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00:00ready bill all right hopefully we don't blow up this time on moonshiners the
00:12time for playing is longer if something goes wrong here we blow sky-high my dad's
00:18car is right out there it loaded with moonshine 200 gallons yeah we need to go
00:23get it maybe like a treasure hunt
00:28you're lucky we didn't get it. What is that?
00:31That one was trying to steal our laser. What are you doing?
00:35Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing with that damn gun?
00:41Moonshine is a part of our history. It exists but it doesn't. Almost like a myth.
00:48I'm America's most wanted moonshiner.
00:51It's not a good thing to be one by the law.
00:57I live on the edge of anarchy.
01:03Get out. They're very smart.
01:07There can only be one chief. I'm wondering if we're gonna pull this thing off.
01:14I call it that good.
01:17We could supply the whole world with moonshine and everybody would be happy.
01:23If you really love your country, you're gonna have to love moonshine.
01:29Just outside Strasburg, South Carolina.
01:33I'm ready to say some liquor getting out of this thing.
01:35It's a long time in the making, that's for sure.
01:38Rookie moonshiners Josh and Bill are finally brewing their first shine of the season.
01:43We got the gas up. Wide open.
01:45We're at 120 degrees right now.
01:50But just as they were about to produce their hooch, Cutie Pie's bark signaled danger.
01:56She's all balls up.
01:59What is it, Cutie Pie?
02:03What is it, girl?
02:05If it's haters, they're in hot water. But if it's the law, they're done for, plain and simple.
02:14What is it?
02:23Hunters. Now Josh and Bill have to finish their brew and fast, even with bullets flying nearby.
02:31We gotta get this liquor out. We're in a hurry.
02:34Bill, we actually have liquor coming through there.
02:37Liquor? We got liquor coming out.
02:44Oh, Josh!
02:48200 kilometers to the northeast,
02:54Jeff and Mark are getting ready to deliver a shipment of their historic George Washington moonshine.
03:00You're slightly deperate.
03:05In order to get their season financially back on track,
03:09Jeff decided to try a little-known moonshine recipe that uses cheaper ingredients and allows them to charge more money.
03:17George Washington done a pretty good job, boys.
03:20Well, it's higher priced than that moonshine is.
03:25Now, word out customers about their historic moonshine.
03:29They're crisscrossing the county, planting seeds for what they hope will be a bumper crop of orders that might save their season.
03:40Each buyer will get two bottles of their one-of-a-kind brew, with an option for an additional case should they like it and want more.
03:50Not a pretty good hiding spot there anymore.
03:52Yeah, it'll work against anywhere.
03:54Mark and Jeff have staged multiple drop-off points in back road locations.
03:59That allows them to double back on their route in order to get a look at anyone who may be trailing,
04:04and get a split-second head start should they be followed by the law.
04:09Right in here.
04:10Yeah, we'll put it on right there.
04:16It's a strategy that's been used by bootleggers in these parts for generations.
04:20Hey, pretty good, eh?
04:21Oh, yeah.
04:23And one that's kept many a liquor hauler out of jail.
04:28Let's turn around.
04:30Okay, that's good.
04:36Who is that?
04:37Who is that?
04:39What are you doing?
04:40What are you doing?
04:45Nearby, Moonshiners Mike and Tweedy are headed to a friend's farm to pick up some interesting supplies.
04:53They recently had their first successful distillation run of the season.
04:58That's high-proof whiskey there, buddy.
05:00Yes, sir. Pure, too.
05:02Yeah, boy.
05:04Giving hope that they'll raise enough money to help Mike's sick brother, who's suffering from kidney disease.
05:10For these veterans, making moonshine has become a life-or-death matter.
05:21They're getting ready for a bootleg run to deliver their first 25 gallons to a big-time buyer.
05:27If things go well, she's promised to quadruple the order.
05:33Yeah, a little barn to put his packs and stuff under.
05:36All in, it could mean up to 15 grand, tax-free.
05:42They've got a lot riding on this run, so they're taking extra precautions.
05:48Fresh cow pies everywhere, boys.
05:51These moonshine MacGyvers are picking up one of the favorite tricks of their trade.
05:56Relocating the shine under a pile of cow...leavings.
06:01Sitting in traffic with a load of manure on your truck, there's nobody going to want to do that.
06:05It's just a lot better to be sneaky.
06:07You don't want to be an old farmer either paying a load of fertilizer in or delivering a load of fertilizer.
06:12That ought to be enough right there.
06:14Reckon that'll fool them cops.
06:16If they dig through it and find that they can have it, they can have me, too.
06:23Back in Franklin County, Virginia, moonshiner Tickle has hit rock bottom.
06:30I'm thinking about getting somebody else to help.
06:32You know what, I'm thinking about getting somebody else to help me do this, too.
06:35After a nasty split with his mentor, Tim, the transition from still hand to boss man has gone bust.
06:42I know you're wanting 500 for this thing.
06:44All right, we're going to come for you.
06:46He got himself neck deep in debt.
06:48They'll be sitting in the woods right now waiting on us.
06:51His still hand got spooked and vanished.
06:53Let's get the hell out of here.
06:56Then he lost his still sight and his Virginia still pot got hacked to pieces.
07:01Oh, that ain't good.
07:06Now, without moonshine and without money, Tickle is out of options
07:11and drowning his sorrows is looking like the best thing to happen in weeks.
07:15I'll tell you what, we couldn't have met a better place than a damn bar.
07:22And time, too, to sell the score with his old still hand, Howard.
07:28What happened?
07:32Where you been?
07:35I've been here, brother.
07:37I know I ain't been where I'm supposed to be.
07:39No, you ain't been where you're supposed to be.
07:41I know, man.
07:43I've been looking for you and I've been having to do it all by myself.
07:46You know that's not right.
07:48I know, man. I got spooked.
07:50I ain't gonna lie to you.
07:52I mean, you put me in a hard spot.
07:56I let you down, man. I'm sorry for that.
08:03Over in western Kentucky, Moonshiner Tim has just stumbled
08:06on the motherlode of all moonshine legends.
08:09This is a repro of my dad's moonshine car.
08:12He put 200 gallons from here back to the end of the trunk.
08:14Nice-looking car.
08:16For Tim and Spencer, moonshine is part of their family's past
08:20and hopefully their future.
08:22I'm doing a lot of things that my dad did,
08:25and it's just a repeat of history, I guess.
08:28We kind of gain those things whether or not we want them or not.
08:32It's natural.
08:34And I'm trying to keep a family tradition going, too,
08:36a recipe handed down to my son,
08:38but I don't want him to go in the same footsteps.
08:41I don't want him to know anything about the illegal.
08:43I want him to know about it,
08:45but I don't want him to go in that route.
08:47Among moonshiners, it's a shared history that forges bonds.
08:51It sounds like they just mirrored each other's careers,
08:55you know, close calls here and not-so-close calls here,
08:58and, yeah, just all the way up.
09:01They kind of both had that code where they didn't speak about
09:04a lot of their business.
09:06If they knew something, they kept it to themselves.
09:09If they knew something about somebody else,
09:11they took it to their grave.
09:13That's just kind of the code and the type of fibre,
09:17almost like a pioneer spirit that those guys had.
09:21That's what you came for, buddy.
09:24Tim came to Kentucky to legal moonshiner Spencer,
09:28seeking advice and inspiration with his own quest to go legal.
09:32But what he's found is an opportunity
09:34that's got him licking his chops.
09:37It was my dad's last run.
09:43Spencer's father, like Tim's,
09:45was a moonshiner and bootlegger of the highest order.
09:49In the late 1950s, he was carrying 200 gallons of moonshine
09:53on a bootleg run when he was caught in a trap set by police.
09:58In order to escape arrest, he ran ahead and ditched his car
10:02and the moonshine in the Cumberland River
10:04before the cops could ever find him.
10:07Every shiner knows that a rare moonshine with history
10:10is always the most valuable
10:12and can command the highest price on the black market.
10:16And Tim, with his crowned as a fire department search and rescue leader,
10:20can hardly believe his luck.
10:22You're saying straight out here
10:24there's a .52 Chevrolet loaded with moonshine?
10:26200 gallons, yeah.
10:28200 gallons? Yeah.
10:30That's hard to believe that that car's out there
10:32and no-one has went to get it.
10:34Yeah, nobody never retrieved it.
10:36All the moonshiners, they have a cold day,
10:38you don't speak about your good runs or your bad runs.
10:40Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:42It's still there.
10:44That car is in the deepest part, right out there.
10:48Over the years, billions of dollars of liquor
10:51have been lost in the depths of America's waterways.
10:54In 2010, a diver found a shipwreck in Lake Michigan.
10:58After seeing a dark spot on a map,
11:00he discovered a cargo steamer from 1854.
11:05Reportedly carrying $100,000 in gold coins
11:09and 280 barrels of whiskey.
11:14And in 1856, a steamer sank
11:16with more than 16,000 gallons of fine Kentucky bourbon on board.
11:21Today, that's worth over $5 million.
11:24To this day, no-one has found it.
11:27Given the high value of salvaged whiskey,
11:30Tim and Spencer could be sitting on a gold mine.
11:35You know, when you tell me something that can't be done,
11:38that's when I want to do it.
11:40There's a custom among moonshiners,
11:42no good deed should ever go unpaid,
11:45and this one's a no-brainer for Tim.
11:47I know I'm a long ways from getting where you are right now,
11:50but a little bit of my return by helping me to the next step.
11:54I got some buddies in the fire department.
11:57We can just find out, is it there?
11:59Yeah, that would be unbelievable.
12:01It'd be like a treasure hunt.
12:03If Tim finds Spencer's lost moonshine,
12:05it might earn them both the payday of a lifetime.
12:08If that coil's down there and that moonshine's in there,
12:11we'll get it out.
12:12OK, that sounds like a plan.
12:14Coming up...
12:15It's our first run. I mean, it's liquor.
12:19That's disgusting.
12:22There's more orders coming in
12:24than a fella can fill with two stills.
12:26He needs a third one.
12:27Looks like Bill Gates is bound to me.
12:30There's something here that's unusual.
12:32We got something to look at.
12:36We're going to be dealing with them pressurised explosive gas
12:40around them open flames.
12:42We're past the point of no return.
12:56Bill, we actually have liquor coming through there.
12:59Liquor?
13:00We got liquor coming out.
13:04In South Carolina, rookie moonshiners Josh and Bill
13:07are finally brewing their first batch of shine of the season.
13:12But when they left a still to investigate a distress call
13:15from Josh's dog, Cutie Pie...
13:17What is it, girl?
13:19..they may have made a critical mistake.
13:22Oh, Josh!
13:24Josh and Bill have taken a shortcut.
13:26In order to run the still with less pressure,
13:29they're heating the mash barrel directly.
13:32We weren't paying attention for a little while.
13:34Next thing we know, we're running about 220-something degrees.
13:38That's way too hot.
13:40I mean, way too hot.
13:43There is an ideal temperature for distilling alcohol.
13:46If mash is cooked at a higher heat,
13:48it runs the risk of being scorched and worthless.
13:53So now, after all their hard work,
13:55this first batch of season could be compromised.
13:59We could have ruined the whole batch.
14:01Could we?
14:03I don't know. We just need to taste it and find out.
14:07Want to filter this? Yeah.
14:09The first two gallons of a moonshine run
14:12often contain purities of particles of mash,
14:15so straining the liquid through a cloth
14:17can help improve the quality of the whiskey.
14:20It's our first run. I mean, it's liquor.
14:23Oh, my God.
14:25Right on, right on.
14:27Here's to all our hard work.
14:29And here's to our first run.
14:36That's disgusting.
14:38It's got to be scorched.
14:40Damn it, man.
14:42That's disgusting.
14:43First run.
14:45Tastes like we filtered it through a polyester couch
14:47after a house fire.
14:49We got six gallons of poison.
14:51God, I'm so frustrated.
14:53I say we use the steamer next time.
14:55Ain't nothing to do except up it out and start again.
15:00Back in North Carolina...
15:02Who is that?
15:04We'll be trying to steal her later.
15:06What's going on? What are you doing?
15:08Goddamn little wafer, where'd he come from, anyway?
15:11..while making deliveries of their George Washington moonshines
15:14at one of their stash points in the brush,
15:16Mark and Jeff have hit a snag.
15:19Let's get this and get out of here.
15:21They spotted this thief stealing their whiskey.
15:24They quickly dropped it and ran,
15:26but now they worry that their convenient roadside drop-off point
15:29has been exposed.
15:31We'll have to figure out another spot to hide in.
15:34That site is compromised now.
15:36I maybe know what we're doing.
15:38You reckon he's still a-running? I guess he is.
15:40If he tells anyone what he knows,
15:42it's only a matter of time before the law finds out.
15:45Get that covered up and let's roll.
15:47Just the slightest hint that it's been Jeff and Mark
15:50supplying this dry county with liquor
15:52leaves them behind bars.
15:56Back in Virginia,
15:58Tickle is settling the score with his old still hand, Howard.
16:01Things didn't work out too good for me.
16:04I got people I owe money to.
16:06My partner got busted up.
16:08Now I can't afford to pay him.
16:10I know I done screwed you this time.
16:13I spooked, man, I'm going to be honest with you.
16:15Here's what it boils down to.
16:17You goddamn grow a set of nuts this big around,
16:21and they got to be brass.
16:24And after you done done it about ten years,
16:27they'll turn into stainless steel.
16:30Now I got guppy nuts, man.
16:33It comes with time.
16:35Have you talked to Tim?
16:37Mm-mm.
16:39What are we going to do?
16:41I don't know what I'm going to do.
16:44Back in North Carolina,
16:46a man who already has fears of steel
16:49is legendary bootlegger Don Wood.
16:52I am Don Wood.
16:54I'm from the great state of Tennessee.
16:56Some Uncle Ted's finest, straight from Tennessee.
16:59I live on the edge of this planet.
17:01Some people skydive right around moonshine.
17:04That's happy juice right there.
17:06A bootlegger for the last 11 years,
17:09Don is carrying out a renegade tradition
17:11that's generations in the making.
17:13I put between 50,000 and 60,000 miles a year on my motorcycles.
17:17I sleep in the woods a lot.
17:19This morning I brushed my teeth outside.
17:22Don is about to embark on an epic run
17:25from North Carolina to Colorado
17:27with multiple stops on the way.
17:29I think about jail time,
17:31but to me it's worth it because it is American.
17:34Presidents have made moonshine.
17:36There was a time it was currency in this country.
17:39It's not a hobby, this is what I do.
17:42This is who I am.
17:44But first he's got to pick up a load of shine.
17:48Due to a season compromised by drought and police busts
17:51throughout the region,
17:53Don is breaking one of the first rules of bootlegging,
17:56buying moonshine from a source he's never met.
17:59There's a lot of things that go through my mind
18:02when I'm pulling up.
18:04It's a tense situation for me.
18:06I am in a hurry.
18:08Can we make this happen?
18:10Let's do it.
18:12I don't know whether he's being watched
18:14or if his phone's being tapped.
18:16I don't want helicopters in the air.
18:18I don't want squad cars coming by.
18:21Because his usual sources have sold out their supply,
18:24he's trotting the tip of a fellow bootlegger
18:27and buying shine he doesn't know.
18:29It's a big risk to his reputation.
18:31This ain't good.
18:33Back up in the mountains,
18:36Mark, Jeff and Jim Tom
18:38need to strike while the iron is hot.
18:41Orders for George Washington Moonshine are piling up,
18:44but a run-in with a thief
18:46has compromised their ability to distribute their shine.
18:55So Jeff has reached out to an old friend and bootlegger
18:58to haul their liquor for them.
19:07Well, that's pretty good. That ain't no big sump.
19:17Sounds good to me.
19:19Having a third party running their liquor
19:21has an additional benefit.
19:24They won't be watching for him like they do us.
19:34So now they can ramp up production
19:36and continue to stay hidden from the law.
19:54I never do that, and I'm old.
19:59In order to keep a constant stash of mash around,
20:02Josh and Bill will need to pick up more corn
20:05from an undisclosed location.
20:13It must be behind a tree with a brush pile or something.
20:18There's a big-ass brush pile right there.
20:20I think that's it.
20:21Sweet.
20:24Josh and Bill have to be quick.
20:26Picking up this amount of corn
20:28is a dead giveaway of Moonshine activity.
20:31We're going to have to hurry up, man, before somebody comes.
20:35It's about to let the bottom out, man.
20:38Now that they have the ingredients,
20:40they can now attempt a successful run of Moonshine.
20:46Man, I'm out of here.
20:48I'm out of here.
20:50I'm out of here.
20:52I'm out of here.
20:54I'm out of here.
20:56I'm out of here.
20:58I'm out of here.
21:00I'm out of here.
21:03Man, if it ain't one thing, it's another.
21:11This has been nothing short of a pain in the ass.
21:17Nearby, legendary bootlegger Don Wood
21:21is picking up a load of shine from an unknown supplier.
21:25That's not bad.
21:27Lucky for him, it's good to go.
21:30He's got a lot riding on this run.
21:32His highest-profile buyer is getting married in four days.
21:363,000 kilometres away in Colorado,
21:39and he needs to keep his client happy.
21:41Take care. Be careful out there.
21:44Only a bootlegger with as many miles on the road as Don
21:48would attempt a run of this magnitude.
21:50It'll take all his years of experience
21:53for him to pull this off and get there on time.
21:56The jugs are exposed.
21:58There's not much I can do to camouflage.
22:01If we get to this point where they're searching my vehicle,
22:05it doesn't matter how it's camouflaged.
22:07I carry a clear liquid in gallon jugs.
22:10I'm headed out to the desert.
22:12I tote my own water.
22:14If he takes a drink of it, I'll probably go to jail.
22:19Coming up...
22:21I'm hauling moonshine on the highway.
22:23He turns from just a misdemeanor to a state or federal crime.
22:26We ain't got a lot of time left this season.
22:28You need to have something to eat,
22:30like a ground squirrel, something for the wintertime.
22:32Calvary's here.
22:33We're going to find Spencer's dad's moonshine in the water
22:36and we're going to pull it out.
22:50Mike and Tweedy are on a dangerous late-night run
22:53to drop a fresh batch of shine to a bedtime bugger.
22:56I'm hauling moonshine on the highway.
22:59He turns from just a misdemeanor to a state or federal crime.
23:03I'm a little nervous about that.
23:05The main thing is don't let nobody know what you're doing.
23:13Well, it's a little bit dangerous coming in here at night
23:16with people wondering what the hell you're doing
23:18a-pip-pooing around at night.
23:20Yeah, they can spot your lights awful easy.
23:23Mike and Tweedy may have been out of the game for a while,
23:26but they still have some trusted connections from back in the day.
23:29They've reached out to an old friend from Georgia.
23:34I appreciate it. We'll load you up and get you going right quick.
23:38My buyer, she's my connection in Atlanta.
23:41She's trustworthy, net-weathered forward.
23:44This is one of the most dangerous and vulnerable times
23:47to be a moonshiner.
23:49Getting caught while transporting
23:51a transaction involving moonshine
23:53often means the harshest of jail sentences.
23:57I got one corner right here.
23:59Mike and Tweedy dig the bottles out
24:01from under the pile of manure they use
24:03to camouflage their moonshine.
24:05Pactility.
24:07That's what you think, kiss.
24:09Some ideas are cleverer than others.
24:11Not only are they at their most vulnerable,
24:14they also smell like cow dirt.
24:16Good to go.
24:19Whew!
24:21Got my mouth full out every time I breathe.
24:24Oh, yeah.
24:26The cows really enjoyed it.
24:28But it worked.
24:30These veterans have made their first run in 15 years without a hitch.
24:33More importantly, they've got their first bit of cash,
24:36$2,500 to help out Mike's sick brother, Darren.
24:40Worked pretty slick. We got our money.
24:42We got our pay.
24:44Do some good fat.
24:46Get my brother out the best you can.
24:48Get squared away on our bill.
24:54Don's on the open road,
24:56heading to Colorado to supply his largest fire with moonshine.
25:00This stuff ain't good.
25:02He picked up 40 gallons from an unknown seller in North Carolina
25:05at the start of his journey.
25:09DW, what's happening, brother?
25:11And is now stopping at an old friend's place
25:13in the hills of southern Missouri.
25:15Oh, hot dog.
25:17A bootleg run of this magnitude isn't cheap,
25:21and Don is preparing his signature drink, cinnamon apple pie,
25:25which he will sell at stops along the way.
25:27Back in the old days, they would use whatever crop
25:30they had available to make liquor.
25:32What I've mixed up, a lot of people are calling it apple pie.
25:36It's really not apple pie.
25:38Apple pie is made with apple cider.
25:41Apple cinnamon, what I make, is made with apple juice.
25:45I was watching on TV this morning.
25:47They were talking about building the Erie Canal.
25:50The Irishman got paid 50 cent a day and 32 ounces of whiskey.
25:55They were talking about President Abraham Lincoln being a teetotaler.
25:59Never had alcohol, but he owned three taverns.
26:02Moonshine has been part of our culture since the beginning.
26:08With no time to lose, Don is back on the road towards Colorado.
26:12If he misses the wedding, he'll lose his largest buyer.
26:18Back in North Carolina, now that Jeff, Mark and Jim Tom
26:22have a plan to distribute their new pitchfix shine,
26:25they'll need to figure out a way to keep up with high demand.
26:28I get calls all the time. We've got ours running out of airs.
26:32There's more orders coming in than a fella can fill with two stales.
26:36He needs a third one.
26:37Jeff's George Washington recipe has been so successful...
26:41I like to be the sampler.
26:42...they now have more orders than they can handle.
26:46How big a stale are you wanting to build this time?
26:49Well, it won't take a great big whopper, but say 15 to 20 of them at least.
26:54We ain't got a lot of time left this season.
26:57You need to have something put back, like a ground squirrel,
27:00a ground squirrel sometime in the wintertime.
27:02About right now, we can't get far enough head to ground squirrel in.
27:05Well, get the material set in on it.
27:08That is if I can still remember how to build them.
27:10I don't believe you can.
27:14Over in western Kentucky,
27:16Tim's been drawn back into the illegal world of moonshine.
27:20He's returned to the land between the lakes to meet Spencer
27:24to help find a staff whiskey resting in the old Cumberland River Channel
27:28on the bottom of Lake Barclay.
27:30Spencer!
27:31This bounty was abandoned by Spencer's father
27:35when he had to ditch his car in the river on his last moonshine run ever.
27:40He got away, but his car, a 1952 Chevy
27:44with 200 gallons of shine in the back seat,
27:47has remained untouched and undisturbed in the water for over 50 years.
27:52Calvary's here. Good to see you.
27:55Spencer here told me a story about his dad running off the bridge.
27:59We're going to find out if Spencer's dad's car is still underwater,
28:02and if it's got 200 gallons of moonshine in it, we're going to pull it out.
28:05We've got Pat here.
28:06Hey, Pat. Good to meet you.
28:08He's got some equipment that'll go down and see what's under the water.
28:11And I've got some divers on the way, so if Pat says,
28:14yes, it's safe and it looks like something we're looking for,
28:17something like a 1952 Chevrolet,
28:19then we may want to go down and pull this thing out.
28:21That sounds great.
28:23Out on the water, a search and rescue dive team awaits their orders.
28:28While Pat, an underwater topographical mapping expert, gets ready for the hunt.
28:35Pat tells me if it's down there, he can find it.
28:38Maybe we'll get lucky, you know.
28:40If the shine is found in mint condition,
28:42the value of this lost cash could be a whopping $1,000 a gallon on the black market.
28:50Dad's story always was that it took six minutes for a 52 Chevy to sink
28:56in Cumberland River.
28:58Spencer's father abandoned his moonshine-filled car
29:02to avoid being caught by authorities.
29:04He drove it into what was then known as the Cumberland River.
29:08During the six minutes it took to sink,
29:10river currents may have carried the car to three-quarters of a mile away from the bridge.
29:16To further complicate the search,
29:18in 1972, the Teddy Value Authority dammed up the river,
29:24which now means the abandoned moonshine could be anywhere
29:27in an area as large as two square miles.
29:30Tim may as well be looking for a needle in a haystack.
29:37That's where the old, that's where the bridge is, it's dark.
29:40Yeah.
29:41And you have a road on each side of the bridge.
29:43Here's the real river channel right here.
29:45So go more to the right, Pat.
29:4725 feet now, see?
29:49So when it's getting ready to drop off, that's where the river's at.
29:52Oh, 30 feet, OK.
29:5446 feet.
29:5650 feet.
29:57Wow.
29:58You get deep breathing.
29:59So that tells me that car's got to be right there.
30:05Back on dry land, legendary bootlegger Don
30:08is making a stop in Kansas at a bike rally
30:11to test and sell some of his own Apple Cinnamon Shine.
30:14It took almost 12 hours to get here today.
30:18You just do what you gotta do to make stuff happen.
30:22Don's got to come up with a way to sell his shine.
30:25If he doesn't, he won't have enough cash to make it to Lorado.
30:28Walk that around and introduce it to your friends.
30:32All right.
30:33Would you do that for me?
30:34That's how it works.
30:36That little croc will make its way around the fire
30:39and a little bit later I'll introduce this Apple Cinnamon to the crowd
30:43and they'll say, man, that's real good.
30:46This is a dangerous time for Don.
30:48The law is known to infiltrate bucker rallies.
30:51We don't know what he's walking into, but he doesn't have a choice.
30:54Do you want straight moonshine or do you want Apple Cinnamon?
30:58One wrong sale could end his bootlegging career in jail.
31:02It's a calculated risk Don must take
31:04if he's going to complete his trip to Colorado
31:06and keep his biggest client happy.
31:09We're going to have a good time.
31:11Whoa, look at the women! Yeah!
31:14Perfect.
31:17Back in North Carolina.
31:19Back at it again.
31:22Jeff, Mark and Jim Tom have more orders than they can fill.
31:26We've got orders running out of our ears.
31:28There's more orders coming in than a fella can fill with two stills.
31:31He needs a third one.
31:33Legendary moonshiner Jim Tom is doing what he does best,
31:37putting his 30-plus years of still-building expertise to work
31:40and constructing a third still that they'll use
31:43to run their popular George Washington Shine.
31:46Now I'm going to start on the cape that goes up on top.
31:52You know, you sure are getting a lot of cowls for whiskey
31:55when you start building three stills and you've got two a-going.
31:59Jim Tom doesn't normally make copper pro bono,
32:03but Jeff isn't just anyone.
32:05Jim Tom has been mentoring Jeff, along with his father,
32:08since he was knee-high to a grasshopper.
32:12One day while Jeff was there, he come to visit me.
32:16And we kept a-talking and a-talking
32:18and got started on liquor stills and moonshining.
32:22He said, I'd like to get into that.
32:24I said, Jeff, I'll just go ahead and train you how.
32:27Then you make the good moonshine and I'll build the stills.
32:31So I built this rig for him. He come and got it.
32:34Now he said, I need to know some ingredients.
32:36So I began to tell him.
32:39I said, don't you run that lately.
32:42I did, I calculated.
32:43Then one day I said, you run it tomorrow.
32:45Then he put his run up.
32:48Jeff there, here he come a-taking five gallons into my yard
32:52and said, see what's the matter with this?
32:55Them bubbles is too big.
32:57I said, Jeff, that's real high whiskey.
33:00I said, all you got to do is to proof it.
33:03He said, I done poured out two or three gallons.
33:05I said, you crazy? Dang you.
33:07You think I'd run that much good whiskey?
33:12Just a liquor sale is all it is.
33:15It ain't supposed to be beautiful cos nobody supposed to see it.
33:18But that's moonshiners.
33:22They's what make a living besides a public job.
33:26It look like Bill Gates' bank account to me.
33:33Back in South Carolina,
33:35it's take two for Josh and Bill.
33:37In an effort to save time,
33:39they've turned their steam still into a traditional pot still
33:42and scorched the mash, making it undrinkable.
33:46Ain't nothing to do except for dump it out and start again.
33:50God, I'm so frustrated.
33:52I say we use the steamer next time.
33:54Damn it, man.
33:57You take a sip off Scorched Liquor
33:59and it tastes like you're drinking the dishwater
34:02out of the bottom of a burnt cornbread pan.
34:04It's pretty depressing to waste that time and effort
34:07and money on the mash
34:09and then still getting slapped back down.
34:15We were so ready to see some liquor spitting out of this thing, man.
34:19We got a little anxious.
34:21We were both a little anxious, man.
34:23And then we threw the flame to it
34:25and we ruined 55 gallons of mash.
34:30I mean...
34:32We made a pretty big mistake.
34:34But guess what we learned?
34:36We learned some invaluable knowledge, man.
34:38Too much heat is not a good thing.
34:40We know what to do now.
34:42We know this isn't something we're going to get in a hurry with.
34:45Your design on this, man, it's perfect,
34:47as long as we run it like we're supposed to.
34:50But, man, if we scorch our mash again,
34:52man, that's going to be like a punch gut.
34:55You're telling me.
34:57If we get this right, it's going to be pay dirt.
35:01It's going to be shine time.
35:05There's only one option left for these rookies,
35:08and a dangerous one.
35:10Putting their ultra-high pressure steam still to the test.
35:13So this time, we're going to run it as a steamer-style still.
35:16It'll be very dangerous if it's not made properly.
35:22Josh and Bill are now using the steamer still as it should be.
35:26Once we get this thing cranked up,
35:28we're going to have some supplemental heat under our mash.
35:31We're going to be dealing with then pressurized explosive gas, man.
35:35I think we need to take this a lot more seriously than we have been.
35:38It's going to be a long night, man.
35:40We better get this thing cranked.
35:42But if we get this right, it's going to be pay dirt.
35:49Mike and Tweedy are $2,500 richer
35:53and riding high after their first successful run.
35:57The first 25 gallons of wine they brewed went to their contact in Atlanta
36:01with the promise of more if she liked it.
36:04She did.
36:06She liked it so much, she placed an order way larger than they expected.
36:10Enough moonshine to clear 15 grand tax-free,
36:14if they can get it done.
36:16She said they really like that stuff down there.
36:18She said as quick as we could get it, they would really appreciate it.
36:23They need to go big, very big.
36:27Easy to sell good liquor, especially if it tastes good.
36:30What do we need to make, 200, 300 gallons?
36:33If we could run that much a week, that would really help.
36:36Get us a bigger steel and make more liquor.
36:43You hear that, Tweedy? Yeah.
36:46We set the tip line as an early warning system.
36:56Let's go see, check the tip wire and see what it looks like.
37:04I don't see anybody running no more than you.
37:07See any footprints up there?
37:16Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing with that damn gun?
37:37You hear that, Tweedy? Yeah.
37:40In Graham County, North Carolina, Mike and Tweedy are on high alert.
37:48What the hell? You hear that? Yeah.
37:51Something or someone has disturbed their trip wire.
37:58Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing with that damn gun?
38:00You're getting an ice load out of the jail.
38:02If it's a hunter or the law, their days as moonshiners are numbered.
38:10That string's broke.
38:16Back on the lake, Tim leads a search and rescue team
38:19on a mission to find a lost stash of illegal moonshine.
38:23After 50 years, it moved on down.
38:25I mean, if you have a one-mile-an-hour current,
38:27it can easily drift before it actually hits the bottom.
38:30They're exploring an area that could be as large as two square miles.
38:3546 feet.
38:37So go more to the right there.
38:39Right in here, right in here, don't go too far.
38:41All right, go to the right.
38:45See, see, it's dropping off.
38:47So about right here, probably.
38:51Now Pat drops his side-scan sonar into the murky waters.
38:56Just one part of a complex $50,000 satellite sonar system
39:01that will make the invisible visible.
39:05The sonar missile hangs off the front of the boat,
39:08bouncing sound waves into the depths.
39:10Images of the lake bed are recorded,
39:12and Pat interprets the sonic shadows, looking for anything unusual.
39:1750 feet there.
39:19Potential hits start to read on the screen.
39:25There's something here that's unusual.
39:29The rough dimensions are about right.
39:31You know, it's about eight foot wide.
39:33This one looks the most promising.
39:59Luckily for them, the intruder wasn't human.
40:05But their troubles aren't over.
40:08The leaves are starting to change, leaving them dangerously exposed.
40:12They can stay and risk everything, or relocate and lose precious time.
40:28We decided to move out and try to find an indoor spot.
40:31We're going to step it up now and make a big run,
40:34get down through the water if we can.
40:37I probably wouldn't do this,
40:39but situations, they call for drastic measures.
40:46There's something here that's unusual.
40:49The rough dimensions are about right.
40:52You know, it's about eight foot wide.
40:54Tim's got a result in his quest for the lost moonshine treasure.
40:57We got three points that we're going to look at.
40:59But right now, we're sitting right on top of this.
41:01It looks like a car. I don't know.
41:04All right, so right there is where we need to put our diver in.
41:07We got something to look at.
41:08Yeah, I think we're a good target.
41:10Tim calls in the other half of his search and rescue team, the divers.
41:16How you doing, man?
41:17Good to see y'all.
41:18Well, y'all guys get suited up, and we see a big object down there.
41:23And sends them 50 feet down into the frigid, murky waters
41:27with no idea of what's waiting for them.
41:37Turn that gas on, brother.
41:42In South Carolina, Josh and Bill are getting ready
41:45to use their steamer still for the first time.
41:48Running it as a traditional pot still resulted in scorched mash.
41:56Like these rookie shiners, their steamer still is untested.
42:01If there are any leaks in the still, the highly flammable gas could escape
42:04and be ignited by the propane burners, blowing the whole thing sky-high.
42:09That's the ferry feed.
42:11With this rig that we got, man, we're going to be dealing with
42:14that pressurized explosive gas.
42:17Around them open flames.
42:20It's serious business, man.
42:21The time for playing has been long over.
42:26She's been building.
42:27I can feel her cooking.
42:35We're out here in the middle of them woods milling knives.
42:37We got these propane tanks.
42:40Bill, it don't matter now.
42:41We're paying for it on a no return.
42:43It's get it done or don't get it done.
42:46If something goes wrong here, we'll be blowing sky-high.
43:01Next time on Moonshiners...
43:03Now get some more women for me.
43:06It looks like tickle.
43:07I'm owing some people some money.
43:09Can you help me?
43:12I'm afraid that this project is doomed.
43:14We're behind schedule, as always.
43:16$36 a gallon, man.
43:19You hear that?
43:20A fire truck.
43:21Damn it.
43:22I'm nervous as a whore in church.
43:25I hope this is it.
43:28Start yelling, Jack.
43:29Run, run, run.
43:32We just know they're going to come up with a piece of this car.