than this, man.
-We've got too much blueberry mash sitting here... -Oh, I get it.
...To run. Five barrels.
-I agree. -You know.
Especially when we're running this slow.
I mean, wonder what could we do to make it burn consistent.
Well, we just need a different fuel source.
So, it's got to be either like charcoal pallets or something.
-They use wood pellets on a lot of wood stoves now. -Hmm.
That'd definitely be a good consistent heat.
All we just need is a little catch basket to be able to
hold 'em in place 'cause I can't lay on the bottom.
We pile up, it'll block our oxygen,
-and it won't burn, so... -It won't burn.
So we gotta hold them up a little bit.
If you'll manage right here,
I'll run down here to the store real quick,
little hardware store.
Try to keep this damn thing burning.
What me and jerry's thinking, maybe to go to pellets.
Something that's already been treated and dried out.
-I'll be right back. -All right.
Something that'll burn real hot and clean.
Looks like today may be the day, puss.
Right here's where the rubber meets the road.
[both slurping]
ooh!
-It's bitter. -[digger] got some octane.
I believe it do.
[digger] we're gonna run this mash
that's made out of english mountain spring water.
We're gonna see if it does, in fact,
make as good liquor as we think it's going to.
Just jump up on it, there you go.
Careful, we don't want it to go to the center of the earth.
We've got a brand-new still,
and this one, it was custom built
by a friend of ours.
It's a primo little piece of equipment
and I'm excited about putting it to work.
It requires no paste.
It has tri clamp fitting with neoprene gaskets.
We have access to the thumper inside should we need it.
It's a state of the art little still.
[digger] I'm just gonna put these down here.
Let's see what that gets us.
You'd think, because we're out in the woods,
we're just slap-happy willy-nilly. No, we're not.
We're gonna take all the pains we need to
to make sure we've got zero solids in this pot.
We want nothing to scorch
that would offer any off-flavors to our run.
I'm a-hopin'...
That this tastes as good, if not better
than what we made there at the spring in town.
We want nothing to get between us
and what we want to see at the end of this run.
This thing should take off pretty quick.
But you're gonna have to do something about that hat,
it's growing damn canker in it.
That black mold's growing right there.
[mark] oh, that ain't black mold,
that's lard and [bleep] off my fingers.
That's what feeding that mold.
Man, there's another story.
[digger] we're getting...
...Hot here.
Oh, hell yeah, boy!
We better get us a catch jug.
We only have permission to do one run here.
It's a catch-22. If this is really good liquor,
we may have a problem,
we're not allowed to stay here.
If it isn't as good
as what we've been running,
where do we go from here?
[digger] we gotta catch heads here.
[mark] there we go, heady.
English mountain spring water tennessee whi'key.
[digger] well, you know, it's the way
tennessee whiskey's supposed to be made.
-In tennessee. -In tennessee.
That ain't nothing but fine.
Boy, it's good though. Damn, it's just perfect.
Liquor that good will mess you up.
Oh, my god! Can you imagine when it comes out of the barrel?
[digger] this liquor is outstanding.
It's better. It's got a sweeter note.
Everything comes across well in the palate.
It's a shame that we can't set up here
and just make camp right here
and work for a couple of years.
This is the water source
for tennessee whiskey.
I won't ever
miss that water in town again...
-No. -...If we can have this water.
[mark] I think it's better than what we've been making.
It's dandy, dandy liquor.
This is where our problem just begins.
Now, we have got to find a way
to get permanent access
to this water.
This is a dilemma for us bad.
[digger] if he loves it, then we're in business,
he'll want more of it.
[richard] come see. This is what we got to do real quick.
What you got?
And don't laugh at how I draw.
This is that fountain.
Absinthe has a bit of a ceremony to it.
It starts by dripping cold water
into the liquid.
This process is called a louche.
I'ma gonna call tim, man.
I mean, he helped us out on our first deal.
-He helped us out on everything... -Oh, man, everything.
...And everything else.
We're gonna build an absinthe fountain.
Drinking absinthe is a whole ritual,
and the fountain is the center of it.
[tim on phone] hello.
Tim, are you in town?
Yeah.
I need some help. You think you can give me a hand?
All right.
All right, I'll see you then.
I wanna build an absinthe fountain because
I wanna present this product the proper way.
[narrator] at the peak of absinthe's popularity
in the late 1800s,
european bars and cafes developed tools
known as absinthiana
to enhance the drinking experience.
The most important was the absinthe fountain,
used to slowly drip ice water
into a round of absinthe glasses
for a proper louche.
By the turn of the 20th century,
fountains emblazoned with the logos of absinthe makers
could be found in bars from paris to new orleans.
The center piece of a social ritual
forever tied to the liquor itself.
[richard] that looks like it's tim.
Tim can do this while he's sleeping.
Tim's been with me
since the beginning of my moonshining days.
-Tim, what's going on tim? -What's up, rich?
-What's happening man? -[tim] how y'all doing?
Tim's a master plumber, he's an architect also.
He's really into things like this.
I need tim's help
because I don't have time to mess around with this.
We're meeting this buyer tonight,
and this fountain needs to work.
What y'all trying to do?
This is an absinthe fountain, man.
The only way to truly enjoy absinthe
is to, uh, take some cold water, some ice water,
and just drip it in slowly.
What you think?
-This sale that-- -you need to make a dripper.
Something that's gonna drip.
But I need this dripper to look like something
-that would be... -Yeah, a pretty dripper.
A pretty dripper.
-[craig] a descent dripper. [laughs] -yeah.
I don't see no problem.
-You don't see no problem? -Nah!
Let's make a dripper.
All right, let's see.
Let's go shopping here in your truck, tim, what you got?
Man,
I brought an assortment of stuff.
Brought some copper, some fittings.
That tubing ought to be perfect right there.
Tim's got everything.
I mean, he's got pipe, plates, tubing.
I mean, you name it, he's got it.
You could actually wrap
the copper around.
And that way, it kinda looks like a worm.
To make it look like a condenser.
Yeah.
Oh!
Coming from the glass.
I got these little fancy things.
[richard] we're gonna use some basic steel pipes
to build a base to this fountain.
I think something like this, richard.
Let me see that jar,
let me see what that would look like.
[craig] that's perfect.
[richard] let's do some coiling
and see if we can get these things
looking like a condenser.
Yeah, I can see it already.
Kind of bore it out a little bit.
We can take this
and we put that through it.
Wrap the base,
get our worm fabricated.
[richard] for the dripper, we picked up some copper tubing
and a couple of small valves
for a nice slow flow.
[tim] like this. Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop.
[richard] and little spigots.
[tim] good tight end seal.
[richard] get that jar for me right there.
When we finish with this, it's gonna look like,
it's dripping right from the worm
out of our still.
[tim] snug it up.
Moment of truth, man.
We gonna find out right now.
But, look, if this right here works,
I'ma run and jump in that bayou.
[tim] oh, I gotta see that.
[richard] yeah,
that's what I needed to see, man.
Oh, yeah! Thank you, bro.
[tim] that's the dripper.
[richard] that's what I needed to see right there.
This is the final piece of the puzzle.
We got our taste, we got our color.
Now, we got our presentation.
Man...
Thanks, bro.
No problem.
I just hope it meets this guy's expectations.
[tim] just holler if you need something.
-[richard] I sure will. -[craig] all right, we sure will.
I don't know, man. This damn thing.
Looks like I'm coming in about the right time here.
Yeah, you might be.
I'm sick of it, man.
We're gonna get 'er done real quick,
right here, just a minute.
[mike] pellets are all kinds of hardwood.
It's been kiln-dried,
ground to a powder
and then compressed into hard little pellets.
[jerry] we'll do the fort down in there
where it kinda of makes a "v" in the bottom of it.
-Yeah. -And then we can just bring it up
and kind of just fold it over the top, that'll hold it.
Basically, all we making is a bird's nest basket
to set down in this thing to pour the pellets in,
where they'll stop at a certain point,
and where we can light 'em up
and then they'll just self-feed down through there
and try to burn.
[jerry] I don't think it's gonna work, man.
[mike] damn, I hope it does.
[jerry] get her fired up.
Jerry comes waddling on back into the still site
and he's got a big bag of pellets,
which I get in there with the thrower,
blow into to it...
[jerry] oh, she's picking up steam now.
[mike] yeah, buddy.
It immediately lights up,
and we're good to go.
I hadn't seen it burn like that yet.
[jerry] that's a really consistent burn, too.
It is.
See now, we can do what we gotta do.
We know it's burning,
it's not going out.
And it's consistently burning
with the right amount of damn oxygen.
Come to just stanley gettin' it, baby.
Whoo! I'm liking it.
This is a brand-new rig
made of a white oak charred barrel.
We got a copper core going through the center of it
from top to bottom.
And we're gonna be open flame from the bottom
all the way through this core, out the chimney.
It's very important to run your liquor
at a consistent temperature.
You've got to have that sweet spot
and that's what we got here with these pellets.
Feel that, jerry.
-That son of gun is getting warm right there already. -Whoo-hoo!
Now, this right here is gonna be
the name of the damn game for us.
We can run this thing nice and slow and consistent
and get everything that we need to get out of this run.
It's doing great.
-Nice. -I say you ought to be getting close.
Yeah, starting to look like it's getting a little...
Looky there.
Wowzers, [bleep] yeah!
We got it, don't we?
Look at that stream, son.
[mike] we got alcohol, don't we?
Smell that-- those notes in there.
Yeah, the notes of them blueberries, for sure.
-And that char. -Mmm-hmm.
The char's in there really good.
It's got a good rich smell to it.
[mike] that blueberry's coming through.
You can smell those notes from the charred barrel,
from the blueberry coming through.
We gonna wait till it kind of tempers itself down,
getting them harsh. We gonna take this to swallow.
Now, we're in the business end of it right now.
That's what we're looking for.
The bed in the sand.
You know, I'm ready to taste this brandy right now.
I'm getting nervous on how it's gonna taste.
I can smell those good notes
coming from the barrel and the blueberries.
But it's time to take us a swallow and see--
see really what me and jerry's done here today.
Looks like we about to another jug, brother.
[jerry] we on it.
Don't, don't...
-Don't spill on it. -Don't spill it.
Let me hold on to that.
We gotta try it, don't we?
I am super excited about this right here.
There you go.
[mike] I'm smelling the blueberries
a lot better than it was before.
Wow.
That's blueberry damn brandy right there, buddy.
The notes of the charcoal--
-it's there. -...The chars there.
I'm really, I'm loving this.
Mmm.
This stuff tastes amazing.
I mean, one of the best runs we've ever made.
And we taste like blueberries but not...
Coated in damn sugar.
Yeah.
[mike] I like it.
It's good. I believe it'll sell.
I'm tickled with it.
It's got the wood charred notes in it,
it's got the blueberry coming through it just right.
I believe this stuff is gonna sell like crazy.
It's perfect, I mean, don't touch it,
don't fix it if it ain't broke.
This stuff is great.
[clears throat] that's about it, ain't it, bubba?
Yeah, we're pushing right down there
in the bottom of the tails. So...
Yep.
We don't need to push it no more.
[mike] all righty.
[jerry] let's get this stuff loaded up
and get it out of here.
[mike] I reckon it's about that dadgum, ain't it?
-[jerry] oh, sure is. -[grunts] oh, damn!
[grunts]
[jerry] this ain't as easy as carrying the buckets, though, but...
[mike] hell, yeah! Dang.
Blueberry brandy though, baby. We have done it, son.
[richard] look at all this big money over here,
big buildings,
big lights.
This is big money out here, man.
We in new orleans, louisiana,
we're on our way to make a sale right now.
It's a big city, man, to be just walking in and saying,
"here, look, we got shine for you,"
I'm kinda nervous.
It's the first time we've ever tried anything like this
and we have to put a drink in front of someone
who knows about it.
What I wanna do is I wanna stop, get the fountain ready,
so we can do a louche for this dude.
This guy's a real absinthe aficionado.
Let's hurry up, man,
we don't even know where we at over here.
We don't wanna be doing this at the site.
We're gonna fill this up with ice.
We're gonna try this out and see how it works.
I'm anxious to get this drink in his hand
and hear his response from it.
Three to one, water to absinthe ratio.
This is what does our louche.
Just a little drip like that...
Is all it takes
to release the flavors and the oils
and the botanicals from state.
He doesn't know that we did this for him,
it's just something that we wanted to do
to make sure that we give a customer the right thing.
And these things can get quite expensive.
I mean, you can go buy one for
$300-$400 out of the store.
Or you can contact us for 19.95,
-you can have this one right here. -Plus shipping and handling.
-Come on, let's go. -We oughta get in the business of making these things.
Hey, man, you think I ain't been thinking about it?
We make it seem like this is fun and games,
but we are really going to sell some alcohol
to someone that we really don't know.
Selling alcohol to anyone, you can go to jail.
I mean...
I'm a big little dude,
but they'll call me strawberry in jail.
I don't want to go to jail.
[richard] let's set this thing up, man,
and get outta here. I don't like it.
Yeah, this ain't the bayou,
this is a different kind of jungle.
This is a concrete jungle here.
-Let's bring it in. -[craig] I think, that's him right there, man.
[richard] oh, yeah, that's him. There he go.
[suspenseful music playing]
who's richard?
Whoa!
[richard] so you're the one wanting the absinthe?
[buyer] yeah, I want that absinthe.
Yeah, james said you like this absinthe stuff.
Yes, sir.
Look, we put a fountain together for you.
We're gonna just show you what this thing does.
Do a proper louche, you know.
Look how beautiful that is.
[buyer] that's nice, yeah, it's pretty.
[richard] it's looking like it should be in new orleans.
Now, that's a proper drink right here, man.
And it tastes...
Just as good as it looks.
I'll take the first sip and show you we're real.
As this guy takes his sip,
I'm thinking about all the work
we put in into this drink.
I mean a whole lot of time and money.
[narrator] coming up...
[digger] it's about 95 proof.
Is there any chance at all you'd let us set up here
for an extended period?
That's a... That's a big question.
[john] well, this is our wall of fame.
A lot of unique bottles that we've done over the years.
John, has this big nice showcase
full of assorted bottles
and they simply all contain water.
[john] these are swarovski crystals.
Uh, this one's sold anywhere from $75 to $125.
Dang.
At one time, it was the most expensive bottle of water in the world.
Wonder if we'd put us some shiny trinkets
on a mason jar,
you put premium liquor in it,
hell, there's no telling what it would be.
That's insane.
[john laughs]
[richard] I'll take the first sip and show you we're real.
[buyer] oh, yeah, it smells right.
[richard] as this guy takes his sip,
I'm thinking about all the work
we've put in into this drink.
I mean, a whole lot of time and money.
And it all comes down to whether or not our absinthe
tastes like the stuff that he's used to drinking.
That's what it smells like back in the day?
Oh, yeah, and it tastes good. Tastes just like it, man.
-Oh, yeah, yeah, this is it. -That's it.
[buyer] we had this way back in the '60s and '70s, man.
Our family used to drink this.
-[richard] really? -Yeah, yeah.
[richard] I'm glad you like it, my man.
[craig] it's gonna be $250.
Okay, you take crypto?
Crypto, yeah.
[richard] oh, yeah, we definitely take crypto.
[buyer] okay, that's what I'm talking about.
There you go.
By the time we get back to the bayou,
this crypto better be going up in value.
If not, I can promise you,
craig is gonna be working some overtime.
How much more of this can I get?
'cause a lot of people are gonna ask for it.
[richard] well, we can make as much as you need.
Oh, man, you gonna make a lot of people happy.
This guy wants as much absinthe as we can make.
And for $250 a gallon,
I'll make as much as he can take.
We'll get right on it as soon as get back home.
I appreciate it.
-See y'all later. Get home safe, bye-bye. -All right, thanks, my man.
[richard] we're in the big leagues now.
I mean, we gotta get back to the still site
and figure out how to upscale this recipe.
[craig] so excited, I'm dropping the keys, man.
Yeah, man, but we can't take our time out here tonight.
That's when you go to jail right now.
I got scared.
[craig] yeah.
Let's hit the highway with this money.
[mark] damn, there goes them butterflies,
flipping and flopping in my belly again.
Them bubble guts.
God almighty.
[digger] I gave john a call, he's gonna come on over.
I can't say that I'm not uneasy at this point.
Hi, mark, hey, digger.
-[mark] hey, johnny. -[digger] hello, john.
I gotta break the question to him.
"can we stay here and run on for a while?"
this right here, made on your water,
tempered on your water,
I don't think you can get much prettier and clear than that.
-[john] no. -You can tell that it was a lonely man
who tightened that lid up.
[all laughing]
-strong hands. -I'll tell ya, it's, uh... I'm proud of it.
[digger] it's about...
95 proof.
[john] that's just right.
That's smooth.
That'd get you hurt in a hurry.
That's like a good marriage.
It'll put you on your knees quick.
[mark laughs]
[john] guys, I'll tell you, I just...
I've had some moonshine,
I've never tasted anything that's like this.
[mark] this water's so cold
and that's the secret.
When you're condensing it,
the colder you can keep it
-the less fire-- -get back the vapor
as efficiently as possible.
...That it gets into the taste, the finish of it.
You know, that's your water. That's...
-And I had no doubt... -Wow.
...That it would do that.
Is there any chance at all you'd let us
set up here for an extended period
to make a little liquor?
[whistles]
that's a... That's a big question.
Well, guys, you know, I mean, it's...
As much as I like it, and as much as I like the product,
you know, we run a...
A very legal business,
and you all run a very illegal business,
and I just...
For right now, under those pretense,
I just don't see the two mixing.
I feel in our heart of hearts,
that was the answer that we knew we would get.
We've never ever
been in a more perfect spot,
but...
We understand your situation as well.
You know, I'm feel like
I've been slapped away from a table for farting
and...
But it's...
Also, it's not a surprise.
Let me ask you something.
Yes, sir.
Have you ever thought about...
Would you consider going into a partnership?
You don't have to answer me now.
I mean, it may not be something y'all consider,
but I've always wondered about our water,
you've proved it now.
I'm just throwing it out there.
I mean, that's the first thing that hit my mind,
you know.
That's awful attractive.
He thinks that
he and I and mark need to form a partnership
and build a legal distillery
from the ground up here on this spring.
You know, I don't even know
what it would take to build a distillery.
This is a golden opportunity.
But this is not just
selling recipes
and putting your face and name on a jar.
I don't know. That's-- I've never been
presented with that before in my life ever.
[digger] it's gonna be a big endeavor.
But it ain't everybody that gets to make liquor
on a spring that's this quality
and this size.