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00:00This time on Moonshiners.
00:02I need the same liquors in those jugs.
00:04Joey Arrington, he wants to break the land speed record
00:07in a stock car.
00:08Hot dog.
00:10This is a huge run for us.
00:11And we've got Joey's stamp on it, the pear.
00:14Oh, yeah, it's coming out right now.
00:16Kelly, what the hell?
00:18All that hard work we did to mash these peaches
00:21is strewn all over the ground.
00:23All right, here we go.
00:24What I'm going to do is make us a big net.
00:27Hopefully, these bears can't get to it.
00:29This is the moment of truth.
00:30Just don't kill me from above.
00:32Peaches is good.
00:33Blueberries is good.
00:34Why wouldn't they be good together?
00:35Digger and I, we can use a payday.
00:38You smell that?
00:39What in the hell?
00:40Sulfur dioxide.
00:41It may have cost us a whole run of damn liquor.
00:46This is how we make the moonshine.
01:01Just keep your eyes open.
01:02That's all you've got to do.
01:06Hit me.
01:07No, he's a fuck.
01:08Listen.
01:10You hear that?
01:12Listen.
01:16That's the cops.
01:21We are so f***ed.
01:22In Polk County, North Carolina, after fleeing his underground still site when a team of surveyors
01:29came too close for comfort, Josh returns to the scene of the crime only to discover law
01:35enforcement dismantling a decade's worth of hard work.
01:39They're taking my steel, Henry.
01:42Jim Tom helped me build that.
01:43I'm telling you right now, you couldn't give me $10,000 for that thing to replace it.
01:48Everything we've been through to build this, put it all together, make it all good, the deer stand,
01:52everything we have here, everything I've built, gone.
01:56This ain't happening.
01:57What's he got in his hand?
01:59Oh, man.
02:00He got that cap.
02:04Beautiful cap, man.
02:06Yep.
02:15Oh, man.
02:19Henry, what are we going to do now?
02:21Well, I'll tell you what.
02:23I don't know about g-halls, but we're out of here.
02:25We're going back to Virginia.
02:26Yeah, man.
02:27I'm lucky I'm not in jail.
02:28I just lost my steel site, lost my steel, my equipment.
02:31Looks like we're on our way to Virginia where I know that I'm safe.
02:35I'm not going to go to jail.
02:36I'm going to lay low in Virginia till things cool down.
02:38We need to be gone.
02:40Let's roll.
02:40Come on.
02:41There's another one there.
02:51What you doing, puss?
02:53Just sitting here listening to that creek run.
02:55You ready to make a little peach liquor?
02:57In Cock County, Tennessee, after extracting the juice from 40 bushels of hail-damaged peaches...
03:04They're looking like they're mushing up.
03:05Oh, we got juice coming all over.
03:08Mark and Digger return to their backwoods still site with plans to turn the free juice into a top-selling
03:15peach brandy recipe.
03:16What do you say we make some peach blueberry liquor?
03:21Now, peaches is good and blueberries is good.
03:24Why wouldn't they be good together?
03:25I don't know.
03:26A while back, we bought a bunch of these blueberries.
03:29You know, they've done been paid for.
03:31Now, they were very expensive, but I'm thinking if we can enhance the peach with these blueberries, it may be
03:37good enough that it'll command a higher price.
03:40I mean, these dehydrated blueberries, taste how sweet they are.
03:44Oh, I done did.
03:45They're Locky Jaws, they're so sweet.
03:46The thing about it is, you know, we'll have to cook them a little bit to rehydrate them, but that's
03:50less sugar we'll have to use.
03:52Let's do it if we're going to do it.
03:53These are sweetened blueberries, meaning they've got sugar in them.
03:57You know, that sugar's going to come through and it's going to make liquor.
04:00You all right back there?
04:02Yeah, hell, I'm going to take two days to straighten back up.
04:05And if we use half the sugar, that means we've kind of lessened the blow at the expense of those
04:09blueberries.
04:10First thing we need to do is get some water heating.
04:14You know, we finally got everything mulled into the steel side.
04:17We're going to make a whole tote full of mash.
04:22We got a steel pot full of water heating up to melt the sugar in the tote and steep the
04:28peach juice and pulp.
04:30And we have a smaller pot of water heating up that we're going to steep the blueberries in to get
04:35them to rehydrate.
04:36Peach juice don't look so appetizing when it ain't got no artificial dyes in it, does it?
04:41You know, and that's going to be so good with them blueberries.
04:44Well, we can hope so.
04:45These are very sweet peaches, and the blueberries are a little bit tart.
04:49I think they'll complement each other very well.
04:53Damn, that smells good.
04:56Moonshiners never turn down any ingredient if it's free, no matter what it is.
05:00Especially peaches, they're high dollar.
05:02You know, our profit margin's slim, but sometimes you've got to step in on the edge if you're going to
05:05make a deal.
05:06With any luckiest blueberry peach brandy, it'll turn out to be something people really want.
05:11We can put a little extra price tag on it.
05:13Put it to it.
05:14I know both of them make good liquor on their own.
05:18Maybe they'll make good liquor together.
05:28So, I can picture peaches and cream moonshine over vanilla ice cream.
05:32Yeah, if it sounds good to eat, it'd probably be good in a drink.
05:36100 miles southwest in Graham County, North Carolina, Amanda and Kelly haul their half of the same free peach juice
05:44with different plans to concoct a profitable peach moonshine recipe.
05:49Peaches are one of my favorite ingredients to make moonshine out of.
05:52I like it.
05:53Customers like it.
05:53It's one of the best ingredients we can get our hands on.
05:55So, heading to the still site to mash this much peaches is very exciting.
05:59So, all these free peaches and all this grain should make us some peaches and cream liquors, is what you're
06:07saying.
06:08Yeah.
06:08Oats tend to lend a creamy mouthfeel to whiskeys.
06:11You add your oats, you cook them, you add the sugar to sweeten them up, and you add the peaches.
06:15Delicious.
06:16Oat milk is actually a popular dairy substitute.
06:18It has the same creaminess and mouthfeel as regular milk.
06:20So, we're going to use oats in our whiskey.
06:22We could totally make peaches and cream by adding some kind of a dairy product after distillation, but that would
06:27give it a limited shelf life.
06:29We also have so many peaches, it's enough to do several runs.
06:32So, I don't see why we can't play around with some different ingredients, diversify a little bit, and try to
06:37make a more specialty recipe.
06:38You got water coming.
06:40I grew up eating oatmeal when I was a kid with sugar in it.
06:43And my mama would treat me with strawberries and peaches and pears and apples.
06:47So, anything that you can mix with cream and oatmeal sounds good to me.
06:53Why is it not catching?
06:57Oh, my God.
07:00Oats in the barrels.
07:01Oats in the barrels.
07:03And then we'll just...
07:04Put that pump of hot water over in.
07:06Yep.
07:07The process of what we're going to do to mash in today is cook the oats with the boiling water.
07:11Now you see the creaminess coming out.
07:13Ah, it smells like oatmeal.
07:15Melt our sugar that we're adding to bump our volume a little bit and add the peach puree on top.
07:21Hot diggity dog, look at that.
07:22So, there's a lot of solids going on in this mash.
07:25With the rolled oats, any peach pits that might be left over.
07:28So, we're going to mash in outside of the pot today in these barrels.
07:31That way, we can kind of just siphon a mash off the top into the pot and avoid any solids
07:36going on top of the foreburn.
07:39We got more free peaches than we know what to do with.
07:42They smell delicious.
07:44Oh, yeah.
07:45This mash, while it's cooking here, just the warm aroma coming off of it, smells incredible.
07:50All that's left is to feed the little yeast babies.
07:53This is going to make an amazing alcohol when it's all fermented off.
07:56Cover these up and get out of here.
08:04On my way to Virginia, done lost my steel site, lost my steel.
08:08Me and Jim Tom built that steel together.
08:10It meant the world to me.
08:12I wouldn't take $10,000 for it.
08:14Me and my dad made the last run of liquor we ever made together before he passed away on that
08:18steel.
08:19It's been a hell of a season.
08:21I think my best option is just going to Virginia with Paige and Henry and Tickle and just lay low.
08:28Maybe make a little bit of liquor with them or something other.
08:32And for the life of me, I can't figure out how I'm not sitting in jail right now.
08:37All I can figure is they must be building the case against me because why did they not wait for
08:42me to come back?
08:44My cousin Brent used to be on the sheriff's department, so he's got a really good relationship with everybody.
08:49I think I'm going to call him.
08:53Hello?
08:54Hello?
08:55Hey.
08:56Josh, what you up to?
08:57Because so much I don't even know where to start.
09:00Did you hear about a bakery blowing up or anything or a bunch of bakery equipment flying through the air?
09:10No, I heard about a bakery getting shut down, though.
09:13I heard that bakery was really impressive.
09:15That was a good one, man.
09:17I ain't heard nothing about the equipment or anything, though.
09:21Well, most importantly, they don't have any idea who was running the bakery.
09:25No.
09:27No, I just heard it was shut down.
09:29I don't think they know who owns it.
09:32The equipment's gone, though.
09:33I do know that.
09:35Do me a favor and keep your eyes and ears open and see what you can come up with for
09:40me.
09:41You know I'll call you if I hear anything.
09:42Okay, buddy.
09:43Appreciate it, cuz.
09:50The good news is they don't have any idea it was my skill set.
09:55Man, am I lucky I didn't go to jail.
10:06Josh, come on, man.
10:07Got a whole lot to do here, son.
10:09It's time to rock and roll with everybody.
10:10Might as well just get up off of that truck.
10:11Man, I know it's part of being an outlaw, part of being a moonshiner.
10:15It don't make it no easier when you get caught and you got to pay the piper.
10:17You know what I mean?
10:18I've lost so many steel sites over the years, but this is the second one I've lost this year.
10:23So it really hurts.
10:25They took my favorite steel.
10:27Right now, I'm just going to lay low in Virginia, but I'm still worried to death that the police are
10:30going to tie me to that steel site.
10:32Good seeing you, boss.
10:33You doing all right?
10:35I don't know.
10:35I wish I could tell you it was better.
10:37You wouldn't believe all the this happened.
10:38They took the thumpers.
10:39They took the worms.
10:41They took everything.
10:42God.
10:42So we're glad to see you here because I'm going to put you to work.
10:45I'm always ready to work.
10:47If I'm going to be up here, I might as well make myself useful and go to work.
10:49I'd rather be working than stewing about everything that I've lost.
10:52I'm sure you've heard of Buddy Arrington.
10:54The race car driver?
10:55Yeah.
10:56You know, he used to bootleg for us years ago.
10:58His son, Joey, reached out to us about doing a little project.
11:02Oh, yeah?
11:03Yeah.
11:05Virginia native Buddy Arrington was one of the last professional stock car racers with true outlaw moonshine roots.
11:12He built his own race cars the hard way by farming tobacco, selling used cars, and bootlegging moonshine.
11:20Through the 1970s and 80s, with no factory backing or big money sponsors, Buddy raced in his number 67 Dodge,
11:29earning 103 top 10 finishes and over a million dollars in prize money.
11:34Proof that with backwood spirit and a little tax-free ingenuity, a bootlegger could still hold his own with the
11:41best drivers in the world.
11:44You in or not?
11:45How the heck could I not be?
11:46Roll with it, then.
11:47Yeah, let's do it.
11:48You know, this year we really hadn't made any sales, and we've got to make us some money.
11:53It's time to go see Joey and see exactly what he's talking about.
11:56All right, Josh.
11:57Don't wet your pants when you go here, buddy.
11:59I already am.
12:00You never know rolling into Joey's that you're rolling into some stock car legend's place.
12:05It's just an old shopping mall.
12:06He should be right in here, y'all.
12:08What do you think about these, Josh?
12:09My ass is right up my alley.
12:12It doesn't look like your typical garage.
12:15I can't believe they build motors for stock car racing here.
12:18There he is, Joey.
12:19Henry.
12:20What's going on, buddy?
12:20Been a while.
12:21Yeah, trying to keep it all straight.
12:23Seeing Henry and Joey together, it's like time never passed, and they immediately went and telling stories about their dads.
12:29His dad got pulled off a load of liquor that we had loaded in a vehicle that was running about
12:33180 miles an hour.
12:35You know, I was just a young man when Buddy Arringer started coming and buying liquor off my dad.
12:39Here they are discussing, and I guess you can see they're all licking in the back seat.
12:43Matter of fact, I loaded him that night.
12:45He got caught with that 240 gallons heading to Danville.
12:48You know, we're going to Cape Canaveral January 2nd, and we're going to break the land speed record for a
12:53stock car.
12:53I need you to replicate the same liquors in those jugs back in 1971 so I can carry it with
13:00me to Cape Canaveral to Florida.
13:02I know what that recipe is.
13:03It's a wheat-based liquor.
13:05This is a very special order.
13:06He wants to go down and he wants to break the land speed record in a stock car.
13:11And he wants the same liquor that his daddy was loaded down with when he got busted when he breaks
13:16the land speed record.
13:17Can we do something to this liquor?
13:18Something special to it so I can sort of put my check mark on it.
13:21We could add some fruit to it.
13:23What kind of fruit do you like?
13:24Whatever makes sense to you guys.
13:26You know, personally, I like pear.
13:27Pear would be good, man.
13:28Buddy of ours, Paige, he's got some pear trees up there, right?
13:31Yeah.
13:32I know a buddy of mine has got some pear trees.
13:34Hopefully, we can get the pears that we need.
13:36We're going to take a wheat, add a little bit of pear to it.
13:38I think we can cut them a good price, don't you all?
13:40I think so.
13:41What about maybe, what, maybe $60 a gallon?
13:44Around $15,000, you going to be okay with that?
13:47You know, I'd much rather just that you guys sponsor it and just give it to me.
13:51Give it to you.
13:52That's how it works in racing.
13:53Well, I probably will do that because of Buddy, but I don't know if other boys go along with it.
13:56Hey, $15,000 is nothing when we set that record.
14:00All right.
14:00Knowing what Joey's going to do with his liquor, beat that land speed record, and celebrate the recognition of his
14:06father, there's no better feeling.
14:08Let's roll on with it.
14:09Now it's time for us to get to work.
14:11What do you think, Josh?
14:12I'm like a kid in a candy store here.
14:19So this wasn't a log in there.
14:21Did they log this whole area?
14:22I don't see it.
14:22There's not a lot of old growth here.
14:24Yeah, it's been logged.
14:26Kelly, what the hell?
14:27What?
14:29There's not a single mash barrel standing up right now.
14:32Are you freaking kidding me?
14:33We just pulled up to the still site, and there's something seriously wrong.
14:39Unbelievable.
14:40All that hard work we did to mash these peaches is strewn all over the ground.
14:44This mash is gone.
14:45I don't even know what to do at this point.
14:47We've got these game cameras, so we might as well check some footage.
14:51Let me get this pulled up here.
14:54All right, here we go.
14:57That's a really big bear.
15:03And he just spilled a mash barrel.
15:05He literally has got it by the mouth, dragging it around.
15:09We put cameras all around our still site.
15:11Sure enough, we call them red-handed.
15:14Dude, I don't even want to watch this, to be honest with you.
15:15It just makes me angry.
15:17I mean, it is ridiculous.
15:20I mean, it's like they called the whole family in for a dad-blamed bear party.
15:23At least they ain't bothered to steal.
15:26It don't look like they've tore anything else up.
15:28No, I know.
15:29We have to figure out a way to make it work.
15:30Even if we try to come and mash back in, they're just going to overturn all the barrels again.
15:34We drove all the way to South Carolina to get these free peaches.
15:37We've already crushed all these peaches with a backhoe,
15:39so if we don't mash them in soon and make some alcohol out of them pretty fast,
15:43we're going to lose the whole batch.
15:44There's just no time for us to set up a whole other still site
15:47before these peaches go bad, so we've got to figure out a different solution.
15:51Wait a minute.
15:52You know what you do when you're camping to keep your stuff bear-proofed?
15:57You hang it.
15:58Right.
15:59We hang our mash.
16:02When you're bear-proofing something, if you're in the backwoods and there's any bear activity,
16:06you don't keep any food with you, on you, near you, or anything else.
16:10Okay, I can see hanging, like, a backpack.
16:12What, suspend four mash barrels in the air?
16:16Let me think on it.
16:17This right here is going to be one of them redneck ingenuity engineering problems.
16:22I guess I'll mash back in.
16:26Well, you figure that out at least.
16:27Now at least half of our peaches are totally destroyed, gone to the bears.
16:31It leaves us very little options to play around and do different runs with the peaches,
16:34but I'm determined to stick with the peaches and cream recipe.
16:36I know the combination of the peaches with the oats is going to be a premium product that's going to
16:41fetch us good money.
16:42There's one saving grace.
16:43We've still got peaches.
16:50If we've made any mash, we'll probably make a little liquor.
16:53Well, Digger and myself, we're headed into the woods now to do a run of our peach blueberry that we've
16:59got mashed in.
17:00And, you know, we're really counting on it to be a showstopper.
17:06It's bitter, ain't it?
17:07It's got alcohol.
17:09We've got a tube before to set this pump up on.
17:11I've got absolutely everything we need.
17:13This has been a very, very slim season so far for us.
17:17We can kill it.
17:18We worked really hard to make this mash.
17:23Fingers crossed that it's an outstanding drink because, honestly, Digger and I, we can use a payday.
17:30You know, them dead young blueberries is so expensive.
17:33We spend a lot of money, even though we've got the peaches free.
17:37But if it's a really good product, it'll command a bigger price than just peach brandy.
17:41You know, personally, I've got a lot riding on this.
17:44Well, we'll be having liquor shortly.
17:46I thought maybe to do something different and make us stand out a little more.
17:50Nobody that I know of has ever done a peach blueberry brandy, and we certainly haven't.
17:58Patty, you smell that?
18:01A little bit.
18:01I believe we've got a gas leak.
18:03Propane around the liquor still, the leaking, ain't good.
18:07I ain't seeing no bubbles, are you?
18:09No.
18:10If you don't play your cards right, it's a recipe for disaster.
18:13But I smell it.
18:14It smells sulfur-y, don't it?
18:16Yeah, it does.
18:18Gets you a nose hit.
18:22What in the hell?
18:24Sulfur.
18:24I mean, what would have caused that?
18:28Them blueberries were dehydrated, but they don't preserve nothing with them sulfur, do they?
18:33Yeah, sulfur dioxide.
18:36We've used dehydrated fruits in the past, but we've never had a problem with the sulfur dioxide.
18:40Keep in mind, these dried blueberries came from a source we've never used before.
18:45Now, I'm going to bet that there was some type of a sulfur or sulfur gas that had been pumped
18:50into them blueberries to keep them from molding.
18:52Apparently, boiling it magnifies it.
18:55So me and my bright blueberry idea may have cost us a whole run of damn liquor.
19:06They don't matter.
19:07We've got to run it.
19:08We've got to see what we've got.
19:09Yeah, we can't stop right now.
19:11Whether it's worth a or not.
19:12Right now, I'm sold on the fact that there's sulfur dioxide, preservative on these blueberries, that come out during the
19:19cooking.
19:20There it comes.
19:24Oh, yeah.
19:25Stout.
19:25Yeah, it's stout.
19:26Damn.
19:27This sulfur, it's not dangerous.
19:29It just ain't real pleasant.
19:31I hope it all comes out in them heads.
19:34Ain't nothing comes easy but the hard time.
19:36We're just grasping straws here, really.
19:38We're going to let a whole lot of heads run off.
19:41Hopefully, that'll eliminate the rest of this odor and smell.
19:45Really, it's just kind of a slap in the face, especially for me, because I'm the one that talked digger
19:51into going with the blueberries.
19:58Yeah, there's plenty of flavor in there that we're looking for.
20:01Then that odd flavor comes in.
20:06That damn rotten egg sulfur comes in.
20:09If we're going to salvage this run at all, we've got to try to figure out some way to remove
20:15it.
20:16My question is, is there any way to take the sulfides out of it after it's been run?
20:22Now, these several things, rerunning it comes to mind right off the bat.
20:27We can aerate it.
20:28That brings some of it out.
20:30It'll gas off.
20:32Charcoal filter it.
20:33The last effort we'll throw into it's rerunning.
20:36Well, I say that we run it as far as we can.
20:39Get all the liquor out of that mash and start fixing it.
20:43Yeah.
20:43Can't make no sales if you ain't got no liquor, so we ain't got no choice but to run this.
20:48It's pretty and clear, though.
20:49That's a plus.
20:50I think if we incorporate all the corrections we know, I think we might very well just come away with
20:56clean liquor.
20:57Keep her fingers crossed.
21:04Beautiful.
21:05Come on by.
21:06Gold, Pager, gold.
21:08We got a really big order.
21:10240 gallons of liquor for Joey Arrington.
21:13He's the son of legendary stock car racer Buddy Arrington.
21:17Peach.
21:17Now, he wants the same amount of liquor that his dad got busted with when he heads down south to
21:23break the stock car land speed record.
21:251,600 gallons worth of steel right there.
21:28Bringing these two 800-gallon pots and setting up where our steam rig is is darn near impossible.
21:33I'm afraid these things would float right out of the bed of the truck as we're going out the river.
21:37So we're going to set up at a total different steel site.
21:39Flat spot right here.
21:41Putting an end in.
21:41Double them up.
21:42Mm-hmm.
21:42Double them up.
21:43This steel site is great.
21:45And I'm lucky to be back here with Tickle, Paige, and Henry.
21:48Right now, I'm just going to lay low in Virginia until I'm sure I ain't going to get busted for
21:51that steel site back in North Carolina.
21:53Hey, last time I was in Virginia, I was in a wheelchair, and now I'm totin' block.
21:58I've been pretty torn up since the law busted me and took all my stuff.
22:02I'm just going to make this whiskey, make the money, get back into action.
22:06She looks good.
22:08Get these things mashed in, boss.
22:14We should have our product right now, but instead, we're coming back to mash in all over again.
22:20So we're back in here getting ready to mash in this stuff.
22:23We're going to mash in right on this pallet and lift this baby up and hope for the best.
22:28Let's light this bad boy up and get our second mash going.
22:31We just use all the end of our peaches to make this mash in.
22:33So whatever Kelly has planned has got to work.
22:36Otherwise, we've blown a lot of our time and all the money that we could make and wasted a truckload
22:41of peaches.
22:42So what I'm going to do here is make us a big net on this pallet.
22:47The plan on this thing is we've got a bunch of ratchet straps.
22:50We've got a pulley system.
22:52We've got the winch on the Jeep.
22:53Basically, we're going to pull this thing up in the air,
22:55and we're going to just leave her hanging right there out of reach of the bears.
22:59Well, the trees are going to support the weight?
23:02Well, the trees will bowl in a little bit, but I mean...
23:04Just don't kill me from above while you're up there.
23:05Ah, it'll be fine.
23:07I am left with the task now of mashing in again.
23:10More peaches, more oats.
23:12One way or another, we are going to have peaches and cream.
23:16On this thing, we've got to create a strap hanging from one tree to the other
23:19so that we can be out in the middle of where the bears can't reach.
23:23I'm pretty sure this is going to work, Amanda.
23:25Well, I certainly hope so.
23:26And then we're going to create basically a basket with this pallet and the barrels and strap.
23:32Will you get that one and hold it up mid-barrel?
23:35Okay.
23:36We're going to strap these barrels together, then strap them to the pallet,
23:39get everything contained to where it can't get loose,
23:43and we're just going to hang it in the air, and hopefully these bears can't get to it.
23:47This is going to be a heavy pallet.
23:49Yeah.
23:50So now it's time to get the Jeep around here where we can make the winch go where we want
23:55it,
23:55and we're going to see if we can't pull this thing in the air.
23:57This is the moment of truth.
23:59This thing's really heavy.
24:01It's a couple thousand pounds we're dealing with.
24:03You know, hopefully we should be able to pull this mash up with the Jeep winch
24:07and just work it like an elevator.
24:09Let it up and down as we please.
24:12Oh, yeah, baby.
24:16Now we have hundreds of gallons of mash suspended from the trays above our sill site.
24:21I really hope this works and the bears can't get to it now.
24:23If I come back and our mash is messed up this time, I am not going to be a happy
24:26camper.
24:27We finally got this thing up where it needs to be.
24:30Now I've got to get it loose from the winch on the Jeep and tie it off to the strap
24:34so that it'll hang out while we're gone.
24:36I hope that's bear-proof enough.
24:38Well, we'll give it about a week and come back and check.
24:41It's all I know to do.
24:41That's all we can do.
24:42I'm just hoping that it's still hanging here when we come back.
24:51I'll tell you what, Josh.
24:52It's going to take an awful lot of pears to make 240 gallons of liquor.
24:56It's not like we can just go to the grocery store and grab a few bags of pears and be
24:59done with this.
25:00We've got a great big order for some white liquor with a hint of pear.
25:04240 gallons for world-renowned engine manufacturer and former stock car racer Joey Errington.
25:11Henry says he knows the guy that's got a pear tree.
25:14Let's just hope there's enough pears on it to mash in for 240 gallons worth of liquor.
25:18If there's no pears, what in the world are we going to do?
25:20All I can say is I hope pears are even ripe at the moment.
25:24It's not like we've got weeks or months to fulfill this order.
25:27Joey needs this run in the next couple of days.
25:29If we can't find these pears and make this mash and make this, we're going to be leaving a lot
25:33of money on the table.
25:37Hot dog pickles.
25:39You right about that?
25:40I'd say it's the right time of the year, wouldn't you?
25:42I'm going to say you're right.
25:43First thing we do is taste one.
25:46And you wouldn't believe how juicy and sweet they are.
25:49Mmm, well that's good.
25:50Let's get this barrel loaded.
25:52I'm going to say you're right.
25:53Let's start getting some of these off of the ground first.
25:55Then we'll get the ones up there in the tree.
25:57This tree is so slammed full of pears, it looks like the limbs are about to break on it.
26:02We hit the mother load.
26:07This baby is loaded.
26:12I quickly realized that shaking the tree works much better.
26:16And the pears start falling off like crazy.
26:18Come on, pickles, get some pears.
26:20Yeah, well, I don't know if that's a good idea or nothing, huh?
26:24This tree here is loaded down with pears.
26:26I said, you know what?
26:27I'm smarter than this.
26:29I'm going to go around to the other side.
26:31What possibly could go wrong?
26:35Ooh!
26:38That's him that's got me right in the eye.
26:40You all right?
26:40That might leave a mark where you reckon?
26:42Pretty damn sure I am.
26:44I'm glad it wasn't my fault.
26:45I'm going to blame you any damn way, John.
26:47That's him that's got me good, too, boy.
26:50Boy, one the size of a bowling ball come down from the very tip top of the tree.
26:55Busted me right in the eye.
26:57Luckily, didn't take my eye completely out of my head.
27:01I can see it right now.
27:03I'm going to go home, and the old lady's going to ask me who I got in a fight with,
27:05and I got to tell her a freaking pear.
27:07I got pared.
27:08I got pared.
27:11Glad you're doing that without me under that tree this time.
27:16God almighty!
27:17Well, I believe that's about it, buddy.
27:19God, I hope so.
27:20If there was two pear trees, I don't know that I'd live through it.
27:24Josh and I, we wind up with almost a completely full 55-gallon barrel of pears.
27:31Let's roll on.
27:32Henry's waiting.
27:33We got to get back as quick as we can and get mashed in.
27:36Definitely got a couple hundred pounds there.
27:38Whoo!
27:39Boy, she's swelling up quick.
27:48All right.
27:51What y'all think about that?
27:52That was quick enough.
27:54What I'm talking about.
27:55Oh, yeah.
27:55Man, these things look good.
27:57We got a 240-gallon order of wheat whiskey from Joey Arrington.
28:01He's the son of Buddy Arrington, a famous stock car racer and bootlegger.
28:06Hey, yeah.
28:07There you go.
28:08Joey's wanting the same whiskey that his daddy got busted with back in 1971,
28:12which is wheat whiskey.
28:14But Joey wants to put his own twist on it, and he wants a hint of pear.
28:18Check this out.
28:19Bam!
28:21I'm not looking to overwhelm the flavor of the wheat.
28:25Oh, easy.
28:27All we're trying to do is add just a touch of pear to it.
28:31I think that's enough at first barrel.
28:33Keep on going.
28:33Let's roll.
28:34It's just a little touch different, and I think that's what Joey's looking for.
28:37And I think a couple barrels should be able to do the trick.
28:41Paige, what's it look like over there?
28:42Nothing in this one.
28:43Let's get it loaded up and get it to the steel site.
28:45Now that we got all our pears ground up, we're going to run to our steel site.
28:49We're going to get this grain liquor mashed in and this pear.
29:00We're going to get the water in the steels, throw the fire to it.
29:02You know, this is huge here, this order.
29:04All right, I'm going to crank it.
29:05Bring it on, son.
29:07And being able to work with Joey Arrington, his dad, and my dad all goes back years and years and
29:11years.
29:11It means a lot to me, man.
29:13We're getting it there.
29:14And then to be able to get it done and knowing the monies that are waiting on us, that means
29:18even more to me.
29:19There you go.
29:20Both steels are full.
29:21That's good.
29:22Now let's get that fire under this baby.
29:23All right.
29:28It's going to take a little time for that to heat up, so let's get the pears off and get
29:31the water in them because we're going to do a cold mash.
29:34Mashing in fruit is way different than mashing in grains.
29:36When you're mashing in grains, you've got to heat the grains up to convert those starches into sugars.
29:41With fruit, you don't have to heat up those fruits to bring that out.
29:44Those sugars are already there.
29:46Nice.
29:47Also, heating the fruit up sometimes releases like a bitter flavor.
29:51You don't want that in a mash.
29:52She's boiling, y'all.
29:53Let's get that grain and get this baby cooked in.
29:55Doing a cold mash is going to preserve the flavor of the fruit that's going to transfer over into the
29:59liquor.
30:00Let's start stirring youngin'.
30:01Yeah, let's do it.
30:03Now with this grain, we're going to cook this in.
30:05What that does is take the starches that's in these grains and converts them over into sugars,
30:11and that's what the yeast can use to make our alcohol and our flavor.
30:15Here you go, brother.
30:16Let's rip, Taylor Tip.
30:17Ooh!
30:18We've got the pears and the grain mashed in.
30:21All we've got to do now is wait for all this stuff to work off, and then we'll run it.
30:25One more step closer to payday.
30:27Job well done.
30:35There's a lot riding on this front, so hopefully this works.
30:43Hell yeah, they're still hanging up, Amanda.
30:46This is a good sign.
30:48Coming into the still site, I can see the mash barrels are hanging right where we left them.
30:52They don't look disturbed, so I guess it worked.
30:54No sign of bears.
30:56Yeah, here we go.
31:00Look at him.
31:01He's spinning it.
31:02And after dark.
31:04I almost feel bad for him.
31:06I don't.
31:07But then I don't, yeah.
31:08Just the sheer amount of bear traffic alone, seeing how many bears have come try to get this mash is
31:13crazy.
31:14Clearly moving forward, we just have to keep hanging our barrels for the rest of the season because it works.
31:18You got a good insurance policy, Kelly?
31:20I mean, you're like surfing up there now.
31:23So this is basically like a peach brandy, but we mix some oats in there to give it like a
31:27peaches and cream.
31:28Oats kind of can give a nice creamy mouthfeel.
31:30And to buffer the peaches a little bit since we had such a struggle with mashing back in several times
31:36and oats help to extend our ingredients.
31:38But I think they're going to taste really good with the peaches.
31:43That's good.
31:44That's soured.
31:45There's alcohol in there.
31:46Yeah.
31:47Let's get the pump, fire the generator up, and start pumping this in.
31:50We're finally getting the mash in the pot, and that feels really good.
31:52We've had a lot of hurdles this year.
31:54I mean, one thing after another.
31:57But if we can get some good spirit coming out of the still today, I'm going to feel a lot
32:01better about it.
32:02There we go.
32:03I really hope this run comes out pretty good because this has been a lot of effort spent.
32:08But in the end, when we get it out, it's worth it.
32:11Yep.
32:12She's starting to run.
32:13All right.
32:14Oh, I can smell the peaches right here.
32:17It's got that fruitiness.
32:17This liquor's starting to run.
32:20It's smelling really, really good.
32:21Amanda has hit nail on the head on the scent of this stuff.
32:25If it tastes anything like it smells, it's going to be delicious.
32:33Oh, yeah.
32:34I really like that.
32:36Super fruity.
32:37It's sweet.
32:37You nailed that.
32:38I mean, you nailed that.
32:39It's got like a sweetness to it, too.
32:40The peaches came through.
32:42They're nice and sweet and floral, and it's that nice, creamy oatmeal.
32:45It's peaches and cream in a jar.
32:47I love it.
32:48No peaches and cream for the bears this time.
32:51I'm tasting this, and I just keep thinking back to that story of Goldilocks and the three
32:55little bears, right, where it's not perfect, and it gets messed up, and then it's just
32:59right, right?
33:00So, like, our peaches and cream, it's just right.
33:02And the three little bears, they're not going to get any of this.
33:10Damn.
33:11Well, I hope we can clean this liquor up.
33:13We ran this peach blueberry mash, but the preservatives from the blueberries added this really
33:20pungent, unsavory smell and flavor like sulfur.
33:25Yeah.
33:27Still got that smell.
33:29You know, this right here, this is what we're going to get us started to finance the rest
33:33of the season.
33:33Now, here, we're getting toward the end of the season.
33:35We ain't even struck a lick yet.
33:37I'm not going to make this any bigger than the bottom of a five-gallon bucket.
33:41Yeah, that'd be just about right.
33:42So, here we are today.
33:43We're going to aerate this.
33:45We're going to get it charcoal filtered, and we're going to run it again.
33:48As them bubbles come through that liquor, it's going to pick up some of that sulfur dioxide.
33:54We're going to make a real quick little build out of copper tubing and holes in it and simply
34:00attach it to a little portable air compressor.
34:03And we'll let it aerate an hour or so.
34:06Let's just let that take and run for a bit.
34:08You want to?
34:09Yeah.
34:10Pumping this air into it, and the sulfur molecules will attach themselves to them, and then they'll
34:15evaporate into the air.
34:17You know, that's the first step.
34:19Then we'll pour it over charcoal to try to filter it even further.
34:22Yeah, I can tell that rotten egg aroma has done a lot less pungent.
34:29Non-existent beyond this.
34:32Charcoal's an age-old purifier.
34:34People filter their water over it.
34:36Aquariums, they take the ammonias out so fish don't get stressed, and all it is is burnt white oak.
34:42Hopefully, this cleans it up.
34:44We've done all we know to do.
34:46We're lighting the pot.
34:47We're going to do the spirit run here.
34:49This redistillation process, this final step in the correction, so it's now or never.
34:55And honestly, I'm a little nervous about it.
34:58Well, we got her lit up.
35:12Oh, what was it you call that?
35:15Lactobacillus.
35:15That's where you get that little fruity floral note from.
35:18Lookie there.
35:19Take a little bite of it.
35:21No, sir.
35:22Every other time that I've run liquor, the mash had a little lacto in it.
35:26Lactobacillus.
35:27It made fine liquor.
35:28That's not a deal killer.
35:30Lookie here, puss.
35:32Boy, I'm telling you.
35:33That's crazy, ain't it?
35:34Man, show up at the booger board contest with a chunk of that, he'd be a shoe in it.
35:39Feels a little like it, too.
35:41I tell you, it looks for the world like intestines once you cleaned them out.
35:46I got that's a dandy.
35:47That ain't a bit attractive, is it?
35:49It ain't.
35:56Well, I hope this fixes that.
35:58I mean, we got to get rid of that damn rotten egg sulfur.
36:01You know, every step of the process, we're hoping takes a little more of this sulfur away.
36:05Well, I'm going to get the fruits.
36:07Okay.
36:07You know, things that really hurts you on a spirit run, you lose a lot of the flavor.
36:12When it strips the bad out, it strips good as well.
36:15So we're going to put fresh peaches and more blueberries into the thumper.
36:19Let's see what they put in here to preserve these things.
36:23One dry pint, don't they see a thing in there?
36:26Now, these blueberries we're using today, they're fresh.
36:30They're not preserved.
36:31No chance of anything in these blueberries causing us any grief.
36:36Oh, we're getting hot up here.
36:38If this don't remove our problem and take this egg smell sulfur away,
36:43there's nothing else that we could humanly have done to have done it.
36:47So we're doing everything that we know to do.
36:50Look at here.
36:51Oh, there's liquor.
36:52You know, this is our most important endeavor right now,
36:55having one run that we can legitimately sell without any problems.
36:59That's why we're going to these pains.
37:01I mean, we don't have time to make any more mash.
37:03We don't have a hell of a lot of money to finance any more mash.
37:06We're going to make some money.
37:09It's gin clear.
37:15Let's see what you think.
37:24That liquor's good enough to sell now, ain't it?
37:26Yeah, we can sell it.
37:28We've got a good, strong peach with a hint of blueberries.
37:32This is what a good brandy is.
37:34It's not overpowering the fruit.
37:35The main thing here is we've got no more sulfur, rotten egg smell, or taste.
37:40Here we go.
37:41You know, me and Mark, to finally get to the point we're finally going to make a little money
37:45and maybe get things back to normal, it's a pretty good feeling in my world right now.
37:50Salvage liquor pus.
37:51We didn't take none of the damn weight out of it, did we?
37:54No.
37:58Let's see what we got here, Henry.
38:00Yeah, man.
38:02This pear looks good.
38:04We've got a great big order for Joey Arrington.
38:07Joey's daddy, Buddy Arrington, got busted with 240 gallons of wheat liquor.
38:12She good and bitter?
38:13Oh, yeah, man.
38:13Oh, yeah.
38:15Joey wants the same liquor, but he wants pears in it.
38:18And that's the exact amount of liquor that Joey wants to take and try to break the land
38:22speed record for a stock car.
38:25It's time to run this liquor and actually get to this payday.
38:29You know, that wheat, that wheat's got a mild flavor.
38:32This pear should pull right on through.
38:33You know what you think, Henry?
38:34We're going to find out.
38:35We've got these pots fired up and we're heating up our grain mass right now.
38:39Now's the time to start loading these pears over in there so everything can get good
38:43and heated up together.
38:44We're going to bring back some history right here and a big cell on top of that, put big bucks
38:48in our pocket.
38:48To get this 240-gallon run and get it as quickly as we possibly can, we're going to run both
38:54800-gallon pots at one time.
38:56We're going to neck them over, both of them into one doubler, and then come out with one
39:00pipe, go over into our condenser.
39:02We can run all of this one shot.
39:06Is it flowing up there?
39:08Oh, yeah.
39:09We're good.
39:09Aren't you glad that you decided to come and help us with this?
39:13This is so legendary, there wasn't no way to say no.
39:16It's almost back like riding a motorcycle again.
39:19I'll tell you what, Josh, you can't feel that good again.
39:21What do you mean?
39:22I don't know if I can get on that motorcycle and ride.
39:24Just tell her where your money's buried.
39:26Hey, she's warm.
39:27She's coming, boys.
39:28Yeah, she's warm.
39:28Oh, yeah, it's coming out right now.
39:30You know, Joey wants us to replicate this 240 gallons of liquor, and I tell you what, I
39:35know we run on big submarine pots and everything up here, and we generally make a lot of liquor.
39:40It's running good.
39:41Why don't I swap that bucket out?
39:43But with the season we've had, it's time to make some damn money.
39:47Mmm, that aroma.
39:48It sure does smell good.
39:49It smells pear.
39:50You know, you can go a lot by the smell.
39:53In this case, here, you don't know where it's going to come out to be.
40:00That's good stuff.
40:01Joey wanted pear whiskey, and it's pear whiskey that Joey's going to get.
40:05I think he's going to be proud to take this whiskey down there to be in honor of his dad.
40:09Well, look, we got them pears at a cost, though.
40:11If that black eye is the worst thing that could happen to us during this whole damn deal, we're doing
40:16great.
40:16Now, look, it's easy for you to say, pass me that, Joey.
40:18That ain't your eye.
40:23Ooh!
40:24Look at that.
40:24This liquor right here, I tell you, I can taste the weed in it.
40:28I can taste the pear in it.
40:29It's got good high proof on it.
40:31These are all the hallmarks that Joey wanted us to hit.
40:35I tell you what, let's shut this thing down.
40:37God, that's good.
40:37He's going to love that.
40:38This is the best of both worlds.
40:40We got one recipe, which was the same liquor that Joey's daddy buddy got busted with,
40:44and we've got Joey's stamp on it, the pear.
40:48Only thing we got to do is get it jugged up and get it to Joey Arrington.
40:52Let's get these steels cleaned out and get the hell out of here, is what I say.
40:57We know where the steel's at.
40:59We just got to figure out where, when, and how we're going to intercept it.
41:02All I can think about is my steel being tortoise reds.
41:06We're building a decoy.
41:08Serious change of plans here.
41:10The law's going to be here any second.
41:13I bought some nice hard seltzer that's like 10%.
41:16Me and Jerry definitely don't want Ken to know that we don't know how to do a hard seltzer.
41:20Let's roll with it.
41:22Please don't blow up on me.
41:26This bootlegger's wanting 150 gallon delivered in two weeks.
41:30Yeah, that fella, he's wanting a lot more liquor.
41:32Our most important buyer right here.
41:34This makes me sick.
41:36Yeah.