[narrator] This time on Master Distiller.
It can be worth more than gold.
[narrator] In the hills of Appalachia,
moonshiners share their hiding places
with a special breed of treasure hunter.
Here's some ginseng.
[narrator] Rare and protected by law.
[dog whimpering]
[man] Hey, bud, what are you doing?
Ginseng hunting.
[narrator] Wild ginseng can command thousands of dollars a pound.
[man 2] That's what he's doing.
Hunting ginseng.
Gonna make a little money.
[narrator] And potential felony charges for picking it.
But for our distillers...
Don't you guys be looking at my secret ingredient.
[narrator] ...a run of ginseng liquor...
Most expensive mash in history.
[narrator] ...can mean hitting the jackpot.
That right there, you can sell that jar.
All right, guys. Welcome to Master Distiller.
You're going to build us some liquor infused with ginseng.
We want the flavor, plus the benefits of that ginseng.
At the end of this contest,
one of y'all will be named Master Distiller.
Appalachian wild ginseng
for centuries has been used as a tonic.
It can be made into tea, or infused into moonshine.
Depending on the size and the age of the root,
it can be worth more than gold.
[Digger] Now, hunting ginseng's a little bit dangerous, folks.
If you get it from a wrong spot,
say, the national park,
you could find yourself in jail if you ain't careful.
This is a very specialty liquor.
If it's done right, there's a global market out there.
But it is getting harder and harder to get wild ginseng.
Tickle, tell us all about it.
Wild ginseng is a slow-growing perennial
that grows in shady forests all over Appalachia.
It peaks in late summer
and is traditionally harvested in the autumn.
It's been used for centuries in Appalachia
as a tonic by the Cherokees.
And later, European settlers infused it
into teas and moonshine.
Wild ginseng is known around the world
for its medicinal properties,
especially in the Asian market,
where prices average $8,000 a pound.
With limited season and risk
from dangerous poachers and bandits,
ginseng infused moonshine
is becoming as rare as the roots themselves.
But a delicious spirit infused with wild ginseng
with a market this hot,
that's an investment worth making.
All right, guys,
you're going to incorporate into your liquor
this precious, precious root,
and also make it delicious enough
to where it is marketable.
You don't have to add your ginseng
in your base spirit run,
but we do need your base spirit run
to complement the ginseng, not overwhelm it.
You've got the choice of where you want to insert it.
And we do need to taste the ginseng in your final jar.
All right, guys, time for y'all to build us
a mash for your base spirit.
We ain't going to do it in here, guys.
We're going out in the great outdoors
where we belong.
Come with me and Mark.
Tim's going to stay here and guard that copper.
Yeah, I'm going to stay inside where it's warm.
All right, guys, we're out here
where the ginseng grows in these hills of East Tennessee.
You have one hour to build us your ginseng mash.
Your time starts... now.
Good luck and get with it, guys.
[Mark] Good luck, gentlemen.
Here we got the flame down.
There she goes.
There we go. I got it.
I'm Robert Bowman from Cherokee, North Carolina.
I'm 45 years old.
For a living, I do heating and air and electrical work,
basically a little handyman helper.
This is a good place to forage, find what you need,
especially if you know what you're looking for.
I grew up being told what to hunt for, what to look for.
A lot of dads around here, they hunt for damn ginseng.
Get this all screwed together here.
I didn't start hunting and distilling until about five years ago.
This one, I fully built everything to it.
After 20 years of fabricating metal,
this was a new challenge I really enjoyed.
I just wanted to play mad scientist
and see what kind of spirits I can actually make.
Boys, I believe I've got corn stew going on over here.
It's always a good base.
[Robert] My whole mash is a mixture of cracked corn and whole corn.
I use a little bit of honey, a little bit of barley.
This is local honey I get from my house.
I'm not going to put ginseng in base mash
because you're not going to get that true flavoring out of it.
-Ginseng is a real woodsy taste when you bite into it. -Oh, yeah.
Corn spirits seem to be doing the best
when you're dealing with a woodsy element.
My plan is we're going to make an elixir
but with the flavoring of ginseng whiskey.
It's more respect for my people doing the elixir
because anytime the Cherokee used ginseng,
it was medicine.
Got you boys some pure Catskill Mountain maple syrup here.
Yeah, we'd rather have that on a pancake.
Wait till you taste this.
[smacks lips] Mmm.
My name is Brian Mulder.
I'm 57 years old from Roxbury, New York.
And I'm the owner and head distiller
and only distiller of Union Grove Distillery.
So our gin we make with Catskill Mountain botanicals.
We use Catskill Mountain wild ginseng.
People really, really love that gin.
We're going to take a little bit of our whiskey out
to see how it's faring.
[Brian] We are a family-run distillery.
My wife Penny, she is here full-time with me as well as
our two sons, Tristan and Victor.
-Cheers. -Victor will work behind the bar
and Tristan, who is in a wheelchair,
who suffered an accident a couple of years ago,
helps here when he can.
So we do all of our bottling here by hand.
We are everything there.
There's no other employees on site
except myself, my wife, and a couple bartenders.
You guys bring your pancakes?
No, we ain't got enough money to buy all that syrup either.
[all laugh]
[Brian] It helps to know the guy that makes it.
-[Mark] I guess. -Oh yeah, I'd say so.
[Brian] My process is pretty simple.
I want to just use the maple syrup
as the base spirit and show these guys
what can be made from just one sugar, maple syrup.
Back home, I used 55 gallons of syrup at a time.
Oh my.
You don't see many people working with maple syrup.
-Not on the volume that you are working with. -Right. Right.
The ginseng with the maple in my final spirit
is going to be a great tasting product
that's really highly marketable.
I didn't want to put any ginseng in this pot
because you really need to infuse it.
Use the alcohol to extract the properties and the flavors.
It's hard to find, I'll tell ya,
in the Catskills especially.
I'm from Texas and we don't have ginseng down there.
I can tell you that.
I got plenty of mesquite trees.
[laughs]
My name's Mike Teague. I'm from Buda, Texas.
I'm 35 years old and I'm a professional firefighter.
We like to get out and train and hone our skills.
And then obviously when we're not in the fire station,
or running calls.
You know, we're cooking
or working on other projects around the shop.
So I have a 15 gallon keg still
that I built with a 7 gallon thumper.
Now that we're running,
it's just pretty much a waiting game now,
I got to swap out jars.
For me, uh, distilling is most similar to cooking.
You know, different seasonings, different spices,
different fruits, different things like that.
And it really adds an element
of individuality to the creation.
So these are just different recipes.
I was working on a spiced rum for Christmas.
Different variations of flavorings and spices
and kind of come up with different recipes
and pick one from that.
I actually started out home brewing beer and wine
and through some research,
I found out that distilling is only one more step away
from making beer
and the profiles are real similar.
So that's kind of how that got started.
I average around 140, 150 proof when we're all done.
As you can see, it's like printing money.
[chuckles]
[Digger] Molasses?
Looks like a lot of jars of molasses?
[Mike] Yes, sir. I'm doing a, uh,
pretty similar to basic rum wash.
For my base mash, I'm going to be mashing in
with a mixture of raw cane sugar.
Which has the natural molasses still attached to it.
I'm going to use some light brown sugar
and then some unsulphured blackstrap molasses.
[Digger] Brown sugar.
-[Mark] Mmm-hmm. -I love it.
[Mark] Yeah, boy.
Just going to carry over well
and marry up with the ginseng flavor,
makes it more easy to drink.
Are you going to actually be putting
some ginseng in this mash?
As expensive as it is, I want to save it
for when it matters the most.
Definitely don't want to waste it.
Well, at the end of the day, I think we're going to have
some good liquor on all channels.
[Mark] Yes, sir.
Gentlemen, you got 30 minutes left.
You're halfway there.
[Mike] Yes, sir.
Gotta watch my heat.
You're getting a lot of sugar in that pot now.
The last couple of years have been pretty hard for us
between the pandemic and my son's accident.
We've worked really hard to try and turn things around
and winning this title would mean a lot.
Not only to me,
but to a lot of people that have supported me.
You're done with the heat over there, Mike?
Yeah, I cut it off a little bit ago.
I think I'm still, we're still up around almost 100.
So I think we're doing all right.
[Brian] Yeah, that's where I'm sitting now.
-So that was good enough for me. -[Mike] Yeah.
[Mike] Winning Master Distiller would be massive for me.
My hope is to open my own distillery here
in the near future and winning would hopefully
open the doors that we need to make it happen.
[Digger] 15 minutes, gentlemen.
Better be getting them buttons fastened up.
There's going to be a lot of the Cherokees
that are going to be amazed to see me out here.
And I want to win Master Distiller
and prove that we still make a elixir
that tastes as good as the whiskey.
[Digger] All right, gentlemen,
you actually have four minutes left.
[Robert] Better hoof it to it.
Boys, I think I got some caramel corn over here.
I burnt my mash, you know, I scorched it a little bit.
But I'm hoping to extract that taste out
when I start running.
There we go.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
Step away from your barrels, men, you're done.
All right, men, welcome back.
It's the big day.
You first run, you stripping run.
Get that spirit out of there that you're going to build on
throughout this competition to infuse it
with Appalachian ginseng.
You'll notice you've got the basic pot still here.
You're going to have three hours to run your base spirit.
The winner of this challenge
gets to go first into the still house
for pick of still parts.
If you think you need something
like a thumper for your second run,
you better bring us your best jar.
We only need to taste your ginseng in your final jar.
We know it's pretty valuable,
and you're probably planning on adding it later.
[Digger] All right, guys, that's all the chatter
you're going to hear up here.
You got three hours.
Bring us your best jar of your base spirit
before that time lapses.
Your three hours starts now.
Good luck and get with it.
[Mike] Let's get it done.
There we go.
[Robert] Yeah, we got some flamage going.
Oh, that's good.
I finally got to see the mash.
I think that I can get as much maple syrup,
it looked right, as it could need a lot of time.
Oh, she smells good too. Oof.
That's some pretty rich mash right there.
Pretty mash.
[Mike] My mash didn't actually get it worked off all the way.
Still working in the barrel,
but I feel like that little residual sugar
that was left over can help me kind of push through
some extra sweetness and flavor through that run.
You're still working?
Ooh, yeah.
Still got a little sweet in there.
I don't know if it worked all the way off,
but definitely good.
How about yours?
[Robert] Got that good bitter beer taste to it.
That's going to be what complements that ginseng.
Damn, man, oh, Mark, we know tons of people
that dig ginseng
because, you, know, hell,
you can get $700 to $900 a pound for it.
As a matter of fact, we was making liquor
and some boys walked up on us.
We were in the National Park, wasn't supposed to be there.
-In fact, we was carrying the steel in. -Yeah.
And this one guy, he said, "I know what you got in here
and what you're going to do."
He said, "Do you think the park service
won't know what you're doing?"
I said, "I think they're going to know you're in here
digging ginseng."
And he said, "What you mean?"
I can see their hands was, I mean, they had mud
up under where the fingernails where they'd been digging.
They kind of realized it's a wash.
I think we reached mutual agreement.
[Mark] Yeah.
Moved on with their own business.
[Mark] Yeah. You keep my secret
-and I'll keep yours. -[Digger] Yeah.
[Brian] Yours done, Robert?
[Robert] Yeah.
Did scorch my corn just a little bit.
You want a bite of corn?
[Brian] No, thank you.
[Robert] Got some pickled corn over here.
[laughs]
When you scorch your corn, if you're not careful,
gives the alcohol a heavy burnt taste.
I did scorch my mash,
but I think if I can break it down far enough,
I can still make some good liquor.
You're putting your ginseng in now, Robert?
No, I'm going to infuse it on the last step.
Do you want to do yours now or?
No, I'm going to do it at the last step.
Hey, Tim, you ever had any dealing with ginseng?
I've got some soaking in moonshine.
I've tasted some and I've had people make it for me
and it does not taste good.
I mean, I understand the health benefits of it,
but to get people to drink,
it's kind of like before they came out
with flavored cough medicine.
If they run a really good base spirit,
then that changes the ballgame.
All right, men, two hours left.
[Brian] I got some liquor, boys.
First drops.
-This will be my first run -[Robert] Copper...
on a small copper pot open-fired still.
-Look at you. -Yee-haw.
Here I am competing against Mike and Robert,
who have run this type of still before.
-The heads are even good. -Yeah.
And knowing that my taste profile
was where I wanted it to be,
I was very, very relieved.
I got some running now, boys.
[Brian] All right.
[Mike] Ooh-wee.
That's got plenty in it.
[Robert] There we go.
We have liquid, boys.
[Brian] All right.
All right, guys. You're halfway there.
Hour and a half gone, hour and a half left.
Oh, man.
It was tempering down that heat from the liquor
and the flavors really started to come through.
The sweetness of that molasses was really on the forefront.
I think that's gonna pair in well with the ginseng.
[Digger] Brian and Mike basically got a rum base for their mash.
[Mark] That might pair well.
That might be all that that ginseng needs.
I don't know.
We'll see where it goes.
Just wondered why I was dizzy,
and I realized I've been drinking.
-So never mind. -[Brian laughs]
[Digger] All right, guys.
30 minutes left.
You better be getting where you need to be.
Ooh.
You doing good?
[Robert] I was very impressed.
And the proof ain't overwhelming.
-It still had good flavor. -That the one, boss?
I feel confident in that one.
Crystal clear.
[Brian] I'm very pleased.
I knew that I had the spirit that I wanted.
Had the flavor that I wanted.
I had the proof that I wanted.
Cheers. I hit my mark.
[Mike] The run went really well.
I was really pleased with the way it came out
and honestly surprised myself
with the flavor that came from the run.
Best one there today.
All righty, now that we've got all these jars,
we're going to cut out of here, taste, deliberate.
We'll be back in a little bit.
Sounds good.
-[Mark] Good luck, guys. -[Digger] Good luck.
Well, let's whoop this puppy.
Well, now it's time to get into this base spirit.
Let's see what they're gonna have to mash the ginseng with.
You better have a good moonshine
that can mash that bitter taste.
Let's start with Mike.
Nice, clear, cold jar.
[Mark] Yeah, looks nice.
I was a little worried that mash hadn't worked
-all the way off. -[Brian] No?
[Mike] No, it was still working.
[Mark] Good taste, ain't it?
-Got a hell of a flavor. -Got a good, heavy, sweet taste.
-[Digger] Yeah, -Yes, it does.
He just made a good jar run.
That brown sugar carried through really, really well.
You know, with ginseng having
more of a bitter taste in that root,
it's going to mellow it out just fine.
This is outstanding to do that with.
Really, really good liquor right there.
[Tim] I like it.
All right, let's see what Brian's doing here.
Nice and clean.
[Mark] Yes, it is.
I was nervous at the beginning
because I've never used these before, so.
Well, you didn't surprise me to see
you was working with copper.
I figured you'd have been on it for a minute.
[Brian] Well, thank you. Thank you. It was a good run.
Got a different smell.
Real close to a honey base.
I think it's real close to good.
It's sweet.
You know, if you're going to put ginseng in that,
I can't see it going too bad wrong.
He gotta mask the bitterness of the ginseng,
and I feel this is an excellent flavor to do it with.
[Digger] It's time to move on.
Mr. Robert, I know he had corn,
barley, honey, yeast.
That's pretty simple.
It is a nice, pretty jar.
I kind of crisp my good corn just a little bit,
but a little extra honey, a little thyme.
Yeah, I think you can keep that flavor out.
-I think I got it. -You got it?
-I feel confident about it. -Good.
Hmm.
-He scorched it in the mash. -Yes.
And then he distilled it.
-So it may have cleaned it up a little bit. -Maybe.
Well, you know it's very hard to clean that up.
[Mark] It is.
This is a good brew.
Think it's got a lot of good flavor.
You got to keep in mind,
we got a really, really bitter root
that might transform that scorched flavor
into something else.
But at this point,
-we're judging what we have now. -Yeah.
Are we good there?
I think we're all on the same bus.
Yep.
[Digger] Here we are back.
Robert, I'll start with you.
Corn liquor, that's what we cut our teeth on.
I love the flavor of it front to back.
It was well balanced.
There was just a tiny little scorch in there,
but still a fine drink of liquor.
So Robert, that is a good jar of corn liquor.
It does have a little scorched taste to it,
but it's not the end of the world.
You've got another shot.
We're going to be distilling all of it again,
and it may be good for you.
That flavor may offset that ginseng flavor.
But good luck.
Now we move on to Brian.
With all that maple syrup,
I'm telling you, it brought the flavor.
I don't know how it'll play out
and balance with the bitter.
I'm hoping you got a plan with it, but it's good.
Thank you.
You did a really great job with it.
-I don't know where the ginseng fits into it, -Yeah.
but I'm sure wherever it does, you'll find that spot.
Mike, that right yonder,
you could taste everything that was in there.
Molasses, brown sugar and raw cane sugar, is that correct?
Yes, sir.
And every one of them came through.
They were discernible in the drink.
Good drink of liquor.
Thank you, sir.
You know, the upside here, nobody's going home here.
It's just simply to put you in a pecking order
who goes into the still house first, second, third.
The way we're going into the still house
is Brian, you're number one,
Mike, you're number two,
and, Robert, that little bit of scorch
puts you in the third position,
but I ain't counting you out, brother.
I promise you.
Tickle!
Well, what have we got going on here today?
Well, we have some ginseng distillers here.
Healthy stuff.
[Tim] Yeah.
[Tickle] All right.
Follow me.
I'll get y'all to the still house.
All right.
We are here to pick still parts
for your ginseng infused liquor.
You're going to have three minutes
in the still house,
in which time you can get your parts.
Brian, your time starts now.
My strategy going into the still house
is to pick a thumper.
Have you got any still parts in there yet, Brian?
I'm looking for some copper parts.
With the thumper, I think that I can add more flavor
and really make that maple flavor pop even more.
Brian, I'm not hearing any noise in there.
You're not curled up in the corner over there, are you?
Got some parts here.
You get everything you need?
Everything that looks nice and shiny.
All right. Well, that's good
because I think your time's about up.
-All right. -[Tickle] All right, Mike.
You've got three minutes and your time starts now.
All right. Come on, Mike.
And I wasn't 100% sure I was going to get a thumper,
but once I found out
that Robert had some scorch in his mash,
it kind of became a strategy to take that second thumper
because the thumper would have given him an opportunity
to clean his mash up.
And I wanted to give myself the best edge I could.
Are you putting the still together in the still house?
[Mike] I'm working on that.
Three minutes is not enough time
to actually put the still together.
Now, I can use that to infuse some more flavor
in my second run,
to impart that ginseng flavor a little bit earlier.
You got everything you need?
-I think I got it all. -All right.
[Tickle] All right, Robert. You've got three minutes.
And your time starts... now.
All right, Robert.
The three minutes goes by real quick.
I had a pretty good idea that was getting ready to take the thumpers.
Uh, basically see what we got left.
I did and grab two different heads,
so that way I can maybe get rid
of that little scorching mark on it.
All right. Do you have what you want?
-Yeah. -[Tickle] All right, guys.
If y'all will grab y'all's stuff,
we'll head back the way we came.
We'll get you back in there
and make y'all's ginseng-infused liquor.
[Robert] Without the thumper,
I'm just waiting to see what I can damn come up with.
Well, fellers, we made it back.
I'mma leave them with y'all.
[Digger] All right, Steve.
-Go get your nap. You've earned it. -We'll see y'all later.
All right, guys. Everybody feel like they got what they needed?
Think so.
You' got 30 minutes to get that still assembled.
Your 30 minutes starts...
now. Good luck and get with it, guys.
[straining]
[clattering]
[Robert] Here we go.
The still wasn't a very hard still to actually put together.
But I think I'm gonna use a different head to my advantage.
To basically get all the damn scorch out of my corn.
[Mark] Robert's done.
Damn. Robert's ready to put the mash in.
Well, I think I'm ready to go, boys.
-You're done? -[Robert] Yeah.
Ready for party time.
[Mark] You got going on over there, Mike?
[Brian] You went more complicated than I did.
[laughing]
I'm happy that I went ahead and grabbed the thumper
because I felt like that was the the easiest way
to really get a ginseng infusion during the distillation.
[Brian] Looking over to Robert and Mike
to see how their steel build was going, and I noticed
that mine was matching theirs, so I knew I was doing a good job.
Ready to rock and roll, boys.
Anybody need more time?
-Think we're good. -We're good.
All right, guys. Y'all are ready to rock.
Got four hours.
Bring us your best jar to this table.
Being ginseng-infused spirit
before that time passes.
At the end of this run, somebody's gonna go home.
Your four hours starts now.
Good luck and get with it, guys.
Fire in the hole.
[Robert] Time to party.
Yes.
[Mike] I knew I had a good spirit, so...
my strategy going into the second run
was to add some ginseng in my run
so it could kind of steep through the run
and get that mild ginseng flavor coming through.
Did he put his ginseng in?
[Digger] He put some ginseng in.
Don't think he put all of it in there.
But he put some.
I added, uh, ginseng into my pot
'cause I wanted kind of a mild ginseng spiced rum
with bananas and pecans.
Mike, I'm noticing a bunch of citrus peel.
I actually have two ginseng roots in my, uh, main pot.
I added pecans and bananas and stuff in here.
And then I've got a cinnamon stick, a vanilla bean
and some citrus here.
All those things really play together well
and mellow out that ginseng flavor.
Sounds like a solid plan.
-We look forward to tasting it. -I hope so.
He's putting enough stuff in there that certainly shouldn't
overrun that ginseng in there.
You making us lunch over there, Mike?
I'm very confident going into the second run.
I'm ready to kick it up a notch,
make an exceptional spirit,
and win this competition.
I had a little bit of leftover mash.
I put that in my thumper,
along with some more maple syrup.
To really kick that maple flavor up.
Brian, did you put any ginseng in it?
I did not put any ginseng in this pot.
No ginseng in my thumper.
I'm gonna do all my ginseng flavoring afterwards.
[Mark] I like your confidence
in the fact that you... pretty sure
you'll still be here after this run to get to that point.
-I came here with a lot of confidence. -[Mark] All right.
Sounds like a solid plan.
[Robert] All that pretty liquor.
The strategy I have going into this,
I'm gonna kind of mellow out the flavoring.
Keep my proof, but get rid of the scorch.
Robert ain't got no thumper to put nothing in.
[Tim] He needed a thumper.
And what's he gonna do with them tree branches over there?
[Digger] He's gonna put that in there.
It mellows the liquor out.
[Tim] He gonna put it in his still?
He'll have to put them in his still.
Might take some of that flavor out.
[Robert] Let's fix this taste just a little bit.
I'm going to introduce the spice with ginseng
into the corn liquor itself
to merge them into smoother
and better tasting whiskey.
Guys. You burned an hour of you time. You got three left.
Stay good, gentlemen. We have fire in the hole.
-You got liquor? Oh, my God. -I got liquor.
I can smell that from here.
-[Mike] Oh, there she is. -[Brian] Man.
-You got liquor? -Oh, yeah.
There you go.
I've got liquor.
All of the judges really loved my product.
So I chose to nail my proof and my maple flavor.
-Oh, boy. -Yeah.
Woo.
Woo!
[laughs]
[Mike] The ginseng's coming through right there.
Man, that's good.
[Brian] But I am getting a little nervous.
I did not put ginseng in my pot
or my thumper.
And both of my competitors did.
I hope they don't ding me for not doing much more than this one maple flavor.
Um...
[Digger] All right, guys. 30 minutes left.
Better be getting that pretty jar ready.
-[Mike] Yes, sir. -All right.
We got this, gentlemen.
[Mike] Oh, God, it's so hot still.
Go on and back her on down just a touch.
Going into the second run,
I expected it to be a fairly high proof.
And I was really hoping that I'd find my perfect jar
without having to temper down with any water,
and then lose some of that flavor.
You got a lot of flavor, and they're all different as these jars are changing.
[Brian] Yeah.
[Mike] Let's see how the day plays.
Gentlemen, five minutes left.
You better be shining them up.
[Brian] Working on it.
[Mike] Think that's the one, boys.
Mike. Looks to me like from here,
you're all said and done over there.
-[Mike] Yes, sir. -I'm feeling really confident.
I found that perfect jar
with all the flavors coming through.
I had the ginseng on the nose,
the citrus was there. All the spices, the banana.
Bring it in here.
Alrighty, gentlemen.
[Digger] Bring it in, boss.
It's the best one for you.
You head on back to your station.
[Mike] Thank you, sir.
Ooh. That's it. I think.
I'm really excited because it's super clear jar.
The proof, I think, is spot on at about 100, 105,
and I was very pleased with the taste.
I know that was the best spirit I could produce.
[Mark] It looks awful good.
Head on back to your station.
-All right, guys. Thank you. -[Digger] Good luck.
-[Mark] Good luck, sir. -[Brian] Bye.
[Robert] This might be it.
The alcohol content was spectacular.
I think I've almost removed all the scorch.
I hope you enjoy that.
Well, Robert, we're going to go taste and deliberate
and come back with a verdict.
-Good luck. -Good luck to each and every one of you.
-Thank you, gentlemen. -Thank you, sir.
Ginseng.
Let's start with Mike.
Well, he's not too high proof.
He's under 100.
It was like 80 right? In the beginning.
He has a run base.
I feel like I waited the whole run for that one jar
and I'm happy with it.
It's right at the proof I wanted it to be at.
I think almost everything comes out of that.
I got citrus, I got, you know, the banana.
Well, it was good.
I mean, it's got a delicious smell.
[Mark] Yeah, it smells rummy.
It's a little lower proof. Ain't no bite on it.
And I'm gonna say it's probably 70 to 80.
I get a rum nose, but then you don't really have a rum taste.
Think all the bananas and and pecans
and stuff is what I'm picking up.
-Yeah. -I've never tasted anything like.
It ain't a rum no more.
No, it's not a rum.
It's something new.
But we know for a fact it has ginseng in it.
I think he did a good job on covering up the ginseng though.
[Tim] All right.
Right. Let's see what his proofing skills does.
-[Mark] Pretty good. -Yeah, he's up there.
He's gonna be in the neighborhood of 105, 110.
-[Mark] Looks good. -[Tim] I bet it's gonna be maple.
You know, if I threw ginseng in the thumper
and I tripled down on my ginseng flavor,
I'd never get that out.
-Right. -It would be too much.
[Digger] That's maple. Front, back, middle,
upside down. Any way you wanna go.
Oh, it's smooth, though. I'm happy for the proof it is.
A hundred and ten proof? That's pretty doggone proof.
Probably like a 90 proof liquor.
He didn't put any ginseng into the mix. [bleep].
And it's a good drink of liquor. But to me,
it's not changed from his first round
to this round.
No, ain't nothing changed other than it got richer.
But you can't take away the fact
that it's extremely good.
Let's see what Robert's done.
I mean, he's got one clean jar.
I mean, that's as clear a jar as we've seen today.
Let's see what he's working with on proof.
Yeah.
[Robert] Feel pretty good.
Were you able to get that scorch out of there?
-Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. -[Mike] Yeah.
[Tim] Mmm... mmm.
Well...
[smacks lips] ...how about them apples?
He's got a sweet aftertaste.
[Mark] And that's the cleanest...
-[Tim smacks lips] Yeah. -...prettiest jar on the table.
Still scorched, though.
He didn't have a thumper.
He had the little bitty condenser tube.
But I think he almost
cleaned it up. I really do.
He did a good job getting it almost out of there.
That right there, you can sell that jar.
-By looks. -And you'd say... Yeah, by looks.
But you ain't gonna sell another one.
Right.
Well, I know where I'm at.
All the jars look good. They're clean.
All the guys know what they're doing.
-We're in agreement, right? -Yeah.
One hundred percent.
All right. Let's go get with it.
[Tim] Here they are, boys.
[Tim] All right, man. Come on up and get your jars.
[Mark] Great jars, guys.
You know, I'm proud of every one of you.
But this is the time.
It's come where one of you has to go home.
-Brian. -[Brian] Yes, sir.
I got maple syrup, front to back,
center, crossways, sideways.
But it tasted like it aged
-a little bit, maybe. -Yeah.
And I don't know how that came about,
but it was a fantastic job.
Thank you.
Brian.
Yes.
We haven't seen you put in the ginseng in yet, right?
-You're still... -Correct.
-Correct. Holding off. -[Tim] You're still holding off.
It is a very bold, solid maple,
and I think really, it's hiding the proof.
I think it's about 110, at least.
But there's so much maple in there,
it's overpowering the alcohol flavor.
-Yep. -[Tim] I don't know what's going to happen
when you put the ginseng in it though.
I hope we don't clash with it.
[Brian chuckling]
-But, outstanding. -Thank you.
Now, Mike, down here,
put everything but the kitchen sink in there.
I mean, it was complex.
I mean, all those spices.
I mean, they were all over the page.
When I see that much going in,
I worry about what's gonna come out.
But it came out well.
Your proof was a little bit low, but...
it's something you can work with
and something you can build a drink with.
Big Mike.
You're bringing a lot of flavor.
And you actually put ginseng in your pot.
-I did. Yes, sir. -[Mark] You've done initiated
the challenge that we asked you to do.
Good job.
Robert.
Your proofreading skills...
You need to be teaching class.
You brought scorched liquor the first time,
and you just about got every bit of it out there.
And I don't know whether it was spice wood.
I don't really know what it was. I can't put my finger on it.
There was a real sweet note right in the middle.
Damn fine recovery, my friend.
Thank you, sir.
Outstanding proof.
Couldn't be any better.
-Thank you, sir. -We knew you scorched it in the beginning.
You know, when you mashed in.
And it's really hard to recover from that, you know.
Especially when you didn't use a thumper neither
to-to help clean that up.
Uh, you kind of was behind the 8-ball from the beginning.
But right now you got a good jar in your hand.
-Outstanding. -Thank you, sir.
Well, I think we about said all we can say.
You know, at the end of the day, our job comes,
we have to let somebody go.
And this was a really particularly tough situation we're facing.
And that being said,
Robert, that jar bought you a ticket home, my friend.
I'm awfully sorry.
-That's okay. -[Digger] Got nothing to be ashamed of.
-You're headed in the right direction. -Yeah.
Thank you, sir.
To come here, representing my hometown
with Cherokee and North Carolina...
I might've come in third, but I think a lot of 'em still gonna be proud.
'Cause I'm here.
And one thing I'll never do again
is scorch my corn.
And to hear from Mark and Digger that
I was able to extract
just about every bit of that char...
It made me really proud and that's...
[sucks teeth] ...some pretty good encouragement. Keep going.
Uh, thank you, gentlemen, very much.
It was an honor and privilege to judge you, my friend.
-It's an honor. -Thank you, sir.
-Good to see you. -[Robert] Thank you.
-[Tim] Good job, Rob. -Great to meet you guys.
[Tim] Yeah. Mmm-hmm.
The only part of this job that is not pleasurable.
All right, guys. Final challenge.
Final flavoring and getting that ginseng
infused into that spirit.
You know, ginseng. That's what we're looking for.
Brian, you haven't added any yet.
Mike, you've got a little bit of a jump start.
So you both made outstanding base spirits.
Put the ginseng in them.
Do not destroy them.
One of you will be going home
with the Master Distiller title.
All right, guys. You got 30 minutes
to get that ginseng
infused into that spirit.
Your 30 minutes starts...
now. Good luck and get with it.
Coming in this final challenge, obviously, I wanna win.
My strategy is to impart a handful of flavors
to do sipping cream.
Buttermilk.
That's what I'm talking about.
I'm just befuddled at what Mike's doing over there.
If he don't stop eating it, we ain't gonna get nothing to drink.
[Mark] He put something... Caramel milk
or chocolate milk.
[Mike] I've got a banana brown sugar reduction that I make and...
an almond milk dulce de leche cream that's gonna go in it.
[Digger] Mike, bring us up to date
on your method of madness down there.
You know, one of the things that's most popular right now
is sipping cream.
And I've got a nice, earthy ginseng flavor
that's carrying over into that. And I think that
with what's in the spirit and what's in this cream,
it's gonna marry up really well.
Well, Brian, you better add some more maple.
[laughing]
My strategy going into the final flavoring
is to get this spirit to taste like
it's been in a barrel for nine months.
And to finally put the ginseng in.
Got some ginseng here, slice this up.
That's a big old root that Brian's got over there.
Big piece of ginseng.
[Tim] I've had that ginseng before.
It's tough.
You gotta know what you're doing, with that stuff.
You don't know what you're doing, but it would destroy it.
Do you think Brian's not gonna heat anything up?
[Digger] Doesn't look like it. Looks like you're just gonna pressurize it
with with some alcohol.
Looks to me like he'd have to do a vacuum on it
after he did the pressurization to get the sap out.
With my whipped cream machine,
I'm gonna pressurize the vessel
and get that flavor to come through with the fresh ginseng.
[Mark] There's something with some color and flavor.
[Brian] I have maple spirit with some oak chips
to try and get that barrel flavor into that spirit,
along with some more maple syrup.
Now, don't you guys be looking at my secret ingredient over here.
Uh...
-[Digger] Uh... -[Mark] Maple.
Oh, my God. Yes.
I started getting a little nervous about what the judges were thinking.
With the fact that I used maple syrup to make my spirit.
Sweeten that maple spirit with more maple syrup.
And more maple syrup in the final flavoring round.
Whoa, snap.
All I know is that jar comes over here,
it better have some ginseng in it.
[Mark] Mmm. It's gonna be interesting, fellas.
[Tim] It is.
Basically all that we have to go on here,
there's no way of knowing
what the medicinal value of this liquor is
by the amount of ginseng you put in it.
There's no way we can determine that.
So we need a ginseng proof.
Well, drinking liquor
and getting some medicinal properties from it at the same time,
that's not a bad combination in my book.
Oh. Healthy liquor. Be wonderful.
-[Digger] Yeah. -I need some to make you younger.
[all laughing]
Now here goes Mike's mix-up over there.
I like me some sipping creams.
[Mike] I'm gonna give them
you know, an opportunity to go on a journey
when they drink that jar
and really be able to find all those flavors in there.
I can promise you that
it'll be the best thing they ever tasted.
One minute left, gentlemen.
Those jars, they'd be on this table.
Thinking there's all this good liquor
and putting ginseng in it. And, gosh.
I know I've done my best.
I know the combination of the maple with the oak.
And the ginseng really worked together to complement each other.
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two,
one. Right down to the damn wire is what I'm talking about.
We're gonna take these jars
and taste and deliberate.
Then we'll come back and we will name
a new Master Distiller.
-All right. -Thank you, gentlemen.
Here we go.
Oof.
All right, guys. Ginseng.
It's a growing market in the United States,
and I can't think of anything better to market it in
than a little bit of liquor.
Let's taste that one first, Tim.
[Tim] Mike's ginseng sipping cream.
[Mark] Sipping creams are the hottest thing
on the market right now.
So if you get a really good ginseng sipping cream,
who knows what it could do.
Win, lose or draw, I can tell you,
it's the best damn spirit I put up on the table.
I can promise you that.
[Tim] Looking pretty creamy.
It's got bananas and it's got cream,
and it's got ginseng in it.
Still got some liquor in it.
It's got some alcohol right there and you know, so...
[Tim] It smells earthy.
There's some ginseng in there.
And I have to say, I believe he got some alcohol in it.
He's knee deep in that alcohol.
[smacks lips] Kind of thick and creamy, ain't it?
-Yeah. -[Mark] Oh, yeah.
Very complex recipe in process.
And the downside of sipping creams
is shelf life.
Once you open them,
they have to be refrigerated from there on out.
-[Tim] Mmm-hmm. -[Mark] And another thing.
Sipping creams are very high fat content.
Health-conscious people don't buy sipping creams.
It's time to move on and see if we can find
any maple in Brian's.
Check the bead on that, would you?
[Mark] Looks like tea.
[Tim] Looks like tea, don't it?
Peeling that ginseng slowed me down a little bit.
Oh, you peeled it.
Yeah. I wanted to try to make it as thin as possible.
'Cause, uh, the infusion process
did give it a little bit of flavor.
That's got ginseng in it
-[Mark] That's got ginseng in it. -Whoa. Whoa.
And there ain't no doubt about it.
But it's not overwhelming.
But I'm gonna say it's pretty high on that proof, too.
It's got a little bite to it.
I like the taste of it a lot.
-Yeah. -Even though it does have that little earthy
note of that root.
Uh, I would call this a genteel whisky.
This right here would be exactly what I think
a ginseng liquor shopper would reach for.
I think it's highly marketable.
Yeah, it's good.
I-I think it was mission accomplished on his part.
We're looking at marketability, shelf life.
Will it move? Does it collect dust?
I believe we've got one on the table that will move quicker
on the ginseng market than the other.
I agree on that.
Well, gentlemen, it seems like we're all
sitting on the same pew.
[Digger] Let's go name the next Master Distiller.
-Ginseng Master Distiller. -Ginseng Master Distiller.
Fellers.
[Tim] All right, men. Come up and get your jars.
Ginseng. That's what we asked y'all to bring us.
Damn fine job on both y'all.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
I'm gonna go ahead and start with Brian here.
Right off the bat.
Boom. There's alcohol.
And then there's that ginseng.
It wasn't as bitter as I expected it to be.
And it was really a pleasant surprise.
Thank you.
It was not as sweet a drink
as it was previously.
Which told me the bitterness
from the ginseng
-had come through. -Yeah.
But it did not overpower your original flavor.
I think the oakiness from the chips
just enhanced it.
You did a good job of putting your personality in that jar.
It seemed like every step was adding maple.
I added some maple. Yes, I did.
-[laughing] -Yeah.
Which you know, kind of a con,
I guess, would be as expensive.
-Yeah. -[Tim] You got some alcohol.
You got some proof in there.
-Good job. -Thank you.
And there's Mike over here with the great big sipping cream.
There were so many flavors in there, so many layers.
I mean, there was a little bit of banana, a little bit of caramel,
and then the bitterness from the ginseng.
-Yes, sir. -[Digger] And then it went into alcohol
and then finished off so smooth on that back end.
[Tim] You got a lot of alcohol in there,
and it is very creamy.
I think I would have liked it a little bit thinner.
A little bit lighter.
Your sipping cream was not as sweet
as most sipping creams are.
And I think that's simply because,
bitterness from your ginseng root.
-Yes, sir. -[Tim] And I found that not unpleasant at all.
I think it was excellent.
This is a very tough decision,
but we can only have
one Master Distiller named out of the flight.
And, Brian, you're the next Master Distiller, my friend.
-Congratulations. -[exhales]
Winning the title of Master Distiller
would mean the world to me, the world to my family
and all the people who have supported me over the years
to help get my distillery off the ground.
-Congratulations, buddy. -Thank you.
There's a lot of hard work to come.
-Oh, my God. -And winning this title
makes that all seem a little easier and attainable.
You got nothing to be ashamed of.
-At all. -Not at all.
You both made good products.
[Digger] Get on out of here, men.
-Good job on all y'all parts. -Thank you.
Just so you know, you all are welcome
in Tennessee anytime.
-We appreciate it. -Thank you.
-We appreciate it, guys. -Thank you.