[theme music playing]
Ooh.
[narrator] This time on Master Distillers.
[Rachel] We have lift off.
[narrator] It's a family affair.
We've never had families compete.
The old man still knows a couple of things.
[narrator] Three distilling duos
compete to showcase their own kindred spirits.
You all making me want bacon and egg.
[narrator] In a battle to determine which family recipe
will become the ultimate family inheritance.
That's good. I'm happy.
This is gonna be good.
[rock music playing]
You guys, father, son,
husband, wife, two brothers.
You're gonna make us your family recipe.
By the time this is all over with,
one of these duos right here
will be crowned the next Master Distiller.
Beyond that, your family recipe is gonna be
in a major distillery for a limited run.
I can't think of a better way in the world
to honor a family recipe.
Some of my fondest memories
is making liquor with my dad.
Outlaw Shiners has always been about family bonds,
and sometimes family feud.
Tickle, tell us all about it.
What do you get when you mix illegal liquor
and tough mountain clans?
I'll tell you what you get. Family feuds.
There were warring families
all over the highlands and Appalachian.
When there's money on the line from selling illegal liquor,
the stakes are high.
Families each had their own recipes
and their own turf.
High jacking a rival family's moonshine
or selling your liquor in their territory
was a big risk to take.
And some families were willing to take it.
But often, there was bloodshed.
Highlands don't ring much with gunshots anymore.
But rivalries between outlaw shiners,
it's very much alive.
These days, the family on top
gets there because the quality
of the liquor they make
and their repeat customers.
Now that's what I call progress.
You know, sometimes among friends,
things are said that are contentious.
But they'll always say, "Oh, it's okay.
I love them like family."
But in this case, you guys are actually family
which presents its own set of challenges.
Then you throw making liquor into the mix.
This is gonna be good.
We're gonna build a little mash.
You have one hour to get your family recipe mash built.
But we're not gonna do it here.
We're gonna do it where family traditions
were started, out in the sticks.
Come with me and Mark.
[upbeat music playing]
All right, guys. You have one hour.
You have your mash in your barrel.
Your time starts now.
Good luck, guys. Get busy.
Ah, you're losing your water, get those [bleep] it off.
-Make sure it's not on the bottom. -It's not on the bottom.
We're good right there.
I'm Rachel Ambry.
This is my husband, Bill Ambry.
And we're the moonshining couple.
We come over here to get a little sugar this morning.
You got some sugar?
We live in Rockford, Alabama.
That's in Coosa County, dead in the middle
of the State of Alabama.
The heart... The heart of Dixie.
-Right, Central Alabama. -Yup.
There you go. Always deal in cash, darling.
The county we live in,
it's got a rich history of moonshining.
And we try to be the best of the best
in what we do in the whole state.
And that... That's making a bold statement
of basic goodness. The slower, the better.
Sometimes I get impatient.
She'll tell you that.
[Rachel] Yeah.
The old-timer that he learned from
was using the recipe that with my great grandfather.
-How are we on temperature? -Cool.
-I'm proud of her. She-- -Oh, I'm proud of you too.
Yeah. I'm proud of you too.
But yeah, family means everything.
If you're without family, we're done.
Here you go. Give it a try.
What are you guys mixing over there?
Piloncillo. It's sugarcane.
My name is Jerry Moreni.
I'm 50 years old.
-This is my son. -My name is Lannon Powell.
-I'm 28. -[Jerry] We're from San Diego, California.
[Lannon] When I'm not moonshining,
I'm a full-time brewer and distiller.
So, I'm never not moonshining. [laughing]
My dad started distilling about 15 years ago.
I always watched him and I thought
he was gonna blow himself up so I kind of stayed away from it.
And then when I went to college,
I started home brewing. He kind of convinced me,
like, "Hey, you're doing half the process.
You already know how to do fermentation.
Why don't you take it to the next level?"
I started giving him more of a hand in distillation.
You know, we play off each other.
We complement each other very, very well.
You wanna start with the eight or you wanna go sixteen?
Might as well do the 16.
[Jeremy] He's very meticulous
and I'm sort of fly by the seat of my pants.
It means the world for me to be able to do this
with my son. He's the most important person
in the world to me.
And doing it side by side with him,
it's only gonna get better.
That one's slow, 90 degrees.
What you guys got going on over here?
[Bill] Malted corn, malted wheat, and malted bars.
[Jeremy] So, you already have the malt already liquefied?
-[Bill] Yeah. -[Rachel] Right.
Oh, man. You can smell that barley.
So, you're rigging up the vanilla.
Oranges and vanilla,
looks like it's a good start.
I'm Kyle Bognatz. I'm 35 years old
from Hackensack, New Jersey.
I'm Randy Bognatz. I'm 34 years old
from Butler, New Jersey.
And we're the Bognatz brothers.
We're both engineers.
We were just drinking, like a local dive bar
and we're like, "I think we can make this stuff."
It's around, like, seventy-five percent,
a hundred fifty proof.
Literally, the next day we started building it.
We're first generation moonshiners,
started out in a stove top 10 years ago
and it then evolved ever since.
[Randy] You have the stainless steel pot
to copper arm, to a glass thumper
which is really cool because you could see
inside the thumper. And then we have
a ten-foot copper coil that drips out.
All right. Now it's just a waiting game.
Extremely excited for the judges to try our product.
I know we make it good.
Smells like orange. Cheers.
So, winning this to have even more people try it
would be amazing.
Y'all fellas making orange juice liquor, huh?
-[Kyle] That's it. -[Rachel] Oh, it looks goods.
Yeah. I'm gonna come to get a glass.
You all making me want bacon and eggs.
[Kyle] Four hundred pieces of it.
I wonder if they've done that before.
It's hard as hell to get citrus to ferment.
[Mark] Yeah. I'm sure they've done it.
It would have been easier to just bring a couple
of gallons of orange juice.
[Mark] I don't know.
Thirty minutes. You're halfway there.
[Rachel] How are you boys doing?
Good. Only about 20 pieces left.
Hey, all right.
That's smart.
Less splashing, huh?
Stir it good. Now make sure
you get all of that sugar.
You guys are done flame out?
Oh, yeah.
You just melted your sugar.
-[Rachel] That's right. -[Bill] And this is her twist
on an old family recipe.
What are you hoping that we taste?
The barley, they have a good, rich flavor to it
-along with the brown sugar. -Good luck.
-Appreciate it. -Thank you, buddy.
The reason I think this recipe is a winner is the simplicity.
Yeah. We've never had a dud run with this recipe.
It's just so simple and it's so drinkable.
-It's good. Yeah. -You good?
How you gentlemen are doing over here?
Making some orange juice.
I'm gonna be honest with you guys.
I was so concerned with so much
of the orange peel in there.
You ever make a cocktail
and you squeeze some of the peel in
-just to get that aroma? -I have.
That's what all this is for.
This is a first for me.
I've never, ever, ever seen anything
this much citrus.
Good luck to you.
-Thanks. -Thank you.
Gentlemen, what in the world
are you guys brewing over here?
We're making a nice Caribbean rum.
I noticed you were using that Piloncillo sugar.
-And it is delicious. -Yes, sir.
Which side of your family?
It's not either side of the family.
It happens to be that we can get really good quality
Piloncillo down by San Diego.
So, this family recipe is originating with you two?
That's correct. Yes, sir.
[Mark] I like that a lot.
I think our recipe is gonna be a winner
because of the high quality of ingredients.
[Jeremy] They're fresh from some
of the best places in the world.
It's gonna just be amazing.
-Good luck to you both. -Thank you, sir.
Appreciate it.
-Five minutes. -[Mark] I'm excited.
We're gonna get three completely
different taste profiles here.
You wanna take all the solids and everything?
All right.
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six,
five, four,
three, two, one.
Step away from your barrels, guys.
You're done.
Skedaddle in there, guys.
All right, guys.
This is for order
in which you go to the still house
to pick your still parts.
If you come in third, there may be an item
in the still house no longer available to you.
Four hours will start now.
[metal clanging]
I'm really excited
for how our fermentation went.
I think we have a good amount of alcohol there.
And we're really ready to run this.
[Bill] Fire in the hole.
-[Lannon] You? -My sweet spot range is 195.
It's where I put the mark
and I don't wanna go below there.
He comes up with the game plan
when we're distilling back home.
And I kind of follow his lead
and we get along pretty well.
It would be a minute.
It is copper so it'll get up quick.
Yeah.
The party's about to get started.
-It's getting there. -You got it, 170.
-One seventy-eight about? -One seventy-eight?
Yeah.
[Rachel] All right.
Okay. We got a drip.
[Jeremy] There it is.
Look who's a genius.
We'll go ahead and look at it.
We're gonna mark it.
-[Lannon] One ninety. -[Jeremy] Exactly.
Players like me and JT, father and son,
I mean, that's a special relationship.
The old man still knows a couple of things.
-[Lannon] We're ripping too. -[Jeremy] Yeah. We're ripping.
Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
I think I can back all the heat
-just a little bit. -[Digger] Well, you distill, girl.
To be husband and wife running together,
they get along very well though.
That... That's pretty special.
What do you smell?
Nail polish remover.
No. When you get deep in there,
-when you get-- -Oh, yeah.
The grains.
This is like right at a hundred.
Man, that's good.
Now I feel like I like that one better.
Well, they're gonna get better with alcohol.
Afraid they won't make no liquor.
My daddy, I didn't want him telling me
I was doing it all wrong all the time.
Whether he knew anything about it or not.
-Exactly. -That's what daddies do.
-Yeah. -We're still slowly climbing
which I'm a little concerned about.
-Still climbing? -Yeah.
-That's no bueno. -[Kyle] Yeah.
[Randy] Our flame's basically off.
And I knew a whole lot of brothers in my time
that made liquor together
and there was always problems.
[Randy] We don't wanna run it too fast
but I don't wanna be that slow either.
I mean, at home, it's taking us what,
like, an hour and a half to fill a jar?
It really looks like our competition
knows what they're doing.
You know, you're just feeling the pressure.
We're not used to running in four hours.
We're usually on a six-hour time period.
Our drip rate is slow. So, that's gonna play a part
in getting it done in time.
Why don't we try to make exactly what we do at home?
So, what's the problem then?
They're gonna be producing 20 jars at this point.
-[Kyle] I know. -[Randy] I'm okay with our six
of good quality stuff.
I don't know that we're gonna be getting six, so--
-All right, guys. -Yeah.
Pretty slow drip rate.
There we go. All right.
I'm happy with the stream right now.
[Bill] Yeah. Just now starting. The sweet spot.
You can really taste the flavor now.
It's getting intense. It's really good.
It's all sweet.
Is that good or bad?
-Alcohol's there. -Yeah.
I think if we find the balance
within two, four, and six--
I think the other competitors should be a little worried.
What we do, we do well.
It seems simple but it's not.
It's really easy to burn that sugar,
get a lot of odd flavors.
But we've been doing this long enough
where I think we're good.
That's good. I'm happy.
Jeremy and Lannon over there, they're almost done.
-Call it? -I'm very, very,
very, very happy with that.
You got 45 minutes left.
I wanna get some more water in here.
Oh, man. That's great.
That was good. I'm flavoring,
trying to shake, test to find out for sure
I'm at the right proof, going for the heart,
maybe four, five, six jars.
Let's blend together. Let's get a good flavor
but keep a high proof
because that's what moonshine is all about.
[Kyle] You're getting good orange on there?
[Randy] Yeah. It's still hot.
It looks smooth.
It's cloudy because of the water.
Seventy proof.
We're done, baby.
All right.
I'm satisfied.
I think we've got the edge.
I mean, we've been married 21 years.
So, we almost know what each other is thinking.
Oh, that's the one you're sticking with.
-That's it. -I wanna know what you think
after that and then this.
-And I like it. -Yeah.
We're good with it.
[Kyle] I just don't like how it clouds up.
There's nothing we could do about it.
-You wanna go with it? -Yeah.
All right. I think we got our jar here.
We finished with about 30 minutes left.
We did a little blending
and we're satisfied with our jar,
but probably could be improved upon in the next round.
Guys, I'm telling you, everybody up here
is excited to taste these liquors.
Bring them on up.
[Mark] Nobody's going home after this judgment.
This is simply to put you guys in a pecking order to go
in to the still house to pick your still parts.
Guys, we're gonna head out here, taste it
and come back with a decision.
All right. Well, let's start
with the Jersey brothers here.
[Mark] It's got a little suspension in it.
[Tim] Come on, let's see what you're working with.
[Digger] When you see bubbles staying in the liquor
-that long, low proof. -[Tim] It's 80 or under.
How do you feel about the first run?
Feeling pretty good.
Our good liquor was coming out
at a higher proof.
We were tempering it down
and started to cloud up a little.
This smells orangey.
It... It's orangey.
It's bitter to me.
If they would've left the peeling out--
That's that peeling that I think that they would have
the industrial sized flavor out here.
I'm really interested where they're gonna take
-this drink. -Yeah. Me too.
We got... Oh, I know whose that is.
-Bill and Rachel. -[Mark] It's a full jar.
Oh, I'm telling you now, that's a pretty jar.
-That could be-- -[Tim] Think about 95.
Oh, that's corn liquor on the nose right there.
It's nice.
Nice, clear.
It ain't got no fire
on the back end of my tongue.
[Digger] That liquor was ran right.
We were going with the angle of low and slow,
the way we do it at home. But the four-hour was
kind of nerve-wracking. It's like just four hours.
[Mark] Jerry and Lan, this is supposed to be
a Caribbean rum.
They're working with something, all right.
[Tim] Yeah. We're not in the 80, 90.
We're in the hundreds now.
It smells nice.
It's got a really good nose on it.
That's earthy,
fruity.
It's totally different flavor.
You definitely get some of those flavors
of that Piloncillo sugar.
It's complex just for sugar wash.
-Exactly. -We're just a little worried
about the temperature getting a little hot.
Yeah. We started off slow.
We didn't wanna scorch anything at the beginning.
[Mark] They all done an outstanding job distilling.
Now comes the time we got to go tell them
-what we've landed on. -Okay.
Let's go.
All right, guys. Come up, get your jars.
Jerry and Lannon, guys I'm telling you.
That was outstanding.
[Tim] Proof is right on the money for me.
It's probably the best rum I've tasted in a long time.
Young man, you get high marks
just to get the citrus to ferment.
It's really finicky.
And right off the bat when you taste that,
it's like orange juice.
Unfortunately, those peels
brought a lot of bitters in there,
which was disappointing.
But it is totally something different.
I've never tasted anything like it.
I think you proofed it a little bit low.
And if you had left out the peeling,
it would have a different taste profile.
I think you know where you're going with this,
and I look forward to the end results.
Bill and Rachel, corn liquor.
That was a fine recipe right there.
It don't need a thing except drinking.
Your jar is outstanding.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
[Tim] I think the proof is right on the money.
It was a full jar.
It was nice and clear.
I just hope you got plenty more.
-Yeah. [laughs] -Thank you.
Good job, all of you guys. And just remember,
nobody's going home this time.
This just proves pecking order for the still house.
Make use of your three minutes very wisely.
Only one of you is going in the still house.
The way it's gonna run is,
Jerry, you're going in first.
I opted for my dad who built the still.
I was confident in his building skills.
And he's an engineer and I'm the cook.
So, keep it that way.
Rachel, you're going in second.
I have full confidence in her.
I know she can do it.
[Digger] Randy, you're going in third.
-All right. -Recently, he's been working
with the still at home.
But either one of us would be more than capable.
Tickle.
So, you got a whole slew of them this time, don't you?
-We do. -Only one each is going.
whoever's gonna come with me,
you all come on and we'll head to the still house.
[man] Here we go.
Have fun, y'all.
[country music playing]
There might be a few snakes in here in the still house.
There ain't nothing too much to worry about.
They only bite if you upset 'em.
We are here to pick your still parts.
There's plenty of stuff in there
that you've never seen before in your life.
If you don't know what it is,
hell, figure out what it does in there
running liquor, all right?
All right. Jerry, you are up first.
You're gonna have three minutes
and your time starts now.
All right, Jerry. All right.
Look, five seconds has gone already, Jerry.
I mean, look. You're cutting it close.
All right. Well, Jerry's got a pot out.
I built all my home stills.
I know what parts I need, what parts I don't.
And so I wanna have an advantage
-over my competitors. -Jerry might not leave
nothing for you all in there.
One minute left in there, Jerry.
-Plenty of time. -[Tickle] [indistinct] you can find in there.
Time is really ticking now, Jerry.
Are you gonna be able to carry that box out, Jerry?
-I'm strong. -[Tickle] You got 30 seconds left.
Let's figure it out. All right.
Okay. Have you got all you need, Jerry?
[Jeremy] I got it all.
Plus some.
All right. Rachel, if there's anything
you can't find in there, Jerry may have it.
Your time starts now.
All right, Rachel. You're gonna have to move
faster now because it's just three minutes.
Rachel, have you got a whole still yet?
[Rachel] Not quite. I know the still parts.
I know what to get. So, I think it will make
old wild Bill happy.
-All right, getting it. -All right. Okay.
Well, she's taking a different turn here
than you, Jerry. She's going with the thumper.
All right. She's got a pot out now.
Okay. Time is halfway gone.
All right. That's a condenser, huh?
-Uh-huh. It's heavy. -All right.
Are you making liquor yet, Rachel?
Yes, I am.
[Tickle] Are you sure?
You've got 30 seconds left.
[Rachel] Yeah. I got this.
-Whoa. -All right.
All right. Here we go. Hand me that.
-You got it? -All right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You got everything in there.
All right.
Okay, Randy. Boy, I hope you've been nice
to both of them because if not,
you are royally screwed.
-[laughs] -But you've got three minutes
and your time starts now.
All right, Randy.
[Randy] I know what I'm going for.
The only worry is there are already two people
before me and I hope that there's enough parts.
[Tickle] Randy's got a condenser and a pot.
Time is running down. All right.
I'll be dog he found a pocket or something
you all didn't find in there.
He's got a thumper now.
Whether or not he can connect all that together
remains to be seen. You got 30 seconds.
There's a bunch of stuff missing.
[Tickle] Perfect time for experimentation.
You got five seconds left, Randy.
All right.
There's no gaskets left in there.
I'm not gonna hook you up.
Now that everybody's got their still parts,
let's get on back in there
where you all can put these things together
and make us some real good liquor, all right?
-Let's do it. -I'll get this box for you.
[bird cawing]
[Tickle] I'm done with them.
So I'm gonna let you all have them, all right?
-We'll see now. -Thank you, Tickle.
You got one hour to put those stills together
in the manner that they will function safely.
Your one hour starts now.
Get with it.
Got the gasket.
[country music playing]
Looking for that part that's shaped like that
and I couldn't find that or that arm,
so I just grabbed what I could.
That's pretty much it, right?
-So... -Yeah.
Um, and...
But I think I got all everything we need.
[metal clattering]
Let's see.
I got what I knew that we needed
but the parts that were missing,
I'm like, "Okay. MacGyver here
is gonna have to put it together."
So that's the part I was missing.
-[Bill] My word. -[Rachel] Huh.
That's what I'm saying.
I didn't have one of those square ones.
That's male problem.
-[Rachel] Will that work? -Uh-uh.
-What did you do? -Well?
That's male problem.
-[Rachel] Will that work? -Uh-uh.
-You don't need that? -No, I need...
-We need a baby try? -Yeah.
All right.
That's okay, Dad. We got something they need.
Don't worry.
Hey, Jerry, can I sweet talk you
out of one of those?
You might be able to.
Do you have a small tri clamp?
[Rachel] I think I might.
Come over here and go shopping in my basket.
Oh, yeah, you got all the good stuff.
[laughs]
Yeah, you all get whatever you need.
All right. All I need is this guy right here.
-All right. -All right.
-Thank you very much. -You're welcome. Thank you.
There you go.
[Kyle] Are you ready to rock and roll?
Yeah. I'm just gonna tighten this and we're good.
All right.
[country music playing]
All right.
You did good, girl.
-Yeah. -I'm proud of you.
Well, everybody's all in and all done
in record time of 25 minutes.
It's time to make a flavor run.
You got four hours.
Bring us your best family recipe.
Don't forget somebody's going home
at the end of this run.
Your time starts now.
Good luck, guys.
[rock music playing]
Prop that.
That's good, rich mash right there.
[man] Last container.
[rock music playing]
[Mark] All that citrus, I thought that would be clean.
Yeah [bleep]
Are you sure you guys are gonna be really good
on orange flavor?
It's the goal.
This is why the thumper was implored.
Typically, we'd throw in 20 oranges to the thumper,
the end product just blows everything else
out of the water.
It's gonna go boom.
Ooh.
Jerry, you didn't burn
all the hair off your head, did you?
-I don't have nothing left. -[chuckles]
[dramatic music playing]
[Digger] I believe you all are lit.
[dramatic music playing]
All right. Hurry up and wait.
Yes, sir.
Lannon, you guys chose not to run a thumper,
so you're happy with your flavor,
not add anything to it.
And you guys should be making liquor
before the other two.
We don't need but one good jar.
Our strategy moving forward
is I'm gonna take the base spirit that we made
and I'm gonna make a really good
smooth mountain-type brandy around that 95 proof,
and I'm gonna infuse it now with that apple flavor.
-[Tim] Rachel. -Yes, sir.
So I see you got some applesauce
in your hand, it looks like.
It's apples that I use at the holidays
to do fried apple pies.
Okay.
Two hours left, guys.
Halfway home.
Oh, wow. There we go. There we go. There we go.
[Jerry] It's a little bit fast.
We'll see if it equalizes.
We have lift off over here.
[Digger] All right.
-You guys running? -Let's see.
-Just started. -All right.
They're off and running now.
-Yeah. -That's definitely too hot
but I'm smelling some vanilla in there.
We just kind of wanna clean up what we already have.
And I think we made a fine product initially,
but definitely, uh, rerun it,
get it clean, get it a little bit higher proof.
I'd say five flavors and then,
we'll filter them back into the jar.
-How are you doing, Lannon? -Pretty good. Pretty good.
Provided that you make it to the next round,
what have you got in mind for your flavor?
So right now, we just, uh,
took some of our higher proof stuff,
uh, make some tinctures to kind of blend back in,
got pineapple, lime, cherry.
That's just your blended jars over there?
Yup. Try to keep our liquor clear but get all the flavor.
We like to make tinctures
because you can get good flavor from the fruits
without having to take away
from any of your alcohol content.
You control how much flavor's in that tincture
and that allows you to get exactly
the flavor profile you want.
I think we're getting good stuff coming out, though.
It doesn't smell too heady.
I think we're ready to go.
There's orange in there for sure.
[Jerry] You pick your flavor, I'll pick my flavor,
and we'll go from there.
One hour, folks.
[Lannon] That's where it's at.
-[Jerry] Yours? -Yup.
-No. -Less is more.
I think I like where the nose is at.
Yeah, that's good.
See what you think.
Okay.
I'll tell you this, if we lose, we're that...
We lost to some good ones.
It's good.
Oh, yeah. It's pretty.
It's very pretty on the nose.
That's aging whiskey there.
[Rachel] That's a winner.
-We did more magic. -[Bill] Yeah.
If I lose to you all with that jar right there,
you all brought your A game.
[Jerry laughs]
[man] You got 10 minutes.
That's true right there, that jar is true.
Lannon?
Are you all getting settled in over there
on a particular puppy out later?
Yeah. I think we're ready to rock.
[dramatic music playing]
[Digger] There's one.
-Rachel, Bill? -Yes, sir.
You all got something figured out over there yet?
I'll tell you what, Digger.
Win, lose, or draw,
that's a fine jar of bootleg liquor.
It looks good right there.
-I hope you enjoy. -Absolutely.
All right, guys.
Five minutes, guys, just so you know.
[man] Okay.
-You're good with that? -Yeah, looks good to me.
Okay.
[dramatic music playing]
Are you guys sure about that?
Feels good as we're gonna.
-Not gonna second guess? -Nope.
Good deal. I wouldn't either.
You all head on back to your station,
neaten up, put your stuff together.
We're fixed to go sample all this.
[dramatic music playing]
It's where the man can reach the tree right here.
-Get with it, Timmy. -Come on, Timmy.
All right.
Looks like Jerry and Lannon, California.
Looks kind of high to me.
[Digger] That's real high.
[dramatic music playing]
Man, it was coming out hot.
I think what we gave them
is probably close to, like, 110.
[Digger] It don't hit your nose
-like high proof liquor. -[Mark] No.
[Digger] But then, it flashes across your tongue
like high proof liquor but it ain't horrible.
[coughs] Yeah, it's high proof.
-[laughs] -Phew.
I'm gonna give it 125.
Yeah, that's hotter than a [bleep]
forest fire.
-Ah. -Yeah.
Is that a caramel? That's coming out that sugar?
-It does taste good. -It does taste good.
But it's too high proof to be enjoyable.
Well, let's move on to Kyle and Randy.
All right. Jersey boys.
It is another clean jar.
I just hope there ain't too much orange zest
and pit in it this time.
All right. Here we go.
In the first run, we definitely temp it down
way too much with water,
it started to cloud up a little.
We never do that at home
and so we didn't touch the water this time.
And we think we're right around 110.
That's good bead.
[Mark] They definitely raised their proof.
That's a plus for them.
[Tim] But did it go higher than California?
[Mark] I don't know.
[Tim] That's a odd taste.
[Mark] That's really odd taste.
It's got a lot of oil in it.
Well, it didn't have any choice with all that peel.
There's a reason why people does not ferment
-citrus peel. -Yeah.
Moving on to Bill and Rachel.
-All right. Here we go. -Alabama bootleggers.
[Digger] Yeah.
[Tim] Another high jar.
[Mark] One-ten and one-fifteen on that one.
We got a competition.
I'll tell you one thing, nobody brought none
to the table under 100 proof.
Or even a hundred proof.
[Tim] Not even close to a hundred proof.
[chuckles]
I may have put it a little bit higher
because I got to do some things to it
if we make it to the next round.
-Makes sense. -Yeah.
-Makes sense. -It's the same thing we did,
about a hundred and ten, I think.
I won't get hundred,
a hundred and five proof of jar
to be like drinking just water.
With that thumper, I think you're getting
way more than that.
Well, I started out high but I worked it down.
It's very, very light on the nose,
really light.
It's got plenty flavor but it falls off there
really fast.
You know, even as high proof it is,
it's not party, though.
And it tastes real apple-y to me.
But it does fall a little flat on the back end.
I'm really surprised how flat it is.
[dramatic music playing]
[Tim] All three of them good job, presentation,
-clear and high proof. -Beautiful, beautiful jars.
But unfortunately, one's got to go.
Let's yank the Band-Aid off.
Let's do it.
[dramatic music playing]
[Digger] All right, guys. Come up and get your jars.
[dramatic music playing]
I wanna thank you all
for bringing your family recipes,
we're honored to taste them.
It was a tough decision.
And unfortunately, somebody's got to go home.
Lannon, Jerry,
I've become a fan of that Piloncillo sugar.
I still think you missed that hallmark
of a hundred proof, you got up,
we're figuring about 120, 125, but all in all, fine drink.
You brought us a good, clear, clean high proof jar.
Both you guys did a great job at distilling,
you know what you're doing.
Thank you.
Randy, Kyle, orange, it's a fickle mistress.
I don't wanna fool with it myself
because it's such a burden to get it to ferment right.
I give you all high marks for that.
But I think with all the peel that was in there,
there was a lot of oil in that peel,
and it's hard to get rid of and it's very, very powerful.
The vanilla came through,
the peel, it's a little bit much for me,
but it's an orange, vanilla, hot dream-cicle
good job, guys.
Rachel, Bill, outstanding job
bringing out the apple out there.
It laid across your tongue good,
there was absolutely nothing wrong with that
other than proof was still a little bit too high.
Nevertheless, the base grain
complemented very well by the apple.
I thought it was kind of a blasphemy
to put all of those good apple pie apples
in that thumper, but I was wrong.
But mind your proof, everybody.
[Digger] All right, guys.
Two of you get to continue on.
So all that being said...
[dramatic music playing]
Randy, Kyle, unfortunately,
that jar you brought with you all
would take it home.
You all did a damn fine job.
You got nothing to be ashamed of.
-Thank you. -Good job, guys.
Jerry, Lannon, Rachel, Bill, good luck.
We really like this product that we put out.
It's unique,
it's different from anything else.
I was a little surprised that we were the ones to go.
But we have a lot of years ahead of us
to learn more.
You could expect some really good things from us.
Jerry, Lannon, I want you all to look to your left.
Rachel, Bill, look to your right.
You got stiff competition.
You better bring your A game both of you.
All right, guys. We're going in to Rapid Aging.
You have all your distilling on your tables,
you can use any of the jars to blend,
we'll let it sit overnight.
Tomorrow, you can finish it up as you see fit.
You have 30 minutes to get your blends made.
Your 30 minutes starts now. Good luck, guys.
-Good luck all. -Yeah, yeah.
That's the one that you did with clean just to let...
To see if the flavors would come out very nice
and stay clear.
-You want half and half? -[Bill] Half and half.
[dramatic music playing]
Smells good, though. The nose is amazing on this.
I think it's super subtle.
For this challenge,
we're taking our family rum recipe.
We're doing a pineapple-spiced rum.
Early in our spirit run, we made a bunch of tinctures.
We wanna make a high-proof, clear flavorful spirit.
Bill and Rachel have been doing it
in the backwoods forever,
so we got a pretty big fight against them right now.
Hmm.
I think we wanna go spice on that one.
Spice?
[Jerry] A little bit of spice in there?
Yeah.
[Bill] You do not want no peel in there
because that's got wax and chemicals and all that.
[Rachel] Mm-hmm.
It's starting to turn to color that most apple pies are.
Yeah, that one's really getting dark.
-You got 15 minutes left. -[dramatic music playing]
[Jerry] That's enough of that.
-Jerry, Lannon? -Yes, sir.
Enlighten us a little bit.
We're gonna give you a flavorful
taste of the islands.
Uh-huh. And how is that going to transpire?
Well, there is a mixture of, uh,
about five different fruits and spices.
[Digger] Uh-huh.
A little bit of high proof to kind of open those up
-overnight hopefully. -[Digger] Mmm-hmm.
And a little bit of oak to try to mellow it out.
[Digger] Sounds like a plan.
Want one more jar
done or are you good with those two?
-No, that's good. -Okay.
Rachel, Bill, tell us about your plan.
Just gonna age it down and make it look like
about a two-year-old brandy,
some apple in there, some dried apples,
and some Honeycrisp.
So I see you have two jars on the table.
This one's higher proof, this one's where I want it,
but in case, uh, my proof gets off,
I can add just a little bit to pull it back up.
So you're gonna use the two jars
to blend them off?
If I have to.
This is some interesting business here.
We're gonna have high proof apple pie
and fruity Caribbean rum.
This is the Super Bowl, so...
-[Rachel] Yeah. -[Bill] to make it right here,
top honors.
Guys, we're down to about a minute.
Does everybody feel like they're where they need to be
at this point?
-I think we're good to go. -Well, head on out.
-See you. -Good luck, guys.
[dramatic music playing]
This is what tells the tale here.
You got to blend your liquor, feel free to use your distill
however you see fit to use it,
but only bring us one jar.
We will take it and taste it, we come to a verdict,
one of you family teams will be named
Master Distiller.
Your 30 minutes starts now. Good luck, guys.
Get with it.
[dramatic music playing]
Find a funnel.
Nothing goes in the main jar until everything is clean.
Get your solids out first.
You won't get any flow if you go first with that.
[dramatic music playing]
Put it over the top.
That jar's got something in it.
Our strategy going forward is really to concentrate
on getting clean flavors.
We know Bill and Rachel know exactly
what they're doing.
But we wanna put something in front of the judges
that they haven't tasted before.
-Just keep those going. -Jerry and Lannon,
we're trying to keep up with you,
but we got lost about 10 jars back.
We're filtering it out.
We had a bunch of, uh, pineapple pulp in there.
Okay.
-[Bill] Proof looks good. -Mm-hmm.
-Almost there? -Whatever you think.
-Uh, you-- -[Tim] Bill and Rachel?
-Yes, sir. -Yes, sir.
Are you concerned about doing that filter
and is that gonna pull out any flavors?
So far, it hadn't.
I just wanna make sure it's clean.
No floaties, no nothing.
All right. Let me play.
I think we got all the flavors
that we wanted to get out of it.
The only thing I'm a little bit
concerned about is clarity but I think we hit the proof
that we wanted, and I think we got,
uh, the full spectrum of all the Caribbean spices.
We got some notes of pineapple in there.
So I'm feeling good.
[Digger] One minute, guys.
If you all are ready, you can turn in any time.
[dramatic music playing]
Here you go, fellas.
-Is that it, boss man? -I hope it is.
[Digger] All right, Bill.
I enjoyed making it for you all.
-[Digger] Good luck, Bill. -Thank you all.
-All righty. -[Digger] All right, Lannon.
-Thank you. -[Digger] Good luck.
[dramatic music playing]
We're gonna go taste, deliberate,
come to a decision, we'll come back,
let you all know shortly.
[dramatic music playing]
Phew.
[dramatic music playing]
I know you don't agree
but I'm gonna be keeping my piloncillo, all right?
Keep it and use it up.
How do they come to agree on something?
Don't look like they have yet.
Timmy, you ever do anything like this
with your pap?
Yeah, you know what?
I always thought I was right and I always got proven wrong.
-[Mark] Yeah. -So my dad always said,
"You learn more from your mistakes."
I agree with him.
[Tim] And you will remember that.
Me and my daddy never did make no liquor
but he always told me, "I may not always be right,
but I'm always right because I'm your dad."
-Yeah. -[chuckles]
Yeah, that's gonna be interesting.
Yeah.
Well, boys, we've got mountain brandy
and the tropical thunder.
-Yeah. -[Mark chuckles]
You know, that's on opposite ends of the spectrum.
I've got a hopefully a notion
of what this one's gonna taste like.
But I ain't got no idea about this one.
Uh-uh.
[Rachel] That was intense, wasn't it, guys?
How are you guys feeling?
I feel like we turned in a really good jar.
-How about you? -Well, we're nervous,
but I know the flavor is there.
Nervous is understatement.
[Tim] Now, do you wanna go here
or you wanna go here?
Dealer's choice, lay it to it.
-All right. -Yeah, do that.
And that's good.
All right. Bill and Rachel.
It looks like a really nice bourbon.
[dramatic music playing]
Hmm.
[Digger] Got leather on the nose.
Man, that smells so good.
That comes from that oak.
Everything filter out all right?
-[Bill] Oh, yeah. -We feel good about it.
I was... I was a little worried
about the amount of time because I had experimented
with about a 12 to 14-hour with that many chips,
but it came out all right.
Hmm.
[dramatic music playing]
That's a little hot.
Really hot.
I'm gonna say it's north of a hundred.
Yeah, it's got power.
I'm not getting a lot of apple in there
but I mean, it's really, really good-aged liquor.
Man and wife working that close.
And no arguments.
Yeah, and seem to still be crazy about each other.
All right. Let's move on and try Jerry and Lannon's.
I mean, this has no way to go but good.
Looks like a jar of honey.
[Mark] It's not as rich of color as mountain brandy.
-That's not a deal killer. -[Mark] No.
[Bill] Is that something you all do a lot,
what you all made here?
Yeah, the base spirit, we're pretty familiar with.
The only thing we kind of experimented with was the...
Was some of the, uh, the fruit,
which we had a little bit of trouble filtering out
towards the end, but I think we did all right.
Kind of tried to set ourselves up yesterday,
making all those tinctures.
We're able to kind of control all the different spices.
[dramatic music playing]
Very light on the nose.
That's not a bad thing.
I'm getting a little citrus on the nose now.
The front end flavor on it to me is powerful.
Boom, wide open there on the front.
I'm getting a little spice now.
It's a spiced rum, so it's got some spice in it.
Got a good alcohol punch.
I don't think they're out of the line
-on the proof at all. -No, no.
It's on the money on the proof now.
Husband and wife, father and son,
to work together
to produce something this level...
Yeah. Yeah.
that's hats off right there.
Both of these are excellent jars,
it's just one of them that's that much better
-than the other one. -Just a little bit.
[Mark] Just a little bit.
[dramatic music playing]
[Digger] Come on up and get your jars.
[dramatic music playing]
When we get two really, really good liquors,
it makes our job even harder.
Jerry, Lannon, you had a wonderful product
to start with
and you just accentuated on it.
Your proof had a really, really good liquor bite
but I think a little of it might've masked
a little bit of your flavors.
But all the flavors you all were talking about,
they were there.
Damn fine job on your all's behalf.
For me, to win this competition
will be a huge goal for me,
just with my career
would just be the icing on the...
On the cake.
Beautiful color, looked just like a jar of honey.
It was a little bitey on the back end for me,
but I'm proud of both of you, I'm really proud.
[Digger] Rachel, Bill, mountain brandy
just like you said you was going for.
The proof is on the money and you did an outstanding job
to do it overnight.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
Looks like a rich deep mahogany color
of refined bourbon, notes hit really good.
I did get just enough of the apple.
We tell everybody when you win this,
you're gonna get your bragging rights
and you're gonna get a limited run of your liquor
at Sugarlands Distilling Company.
Well, all of you all got your bragging rights,
but unfortunately, somebody has to go home.
Rachel, Bill...
you all are the first couple Master Distillers.
Congratulations.
[rock music playing]
It was damn close.
I knew it was gonna be tough.
I can't believe this. This is a dream come true.
I just... I think I'm gonna wake up
any moment.
This is wonderful. That's how I feel.
-How do you feel? -Oh.
To come from where I come from...
I'm there.
Don't cry. You're gonna make me cry.
-No. -[laughs]
It's an honor.
Now, you all get on out of here
and start sharing them drinks
before all of us start squalling.
-[laughter] -Thank you all.
-Thank you, guys.
Good job.
-Phew. -Oh, my God.
[Mark] It don't ever get no easier, does it?
It does not.