[jeremy] this time on moonshiners.
Carlos, I see you got a lot of workers here.
[carlos] those are the jimadors.
-So, we are here in mexico. -I may learn how to make tequila.
Maybe I can bring that back to my own distillery.
And I'm gonna come out with something special.
If you're looking for a job, please,
-you will be welcome. -[all laughing]
whoa! That's a lot of bananas, man.
Today we're gonna start mashing in our bananas foster.
We have a lot of tried and true recipes
that we know make money.
This is something new to us.
Uh, uh, this ain't right.
What the hell you mean it's not right?
My aunt dolly, my dad,
were born on the other side of that mountain over there.
[digger] danielle parton, she wants to know what it's like
-make a run liquor out of the woods. -[danielle] lucky there.
[digger] when it comes to this run,
it's more about connecting her family heritage.
Kind of looks like,
last puke from a bad night.
[tim] this is how we make the moonshine.
[country music playing]
well, we see a lot of agave.
We're getting close.
[jeremy] in the state of jalisco, mexico,
tim is en route from the valley city of tequila
to the town of arandas
in a region known for producing
some of the world's finest highland tequila.
[tim] so, we are here in mexico,
I'm trying to learn as much as I can about tequila.
Lots of corn, man. Look at that.
I feel like, I'm at home right now.
Look at this, an agave on the inside.
This is really a business trip here.
You know, I'm really hoping that I can learn some different techniques,
different ways of distilling alcohol.
I may learn, how to make tequila.
Maybe I can bring that back to my own distillery.
And I can come out with something special.
And you know, this is a road.
[driver] this is the road.
-I know. -It doesn't look like a road to a distillery to me.
Today, I'm gonna meet carlos camarena,
and I'm gonna go see his distillery
and see how he makes tequila.
You know, coming from the valley to the highlands,
it's a totally different atmosphere.
I seen little agave
growing in a different environment,
gives a different taste profile.
That's the gate.
That is a stop gate. I see that there's some kind of security thing.
-[driver] checkpoint. -Checkpoint?
We turn into this back road,
and all of a sudden there's a checkpoint.
Maybe we get in here, but we can't get out.
[driver] what happened?
[speaking in foreign language]
checking your driver's license?
Uh, tim, you got your id?
No, I didn't bring the id, uh, uh.
[speaking in foreign language]
they should know I'm coming.
They know you're coming, but they want to know
if it's the real tim smith, you know.
-[tim] this is crazy. -[driver] that's when you know, tequila is money.
[tim] tequila is money, huh?
[speaking foreign language]
[driver] normally, they don't let you in without id.
But, they call carlos and he let us in.
[tim] probably the only person to come here with no shirt.
[driver] probably. [laughs]
we've come a long way just to get to the distillery here
and see carlos camarena.
There's a lot been going on just right here.
It goes all the way back to his great great grandfather
and making alcohol in this region.
That's a big place here.
Tim, welcome to the highlands of jalisco.
Finally.
-How are you? -It's a pleasure having you here.
It's been a long trip.
You had to go through security.
-I apologize for the inconvenience. But... -No, it's okay.
...Years ago there was a lot of problem with crime here.
We still have some security control.
-[tim] wow. -[carlos] fortunately, you made it all the way,
up from the valley of tequila to the highlands of jalisco.
Well, you know, tequila in mexico
is kind of like moonshine in america.
It's high profit.
There's a big demand for it,
but it's also dangerous.
Someone is out there trying to get these guys
because they know they the ones who's making money.
I've learned that a lot.
Uh, the little short time I've been in mexico,
not a lot of people know about moonshine,
but I see cornfields everywhere.
-Right. -It should be making corn liquor.
But then again, I see a lot of agave fields everywhere too.
In this area, agave is the main thing,
we usually use the corn
to feed our cattle and to feed ourselves.
-Yeah, yeah. -I mean, mexico tortillas, tacos.
-I see that. -Yes.
It looked like you slide a little corn to the side.
Make a little corn liquor, somebody.
I know a little bit about tequila,
but not exactly about moonshine.
-So I need your expertise. -I know, a whole lot about corn liquor.
-I know. -Just spending a little bit of time with carlos.
You can tell he's very passionate about his business.
-[carlos] all right. -[tim] I see you got a big tank here.
Yes, my grandfather,
uh, started distilling tequila here
in 1937.
[tim] oh, look at that.
[digger] it's something to work on their head.
[bleep] we bumped into everything,
I ran over the lawnmower in the yard with my truck yesterday.
What are y'all doing?
-Hey, honey. -Hi, how are you?
-Good to see you. -Hey.
We got a call from danielle parton.
We met danielle through her aunt dolly.
We've also had her as a guest judge
on master distiller.
You ever used a blender before?
Yeah. Yes, ma'am.
That's a technique, I ain't never seen in a kitchen.
I'll give you that much.
What in the world are y'all working on?
-Well-- -well, this is an old burner.
So, yeah, these are all homemade we make them.
It ain't rocket science, you know.
But, you didn't take a college degree for this.
Speaking of college degrees
we're just curious.
Why you would be paying us
of all people to visit?
Some people call it curious, some of us call it concern.
Well, I was wondering, I know how to make liquor.
-Obviously, I make my own. -[digger] yes, you did.
But I've never made it outdoors
the old fashioned way, the way my grandparents did it.
My aunt dolly, um, her dad,
my pawpaw was a moonshiner
have recently in the last year bought into a distillery.
Distilling outside, it's just a way to get in touch
with my family roots.
I've just never cooked outside,
I've never mashed outside,
but I would really kind of like to learn
how to do it like my grandfather used to do it,
and my great grandfather out in the woods.
I was wondering if I could beg and impose of
you guys to maybe teach me.
-Well. -Well.
We ain't above it. I can assure you.
What kind of liquor you want to make?
I've never made a brandy.
Oh, well, we love making brandies.
-What kind of brandy? -So I was thinking,
maybe, uh, cranberry apple.
Tell you what? We'll furnish the steel.
You furnish the location and the ingredients.
And your first challenge will be
to find you a still site.
What are my requirements?
Give me my checklist. I'm ready.
Water, we need a pretty good flowing stream.
-Good water. -[mark] head cover.
Which is leaving us fast,
uh, seclusion.
-Yes, sir. -Um,
pretty much, that's about it
and where we can get within,
you know, rock throwing distance with the vehicle.
-Okay. -Make it easy on two old guys.
I think, I've got a place in mind, I think this will work.
-[digger] yeah, that's gonna work with you. -[mark] yeah, that's okay.
Bananas, that's what we've been looking for.
You knew it was me, huh?
Who else will come here and get all these bananas?
-Yo, man. -How are you doing, sir?
Just some good ones I'll be getting, huh.
[jeremy] in new iberia, louisiana,
richard and craig are creating
a custom bananas foster liquor
for a new orleans chef
using spiced rum as a base.
[richard] we already have the crucial component in our drink.
We have the spiced rum with all our flavors in it.
Today, we're gonna start mashing our bananas, foster part of it.
So, we're gonna mash in some bananas and some sugar cane together,
and we can get our bananas foster out of the still as quick as possible.
Feel like donkey kong, man.
[craig] hey, man, I got the sugar cane. Whoa!
What the hell!
[richard] I was just trying to make some good shine boy.
[craig] man, that's a lot of bananas, man.
[richard] I wanted to just get the machete and start whacking.
We got to take the tops off and the bottom off.
And I mean, that's a long process.
It doesn't take long to peel one banana,
but think of peeling 300 pounds of bananas.
Some new guys, man.
These guys got money, this new orleans, man.
Yeah, it's a lot of high rollers out there.
Yeah, man, you got to be a high roller.
You're asking somebody to make a bananas foster moonshine.
I guarantee.
We have a lot of tried and true recipes
that we know make money. This is something new to us.
So, the upside for this is,
if we impress our buyer in new orleans,
this can open up a whole new market for us.
So when we finish with all these, what are we gonna do next?
We're gonna boil them down,
add the sugar cane to it.
Everything that we've needed to achieve
as far as taking out things we don't want in it,
it'll be done.
I think this is the end of the line right here, man.
-Oh. -[craig] see how heavy this is, come on.
-Pick it up. Take it over there. -[richard] oh.
[craig] that's a couple of hundred pounds of bananas.
That's what it feels like.
Now, that we have our pot full of bananas.
We're gonna start adding some water,
light our burner,
bring it to a boil.
You know, we've got to bring to the party nano.
Now, we've got to chop up some sugarcane.
Oh yeah. I'm getting a little bit ahead of ourselves.
The thing about cane sugar is all they're
very, very, very sugary.
They have a real high sucrose content to them,
so we don't need a whole lot of this stuff,
just enough clean sugar
to bring a real true taste through.
[craig] yeah, I think it's ready, man.
Let's pour in and cool it down.
Now we have a sweet banana
with its own sugars
and these cane sugars that we provided to it.
Once we pitch our yeast in it,
they're gonna have a field day.
This thing is gonna blow up.
All right, craig, we cooled it enough, man.
-[craig] ready for the yeast. -[richard] yeah, let's pitch that.
Just what we have right now as a base is awesome.
We're starting out with a solid foundation.
You see this vanilla right here is gonna give a nice,
pleasant flavor.
Just that little bit of vanilla.
You would think would not be enough to do anything.
Well, sir, you will be sadly mistaken.
I could take this banana mash right now
and just put it straight on top of a bowl of ice cream,
and you'll think you had one of the most awesome
banana desserts ever.
All right, we'll come back in a few days.
We're caramelizing up.
[country music playing]
[tim] all right. You got a bunch of stills here.
The three generations are represented in this distilling room,
six different stills of all made of copper.
Different sizes and different shapes.
I came to mexico to learn as much as I can about tequila
and how it's made.
Carlos' distillery, this is something to behold.
You can recognize the different eras.
These two stills were installed by my grandfathers,
and these ones were installed by my father
as he was a chemical engineer.
He designed this with a retort,
so we have some return here.
The effect of this double distillation
is almost the effect of a triple distillation.
So, it comes out a cleaner spirit.
But to me, it lacks a little bit of character.
-Oh. -So, two years ago, it was my turn
to add a new set of stills,
and they are the same design
as the ones that my grandfather installed.
So, let's see what is coming out here.
[tim] he's actually got four of the six stills running.
This is the hot that's coming out right now.
I hope you don't mind
drinking out of a cow horn,
tasting a little bit?
-Cow horn? -Like this.
Now, why we have to drink it out of a cow horn?
If you have ever wondered,
why the people make shots with tequila.
This is the answer.
[carlos] I hope you don't mind drinking out of a cow horn.
No, but, why we have to drink it out of a cow horn.
The cow horn,
that is part of history of tequila.
Sometimes history gets lost.
[tim] we're at the distillery with carlos camarena.
He's fifth generation distiller,
84 years of business right here on this location.
[carlos] so, the size and the shape of the shot glasses
and the shots came out of this shot.
Imagine a 100 years ago,
everything was by horse,
so there was no way to get regular glassware.
So, when a cow was sacrificed,
they would cut the cow horn
and this was the regular glass.
This is like a homemade shot glass, I guess.
That's right, but if there's a group of people waiting,
you have to shoot it down and pass it on
because there's someone waiting for the glass.
So, this is part of this history of tequila
that nobody almost knows anymore.
So, you have to drink out of a cow horn,
so we can keep this history alive.
Never even thought about it
because I don't know the history.
You know, it's always take a shot of tequila.
Well, I'm third generation,
also distiller,
but I am first generation legal.
And if I may ask
what made you become legal?
Actually, I wanted to carry on the heritage and tradition,
but I want to teach my son,
but I didn't want him to have to be
looking behind his back all the time.
So, now he can do it without any fear.
We just got to pay the government the taxes.
-I fully understand what you say about. -You're doing the same thing.
I'm doing exactly the same.
Tomorrow two of my daughters are coming with us.
They are part also of our business
and they are learning how to make tequila.
So you will see that the tradition will keep on going
because now we are preparing the next generation to take over.
I can see that the passion
of carlos to pass on that knowledge and tradition
onto the next generation.
Have you seen how everyone after making a shot,
they put the glass down, like this.
'cause you can't leave it like that.
Done.
This is how everything began.
I'm learning something every day.
[carlos] and also tomorrow we are going
to the harvesting field.
I will recommend that you wear a shirt,
otherwise you will get itchy.
[tim] that's good to know, I have to wear a shirt.
[carlos] yes, please.
[digger] this is it.
[danielle] this is it.
Think this is secluded enough.
I think, it'll work.
My aunt dolly, my dad
were born on the other side of that mountain over there
and that's where my pawpaw, lee parton
ran some of his shine, when he was making.
Moonshining is just a way of life here.
My pawpaw, lee parton,
uh, bootlegged and moonshined to support a growing family.
And I know we got some water back that way.
Let's go check it out if you want to see what we can do.
[digger] now, danielle is a legal distiller,
but she's never made any liquor
the old-fashioned way out here in the elements.
[danielle] just step over this little hump right here
is where you're gonna find our water.
[tim] plenty of water.
-[mark] now... -[digger] clear.
...Did you have in mind for a still site?
Well, I was thinking there's a little
clearing up here with a little more
-trees and stuff, -yeah.
And that's also close to where I think what might
-have once been a still in the older days. -[digger] yeah.
Well, we're following your lead.
-[digger] you take us where you think... -[mark] we're going.
-You need to put a still site and we'll look. -All right.
[digger] let's see what we got.
Step one if you want to make backwoods liquor,
you've got to find your backwoods still site.
[danielle] well, here's that old metal I was telling you about
that I thought might have been an old still site.
So, it could very well be it's all galvanized
and that's what they made them
silver clouds out of.
[digger] well, I turned in here, ramsey is actually smart for it.
-[danielle] it gots to be there. -[digger] not only is
it been a still, it got cut at one time.
Yeah, I'd say that this is definitely
a silver cloud still.
They were called that because when the moon was full,
-it would shine on them. -Oh, yeah.
A little bit and reflecting,
that's why they call 'em silver clouds.
Good chances,
your ancestors made liquor on that very still.
Probably, very true.
-[mark] ain't it pretty cool? -That is cool.
[danielle] well, one of the reasons I want to run in the woods
is just so I can feel what it was like
when my grandparents was doing it.
You know, the fact that we found
what was probably an old still at one time
makes me feel good about this being a current still site.
[mark] I think that you have found the perfect spot.
Really, it has everything that we need,
everything we're looking for.
Man, digger had to look 40 places
before we could ever choose a spot.
Well, you should have called me. Don't I look like a mountain woman?
Well, yeah, and you damn sure talk like one. I love that.
Even though I wear, you know, lipstick, bleached my hair,
have my fake nails, whatever.
I'm just as comfortable in the woods,
especially here in east tennessee as I am anywhere.
All we need now to get the equipment in here,
which brings me to, we'll bring the equipment,
you get the ingredients.
How much of what everything do I need?
Yeah, we'll need about 30, 35 pound of apples
-somewhere in that neighborhood. -Okay.
And then cranberries about 10, 12 pound
fifty pound sack sugar.
-Just white sugar? -Yeah, we'd rather have one sack
instead of 50 little ones.
-Oh, darn it. -Or 10 small ones.
And a partridge in a pear tree.
-Yeah. -Yeah, we'll be singing that after you get that brandy.
Exactly. Well, I can't think of anybody
that I'd rather be in the backwoods with...
Two old backwoods hillbillies.
I'll know what you're doing out here.
[intense music playing]
man, look at that thing, man, you can hug this thing.
Look at that, it's nice.
That's when you got good mash.
I could see the vapors comin' off of it.
[richard] today, we're back at the still site and this mash is working.
I mean, it's really bubbling, it's real hot.
Yeah, that's a thick cap.
This thing has a huge cap
it's probably six to eight inches.
And you know, it's not typical you see a big, huge cap like that in the ferment.
This will probably be ready in the day, man.
-Look at that, vanilla bean. -Vanilla bean.
While we're lettin' this work off,
we'll go ahead and macerate our nuts,
soak 'em in our base spirit.
That's a real good alcohol.
If we were just going for that right there we'd be good.
In a bananas foster dessert, it calls for nuts to be used.
So, we're gonna caramelize those today
and we're gonna add 'em into our spice rum.
And we're gonna let them sit.
We got acorns.
My favorite walnuts.
We're gonna go with only those next.
One of the most serious components of this drink
is that the caramelization factor is there and you can taste it.
Yeah, we could dump some brown sugar in here.
-A little bit more. -Look at that.
-Get a whole shot right there. -There you go, that's good, right there.
[richard] when this dessert was made at first
in the 1950s in new orleans,
it was prepared with brown sugar,
butter, cinnamon, banana liqueur, spiced rum.
It was flambeed table side by a chef.
Can you taste it in the, in the sauce?
-It's ice cream. -It's ice cream.
[richard] all these things have to be done in proportion
and that's what we do, we make sure that everything is proportionate,
so our flavors balance and don't kill each other.
That's what this drink deserves.
That tastes good.
I mean, you could taste that spice in it.
-Spicy, sweet rum. -Wow.
Caramelized spiced rum.
[richard] I think that's just enough, right there.
It's strong, that's for sure.
Everything's complimented with each other real well.
We have some bitterness, some sweetness,
some tanginess, some tartness in this.
In the end, this tastes like a creamy textured.
Yeah, we'll let these sit for a day or two.
So when we come back, we could just jump straight
in the...Popping everything into the barrel.
I thought this was bananas, man,
but just just plain nuts. No pun intended.
[country music playing]
[danielle] good mornin'.
-You got it, girl. -I got it.
That look like it'll do?
Oh, yeah.
Cranberry, apple.
Well, you know, danielle, she wants to know what it's like
to make a run liquor out in the woods
on an old-fashioned pot still.
[mark] you should have got you a pair of overalls.
[danielle] I should have.
[mark] the good thing about overall is that they don't fit real tight
unless you're really, really fat and buy the wrong size.
-What if you're just regular fat? -Cool down, like me,
then you breathe heavy like this.
[sighs]
I'll keep that in mind.
[danielle] we have water,
colder than a well digger's heiny too.
-Okay, -lucky there.
[mark] danielle, she has ran moonshine, she's made liquor,
but she is anxious to learn the backwoods way.
Also, her family back in the day was in moonshine
and I think she's chasing her heritage a little bit.
[digger] we got apples.
We got you cranberries.
-[digger] let's get this little green rascal going in. -[danielle] okay.
[digger] now you see, how that looked, kind of, like a french fry.
-Yeah. -This ain't...
...Artificial sweetener.
Pectic enzyme, now rub it around the other finger.
-Now you see how the juice is starting to come out of it. -Hmm-hmm.
I mean, there's nine million little bitty
bugs in there chewing up [bleep] your hand.
Breaking the pectin down is releasing the juices,
need to cut those long chain sugars
into little small bite sized pieces for the yeast.
They work a whole lot easier.
-We always used to cook back in the old days... -Mm-hmm.
...But we've learned pectic enzyme
does the same thing, and it leaves more flavor behind.
All right. Here's the fun part.
Just like kneading dough,
[danielle] well, I can notice it. You know, it's getting a lot juicier.
-[mark] that's what it does. -I think the magic is working.
[mark] see how much better that flavor is already.
Did I mention you're not supposed eat pectic enzyme.
So, what are we doing now?
[mark] all that needs now is put in some water with, with some sugar
and yeast it up right good.
[danielle] I know we're gonna mix it all up,
but do you have an order you like to go in?
It really don't matter.
Just don't cook apples whole lot, so we can dump that sugar in there.
-Then we'll dump that water on top of it. -Okay.
Do you think we need the whole 50 pounds of sugar?
[digger] no, I think, we could just need a...
-...About a half of that. Yeah. -About half?
I'll be making my own moonshine starting from scratch.
I've had some bad disasters
and it's just, I want to be the best
and know as much as I can in this industry.
Well done.
[danielle] they definitely have the experience and the knowledge
and expertise to teach me how to make a brandy.
[mark] I mean, I feel pretty honored to be...
...On your first outside run in the woods.
Brandy on family property.
[mark] boy, it's pretty mash.
-[digger] oh yeah, -[slurps]
-[digger] damn, it's tasty. -[mark] mother of pearl.
[mark] it's damn top notch mash.
As much as you want, throw in there, it don't matter,
[digger] you can't over pitch yeast.
[mark] there ain't no need to put down slop jar for laying it either.
[digger] that little critters, they'll be eating that sugar up
the pissing out that alcohol, farting out that co2.
[mark] I say, we lay the lid on that and skedaddle,
and ain't nothing we can help it do now.
-[danielle] nothing we can do. -[mark] it's up to time now.
-[danielle] all right. -[mark] the moonshine gods.
[mark] will come back with danielle at the appropriate time.
We'll keep an eye on it.
[digger] when you see that first damn drop come out of that worm...
-[digger] you'll forget all about this. -[danielle] about the work?
[digger] yeah.
[richard] look, man, you left your girl. Go down, man.
[craig] oh, she flopped.
[richard] you're supposed to take care of her.
[craig] no, no, man.
You were supposed to take care.
[richard] so, today we're back at the still site.
We got our mash working for our bananas foster.
We're gonna see if it's ready to run.
Man, look how thick that cap is on that thing.
Look at that.
Seven, eight inches, huh?
This is a big, huge cap, man this is ready to go.
All the bananas were at the bottom of this barrel,
when we put them into there,
so that means the yeast has had a chance to really work through them,
really pull some of the sugars out of them,
absorb those sugars and the byproduct
of yeast and sugar, of course, it's alcohol.
I don't know no hog farmers.
I wish I did.
The hogs will love us.
We're just bringing this out.
Pump this in and get to cooking.
[craig] come on. Let's get it right.
Four buckets of the spiced rum
ready to go in.
Nuts and all everything.
Man, that smells good.
We've got 18 gallons of this macerated spicy rum going in right now.
We're gonna add that to 50 gallons of water.
And our 35 gallons of mash,
we have a maceration
where we took our caramelized nuts,
and we put them into our spice rum that we ran initially
to get the creamy texture of milk
and to give us just what we need for our bananas foster.
All right, that's it for macerated nuts.
[craig] here we go.
Look like a banana sundae.
[richard] good alcohol.
Whoo-hoo!
We went for a real low alcohol content in this banana mash.
We don't wanna clash with other rum that we had,
so we didn't use the yeast
that produced the real high
alcohol by volume.
All right, that's damn near it,
man, that's almost all of it.
So, this thing should be around 12 to 14,
which is what we need to get in here.
That should give us a nice 90, 95,
hopefully, of a real good spirit.
We're gonna light up. We're gonna get some heat under here.
[craig] good deal.
[richard] that's not the look.
That's perfected.
[craig] we have to tighten it,
and it's gonna take a little while to get the temperature
and it's all playing together perfect.
I think we're on the right track.
-It's hot. -[richard] yeah, we about right here.
[richard] it's getting there, it's gonna take a little while.
So, this still under pressure a little bit,
but it's starting to do a second form of distillation here.
Now, when this heats up and gets under pressure
and builds up enough steam to start carrying over,
now we gotta serious situation on our hand.
Yeah.
It's down here.
Here we go.
About right there.
[craig] it's almost in the thumper.
[richard] oh, yeah, we're in the thumper already.
Yeah, we should start running here.
Oh, yeah, I can smell it coming through here, man.
Do I need a bucket?
-See, I get you a bucket. -[richard] no, give me a jar.
[richard] I can start to smell things coming out of the worm, now.
It's getting close.
The banana is definitely coming out.
It smells like the caribbean in here.
I mean, you can even get the hint
of the spices coming out of here.
[richard] all right, we've got a nice little drip here, man.
We're gonna throw these heads off of here, man.
Plenty enough heads.
I'll kill all that poison ivy, right there.
Well, just let it run low and slow like that.
That's perfect, man.
Everything is working. It's dripping.
We have so many different components
and one still cooking, right now.
Uh-uh, this ain't right.
What the hell you mean it's not right?
No, man, something wrong.
[instrumental music playing]
so, I can see the dirt is different here.
[carlos] yes, it's a very red clay.
The color of this is an iron oxide
that makes the agave from the highlands
the sweetest area to grow agave.
You know, this dirt here reminds me of being at home.
We have the same dirt,
same weeds.
I'm here with carlos and his daughters.
I visited the lower country, the valley
and now here, where we in the highlands,
there's workers working,
there's the tractors running,
there's a big dump trucks out there working.
These guys are serious business.
They are getting these agave out of the field.
[richard] cut that burn off.
We're sipping on the drink and we're tryna figure out
what we're missing. We could see that
we have the creaminess.
We realize we don't have the vanilla flavor
with this creaminess.
This is a good stuff, madagascar.
Vanilla beans.
I didn't put enough into it,
so we're gonna do this as quick as possible.
Try to hurry up and get this into the thumper.
And that should change it. That should give us
what we need as far as the vanilla taste.
I want all of it in here.
[craig] now that we charge the thumper,
we have to nail this.
There's no going back.
We have to get this right.
-[craig] oh, yeah, she's spitting again. -[richard] oh, we're running.
[richard] thought the last time was the moment of truth,
but this is a real moment of truth.
Now I taste vanilla, told you, boy.
-[craig] that's it? -[richard] mm-hmm.
[richard] that's it.
It's good too.
It's what we've been waiting for. That's what we wanted.
That's a relief.
I mean, vanilla is definitely here now.
Now, this is a true bananas foster.
Now we got a bayou buffet going on.
Now we've got a true louisiana delicacy.
We just did.
-That's the one. -[richard] that's the one.
-[richard] did you taste that vanilla, man? -I tasted.
[richard] and it's not even too strong.
Now that we finally remedied the vanilla problem,
I think richard is gonna really have to fight me
to get this glass out of my hand.
It's really, really, that good.
[richard] we've got 10 good gallons of banana foster.
That's a true banana foster.
We got a five gallon bucket for us and we got
enough to satisfy our client.
I mean, the chef might know, lord knows,
who it might open some doors for us.
This bananas foster, moonshine,
I think the people in new orleans
and around the area, they're gonna freak out.
What we need to do is get in touch with our man
and we need to tidy up this site
and get out of here, man. It's getting dark.
I tired, boss.
I'm tired too, man, so I'm gonna just lay back
-and let you do everything. -[richard] right on.
[richard] that'd be just a normal day at work to me.
[instrumental music playing]
the area where we are
is very close to 7,000 feet above sea level.
And because of cold conditions in winter
the agave takes longer to grow and mature.
[tim] well, today, you know, it's the harvest time.
I come a long ways to see every step
in the process of making tequila.
I want to know the history, I want to know their process,
I want to know how they distill it.
[carlos] few years ago, we had snow.
It looked beautiful, but we were very scared.
-We though, it might kill the agave plants. -[fany] of course.
On agave after we harvested
the agave was sweeter than we usually have.
[carlos] they're more stressed,
- the plant is... -[tim] yeah.
[carlos] ...The more sugar is concentrating...
-Wow. -...As energy to survive the winter,
we can have up to 35% sugar content.
This plant is all of its life,
accumulating this energy from the surroundings,
and then we will transform this energy
into liquid, into tequila.
[tim] okay, carlos, I see, you got a lot of workers here.
You got some guys with the tractor, you get the truck.
[carlos] the agave to grow and mature these six to seven years.
This field is six and a half years.
It was the time for the guys
to come and now harvest the agave
that we are transporting today to the distillery,
and start processing.
Those are the jimadors,
it's a very, very specialized and skilled job.
They get paid by the weight,
by the amount of labor
they do every day. But usually the jimadors
are the ones that have the best salary in all of the area.
It is a dangerous job
and you will see the coa is so sharp
that if they don't get very close attention,
they could cut off of it.
At the end of the day,
the jimadors becomes part of the heroes
on what we are doing.
Because if you cut too much of the leaves of the agave,
my tequila will be very flat.
-Oh. -If you leave too much of the pina,
the pina is flower, the leaf is full of fibers
and those fibers will produce methanol.
-Mm-hmm. -Headache.
So by looking at the plant,
they have to determine how much pina to remove it,
how much pina to leave,
in order to have the best possible balance
between flavor, sugar and chemical purity...
-Hmm-hmm. -...On the distilled product.
We have a good guys here harvesting
that are the third generation,
they learned that skill from their father
and then when the father was ready to retire,
the son was already doing that job...
...But the training is usually father to son.
We have five generations growing agave,
five generations producing tequila.
We have people from the same families
-that were working with my father... -Hmm, hmm.
With my grandfather.
So right now, out of this jimadors,
four of them are brothers.
In the whole family...
-Hmm-hmm. -...Is working with us.
So that to us is a sense of pride.
So, don't make one guy mad because you got four brothers to fight.
And they have these dangerous tools.
-The tools, that'll kill you. -The coa which is too sharp,
they could cut your head off right away.
-So, we don't want them to do that. -We should go this way.
[laughing]
[tim] the jimador, he's the guy who's harvesting the agave,
and he has this coa, which is like uh...
You know, some special tool.
It's very, very sharp.
And I mean, this guy is working this tool
just like, it ain't nothing.
[carlos] there is a funny thing
about why the name pina,
it kind of resembles like a giant pineapple.
-Yeah. -When my ancestors,
my great great grandfather started bringing agave
from the tequila valley into this area,
to start planting the agave.
The people would come
and they would steal the little plants
and taking them home
because they thought they were pineapples.
To their surprise they got home
and they found that they were not edible.
But still, they were calling it,
pina, pina, pina and nowadays,
we keep on calling this pina.
So it is part of that history,
that has to do with my ancestors
bringing the agave into this, this area.
[fany] it is a big one.
-[tim] yeah. -So that's a nice pina,
quanto pesa, how much it weighs?
[speaking foreign language]
forty-two kilograms, so about 85 pounds.
[tim] how much tequila can we make from that?
We need about eight kilograms for one liter.
So, we would make a little over
-five liters of tequila out of this. -Five? Five.
-Yes, five liters. -Five big bottles.
Five big bottles, one liter,
uh, at around 100 proof.
-Okay -so, that's good amount of--
-one, two, three, four and one extra. -And one for the jimador.
-And one for him. -Of course.
-Then there's... -There's five bottles.
Maria, if I think, that you wanted to harvest one of those?
Yeah, sure. Each time, I came here to the fields,
chunda makes me harvest at least one pina.
So yeah, why not. Okay.
She could be hired like a jimadors.
She knows, what she's doing
and she's being careful.
So, that is good.
[tim] you know, carlos, he brings his daughters to the field.
They got this relationship. It's nice
when you come to the field, you've got to cut one also.
[carlos] she needs to be harvesting about 200 of those per day.
-Two hundred a day. -That's what they do.
It's not like her first time, you can tell,
she knows what she's doing.
You want to do it tim?
-Sure, I could try. -Yeah.
You didn't cut no feet off.
I'm not shy about work,
but this is the first time, I've ever did anything like this.
-Nice. -[tim] once you grab that tool,
you know, it's got some weight to it.
And I was trying to be, you know,
professional as I can, because I know, that's sharp.
-Is it done? Is it good? -Good job.
-Yes. -Yeah. If any time
you're looking for a job, please,
you will be welcome to harvest agave.
-Sound on that. -Good job, good job.
-Thank you. -[tim] I think I'll leave it back to the professional.
[danielle] did you taste it?
Damn, that's so good, you guys better lay down to drink.
[danielle] it is fantastic, ain't it?
It is wonderful stuff. Oh, no.
[digger] that's a real number one.
Oh, no, you're falling apart.
No.
[mark] my ring is somewhere.
-[danielle] are you serious? -[mark] well.
Reach in, you'll find it.
I ain't reaching in there. We'll find it
-when we strain the damn stuff. -[digger] maybe,
-maybe not. -Well.
It's a better chance to find as a team
-than me prowling around. -You realize where we're at?
They might be a bear come in here and eat all that mash up.
Unfortunately, I've lost them before.
-Hmm-hmm. -And it don't mean you ain't married
-no longer, so. -It don't.
-Morning, sunshine. -Good morning.
-You ready to make a little brandy today, girl? -Let's do it.
Today's the day, danielle
is gonna run her apple cranberry brandy.
Let's give it a look.
Kind of looks like
the last puke from a bad night.
That'll make it taste appetizing.
-Yeah, it really makes me want to stick my finger... -Yeah it is...
-...In it. -...What it looks like though.
I'm pretty impressed with this mash, how it's worked off.
But you know, we gotta find your ring.
Some things you just can't put a price on.
Well, we got to strain this mash off anyway.
I lost my ring
in the mashing process
when we were probably stirring up
the pectin enzymes into the apples.
I know where it's at. It's got to be in the mash barrel.
Well, look at it, up jumped the devil.
-There she blows. -Lookie there.
Hot damn, it's a good sign.
The moonshine gods are smiling on us.
All righty, I'll take it.
[upbeat music]
these guys right here are really working hard
to make tequila,
and you see the, like, spherical parts
that red parts.
That means the agave is completely mature.
You know, the whole time when I met carlos,
he starts talking about
his generations of distillers before him,
and then he talks about his daughters.
He brings his daughters to the field.
I can see the passion
of carrying this heritage on to the next generation.
This is just the beginning.
Now, we need to bring the agave to the distillery,
we need to to convert the starch into sugar
by cooking this agave,
then squeeze the juice,
go to create our mash,
ferment everything
and then double distillation.
And then we can sit, and relax, and just taste.
And you will be amazed.
I always think my moonshine is the best
when it comes right straight out of that worm,
-when it's right, there, fresh. -Exactly.
It's the best.
It is the same. I mean, we have blanco tequila.
We have reposado,
anejo, extra anejo, longer and longer
periods in the barrel.
I love them all.
-Yeah. -But usually
after a few reposados or anejo,
I always come back to the blanco
-because the blanco is... -That could've been, yeah.
-...The origin, is the source, is the art... -It's the base.
...Is the base.
If you don't have a good base,
-then you don't have nothing else. -Exactly.
Exactly.
-Moonshine in the same way, yeah. -Yes.
Preaching to the choir.
[tim] these guys have done harvest agave
and truck is on the way back to the distillery.
Now, we're gonna get down to business.
-I think I'm gonna take my shirt off when I get back. -Yes.
It's getting hot out here.
Give me just one hour and then
-we can get our clothes off. -Let's do it.
[indistinct]
I'll tell you set the burner
in the levellest spot, you can find.
We're setting up the still,
we're gonna run this moonshine
in a hauler where I've lived,
on a mountain, where my family has lived.
This is so much fun for me
and so exciting that I get to do this.
Hmm, know, the same thing, it ought not be happening,
yeah, my foot's getting wet.
And why is it getting wet?
Because my dumb ass didn't check the valve.
-You know, the thing about it is... -I always check it out.
...All this ain't worth it [bleep]
if it's laying on the ground.
-Hey man, how about on my boot? -Just, no.
No, they're no good, no.
It made them tasty but...
-I'm damned if I be licking them. -I wouldn't either.
You know, I am a checklist girl,
-and I did not follow my own checklist. -All right.
Just finish it now.
Yeah, as we approach, you spill it all over the backside of it.
-Whoa! -Whoa!
-Hey, mark. -Huh?
That ain't no good on the ground.
-Touche. -All right.
We got to get a fire built.
We want to cap that rascal off.
It's just a matter of waiting right now.
So, you know, you can put your ear against that.
It's not hot, put you ear on it you can hear
how that's thump kicking cadillac-ing.
Yeah, you can.
And don't try to do that when it's running liquor.
Now, your damn finger and your ear will be--
ear will be melted, okay.
They call you danielle van gogh.
You'll see puff the magic dragon here in a minute.
-[digger] yeah, it's starting. -[danielle] there it go.
[mark] cranberry, apple brandy, hot, damn, here we go.
How do you do this?
This way?
-[digger] it's got to go upside down. -This.
-The other way, there you go. -Like that?
-[digger] no. -[danielle] no
-business end first. -Business what?
This is not what I'm used to looking at.
[digger] there you go. Look how that follows that little pecker.
[danielle] how do you, like, sat around playing with a coon's pecker
and decided to try that?
[digger] well, you know, they used them as a damn toothpick
before they did a liquor spout guidance system.
So, who was the first one to stick a coon pecker in their mouth?
It's always a little adrenaline rush
when you see the liquor start burning.
That's part of the joy of it, watching those jars slowly fill up.
[danielle] it really is.
[mark] let's give it a sample. That's jar eight.
That ought to be dead smack in the hearts.
That ought to be as good as it's gonna get right there.
All right, y'all ready? Here's the heart's jar.
-That's good stuff. -Let me see.
[danielle] I think we did good. We made mountain magic.
They're drinking that liquor and they're laughing it up,
bragging about how good it is.
And then when I taste of it, I find out.
Just like I said when we were building this mash.
It's some of the finest brandy that's ever been in the apple wines.
Not a damn thing wrong with that, except there ain't a thousand gallons of it.
Pawpaw are you proud of her? Look here what she's done.
You know, we're proud to teach anybody
we call a friend, the art of making liquor,
but it's pretty special on this.
I mean, this is danielle parton.
She comes from dolly's bloodline.
Here is your diploma.
And since you are the queen of moonshine,
-this is your scepter. -Oh, thank you.
-My very own mash stick. -Your very own mash stick.
And use it in good health.
Every moonshiner are worth their salt
prides herself on having the raccoon pecker.
We decided we're gonna give danielle a mash stick, too.
You're gonna do well in your legal endeavors.
I promise you.