[narrator] On this episode of Moonshiners.
-[police car beeps] -Oh, hell. Detective. What's going on, captain?
Looks like yous heading to no good today, are yous?
He said, "Boys, you all got to stay lucky every time.
I just got to be lucky one time."
-[Henry] We got a lot of good stuff. -Sardines?
Nobody wants to live in the woods on purpose.
Got a little girl that misses me.
Having to be stuck out here,
this is like a big prison.
-[Tim] You're too fat, Howard. -That's okay.
Fat boys float, too.
The idea is to make a log still.
This is crazy.
If it sinks, then we know it's not going to hold alcohol.
All right, I'm going in.
[Tickle] This is how we make the moonshine.
[car honks]
[Mark] Morning, puss. How are you doing?
[Digger] I'm all right.
-About quit raining. -About quit, ain't it?
[Mark] I got some grain here, malted grain.
[narrator] In the hills of eastern Tennessee,
after developing a cost-saving system to malt their own grains,
Mark and Digger double down on a triple malt liquor.
Since we learned how to do this malting process with our malting table
and the drying rack and stuff,
we've been malting constantly.
As soon as one grain will malt and dry,
we immediately start another one running.
[Digger] Oh, that's pretty.
[Mark] That's malted barley right there, buddy.
I like that smell.
I've got more of it.
It's sticky, where that starch done come out of it.
So we got a lot of corn, barley, and rye.
It's already malted, dried and ready to go.
Ooh! Rye, baby.
-[Mark] Mm. That's nice, ain't it? -[Digger] Pretty.
[Mark] It's my understanding,
in the commercial market, single malt's all the rage right now.
Me and old Digger's going to do a triple malt.
Well, we ain't going to find out
until we go over and get it ground up and make some mash.
Honestly, it should be off the chain.
We may even get to lower our prices.
We'd be national heroes in our customers' eyes.
Celebrate a moonshiner for a change
instead of trying to jail his ass.
[chuckles]
Malted grains are the most expensive grains.
But with our new malting capabilities,
we can do malted grains very efficiently, very cheaply.
Our goal is to not gouge our customers,
and this new malting process should enable us to do that.
I'm going to pull in here and get a little bit of fuel.
I'll pump this high-dollar gasoline bad as I hate to.
[police horn blares]
[Digger] Oh, hell. David Robertson, detective.
What's going on today there, buddy?
[Digger] Well, pumping a little of this high dollar gasoline.
Got to go get that feed ground up for them chickens.
All right, you cameras, step back a little bit while I talk to these guys.
[cameraman] Yeah, no problem. You got it.
[Detective Robertson] Is your buddy, Mark, out here today?
-Possibly. -Hey, Mark. Come on over here, buddy.
What's going on, captain?
Looks like yous heading to no good today, are yous?
[Mark] No, sir, we're not.
I'm gonna tell you boys something.
I might have been born at night,
but I wasn't born last night.
What's your grinder and everything here for?
Got to grind up this scratch feed for them chickens.
Propane tanks. Huh, making liquor?
[chuckles slyly]
Got anything in the buckets, sir?
We got some corn, some barley.
We're going to scratch up for them chicken, feed them.
[Mark] Yeah, here's a little rye grain in there.
Got a stirring stick in there for it and everything, don't you?
Ready to go today.
[Digger] Hell, I don't know what that is. I got that at the flea market.
It's been pretty hot out, too, ain't it?
[Mark] Oh, yeah. It's real hot.
It's about to get real damn hot, boys.
You better get ready for it.
-[Mark] Damn. -[Digger] Oh, hell.
[Digger] Let's get the hell out of here. You want to?
I want no [bleep] greasy cop.
Goddamn, he's dogging the hell out of us.
Whichever direction he goes, we're gonna go the opposite.
[Tim] All right, Howard. You know what we got to do?
We got to get the biggest log that we can handle ourselves,
because we got to build a log still.
[narrator] In Culpeper, Virginia, after successfully growing the strain of yeast
that helped make legendary distiller J.W. Dant a wealthy man,
Tim and Howard must figure out how to recreate the poplar log still
that Dant used to make his famous whiskey.
Poplar is lighter.
[Howard] It's a lighter wood, that's for certain.
You know, the idea and the goal here is to make a log still.
This is the first time I've ever did anything like this.
And this is difficult.
I don't know. Are we going to strap it together?
Are we going to cut it out?
I just know we need to get a big one.
We got to have something that we can work.
So we're going to go in this saw mill,
and we're going to find a log.
Oh, yeah, I see wood.
They got plenty of lumber around here.
What research that I found out, it's gotta have poplar wood.
Not oak or pine, but it has to be poplar.
It's light, there's no knots, easy to work,
and not prone to leak.
[Howard] Look at all this damn wood.
We got some big boys down here.
That's what we need, right?
[Tim] Let's go look at that.
-[Howard] The bigger, the better. -[Tim] Yeah.
Well, that boy right there looks like it's the one.
[Tim] That is a big one, ain't it?
[Howard] You said you want a big one.
We just don't know how we'd get this dude out of here.
Look how big this thing is, man.
The logs are much bigger than I expected.
I'm not sure how a scrawny 60-year-old like Dant
was able to handle logs like these.
[Tim] Here comes a guy in a loader here.
-That's the man we need. -That way we can load it.
[Howard] I don't know how we're gonna load any of these on the trailer.
[man] How are y'all doing today?
-[Tim] Hey. -[Howard] How's going, buddy?
[man] Pretty good.
-[Tim] We're looking for poplar logs. -I got you.
Well, you're in the right section of the mill here.
-I feel like I found a poplar grove. -It's got a lot of logs in it.
[Tim] Yeah, we're trying to decide.
I mean, the very big one is the best...
That's the joker right there.
...for what we need.
But then I'm concerned how we're gonna handle this.
Yes, we got tractors and stuff at the farm.
But still, we don't have this grabber device.
We don't have nothing to grab a round log.
I've got some stuff down there that's already been two sided.
It's already got two smooth sides on it.
It's got the bark on the outside.
If they got flat sides on them,
I don't have to worry about them turning over.
[man] So, I've got this... on the end here.
There's two poplar logs are somewhere on the bottom.
[Tim and Howard] Oh, yeah.
There's two big poplars, the ones I was talking about.
Squared up on the two sides and clear sided lumber.
[Howard] These are good logs.
They're already trimmed. They're ready to go.
I can't pick the damn thing up.
But he's got the machine that can.
Oh, yeah.
[Tim] I think we've found an ideal piece of poplar.
It's what we're looking for.
But now comes the fun part.
We got to turn this into a still.
[man] Y'all have fun now.
[Tim] All right. Yeah, it's going to be fun, Howard.
[Henry] Now, if we can get this sugar over here, where we're headed,
we'll be hitting home run today.
Trying to get everything lined up.
It's become a job.
We're killing time right now.
We should've had this stuff mashed in.
[Kenny] Yeah, after today, we done lost four, three days.
I'm ready to get making money.
[narrator] In Franklin County, Virginia, weeks behind schedule
after moving still sites,
Henry and Kenny find themselves short
on basic ingredients amid rising prices.
A buddy of mine's son called me last night.
He's a long distance trucker, so he said he's probably got what we're looking for.
It's been a tough season this year.
Had the fire at the nice brick house.
We got another still site, had it set up.
But we're having problems getting ingredients.
We getting behind.
We have no liquor in stores to take care of our customers.
We're losing that money.
We get a few more weeks behind,
I don't know what's going to happen.
-Nice rig, isn't it? -Better than that, barn red at that.
Zack.
[Zack] What do you say here, buddy?
How y'all been?
-Good to see you, buddy. -Good to see you, too.
[Henry] Like I said, fuel and stuff about to kill you all, isn't it?
[Zack] Lord of mercy, man.
It's sky-high, man.
I can't see how people afford to do anything,
to be honest with you.
[Henry] That's about the shape we in right now
with sugar and everything going up.
[Zack] Actually, I heard through the grapevine, man.
Y'all was looking for a little bit of sugar.
-You heard right. Is it sugar you got? -Oh, yeah, man.
Let's walk in the building here.
I'll show you what I got here on the pallet.
[Henry] You don't fool around. I like that.
All the buckets full?
[Zack] Yeah, man. Every one of them is full.
Yes, sir. I was making a delivery, man.
I was getting a pallet out the back, man,
and the pallet folded right in two, and I lost all my sugar.
Supplier wouldn't take it, you know, nothing.
I cleaned it up and got it all packaged up, man.
And I didn't know what to do with it.
[Henry] What's it look like?
Ain't a bunch of dirt in it, is it?
[Zack] No, Lord, no, man.
Look, clean.
[Henry] Oh, yeah, it is clean.
[Zack] Yeah, man.
You can have everything I got right here.
-[Henry] That should do well. -[Kenny] That's a good start.
[Henry] I know you're looking for a bit of green money.
How about we bring you a little bit of liquor?
You know, that would work.
Let me back a truck in here.
Perfect, Zack, I'm glad you called us, man.
We were running short on everything.
The whole truck is full of sugar.
I'm happy, Kenny's happy. We ready to roll.
We've had a good day.
I'm really glad you called.
Perfect.
Thank you a lot, Henry man.
Y'all boys take it easy going up the road.
-[Kenny] Good see you. -Good see you, too,
Kenny buddy.
[Henry] Kenny and I need to get it down to still site right now.
We're going to take Josh some more supplies, some food,
and hopefully, he'll be a little bit better off.
Josh is possibly facing moonshine charges and arson charges.
Safest place he could possibly be right now is right here in the woods.
-[Henry] What's up, hoss? -[Josh] Man.
Scared the hell out of me coming down here like that.
I'm having to stay down here.
The house burnt down.
I lost my place to live.
Looks like the fire marshal is looking for me.
Probably the police.
[Henry] Man, we got a lot of good stuff.
Truckload of sugar.
[Kenny] Brought you a tent.
[Henry] Brought you a nice little tent.
Brought you some more seafood and steak.
-[Josh] Seafood? -Yeah, man.
We'll take good care of you.
This ain't the ideal situation.
Nobody wants to live in the woods on purpose.
Sardines?
[Henry chuckles] Here's a steak.
Oh, you was really thinking about me.
I hate to kick the gift horse in the mouth, but damn!
Here I'm thinking,
"I hope they got scallops and [bleep] in there because I really like them."
[Henry] You bitching about the food?
Seriously?
[Josh] Instead, I got sardines and Beanie Weenies,
and I'm really not a fan of either one of them.
I say let's go find a site
for you to camp. Thinking right here.
-On that mountain laurel? -[Josh] Yeah.
So right in here?
Man, it sucks being out here in the woods by yourself all the time.
It's gotta be in flat and it's got to be camouflaged.
Let's get the tents and stuff.
You're by yourself, it's peaceful,
but at the same time it's kind of nerve wracking 'cause you're on the run.
[Henry] We got the camo stuff.
You got the tent, Kenny?
Do something now.
Can't really relax when you're on the run at no time,
'cause you're always looking over your shoulder.
[Kenny] We're going to need that tarp, too.
[Josh] If I put this up in the air,
I don't have to be confined to the tent if it's raining.
It'd be easy to string up right there.
We'll turn it this way, tie off from this one.
It almost reached perfect.
[Kenny] Hell, that's going to work good, Josh.
[Josh] Shine out like a sore weiner from the air.
I don't know if we got enough camo to cover it all.
[Josh] If it'll cover it, and drape down, that's what I'm hoping for.
[Kenny] You want me to pull this back?
[Josh] I don't think it's big enough.
[Henry] I think you should come round this corner here.
[Kenny] There you go. Just keep on it.
[Henry] Tell you what, you never see that baby.
[Josh] We'll leave this as where I go in and out at, right here.
Come on. Let's get this damn tent up.
We've bought way too nice of a damn tent for you.
[Kenny] That's one for family.
I ain't exactly excited about all the ticks and the bugs,
but it's better than being in jail.
[Kenny] Beats looking through bars.
Damn straight.
I'm glad Henry and the boys brought me some supplies and a tent.
[Henry] Let's rock and roll. Let's go get what we gonna need.
But I sure wish they had just brought me some grain,
so I could just mash in and make some moonshine.
It's boring as [bleep] out here.
[Henry] Whoa! Whoa! You don't come with us.
You go over there.
[Josh] I'm going to my tent, Pa.
[Mark] What's he got against us?
[Digger sighs] I don't know.
This is our third encounter with Officer Robertson.
[Digger] It is.
Hey, boy, I'm sicker than a damn dog, right here.
He's everywhere that we are.
I feel honestly like I've been kicked in the gut
and all the wind's been taken out of my lungs.
My heart's down there next to [bleep].
Obviously, this gentleman's not going to go away.
He's got it set in his mind he's going to catch us.
-And if we ain't damn careful... -Yes.
...he sure as the world will.
[Digger] You know, Detective Robertson,
he's under our feet every step we take right now.
The first time he called us, he said, "Boys, y'all gotta stay lucky every time.
I just got to be lucky one time."
We're going to have to go buy a whole 'nother vehicle that nobody knows,
and keep it hid.
Well, let's just get on over here and do what we got to do.
[Digger] Yeah.
[Henry] Whoa! That's good.
We had one hell of a time getting all the grains together.
Finally, after two or three days of running around everywhere,
everybody came together in the community,
some of our friends of ours contacted us.
We got everything we need.
We hit the motherload, hoss.
Sure is a sight for sore eyes when they show up with all the malt and all the grains
and everything we need,
and we can start rockin' and rollin'.
[Kenny] Oh, there she go.
Put the burner under.
[Henry] We got big stills, we gotta have big burners.
[Josh grunts] Let her rip. Take her to it.
[Kenny] Like a jumbo yet.
[Henry] If we don't get this water boiling,
that meal doesn't cook,
not only you're not going o get a good flavor,
but you're not going to get a good turnout.
Keep boiling, boys.
Go to it, huh?
A 800 gallon still will produce a lot of liquor.
In this case, we've upped it to 1,000 gallon still.
Look at that go in. That's beautiful.
That baby should produce 90 to 100 gallons.
That's some pretty stuff, that malted barley. That was hard to get.
[Josh] Yeah, that's nice and fine there, boy.
We can get anywhere from $75 to $125 a gallon, easy.
It's been a tough year, man.
We got bills to pay like everybody else.
We're gonna start putting sugar to it.
[Kenny] What was the chances of that pallet turning over, busting all that sugar loose?
[Josh] I don't know, but I'm damn glad you got it and got back down here,
because I've been freaking sick and tired of waiting to make liquor.
After all the hell we've been through,
the fire, hiding out, building [bleep] all this bull [bleep].
I'm tired of having to be on the run.
I'm tired of having to look over my shoulder.
But I definitely don't want to be going to prison.
You know what always amazed me was we could have 12 of these babies up
and the law could run in and cut them up.
Get in touch with Daddy.
He says, "Did anybody get caught?"
And you said, "No. None of us got caught, Dad."
And he said, "That's all I'm worried about."
That had to be a crazy life back in the day.
[Kenny] That's the reason he always said,
"Don't worry about the money.
Just don't want my boys, nothing happen to them."
How many times did y'all go to prison again?
[Kenny] One twice.
[Henry] Just a few.
How many times was he actually busted making moonshine?
None.
How many times was he sent to prison for other [bleep]?
[Kenny] None.
-[Henry] Well, fighting and a little bit of violence. -Fighting and shooting.
-Stabbin', one or two. -We can't count that.
You can't count that. That goes with the job.
How the hell did you survive that prison?
You don't want to go, but you go.
You went making money to feed your family.
That's what it's all about, feeding your family, educating your children.
-Like my kids, we send everyone through college. -[Kenny] Through college.
Every one of them. We can't hardly read and write.
[Kenny] We can't even read. I can't spell a lick.
Mine was an honor student from UVA.
It's all paid for.
All right. Put the yeast to it and let's roll.
[Josh] We're all mashed in.
Few days, she'll be ready to run.
[Kenny] Ain't that pretty?
[Josh] It works pretty good, don't it?
[Henry] All right, hoss. We outta here.
But unfortunately for me, it's back to hanging out in the woods,
just waiting.
[Henry] Keep your eyes peeled.
He looks so sad.
[Kenny chuckles]
[Howard] One thing I'm not worried about, Tim, is you with a chainsaw.
What's the game plan here, man?
We got the logs.
We got them on here.
I know. That's the game plan is getting them off.
[Howard] I mean, it's 1,200 pounds apiece.
[Tim] I know.
Easy part's over. We got our logs.
Now it's time to start carving these out and get busy.
[Tim] This one, I think, we can make as the cap.
And this is what we need to cut out.
[Tim] We figure out we're going to make it like 12 by 48 long.
We want to have enough surface around the bottom and side
that can hold the liquid, plus withstand heating it up,
'cause we're going to make a still out of this.
And if it does work, we can make like five gallons of moonshine.
I mean, I'm eager to try this old wood stump juice.
[Tim] Yeah, stump water.
Whatever it is, I'll be growing limbs when it's all said and done.
[Tim] Today, we call this manual labor.
This is nothing from 1800s.
We got a power chainsaw that we're cutting into this, to just make this cavity.
You know, back in the day,
they didn't have all those tools.
You had to really do some manual labor here.
I mean really manual.
[Howard] You doing a fine job, Tim Smith.
-We got little chunks now. -Yeah.
[Tim] If we put that in the pond, man, it'd be like a canoe.
I don't know. I'll tell you.
[chuckles] You going to get in it.
[Howard] You damn right, I'm gonna get in it.
-[Tim] You're too fat, Howard. -That's okay.
Fat boys float, too.
That makes me think, it's a canoe, then it should float, right?
And this could be something like a test.
If we can get this thing into the pond,
we can actually find out, does it leak?
If it's leaking, then we know it's not going to hold alcohol.
And we need to seal it up.
The sun is drying it out. Now we done we got in there,
the sun is going to dry it out some more.
We need to make maybe some lifting hooks or something here.
-[Howard] Yeah, put some eye bolts there. -Put some bolts in it.
I'll take the tractor, pick it up,
'cause this is way too heavy for us to try to pick up.
You don't want a ride?
-You wanna ride like that? -[Howard] Yeah, I wanna ride like this.
[Tim] And if you fall off, I'll run over you.
Well, Howard, the important thing we got to find out
is if no water goes inside, that means nothing will come out.
If you fill it up with water, it probably would just absorb into the wood.
Yeah, that'd be the truest and fastest way to figure it.
If we put it on the outside instead of the inside.
So if it's stays dry on the inside, then we're good.
[Howard] Yeah.
I'll wait out there, and you just bring the tractor.
Yeah, I'll bring the tractor. Let's go do it.
Shoes off.
Mud between the toes.
This ain't my first rodeo.
If you start seeing the sink, I'm going to tell you to stop.
Okay.
All right, I'm going in.
Okay. Okay. All right.
[Tim] I that enough?
[Howard] I don't know. Let me get out here.
-You're doing 100 miles an hour in a lake. -[Tim] Let it down?
[Howard] Let it down.
All right.
Well, it floats.
[Tim] So what's it doing?
[Howard] Uh, kind of what we didn't want it to do.
We got leaks.
[Howard] Well, it floats.
[Tim] It's floating?
[Howard] It's floating, Tim.
Oh, hell. We're taking on water though.
I got one, two, three leaks here.
-[Tim] Three leaks? -[Howard] Yep.
[Howard] It's like they're coming through the heart of the rings.
I mean, they're not horrible.
Damn, son. You like Spider-Man, ain't you?
You can see it coming in right here,
right through that thing,
like the heart of the daggum eye right there.
Almost looks like a knot, but it's the start of the ring.
[Tim] Mm-hmm.
With the cracks in it, you can see where the water comes in.
You can see all your weak points right there where the rings are at.
It's not ideal.
[Tim] So now we know where it comes in.
It comes in on the end.
I got an idea how to fix that.
But I see what you're talking about.
You ain't worried about it?
[Tim] I ain't worried about it.
Water is coming into grains in the end of it.
This is where water comes in the tree anyway.
So this is where the water's seeping in a little bit.
Nothing that I'm really concerned with,
but it is something that we need to pay attention to,
because when we put the steam on this thing,
now we know where it's going to come out.
Look at that.
You're moving that 300-pound log around.
[Howard] Uh-huh. Oh!
[Tim] What are you doing?
I think a turtle bit my toe.
A turtle got you?
Well, something got a hold of me back there, huh?
[Tim] Well, there's some big snakes in here.
I mean big ones.
I seen one, one time, had this big head about that big.
[Howard] Okay. You know what, I don't think we have anymore to prove here
since we're talking about snakes.
I say hook her up and let's roll.
And that's why I did not want to get in that water.
And I got my boots on, because I know there's some big old snakes.
Well, I appreciate it, old buddy.
I won't get in the water next time.
[Josh] I'm sick of these woods, to tell you the truth.
I've ate enough of these damn beans to last a lifetime.
I mean, I can live off this stuff, but it ain't no fun.
It's boring as hell being down here by my damn self.
Camping when you want to camp is one thing,
but camping when you got to camp is another.
Henry just keeps bringing me [bleep] food.
Where's my beer at?
Where's my steaks, and my... and a salad every once in a while?
Bring me some cheeseburgers or something.
Like, bring me something.
Something besides sardines and pork and beans.
It's about to drive me nuts.
I'm going to go check my mash.
This stuff smells awesome.
It's the only damn entertainment I got down here,
watching this creek flow by and watching this mash work off.
I don't know.
I haven't seen Henry and the guys today.
And I'd give any damn thing to see them.
I got other business going on.
I don't just make moonshine.
I need a little TLC.
You know?
I'm getting old, and I'm getting old fast.
I got a little girl that misses me.
I'm wanting to make some retirement,
something for my little girl to fall on.
And I'm ready to get where I need to be in life,
so I can find that perfect woman.
I'm stuck out here in this spot that is heaven.
But it's only like heaven if you want to be here.
Having to be stuck out here,
this is like a big prison.
[Digger] Here we go.
That ought to be about right up.
With all the run-ins that we've had with Detective Robertson,
I'm a nervous wreck.
I don't want to make another drop of liquor.
But it's what we do.
And that being said, we're going to go make this run of liquor.
And hopefully, this is going to be some of the best liquor that we've ever made,
because it may be what sends us to penitentiary this time.
-[Mark] He ain't going to give up, is he? -[Digger] No.
-[Mark] He's a dog with a bone. -[Digger] Yeah.
[Mark] We're going to go ahead and mash in our triple malted grain.
You know, Digger's farm is three counties away from Cocke County.
And Detective Robertson, he works for Cocke County.
We're on private property, so we feel good about it.
And we're going to mash in anyway,
and make a quality liquor, but at a fair price for our customers.
I'm excited about this recipe, puss, but I'm really a little bit...
-I'm leery. -...nervous.
You know, we're going to grain in very heavily.
That's a perfect tidy. I mean, get with that smell.
[Mark] Look how pretty that is.
[Digger] Yeah, boy.
We're going to use two buckets of malted corn...
Malted white corn.
...one-and-a-quarter buckets of malted barley,
and three-quarter buckets of malted rye.
Damn, that's going to make some real liquor.
Make some of the finest liquor that's ever been.
You never know anything until it comes out of the still.
But with all this malted grains in it,
it should have a hell of a punch,
a lot of flavor.
[Digger] All right, let's put this energizer in there.
Now that's just the damn--
Caffeine for yeast. Kinda like dried up piss, I guess you could say.
[chuckles]
[Digger grunts]
I'm going to tell you, Hatty,
we don't know whether David Robertson is looking through these leaves right now
waiting on us to finish up.
And we got to bring a still over here.
[Mark] Yeah, we got 50 gallons of mash,
so we're going to need a bigger still to run it.
[Digger] The law knows every vehicle we drive.
It's not that we're not well-known,
we're too well-known.
If we try to transport our still,
I mean, Detective Robertson is pulling up and talking to us at gas stations
for no apparent reason.
So we simply can't take this chance.
So the obvious fact is we got to have someone else to do it for us.
You think Jeff would haul it over here for us?
Mean, he's in to us for part of our damn bounty.
Nobody knows who he is.
You know, Jeff, he's the farmer that's growing the corn for us at this point.
How'd you feel about ten percent of that end yield?
That'd be fine.
-Thank you. -Thank you, brother.
[Digger] We're getting there fast.
[Mark] We are already in a business agreement with him,
so if he wants the share in liquor,
then it's time that he's gonna have to share in some of the responsibility.
I think farming it out to Jeff's the best idea.
Buddy'll never think nothing of him of doing that.
That's exactly right.
I just hope we can stay free long enough to run it.
They know every one of our vehicles.
Yeah.
-None of these people knows Jeff. -No.
They don't know anything about what he drives.
So what we're headed over here now to do is talk to Jeff,
see if he'll be okay with hauling a liquor still across three counties,
and get it to the county where my farm is at.
The law is not looking for Jeff,
so he should slip through easy as pie.
-Yonder he is, puss. -Yeah, he's out there tending his cows.
[cow mooing]
He's getting a head count.
Well, they're nosey, ain't they?
[Jeff] How you doing, fellers?
[Digger] Hello there, Jeffrey.
[Jeff] How are y'all?
[Digger] Well, we've been better, but also been worse.
-[Jeff] Mark. -[Mark] How are you doing?
-Good seeing you. -[Mark] Good seeing you, pal.
[sighs] This ain't just by happenstance that we're over here.
It is just...
This is a little serious.
Explain to him, puss, the predicament we're in.
Well, we're kinda up a stump.
We've got a guy that's in the sheriff's department over in our neck of woods,
and he's a dog with bone with us.
And he will not let go.
We've had two major interactions with him.
-To make your 15%, we need a favor. -Mm-hmm? Okay.
We need you come over, and haul a still over here for us.
We're just afraid to do it.
I don't think we'd get a quarter of a mile, do you, puss?
I don't think we'd make it to city limits.
So it's going to cost you another five percent is what you're saying, right?
No. If we can't get it done,
your percentage, it kind of favors that.
[exhales]
You boys serious?
[Digger] As a heart attack.
Yeah, we're real serious.
So what you're saying,
to haul an illegal piece of equipment
through three counties without getting caught?
Yes, pretty much.
[Mark] You've got the gist of it.
Nobody over there, especially him,
they don't have a clue who you are,
or what kind of vehicle you drive.
[Digger] The law in our county don't know you.
If we can't get that still over here and run this,
there ain't none of us going to have nothing.
Sounds like a challenge to me.
[Digger] Good deal.
[Mark] I knew we could count on you.
-[Mark] Thank you, big man. -You're welcome.
[Mark] We'll send you the directions.
It's a big load off of our shoulders,
because honestly, I don't think there's no way in hell
that Digger and I could've gotten from point A to point B with this still
without this detective being all over us.
[Digger] You need any help with them cattle, I leave Mark with you.
[chuckling]
[Tim] There you go.
We prepped the logs and built the cap.
If we can just roll it over.
Now, it's time to put this thing together,
into an actual still that can make liquor.
So this is going to be like the cap, like that.
[Howard] That way?
-Put the condenser barrel sitting here. -Uh-huh?
And catch it coming out over there.
The next step is actually cutting the hole in the top of the still
for the cap to go in.
You know, this is a real big chunk of wood here.
This is 300 or 400 pounds of wood
that we spent all day long to cut the cavity out inside.
So we don't want to make a mistake.
Still need a little bit more.
If we cut the hole too big, the wood,
we can't put it back.
So we got to be very cautious in how we cut this hole.
All right. Let's try this thing.
You know, we can't build a fire under the log and heat it up,
because the log's just going to catch on fire.
It's wood.
So I'm just going to pipe steam into it.
That's going to heat up the mash,
and it shouldn't make vapor, it should make alcohol.
I hope so.
There you go.
You don't want that to blow off.
It gets 350 degrees.
If it comes off, it'll kill you.
[Howard] Well, looking at this log still starts making you wonder
what's the flavor of this moonshine going to taste like?
I mean, it's going to have to bring out the essence of the wood,
and that poplar is going to pull over into that shine.
I'm excited to see how great it's going to taste when it comes out that worm.
Voila.
We have something that looks similar to a still.
You know, when you get back, you look at this thing, it's a still.
It's a little bit funny looking, you know.
I don't know if you want to call it like a wooden locomotive,
but I just know it's unique, it's special,
we built it with our hands.
It's one-of-a-kind.
It is totally different, huh?
[Howard chuckling] I've never seen nothing like this.
I think it's super cool.
[Tim] The question in this log still distill in here is,
does it change the taste?
All of this process has got to have something to do with the flavor
that's coming out of this thing.
We've done the research.
We've propagated the same Kentucky yeast used by Dan and made the mash.
We built the steam-heated log still.
Now what we have to do is run this.
I don't know if the government come to look at this,
I don't think they would approve it as a still.
[Howard] I'd like to see them knock a hole in it.
[Mark] I thought he'd have been here by now, surely the hell.
He don't speed anyhow,
and I'd say he's going to be even more against it right now.
Hot dog.
Whoo!
I see a car.
[Mark] He's got the car.
[Digger] Liquor still.
Safe and sound.
Well, obviously, Jeff flew under the radar.
Everything looks good.
[Jeff] I was just a little nervous.
They was out in force, and him boys don't play fair.
He was hidden in every cubby hole everywhere.
We're definitely in a game of cat-and-mouse.
Whoo! I believe that one has already been lit.
Oh, it's hot and bright.
[Digger] It'd take your fingerprints off.
Most of the time, the damn mouse don't get away.
But regardless of that, we still have a job to do.
We got to be more vigilant about doing it under this detective's radar.
Speaking of being nervous, why don't you set up at top of hill in a shade tree,
and let us know if anybody prowls around up at our gate.
So, this is the second time I'm covering y'all's heinie in the day?
[Mark] Exactly.
You know, at the end of the day, if we get busted,
then Jeff's lost every cent of his investment here.
There you go, boss.
There's nothing to draw on.
Here we go.
So we're going to run and get still set up fast,
and transfer the mash over to it.
And we're going to light a fire under this triple malted grain.
This triple malt, puss, could revolutionize us.
Well, I hope we get to be revolutionized instead of institutionalized.
It may or may not be ready.
It's going to get run.
[Digger] Either way.
Oh, look at that.
All we got is just a little of them bubbles
coming out of all that grain on the bottom.
Bitter as acid.
Damn, that's good.
[Digger] That's gonna make some fine liquor.
Well, we ain't making no headway of sitting here, looking at it.
Get it lit.
[Mark] That's already a boilin'.
Yeah, we give it too much longer, it's going to be too hot.
-[Mark] It is the right gasket, ain't it? -[Digger] Yeah.
[Digger] Oh, you can't touch that right there.
We'll have liquor any minute.
Matter of fact, there she comes.
[Digger] That's a good stream right there, Hatty.
-[Mark] That's nice, ain't it? -[Digger] Yeah.
I'm going to pitch them heads.
Kiss it goodbye.
Bye-bye.
[Digger] There we go, Hatty.
Make your snot ducks turn loose when you snort that fume.
Oh, my goodness.
That right there makes me want to cry.
This liquor, I'm telling you, the flavor profile,
I've never seen anything like it in the illegal world in my life.
This is like a high-end bourbon
that's just waiting to be aged.
-Telling you. -Look at that.
[Jeff over the radio] Hey, we got company up here.
A black SUV just pulled in.
I don't know who he is.
He's coming towards the gate.
[Mark] Could you see the driver?
[Jeff] No, he can't tell where I'm at. I'm using the binoculars.
Son of a bitch.
I'll tell you what, let's kill the fire and get the hell out of here.
Well, Howard, I found that piece of that bird that was trying to get you.
That's a bat.
That's a dead bat,
man, see?
Look at them teeth he's got.
[Howard] He's seen better days.
Look at them teeth he's got.
Look at that.
See them teeth?
Look at that thing.
[Howard] I don't know that you should be picking something up like that.
That's a good way to get those rabies, man.
-[Tim] Well, look at them teeth he's got, man. -[Howard] I seen it.
[Tim] That thing get ahold of you, boy.
I hope he ain't got any relatives that still floating around here.
I know, but look like he got hung and he got caught.
Look at the teeth that things got on him.
See that?
Them jokers will eat you alive, won't they?
-I mean... -[Tim] That ain't going to chew on nobody.
[Howard] His days of chewing are over.
He done took his last bite.
[Jeff over the radio] We got company up here.
A black SUV just pulled in.
I don't know who he is.
He's coming towards the gate.
[Mark] Did you see the driver?
[Jeff] He can't tell where I'm at. I'm using the binoculars.
I tell you what. Let's kill the fire and get the hell out of here.
I ain't going to take no chance.
Let's just get the hell out of here and be done with it.
[Jeff] Hey, wait a minute. I recognize that guy.
He's just a real estate agent.
Put stickers and flyers in your mailbox.
[radio beeps out]
He's backing out.
He's going over bank, heading out.
But it has left, it has gone?
[Jeff] It is gone, brother.
Keep in mind, y'all get that farm stuff, 'cause I want me something.
We're probably gonna eat every damn one of them ourselves, tell him.
Uh, yeah. If there's any left after we get through with them.
It's just a false alarm.
It's someone that Jeff knows.
So back to business for us, and getting this triple malted grain run done.
This is damn triple grain on steroids.
Ain't but one thing wrong with that.
I promise you if Popcorn's still around,
he'd tip his hat to us on that.
[Mark] Yeah, we'll leave one jar out.
[Digger] Yeah. We need to give Jeff one.
[Mark] What's up, big man?
[Jeff] Do you know how hot and sweaty I am?
[Mark] Give him something to relax his nerves.
We got one extra worm.
Ooh, that looks pretty.
[Digger] Oh, wait till you have a taste of it.
Best tasting worm you ever had in your mouth.
You enjoy it.
You know, even though the law was dogging our ass,
we've made the best liquor of our career.
We can't let up now.
We've got to get with it.
All right, big boy.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.
One more interaction, I don't believe my sphincters can handle it.
[Josh] I got to get me the hell out of here, man.
I'm sick of staying in these woods.
I'm glad Henry and Kenny are here.
I'm ready to get this mash run off and make some liquor.
The bugs have been tearing my ass up.
I'm ready for a hot meal.
And it sure seems like Henry is not going to bring me any beer or any food
till we get this ran off.
-[Henry] Oh, yeah. -[Josh] Told you she was ready.
Good and warm.
Perfect. She's ready to fire up.
[Josh] Hey, boys. We're doing it.
It's always a good feeling when you're getting to light that fire,
'cause you know, payday is on the way.
It's also sort of a nerve wracking time too,
because anything can happen.
You can get busted.
Anything can happen.
[Henry] Josh, get a few river rocks.
[Josh] I can.
[Henry] So we got run off liquor.
We take a bit of a filter.
We using 100% cotton to filter our liquor.
It strips more impurities, and it just cleans up real nice, man.
So we take a five-gallon bucket and put cotton in it,
put some a few river rocks on top of it,
and it should be crystal clear.
[Josh] I've got rocks.
[Henry] Rock. Perfect, Josh.
[Josh] I'm gonna crack a damn river.
[motor revs]
[Henry] She should be ready to cap it. You already roll?
Ah! [bleep]. Scalding hot. She is hot.
-Yeah. She's ready. -Oh, yeah. Grab a cap.
It's the first time we've run a big boy.
Thousand gallon, baby.
It's pretty, isn't it?
But look at that little cap.
I wish we would've got the big one you made.
It is what it is.
-It's cute. It is cute. -Cute?
-[Josh] You mean handsome. -Very, very, very cute.
[Josh] There's nothing about moonshining that's cute.
You ever see the guy walk around with a huge body?
You know, he's pumping iron and got no neck and a little biddy head.
That's about what that still looked like today. [chuckles]
-There it is, right there. -Ooh, there she is.
Damn right.
It tastes good.
[Kenny] Mm. Goddamn!
Might have to go up on the price a little.
[chuckling]
You know, we got that methanol boiled off,
we don't have to throw away any heads.
-We don't have any heads. -We don't throw nothing away.
Yeah, all that good stuff coming through there.
[Kenny] Then we got one hell of a smell to it, ain't it?
[Josh] That's what I'm talking about. That's rolling.
[Kenny] Oh, dear God Almighty.
[Henry] That's a good 110.
I was thinking about 115.
[Henry] I say let's leave it high.
-[Kenny] I do, too. -[Henry] We're going to get a big price out of it.
[Kenny] Main ain't gonna have no complaints out of that.
Is your proof right enough?
[clicks tongue]
[Henry] We got one thing to do now.
Quicker we get it out, quicker we get it to enough people,
we made our money.
Right now we got nothing.
Just because you run it today don't mean you're going to make a dollar.
You've got to get it out.
Once you get it to your customers and you got that money in your hand,
then you know you've got it.
I'm telling you right now.
You know, I really would like for you just to take me to the house.
Let me take a hot shower, and give me a hot meal.
[Henry] Is he serious?
You done about rode it out.
Now you want to ruin the whole damn deal?
[Henry] You hanging out at the house a day or two,
tell you what that's going to do.
Not only it's going to bring heat on you,
but they may end up hitting my house, or Kenny's house.
Oh, hell.
[Kenny] Every charge is five years.
Tax evasion, money laundering, interstate transportation,
manufacturing non taxed whiskey.
Every one of them is five years.
But, you know, it's up to you whether you want to go to jail and stay, or what.
I'm bored out of my [bleep] mind!
[Henry] Hang tight. Everything'll be cool.
We're going to go up the road, make the sale.
We'll have plenty of money in our pockets,
so, you know, we're gonna take care of it.
[Josh] I don't want to go to jail,
but I don't want to be here, either.
This is hell.
[Henry] We're gonna roll on out here.
Just leave me down here.
[Henry] C'mon Kenny, let's roll.
[Kenny] Be easy. You're doing a good job, man.
Damn, that sucks. Something's got to give.