[narrator] this time on moonshiners...
All the agave that we have here is blue agave.
-Okay. -[man] it's the right agave to make tequila.
[tim] I came to mexico to learn as much as I can about the history of tequila
and also how it's made.
[man] this is young agave.
We have to wait, almost seven, eight years.
[tim] that's a long time.
[tickle] all right, take that brush that's yonder. And brush them bees off.
[josh] oh no. They're pissed, they're pissed. Hot damn, they're pissed!
[shouts] whoo! Ow, ow, ow!
[mark] oh hell, I don't know if we can read this.
This temperature has got to be between 150 and 160 degrees.
We can't get enough liquid out of it at this stage.
[man] this is how we make the moonshine.
[fiddle music playing]
all right, well here's the bees over here, josh.
I've been saving the honey up, they really been producing.
[narrator] in pittsylvania county, virginia,
tickle and josh prepare to harvest a key ingredient.
In an ambitious new liquor recipe
they're cooking up with henry and kenny law.
We're going to be making a corn and wheat based liquor
and we're going to use honey in there as well.
It just so happens, I've got a lot of honey bees.
So how come you get a bee suit and I don't?
I mean, I'd give you this one but you're quite a bit taller than I am,
uh, you won't even, actually fit in the suit.
-That's what duct tape's good for. -Is it, is that right?
-You want me to smoke them? -Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[tickle] we're going to be using a smoker to allow us
to be able to get into these hives.
Smoke makes bees think that there's a fire.
And then they go into the mode to leave their hive.
[tickle] just, kind of, lift the lid up.
-[josh] you sure about this now? -Yes!
[tickle] therefore, they're not worried about the honey
and I can get right in there and take the honey.
They don't even know I'm there.
All right.
Okay.
Mmm-hmm.
That is a nice comb of honey, right there.
[josh] I'm thinking, "well hell I've robbed some honey bees
with no suit on before, I think I can go handle it.
Just remain calm, no matter what."
I'm like, "I got this."
I ain't afraid of these bees, I'm only afraid of getting stung. [laughs]
[tickle] all right, I'm going to need your help here.
All right.
Do you want to hold the comb or do you want to brush the bees off it?
[josh] god damn, right on the face. [bleep]
man! [bleep]
-[tickle] they get you? -They're pissed.
You lucky, dog, you got a bee suit.
-[tickle] well... -[josh] well, nothing.
[tickle] well, it's because I've got bees.
All right, take that brush that's yonder. And brush them bees off.
Oh no. They're pissed, they're pissed. Whoo, they're pissed.
-Whoo! Ow! -[tickle] okay.
[bleep]
ow! [bleep]
for one thing, josh has on a black shirt.
Now, bees instinctively think this is a bear.
[josh] hot damn, they're pissed. Whoo!
Man!
Bears are notorious for robbing honey hives.
Ow! Ow. Ow!
So, they instantly go into action there.
[bleep] bees, they're meanies. [bleep]
[tickle] bees really do all the work, we just come in and rob them.
[sighs] this is some good stuff right here.
These sunnavabitchs are madder than wet hens.
-If you calm down-- -well, I was calm, but I ain't calm now.
-They've been lighting my ass up. -Yeah, I know it.
Yet, right now, you being uncalm is making the bees uncalm.
They're like babies, however you react,
that's how they're going to react.
Oh yeah, there we go.
You know, most people have an extractor. But I do not have one.
[josh] talking about one of those things you spin it in?
Yeah, just does it by centrifugal force.
Spin it for five minutes and all your honey's out.
[josh] ow! [bleep]
whoo!
-Ow! -[tickle] he's just taken off with every tool I need.
God damn!
All right, well, I'll tell you what,
that right there ought to give me enough honey to finish up what we need.
Whoo! Ow!
[tickle] you're going to have to pull the stinger out.
-[mark] what you doing? -I'm just sampling a little corn whiskey.
-Oh. -What's good legs look,
look at them good legs on that liquor.
[cell phone buzzing]
[mark] oh, hell.
[digger] hello.
[killer beaz on phone] buenos dias. How you doing, buddy?
I'm doing wonderful. Now, you tell me what you need and I'll tell you beyond that.
[killer beaz laughing]
[mark] anytime that killer beaz is reaching out to us,
it usually ends up as a good thing.
But you got to go through hell and half of georgia
to get to the good thing, with him.
[killer beaz on phone] this may be an oddball request,
[both] no [bleep], coming from you.
[killer beaz on phone] I've got a buddy that is looking for
six gallons of straight rye whiskey.
He told me he grew up in canada.
Yeah, they don't have much corn.
That's their predominant grain up in canada is rye.
-[killer beaz on phone] no barley, no corn-- -no sugar, just all grain.
[killer beaz on phone] all grain! I don't even know if that's possible.
It's possible, yeah, that's that, good liquors, they're all grain.
It just takes so much grain, you know, because you have to count on the grain producing
all the sugars and starches, but it's a top notch drink.
This is no surprise right now. We see a lot of people
that're wanting specific types of liquor.
This is just a sign of the times. People have got money.
And they're going to spend it on what they want.
[killer beaz on phone] he doesn't want, just, for it to be straight rye,
he needs it barrel finished.
Is that the same thing as barrel aging?
Barrel finished, there's no time constraint on it,
it's just a quick finish.
Barrel finished whiskey is where you take
a material whiskey, that's already barrel aged,
you take it out and put it into another barrel for additional flavors.
You know this guy that's buying this, beaz?
[killer beaz on phone] he was a guitar tech back when I was doing
those projects with the, uh, lynyrd skynyrd band.
Beaz did a little touring with lynyrd skynyrd back in the day.
They had a little comedy skit they ran before their concerts and that was beaz.
[killer beaz on phone] well, what do you think, man, is that feasible?
It's something I'd like to do, beaz. I love any of these small runs, like this.
This is in digger and myself's wheelhouse.
A straight rye is something that, uh,
you know, you don't get a lot of requests for.
[killer beaz on phone] I didn't tell him what it was going to cost him,
I told him it was probably expensive.
And he's looking at getting it in just a couple of months.
[mark] of course he is.
[killer beaz on phone] is there a possibility?
Let, yeah, let us look into grain prices.
Let us see what we can do about rapid aging here,
on a small scale.
You know, beaz aske for the impossible but I've got an idea.
I've had this on my mind for a while,
it's just not been what we could use on big runs.
But on this small order it might be just what the doctor ordered.
Now, it's going to be pricey, I mean, I'm not talking $1,000 a gallon,
but it's still going to be pretty hefty.
[killer beaz on phone] okay, very cool.
We're going to go right now, we're going to start looking for grain,
but, uh, we'll talk to you the day after tomorrow, all right.
[killer beaz on phone] all right, guys, good to hear your voices.
[mark] yes, it is.
The big day has come, just going to pack up here,
get some things organized here.
I'm going to mexico, because I'm crazy.
It's all howard's fault, that's why I'm going to mexico,
it's howard's fault.
Because I met howard at the mexican restaurant.
I was trying to show him a ready to drink can, a ritual,
you know, the can drink with the sweet tea and the moonshine.
So, then, howard gets a daggone margarita
and starts talking about tequila.
-Oh, look at this right here. -[waitress] ...Your lime frozen.
Now that's what I'm cooking with.
[howard] my god!
[tim] I'm telling you, that is the bomb.
He got me thinking, you know, because I'm always thinking, like, out of the box.
In this business you've got to be open minded.
You got to be ready to, kind of, change and develop different things.
Over the years, I've developed all kinds of recipes,
starting from my base, that my dad taught me how to make, climax moonshine.
I don't known nothing about tequila, other than it comes from mexico.
That's all I know about it, so...
Well, I know a guy that sells tequila, he's from mexico,
and he told that if I ever wanted to come to mexico and learn about tequila,
then just give him a call.
Well, guess what, I'm going to go to tequila in mexico.
Tequila, mexico is where tequila is made. It's where it was founded.
I, I didn't know tequila was a place,
I mean, I thought it was just a drink, really.
I'm, I'm a moonshine guy.
I'm not a tequila guy. I don't know anything about tequila.
But, everywhere I go I'm keep learning more stuff,
you know, and if you going to be in the liquor business,
you got to stay open minded.
You got to stay open minded, you got to be ready for change.
Somebody's out there's making something else all the time.
And that's what tim's getting ready to do.
Maybe I can make a margarita, I don't know, but I know I got a plane to catch.
And the only way I'm going to catch it is I've got to get going.
Yeah, I hope the guys will be happy with this.
I'm thinking they'll be really happy.
That mash bill's going to be completely different.
-Totally different. -Something we can make a lot of money with.
-[kenny] in a short period of time. -[henry] exactly.
Look yonder.
What've you got in the bed of that thing?
-[henry laughing] -[kenny] what do you think?
-[tickle] look at that, right there! -[kenny] oh hell, yeah.
What do ya'll think, guys?
Them some pretty cherries, right there.
These babies are full of damn juice and they're sweet.
They're just right.
Henry rolls in and he's got the prettiest cherries I have ever seen.
Mmm.
They're going to make some good brandy,
but it's just not going to make enough of it.
Only question I got is, can you get more of these?
We had a whole trailer load of watermelons and it filled up one pot.
I love these cherries, they taste great,
but it don't look like it's enough of them.
Kenny and I was talking about it coming on the road,
you know, I'm already set for that honey wheat.
What about if we mash the juice out of these
and then if we add to that mash bill.
Just work it in.
-We'd be getting into josh's territory then. -Changes the flavor.
We're basically just changing the cherry bounce by making it out of wheat.
Wheat makes it super smooth and sweet.
It adds a great flavor to it and it makes a great cap when you're making your mash.
Look, I, I know good and well that thing will smash watermelons,
what you reckon it's going to do to these cherries?
-[kenny] it'll work them up good, baby. -[henry] let's do it.
[tickle] right, we need the string on top of it.
Yeah, the string can go in there.
When we first started building this fruit smasher, I thought we were wasting
a lot of time that we could have been making liquor with.
[kenny] we're going to put the whole box in at one time.
But, it was worth every second that it took.
It has saved us so much time.
The amount of time it would take to beat in these cherries.
[tickle speaking]
[kenny speaking]
it's something that's, truly unbelievable.
We had a real rough start to this season,
but things are starting to look up for us.
I have found that the cleanest job here is to let josh do it.
From the past few weeks everything's going great
and this wheat, cherry, honey liquor, that we're looking at making,
this is really going to put us over the top.
[tickle] look, look, you got to clean up before we go.
-You can't get in my car like that. -All right.
[laughing] oh my god, he sprayed me!
Man, looks like I pissed my pants.
[tim] definitely not in virginia.
I've been a lot of places, never seen anything like it.
I see agave plants around the windows and stuff.
So, there's got to be some tequila around here.
Well, I came to mexico to learn as much history as I can about tequila
and how it's made.
This place is called tequila.
Think about if it was moonshine,
it'd be moonshine, virginia, right.
It's educational, but it's also for my business side.
Maybe I want to make moonshine in mexico.
I, maybe I want to bring tequila back to
the united states in some fashion.
This is it.
I'm always looking for opportunities.
Hola, tim, my friend, welcome home.
-Please, join us. -Yeah, all right, I'll come in.
-[jaime] this is home, man. -[tim laughs]
[tim] I'm meeting up with jaime orendain.
I got connected with him through one of my distributors.
-[tim] glad to be here. -[jaime] welcome to our family house.
This house belongs to us for more than 100 years.
[tim] he grew up in tequila, he knows all about the region.
I mean, this is where tequila came from.
[jaime] this is our center patio.
-[tim] this is different, this is different for me. -[jaime] yes!
And that's the house, but now we're outside again.
[both laughing]
-[jaime] tequila is my, my town. -Yeah.
-[jaime] I have a lot of remembers here, uh, -okay.
[jaime] you know, when I was a kid, with my grandfather and my grandmother.
Yeah, I, I see that it's called tequila.
Is that why tequila is here?
Yes, the name came from the, the city and then the, the liquid.
You know, the reason the most important distilleries are in tequila
is because you have very good water.
-Uh-huh. -You know, the tequila mountain
used to be a volcano.
And the water that we have here came underground,
you know, very good water, very high quality water.
-It's, kind of, like moonshining. -Oh.
We got to have that good water, you know,
we always looking for the right spot.
-We need that, the best water. That's the reason we are here. -Uh-huh, uh-huh.
Yes, but directly my family, since 1924,
we start making tequila with, uh, our family name.
-Let me show you, please. -Okay.
-This is, uh, don eduardo, my grandfather. -[tim] mmm-hmm.
[jaime] and mercedes, my grandmother.
So, your grandfather, he was the beginning of this business?
Yes and he was my teacher. He told me,
"you want to be in this business, you have to learn every single step."
[tim] everything.
-I'm the third generation and I have four kids. -Uh-huh.
And they know how to produce tequila because I teach them
[tim] everything, just like your father taught you.
-Yes, we have tequila in our blood. -Yeah.
Jaime and I, we have a whole lot in common.
He's a third generation distiller, just like I am.
Was it illegal?
-At the beginning, that was illegal. -Yeah.
-You know? -Uh-huh.
[jaime speaking]
-[tim] mmm-hmm. -[jaime speaking]
[jaime speaking]
[narrator] the history of using the agave plant to produce alcohol
dates back to at least 1,000 b.C. To the ancient olmecs.
And, later, to the aztecs, who fermented agave sap into a wine called pulque.
During the spanish invasion of the aztec empire, in the early 1500s,
the conquistadors ran out of brandy and began distilling
the aztec pulque into an early predecessor of tequila called mezcal.
Popularity of the agave-based liquor grew through the 1500s.
Then, in 1600, the first large-scale distillery, named hacienda cuisillos,
was established in the town of santiago de tequila,
in what is now the state of jalisco, mexico.
By 1893, the town was renamed tequila and the distinct mezcal de tequila,
made from the local blue agave,
became known, simply, as tequila.
In 1994, the mexican government
made the mezcal tequila classification official.
Establishing two, separate, denominations of origin.
Tequila, which is, technically, a type of mezcal,
can only be produced from blue agave.
While mezcal producers choose from about 30 of the more than 270 varieties
of agave, that grow in mexico.
So should we get on the sidewalk, or just walk down the road?
-[jaime] it's our town, man, remember. -Yeah.
I guess I am walking with mr. Tequila.
[both laughing]
and this is the city, the city hall.
And this is, uh, the whole history of, uh, of the town.
-You see the fields, the agave plantation? -[tim] uh-huh.
-[jaime] and the volcano, this is the tequila volcano. -[tim] ah.
-[jaime] my grandfather, don eduardo, is there. -Uh-huh.
Well, you know, my dad and his brothers, also pictured in city hall...
-Oh, really? -...In my hometown.
-Ah, congratulations. Great. -[tim] yeah, but as a wanted poster.
It's because they was convicted of illegal making moonshine.
[laughing] oh, my god.
-Yeah. -Ah, but this is another kind of picture.
-[tim] yeah, yeah, this is, like, in honor of you. -Yes.
I'm a little bit jealous here.
They're honoring jaime's grandfather, but, you know, back home
they looking at my father as, maybe, a criminal.
-[jaime] in mexico, you can make tequila. -[tim] mmm-hmm.
-[jaime] but only in five states. -[tim] okay.
-In jalisco, there is michoacan, -uh-huh.
There is nayarit,
there is guanajuato,
and tamaulipas.
-But we are here, in tequila, -mmm-hmm.
The heart of the production of the tequila.
[tim] hey, I've come a long way to see every step
in the process of making tequila.
I'm really excited to get in this distillery
and see how they make this stuff.
[jaime] and we produce here, tequila verde.
Welcome.
[digger] you going to get you a bite out of them mushrooms, right there,
-before we go any further? -[mark] no, I'm afraid of them mushrooms.
[digger] well, them's a pretty color though.
[mark] yeah, you'd probably see pretty colors, too.
I'm looking forward to doing this little run.
Yeah, I like these small runs, they're way more easier.
We got this order from beaz for 100% rye whiskey
and he just wants six gallons, so I feel good about it.
It's been a long time since we ran this much rye, in any recipe.
-God damn, I'm hurting, boss. -Yeah.
Yep, never heard me say that much, do you?
Not with any credible witnesses.
[both laughing]
for this particular type of whiskey,
you have to bring your water up to a hard boil.
Hey, boy, we're rolling pretty decent.
-What do you think, flame out? -Yeah.
We cannot, under no means, permit fire
to be under this pot once the grain goes in it.
It gels up really quick and we don't want any grain in it
to have the opportunity to, to scorch.
[mark] don't forget your rye malt.
Digger is wanting to use a little bit of rye malt,
a little bit for extra measure.
To just, adjust the flavor profile a little bit.
The rye malt will give it more of a earthy note
than the peppery notes you notice from rye.
That's just simply because it's sprouted.
That little bit of growth in there
gives it a whole different flavor profile.
This mash is thick as concrete setting up.
But, once it gets cool enough, that's when you use your amylase enzyme
and that breaks down the long-chain sugars.
Within minutes, it'll turn back to liquid mash.
All the solids will settle at the bottom, and, um, we're ready to go.
[mark] oh, hell!
I don't know if we can read this.
The thermometer has a lot of condensation in it, you can barely see the needle,
and you can't see the numbers at all.
[digger] let me see if we can blow that water out of there.
It's very critical, this temperature has got to be between 150 and 160 degrees
when you pitch that amylase enzyme. If it's too hot, it kills it.
If it's too cold, it don't work.
[digger] I don't believe you done no count.
It never, ever, entered my mind to put open flame
to your thermometer, especially the gauge part of it, the face of it,
with the glass and the needle and the numbers.
But, obviously, you know, it entered digger's mind.
[digger] that's good enough, we can see it.
I believe we're, about, where we need to be.
The temperature's not really easy to see, but, you know,
I can tell we're bumping right at 160
and as it looks right now, we're doing all right.
I'm going to start laying the amylase to it.
[digger] get ready to stir, buddy.
You can't overuse amylase, I don't care what anybody says.
[mark] it don't change your flavor.
No flavor imparted, whatsoever.
[digger] amylase enzyme is in insect saliva, it's in our saliva.
In essence, what that enzyme is doing,
it's taking the long-chain, polysaccharide sugars and breaking them down to
single-chain, monosaccharide sugars, which the yeast can work on
more readily to convert and make into alcohol.
[digger] did it loosen up down at the bottom a little bit?
Yeah. [grunts]
yeah, I don't know if we got it too cool, or it's still too hot.
[digger] you're not going to tell by looking at it.
Let's let that sit there for just a second and see what it does.
Damn if you ain't made a bowl of thickening.
[mark] I mean, is it done went too cool?
[digger] we either had bad amylase, pitched it too hot or too cool.
I don't know, we can't, necessarily, trust that thermometer,
since you've burned it up with the torch.
It's a thermometer.
It's sitting this close to a damn propane flame.
-Yeah. -Maybe that's what did it.
This, this close ain't stuck right on the damn thing.
I was just fanning it, I wasn't,
I didn't hold it on it like I was trying to melt it.
[mark] we can't heat it back up, it'll scorch it immediately.
-We can't get enough liquid out of it at this stage. -[digger] uh-uh.
Let's dump it. We'll, we'll make a whole 'nother run.
Mash this thick that we have to strain off,
you, you'll get nothing out of this, I mean,
you might get a pint of liquor out of all this.
We can't waste any more time.
We're going to build a whole 'nother mash, we got plenty of grain,
you know, we're not going to sacrifice the quality of this liquor.
We've got to get it done so we can concentrate on
how we're going to quickly barrel finish this liquor.
And we're a day behind, so...
-[digger] we're right on time. -We're right on time.
Let's get some work done.
All right.
We got everything to damn mash in with,
everybody's here, brian's done showed up.
We got the stills, we got the skills
and we're going to mash in some good cherry, honey, wheat.
[grunting]
man, that's a lot of cherry juice.
[tickle] hard seltzer is extremely good for making a lot of money.
But, now people are buying liquor and we really don't want to miss the boat.
We want them to be buying our liquor.
-[brian] what's this right here? -[tickle] it's honey.
-[kenny] damn, that's a lot of honey, ain't it. -Two, four, five...
It's going to be a very high-end product
and now that people are interested in spending money
[exclaims] oh, yeah.
We're fixing to flood the market
with some of the best honey, wheat, cherry
you've ever seen in your life.
Probably the only.
[kenny speaking indistinctly]
first I got to boil this water.
Once I bring it to the boil then we'll cook that meal in.
Once it cooks for an hour, then we'll add the wheat bran, honey,
then we'll add the cherries.
[gas whooshing]
[tickle] all right.
There we go.
There's eight pots out here, there's a process to this.
It's getting hot, we're ready to cook it in, boys.
We start at the first pot.
[henry] corn.
[tickle] that's got to cook for an hour.
So, as that's doing that, we move down to the next pot,
start heating that one up, getting our grain in.
Getting our grain in and keep moving down the line.
Once we get all eight of these pots heated up
and grain in there cooking,
then we move right back up to the first pot again.
Hey, brian, brian, you bring the water?
Cooked for an hour now.
Now we're gonna start putting some water in and cool it down a little bit,
once it cools down just a tad, then we're gonna start throwing sugar to it.
Throw the cherries to it, we'll throw the honey to it
and then we'll throw some wheat bran in here
and we'll have our mash bill.
Oh, yeah.
A year ago, won't know anybody could afford anything high end.
Yo, kenny, brian, ya'll wanna bring us a bucket of cherry juice?
That's good stuff, man.
Right now this is the perfect environment
to make a real, top-shelf liquor.
All right.
-Lot of suffering in that bucket. -[tickle] you got that right.
It's good stuff right there, fellas.
Once we get all eight of these pots mashed in with high quality ingredients.
-You ever use wheat bran before? -[josh] no.
We use it all the time.
-Look like oatmeal, don't it? -Tastes like raisin bran.
It's gonna be something different.
I can really see how we can bump our price up on this and get it.
-All right. -We need that yeast.
There you go.
I tell you what, it's fixing to be pay day.
-There you go. All right. -[henry] cover them on up.
-Well, seven more. -Thank you, buddy.
-That-- -[shushes]
-what? -Can you hold just one minute without talking?
Oh, that's my baby.
-Gonna make some money, baby. -Wait a minute, he's throwing his charm on it.
Throwing his charm on it?
Oh, yeah. Let's roll, there's seven more to go.
-[all laughing] -[tickle] what the hell was that?
[all laughing]
uh-huh.
There are different techniques in distilling around the world.
So if I can learn even a simple technique,
maybe I can use that to better myself as a distiller.
Maybe I can bring that back home and I can enhance my technique
and maybe I can make something special.
[tim] you know, he's got a 40-ton oven they use to steam their agave.
[tim] yeah.
-We take that rocks and we put it there. -Is that really strong?
Strong and they have a temperature control.
-[tim] how long does this take? Okay. -40 hours.
[tim] I see.
-So we got the juice, we send them to these tanks. -Yeah.
-Six days? -Six days.
Uh-huh.
-I do open fermentation too. -Yeah, me too.
-You know, you have a lot of flavors. -Yeah. Yeah.
-And you know from the air it is... -Yeah.
Because where it's made at, it goes into the flavor.
There are a lot of similarities in making moonshine and making tequila.
We've made moonshine in different parts of the country in the united states
and that region actually gives a taste profile to that product.
-Fermentation is ready. -Mmm-hmm.
We send into the distillation area.
We have a double distillation, we have pot stills.
[tim] oh, look at that.
Oh, okay.
-Just like moonshine. -Yes.
But there is a couple of different types of tequila.
Okay.
To be reposado, at least have to be two months in wood.
For anejo, have to be in a barrel.
-All right. -At least one year.
And for extra anejo, no less than three years.
-So you got to categorize. What falls into it. -Yes, we have to categorize.
Let me show you the warehouse and I have a surprise for you.
-You got a surprise? -Yes.
The more time I spend with jaime, the more I respect him
and the more I like him actually.
Tequila's in his blood like moonshine is in my blood.
Hey, I know when I find someone who's a real deal
and jaime is a real deal.
This is a very special place.
-You know, we age our tequila in this area. -Oh, I'm seeing.
In this section we have the new batch of the barrels
and this section we have the very old barrels.
All the barrels we use came from kentucky.
We buy used barrel for bourbon and we bring them here.
But today, we're gonna do a very special thing.
We're gonna open this barrel.
-Okay. -It's a very old barrel that we used.
More than 25 years.
The last batch that we're gonna use in this barrel is gonna be today.
We're gonna check the proof, and we're gonna taste.
[tim] hey, I'm excited. You know, jaime's telling me,
"we're gonna pull out a sample of it,
we're gonna check the proof of it and actually taste it."
and then I'm gonna take the tequila.
-Now please. -Okay, I'm doing the same thing.
-Oops. -I lost 100 dollars' worth, didn't I?
I might have to work a day to get it back.
[laughs]
jaime takes the sample of tequila,
and we're checking the proof of it.
Okay.
[tim] okay.
This is the density that we use.
-And the temperature. We'll put it inside. -Mmm-hmm.
-53. -And then temperature...
-24? -24.
-53 and 24 temperature. -Mmm-hmm.
51.5% alcohol.
-A 103 proof, then? -Yeah, a 103 proof, yes.
-That's the temperature conversion? -Yes.
This chart that we're using explains what you need to do.
It's a little high and before we bottle it,
-we have to add water. -Okay.
Whether you need to raise the proof or lower the proof to get the correct number.
-And you feel the aromas from the booze. -Mmm-hmm.
-The vanilla? -I'm getting that bourbon smell.
That came from the barrel.
-That smells really good. -Yes.
It tastes better.
I've been waiting all day for this.
And I'm very proud to drink tequila with you, tim
I'm proud to be here, it's an honor.
Drinking tequila in tequila.
It don't get no better than that.
That tastes just as good as it smells.
-And I can taste all the traditions you put in this. -Yes.
-And the passion. We make tequila with heart -very, very good.
And with my soul.
[tim] you know, I've tasted a few tequilas in my lifetime
and this tequila was off the chain.
So, I think I'm on the right track here.
You know, I came to mexico to learn about tequila,
and I see that I'm tasting the best tequila that I've ever tasted.
But I'd really love to see where the agave plant grows.
-I gotta get it all of it. -We can ride to the fields
-to see the agave plantations. -I wanna see it.
-Tomorrow morning. Yes. -In the morning?
-Not now? Okay, we're gonna drink too much. -Salud.
-We gonna try this again, ain't we? -Yeah, we is.
There's a lot riding on this run.
It may turn out something really good for us in the future.
Well, you know it kind of feels like groundhog day.
First mash didn't work.
We missed our temperature mark
or the amylase enzyme didn't do what it was supposed to do.
But we're gonna remash today. We've gotta skin this cat all over again.
-Look here. -Look there.
-What did you find? -I got my barbecue thermometer.
I brought a little, digital on my smoker.
We're gonna get it right this time.
-You mean, you don't wanna clear this one up? -I can't see it.
If you'd have put the sunnavabitch up,
it wouldn't have got like that you left it out in the weather.
Yeah and that blow torch didn't have nothing to do with it.
It's all the weather.
Weather's what's caused what the blow torch was trying to fix.
Of course it did.
There will be another reaction to an action, always remember that.
Maybe somebody will pay more attention to taking care of equipment.
I don't know.
Damn, I hate watching water boil.
Let's see what we got here, puss.
-Oh, yes. -Standard old rye going in some of that red rye.
All that goodie.
We may have put too much grain yesterday.
I think that was our biggest issue.
Other than it being way too cold.
Let's start putting it in there. I'm gonna turn the fire on.
All right.
We'll get the water a churning.
-Ready? -Yeah, boy.
Seems like we just done this.
[digger] well, it smells pretty.
I'm gonna dump a little of that rye malt in there.
That ought to be plenty.
-We're at 158. -Put it in there, puss.
To use this amylase,
long as your between 155 and 160, that's your sweet spot.
But I like to hit right in the middle of it.
You get a whole lot better conversion on your starches.
If this don't work then to hell with it.
-We go buy him some rye. -[laughs] yeah.
-That oughta do it right there. -Oh, yeah, look yonder, puss.
That's what you're supposed to do, right there.
Now you hit the nail perfect.
It's liquefying immediately.
Yeah, boy.
Churn them sugars up.
Yesterday's buffet was oatmeal and today we got oatmeal soup.
That's rye meal soup.
Well, it looked like oatmeal.
-We still have to strain this out of there. -Oh, yeah.
Just breaks them sugars down.
Cuts it up. [blows raspberry]
I believe we got mission accomplished right here.
Are you gonna pitch the yeast?
Oh, let's wait until we get it in the barrel.
-Reminds you of slopping hogs. -That's exactly what's going through my mind.
This is an all-grain recipe that was requested by the client.
-You good there? -I'm almost good.
So, we can't deviate from that, we've got to run what he wants,
we're not gonna add any sugar.
A sophisticated palate can taste the sugar liquor in there.
To say I'm excited about this little run of whiskey,
that'd be an understatement.
Good.
There's nothing in the world better than all grain liquor.
♪ rye whiskey, rye whiskey ♪
-you should have been a singer. -I know.
All right.
This thing is beautiful, josh, I'm telling you man.
Beautiful caps.
Look how they're made. You bend this metal over right here
and it makes it much more stronger.
You can never find a cap any prettier than that right there.
Josh, I want this cap.
Thank you, buddy. I appreciate that.
My favorite cap's one that's got liquor pumping through it.
Well, they're gonna have liquor pumping through 'em.
Smells good.
Today is the day we're gonna run some cherry, honey wheat.
Sure is better.
Yeah, that mash is good and strong, she's ready to roll.
We've got all eight of these stills mashed in.
And it has finally come time to get this operation in full swing.
Normally we work from the center.
But in this case here, we've got one pump that's gonna be on this side,
another pump's gonna be on the other side.
So, we're gonna run those two into this one pump,
we're gonna run these two into this one pump.
Every pipe is cut to match, so when the baby starts boiling,
-we gotta be ready. -Ready to go.
All right.
-You got a piece of paper or do you want me to light it? -No, sir. I got it.
All right, ready to roll.
All right.
-How's it feel, kenny, good slick? -Good slick.
-How's it feel, josh, good slick? -Yeah.
It's getting good and hot, man, it ain't gonna be just a few minutes here.
When you're running submarine stills, you gotta keep that baby stirring
till it starts boiling.
That way we make sure it doesn't burn at all.
When it starts boiling where that submarine still is made,
it will follow the contour of that still, just like an oval shape.
I got some steam coming off this thing.
That's just our heads.
That stuff boils off about a somewhere around 145 degrees
and we'll let them heads boil off before we cap these things.
And it won't be in no time after we cap it
that we'll have liquor pouring out this thing.
Damn, if I ain't ready, I'm gonna let it run off when we're ready.
-Mine is boiling over here. -You gonna cap it?
Yeah, just cap it.
A little paste.
That's good.
Won't be long, we'll be making some liquor.
This has been a long time coming.
Here, josh, wrap that along right there.
You know, we've had all eight of these pots up before,
but finally we're gonna run to full capacity.
It's getting hot already going over in that.
We've got 4,800 gallons of mash.
Most moonshiners don't see that much mash in five years.
We're running this in one day.
Good and it sounds good.
[tim] this is like a circus.
I ain't never seen such a thing.
Breaking my neck looking at it.
-They're wrapping the rope around. -Yes.
What happens if the rope gets tangled?
I don't know.
Maybe that's why they have extra, in case one dies.
[jaime laughs] oh, my god.
Who in the world ever came up with such a thing?
I guess they gonna spin, so it has to unwind.
Yes, at the same time.
-The weight of the guys have to be similar. -Same time.
-He's whistling and playing at the same time. -[jaime] the same time.
Now that's what you call loco.
Yes, they are locos.
It's amazing. It's mexico. The tradition.
-[tim] okay, maybe they had too much tequila. -Yes.
Or maybe they need some tequila.
Maybe they need tequila after this, tim.
[tim] I need some tequila just watching them.
Good and sounds good.
Hey, can I talk to ya'll for a second?
So now that we've got the first four stills capped off,
while we wait, I got something I want to talk to the guys about.
-[henry] what's the problem, man? -I'm just a little frustrated.
What's it going and what's your problem?
I don't really wanna say nothing, but...
Me and my woman's having some issues.
And technically, I'm homeless right now.
It ain't like I can't go stay in a motel
or I can't go crash at my friend's.
It's just the fact I don't have anywhere of my own to land in
and I've got trucks and bikes and tools.
It cost a fortune to rent a place
and you gotta have all these credentials, you know,
you gotta have all this paperwork and stuff and long story short,
I'm not exactly homeless but I'm kind of homeless,
I don't really have a home to go to.
I tell you what.
I got a two-story house, 100 acres of land, big pond,
you need somewhere to move in to,
you might as well stay at my place or kenny's.
That sounds just perfect.
One thing you do have here is good friends.
You can stay home as long.
I love ya'll.
-Thank you ya'll for always being here. -Let's get it done.
We don't have liquor here, folks, I don't know.
We got liquor on the little one.
Mmm-mmm.
Let's see what we got going on here.
The honey that we cherished, is that a mash bill, or what?
I tell you what, that's a hell of a mash bill.
Almost like a grain liquor, a brandy,
and damn near mixed drink, mixed all in one.
It's got one hell of a smell to it.
It's definitely unique,
and some of the best liquor I've ever drank in my life.
Tell you what, that right there's gonna be some high-dollar liquor.
Check that out.
Running good, man.
That's a good stream 'cause you got to keep in mind
we've got two stills running into that one thumper.
Just one burner.
-About time we tried those other stills. -Yes, it is.
-Here we go. -All right.
While these things are running, we gotta start heating these other pots up.
That way with these things in,
it's time to cap them things off,
we'll be running liquor again off the whole next set of stills.
Honey, cherry, wheat.
You didn't think it would be that strong, did you?
It's about a 105.
There you go.
Yeah, kenny, you're probably right, probably 105.
-[all laughing] -[tickle] hold on there, brother.
We finished running our small pots
and our big pots are tailing off right now.
To most moonshiners that would be one hell of a day under their belt.
But our day's only halfway through.
It probably ain't going to be too much longer that's gonna be running.
There she come, boys.
[kenny] tell you what, fellas,
this one's pouring it out, I can tell you that much.
[tickle] hell, yeah.
The way we proof liquor, we never add water to it.
As you run your moonshine,
gradually your proof will drop,
so we'll add the lower proof stuff to the higher proof stuff,
so that way we're always adding liquor to it
and when it gets down to the proof that you want it,
that's where we cut it off at.
All right, boss, it's done. It's done.
Cut it off and put on some cap.
[josh] let it rip, tater chip.
With all eight of these pots, we just made over 600 gallons
of good liquor in one day.
Damn, still is hot.
Yeah, damn right, that thing's scalding.
But we're talking about massive amounts of liquor right here.
All right, here we go, boys.
This is gonna make our jobs a whole lot easier.
So what we're gonna do is, henry's got this pump,
we're just gonna pump it over here into these totes
and be out of here in no time.
Here she comes.
Things have changed from back in the day and doing this stuff.
They'd be bucketing all this up and trying to get it out of here.
And you know, we got these pumps and stuff.
I thought about how those old-timers got all that stuff
in and out of the woods when they weren't using vehicles.
[kenny] some had mules.
I knew someone, he had a mule, got caught five times.
The law would turn up, the mule got caught more than anybody.
[all laughing]
oh, I hope that stuff's ready to go, puss.
We're coming in here to run this rye this morning.
Oh, yeah.
-It ain't doing nothing. -It's deader than a mackerel.
All this mash that we've built looks great.
We've got plenty of alcohol in it for an all grain mash.
I believe this part is your old drawers.
Oh, they're way too white.
I don't know why we didn't think about bringing a little pump.
Damn, it smells good, don't it?
Like a loaf of hot rye bread.
This mash, it's rich, it's nothing but rye flavor.
This is gonna be some best tasting rye liquor we've ever made.
-You good? -Better than average.
We get to the end, the mash is very, very thick
but it's all flavor at this point, so,
we feel good about it.
Look at it.
Kinda reminds me of castrating cattle.
I never did castrate no cows.
With the fact that there's no sugars,
we're gonna end up with less abv in this batch.
Therefore we have to get every bit of that liquid into the still.
Let's get this lit up and heating up.
-It goes poof. -Woah!
That's sure good.
Let's go ahead and cap this up.
Damn.
You know after it reaches about 170,
you gotta really keep an eye on it,
'cause it comes quick.
-This is the part I hate. -The hurry up and wait.
There'll be liquor out of here any minute.
It works quick, ain't it?
Is it done here?
You tell me.
-Oh, yeah. Look, look, look. -Liquor, puss.
Glad we've dropped old dodger in there.
There we go!
That's fine stream right there.
You know, everything's heated up right now,
starting to push liquor through.
I'm telling you there's a tremendous rye odor right around this still pot.
Holy moly.
I believe my nose lied to me.
What did it say?
It said, "it's the best rye you've ever smelled in your life".
-Goddamn, that's rye. -Yeah.
Inside, outside, upside down.
When we get toward the end of the middlings you taste the jar,
man, it's spot on. It's exactly where this guy's gonna want his liquor.
-That's really fine, fine liquor. -It is.
Rye whiskey, you know it's a very, very spicy note in your mouth, I mean,
all your little taste buds come alive.
-Well? -I'm a corn liquor man.
But our customer don't want corn liquor,
and if it's rye he wanted,
it's damn sure rye he's going to get.
Right there, we're on jar number six.
We're still pretty stout.
I'm gonna say, we're going to get close to eight jars out of this round.
Let's shut her down.
Shut her down, we'll let it run in there what it run.
You know now that it's obvious that we are going to produce good rye whiskey,
we've got to come up with a way to age this right.
-May I ask you, puss? -Uh-huh.
So, you say you've got a notion
about how we can age this
in two months or less?
I mean, don't you think it's about time you shared that information
with me if you have really thought about it?
You're gonna call me crazy.
Well, that ain't nothing new.
I'm gonna put it on the ufo.
[both laughing]
no, I read a little article about ultrasonic aging
that they're experimenting with.
Ultrasonic? What the hell is that?
[jaime] the first agave I planted was here in this area.
This land belongs to our family from more than 70 years, maybe.
My whole reason I'm here, I wanna know how do you make tequila.
You know, where does it come from?
All the agave we have here is blue agave.
That's the right agave to make tequila.
[tim] I don't know how far it goes or how many acres,
but as far as I can see all the way to the mountain.
All I see is agave.
When you plant this,
-they this big? -Yes, they this big.
Yeah, these ones we actually planted on may, last year.
Yeah, so it's only one year and a half.
You know, these are young agave.
We have to wait almost seven, eight years.
-That's a long time. -It is.
In my world, we grow corn and barley and wheat
and we distill it, it's a one-year thing.
There's a lot of work involved here.
Do you have to buy it from somewhere?
We, we take care of the smaller agaves, the baby agaves, the seeds.
And we replant it.
-You see those small, baby agaves over there? -I see it coming up.
-Such a sprout. -Yes.
This agave gives like a two or five different baby agaves.
Some of these plants, are producing little plants.
When they get big enough they pull this from their mother plant
and transplant those to make more and bigger plants.
But how do you plant the whole field at the same time?
You know, I'm thinking, do they plant it with a machine?
One by one. By hand.
One by one by hand. I contract guys.
So, they're gonna plant it,
and they're gonna watch over it every year until they harvest it
and then they have to come and chop it,
and then take it to the distillery.
Remember when you have a glass of tequila in your hand,
seven years ago, that is a lot of people,
-around here planted the agave. -Yeah. Planted.
We call this, uh, the valley.
Of agave plantations.
-The valley? -The valley.
And there is the highlands, in the south of jalisco,
they make a very good tequila over there.
-Higher? -A little bit higher than this, yes.
You want to try the best tequila
-and you compare, you got to try both areas. -Mmm-hmm.
He recommends that I go to the highlands,
which is a couple of hours away,
where the blue agave is grown in a different environment.
And it also gives a different taste profile to the tequila.
So, I'm gonna get the taste of something else.
So we finished the field of agaves.
Yeah.
That was a good, educational trip.
It's very special for my first time in mexico.
Just meeting with jaime was a great honor.
It's time to go back. Because it's tequila time.
It's tequila time?
Anytime is a tequila time.
-Okay. Let's go. -Come on.
We're gonna head back to the distillery right now,
have one more drink with jaime and his sons,
and I'm heading to the highlands.