- 4 hours ago
Exploring America's Moonshine and liquor black market, from the Appalachian Mountains to NYC. Across the South, a new generation of Moonshiners make small batch, high quality 'shine. Their products are shipped north and east to urban markets thirsty for a taste of authentic liquor.....
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00:10that is pure as the driven snow american moonshine is big business delicious delicious high proof
00:18low cost untaxed and illegal we're now breaking federal law whether it comes from the boondocks
00:26you've got flies and everything just smell the bleach and learn or from high-end producers
00:32we run year-round rain snow sleet shine we would block the post office there's no hiding from the
00:38law get on the ground get on the ground or from city slickers trying to muscle in y'all got
00:45nutcrackers
00:47tastes good and it's cheap he's so smooth he ain't tell me what he put in it you know what
00:51i'm saying
01:04deep in the appalachian mountains it's the first day of whiskey making season for one expert moonshiner
01:11most people tell you they've had 180 proof alcohol ain't never had nothing higher than 100.
01:24for six months a year roscoe works legit in the coal mines
01:29the rest of the time he makes a living outside the law
01:38we're looking for a place to set up a steel site for this year this is the easiest way to
01:46get down
01:47the river less chance to run into somebody
01:52all right we're approaching the spot first thought i won't stop to check
01:56come springtime roscoe heads outdoors traveling by canoe to remote areas far from any trails
02:05let's go he keeps his gun close out here the law isn't the only danger
02:11for snakes i've seen a few out this year
02:18i'm looking for a good spot of cover seems to be pretty flat up through here so we might have
02:23to go
02:23far to find a decent spot roscoe needs two key elements for a successful and lucrative operation
02:31secrecy and water seems like we got good water supply it's good and cold very good for a steel
02:45i think i found what we're looking for plenty of cover you can see good waves somebody's coming
02:52and hopefully this is good water low ph level
03:00but roscoe's a long way from making any profit he needs to get his equipment here first
03:06from here on out we'll start floating in bringing loads with make us a blind out of some tree limbs
03:12or whatever it's extra cover you can't ever have too much cover but i think we'll be good up in
03:17this
03:17holly i'd say last people through here is the indians roscoe's found the perfect site hidden deep in the
03:26traditional heartland of moonshine production the southern appalachian mountains illicit alcohol gets
03:33made right across the south and 700 miles southwest in holmes county mississippi a special police unit is
03:41cracking down on shiners like roscoe all right who's planning on being next to last these enforcement
03:49agents are part of the state's alcoholic beverage control they specialize in enforcing liquor laws and
03:56catching moonshiners let's say a real quick prayer before we go inside yeah dear lord i just asked you
04:01be with us today and i thank you for your protection and be with everybody and keep them safe in
04:06jesus name
04:06i pray amen all right be careful guys
04:13they may be good old boys but they still criminals rusty hannah has spent over 30 years in the abc
04:19finding and destroying moonshine stills what we're doing today is we're going to execute a search warrant
04:25on a known moonshine violator
04:30the agents are acting on a tip uh we anticipate locating a primitive whiskey still somewhere in
04:36near proximity to his house you're the man in charge here come on with me
04:44anybody in the house mo the house is clear
04:47you're not under arrest or anything you're just gonna sit there for our safety okay
04:51the house is clear so rusty focuses on the outbuildings
04:56spreading out a little bit now looking to see if we can find a trail or something
05:00uh that lead to steel
05:11whiskey moonshine this more than likely was what he was consuming himself
05:21that's whiskey whiskey but they're looking for more than a few jars of whiskey
05:28then the huge fuel tanks at the back of the property catch rusty's eye i mean you think about
05:33there's one two there's three butane tanks for one little bitty house he's using the majority of
05:41this probably for cooking whiskey somewhere he fill his bottles up and take them from here to wherever
05:47he still is rusty's willing to cut a deal with the property owners if they give up the source of
05:53the shine
05:54if you help us out we might help you out
05:57you don't know nothing they're not playing ball
06:01they don't know nothing they're very clannish type people moonshiners don't talk he says he
06:08don't know the guy he buys this from he's a mystery man
06:12but rusty isn't deterred we ain't found this stash yet this wouldn't be a bad place to have some
06:19whiskey with over 30 years experience it doesn't take him long to spot something unusual
06:25a lot of traffic right here and look at me what is something doing standing right here all the time
06:31see
06:34there you go
06:36a trunk full of old bleach bottles there's a gallon of whiskey
06:42yeah that's nasty and some mystery ingredients that looks like fruit
06:50i don't know time to make sure these bottles won't get used again
06:55this moonshine is low quality it's potentially deadly rusty's team needs to put this crew out of
07:02business if they can find the still this is the bottom end of the social class for whiskey
07:09800 miles away in virginia it's sunday morning
07:13this is where illegal moonshine often ends up
07:20in an unlicensed bar also known as a juke joint
07:24some of this special fried chicken and dragon corn
07:35shotgun operates an illegal drinking den off the beaten track
07:40this is my little duke joint got like plenty of friends and they come back that's the little juju on
07:47time
07:54and you just go straight to the brain that's what we do baby cheers to the house
08:05shotgun buys moonshine by the gallon and sells it by the shot
08:09that's all right
08:11well shot now bootlegged you have to buy a two-all shot them cups up to the brim
08:18regulars like shorty choose moonshine over legal spirits
08:22best moonshine ever made in virginia number one top shelf we call this top shelf
08:28spencer liquor no good hot problems diseases corn liquor kill all germs
08:35just like antibiotics antibiotics to the body that's why i drink
08:45we do not seal the only thing we do is drink it
08:48you know it's coming from the white man yeah black folks don't make moonshine no more
08:53but to get it from the white man
08:55and there's a reason why shotgun's joint is busy on a sunday
08:59if you're gonna do anything with corn liquor do it while people at church if you're gonna move it
09:04do it sunday morning all the nose folks at church
09:13sunday's supposed to be the day of rest right everybody's in church probably where i should be
09:19got some orders to fill people waiting all time waiting back up in the mountains roscoe's customers
09:27are keeping them busy here to set that up for us
09:32up there with two creeks me today he and his buddy are starting a long process of making moonshine
09:39my helper he got freed up today so that's gonna make it my job a lot easier
09:45i'm gonna set my little stove up so we start heating some water
09:50they need plenty of water for this first stage of production
09:54we need downhill pressure you gotta be above your stills if not the water won't flow
10:03we got water today's the day we get the mash started
10:14the reason of heating your water up you're using outdoor water that will sterilize it and you got
10:20to have warm water to make sure all your ingredients dissolve together
10:26sugar is a very key ingredient roscoe spent a long time perfecting his recipe
10:32i had an old man tell me you know how to get started he told me just enough to get
10:37myself in trouble
10:39a lot of trial and error and i found what worked best for me and that's what i've stuck with
10:49mix the cornmeal in give that good corn whiskey flavor to it
10:54the mash could also provide a tasty treat for some of the area's local residents
11:00hopefully a big old bear don't smell that big sweet can of mash come try to get him a big
11:06drink up
11:06not knock it over that'd be catastrophic
11:11i'll see you in a minute
11:14yeah it tastes just about right just perfect
11:17i had the yeast and uh very secret ingredient
11:22adding yeast speeds up the sugar's transformation into alcohol
11:26but like all moonshiners roscoe keeps the details of his recipe secret put the lid on that one call it
11:34roscoe needs to hide his mash well and hope the cold nights don't kill the fermentation
11:40just a little extra added security and temperature control and this temp
11:48well the mash is complete in a single run this barrel of mash can produce 12 gallons of moonshine
11:56and a thousand dollar profit but it'll be three days before roscoe can return for phase two
12:02distillation
12:03if you see a good trail this calls okay 700 miles south in the mississippi delta
12:14rusty hannah and his alcohol beverage control agents continue their search for a well-hidden moonshine
12:20operation
12:21we found a hog pen over here it's got a barrel full of spent mash that he's feeding the hog
12:28so
12:33there's some bacon
12:36that's some rye
12:38a little pork butter bean or two mixed in there go
12:40i don't know
12:42that's spent mash that they've made whiskey with and it's not strong enough to make whiskey anymore
12:49and so he's feeding it to his hog he's producing more spent mass than he can feed to his hog
12:56another telltale sign that there's an operating still nearby
13:01then rusty catches a break a call comes in from a search party they've made a major discovery
13:07hey y'all gonna get that liquor up
13:09they got us so they got to stay
13:11where's that just trying to get it to me
13:15trails behind that resident location
13:19roger that we're coming to your location
13:26they just located still over here in the woods so we'll get to go see an active operation
13:32but to make an arrest rusty's got to catch the moonshiners red-handed
13:39mississippi enforcement agents have hit the jackpot deep in the woods a working moonshine still
13:46oh it's bad hot it's a major six barrel operation that the moonshiners abandoned mid cook
13:58there was a white vehicle coming out of the driveway when we got here
14:02and we took him in his mirror watching y'all pull in thinking oh i got lucky
14:08the still is filthy
14:10this is what we call a real primitive still uh not many people put them in the woods anymore
14:16that in this area this rural county we're in it's pretty common
14:21rat rat don't go up mark's leg
14:29it's a mass battle yeah you can see you kind of got flies and everything it's definitely not sanitary
14:34you could have raccoons any kind of wildlife we're in the middle of the woods right now smells that
14:38it's sweet it's fall inside sometimes they'll drown it product is expensive they don't want to throw
14:43that product away they'll take that animal out maybe scoop a little bit out where it was in and
14:48then continue to process it's probably pretty high still smell the bleach in there these guys are just
14:53using anything to the whole whiskey yeah ain't that what you want to drink
14:59uh this guy here could make about 50 gallons of whiskey a week he's probably clearing about 700 a
15:06week clear money uh after the expenses but they need to catch the moonshiners red-handed to prosecute
15:12them so today there's only one thing left to do
15:19decommission it
15:23we'll just destroy everything here where you can't use it again
15:27come on now
15:31despite its poor quality rusty nose is a ready market for this product
15:37there's a certain amount of the population that has a demand for it they want moonshine
15:42you can buy legal moonshine which is non-aged whiskey in the store but they'd rather have this
15:49rot gut high alcohol content moonshine and i really don't know why other than the price
16:01rustic and his team have put this operation out of action for now but as long as demand remains high
16:08even the worst shine producers will stay in business and that's bad news for drinkers
16:16people who are distilling it to make money they don't care about quality controls they're going
16:20to be selling to people they don't know
16:28dr chris holsteg has a special interest in backwoods moonshine and its potential health risks
16:35his findings show that many black market moonshine producers cut corners when you talk about bad
16:42moonshine you're talking about people who are distilling it and items that you wouldn't want
16:46distilled in we have about 50 samples of moonshine that we obtained from the alissa whiskey task force
16:52and we found in lead in the majority of the samples they're using lead pipes the heating process are
16:59going to cause the lead to leach out and then become part of that alcohol for example some samples up
17:04over 500 parts per billion that's over 30 times the legal limit for lead in drinking water over
17:12time bad moonshine can be deadly we have no good way of getting lead out of the body so it
17:17just
17:18keeps building up building up if they get high enough they can cause your brain to swell and that
17:23can kill you but dr holsteg is aware not all moonshiners make tainted liquor we have a sample
17:31bias so we're getting samples from the alissa whiskey task force of big operations where people
17:36are selling is on the street as opposed to maybe the local moonshiner who's giving it to neighbors
17:42and friends who's gonna be much more careful back in the Appalachian Mountains Roscoe prides himself in
17:52making quality liquor it's crunch time three days after making his mash Roscoe and his buddy are back on
18:00the river this time with a still I think we'll have a good day like some good liquor get a
18:07start to a good
18:08season Roscoe uses a professional food grade stainless steel barrel for his moonshine let's check our mass
18:20situation see how it's he's concerned that low nighttime temperatures may have ruined his mash
18:30it's done now comes the moment of truth if this thing lit up as the still heats up so does
18:39Roscoe
18:40thing that I don't understand pay taxes on the corn pay taxes on the sugar pay taxes on my propane
18:48I pay taxes on all my equipment but somehow when you mix it all together and light a fire running
18:52it's not
18:53tax I just don't get making moonshine without a license and not paying tax on it are both felonies
18:59but for Roscoe there's no turning back all right that's it we're now breaking federal law
19:10at his secret location deep in the Appalachian Mountains Roscoe and his buddy are making moonshine the
19:18mash is hot and it's time to build the still the still head is a series of copper pipes that
19:27turns
19:28vapors from the mash into an illegal moneymaker now we're going to stay with cold water condense our
19:36album all they put back into a lick Roscoe uses a compact modern still that's both portable and able
19:43to produce extremely high proof alcohol you got hot vapor circulate through a cold jacket of water
19:51recondensing into a liquid the purest alcohol that's when you are an outlaw you're stealing money from
20:00the federal government at this point in time but moonshine can kill the first few fluid ounces of
20:07Roscoe's run are known as the heads these contain stuff you don't want to drink I'm taking the heads
20:14off that bad stuff in it you always take your heads away keep your heart for Roscoe the financial rewards
20:32of
20:32running his 55-gallon still outweigh the many dangers very low overhead this particular still you're looking
20:41at less than $100 a full run and if you sold all of it you're looking potential profits upwards around
20:47$3,000 it's very good markup very low overhead but you're getting paid for your risk let's try to
20:58switch the jugs out maybe get a taste here that is pure as the driven snow if I was a
21:10bet you're looking
21:11at 150 to 160 proof right here when you shake it up quicker the bubbles disappear the higher the proof
21:20is that is a full gallon clears of bail the moonshine trade means big profits for the people who
21:31distribute it bootleggers but moving shine across state lines this felony tax evasion we got everything
21:39broke up like oh yeah everything's the way you needed it in Tennessee a bootleggers picking up a major order
21:50gotta be real careful pay attention to your surroundings just don't stick out very high
21:57stress situation every time probably one of the most dangerous parts of the whole thing
22:07when Ohio Mike delivers across state lines he prefers to make fewer larger deals drop anywhere
22:15from 10 cases one place you know 15 cases another place today as always evading capture is his number
22:25one priority he sets up deals in coded language on disposable burner phones certain people I use certain
22:33language with a couple guys I deal with that are in the automotive fields and I need that crank for
22:39that
22:40LS motor and each one is the case of a certain flavor the further he travels the higher the price
22:51he charges
22:51everything that I take is already spoken for after it leaves this state heads up north or east or west
22:59sometimes it skyrockets into $100 a jar moonshine is no longer just a backwood secret it's spreading
23:07north to the cities where its street value can balloon up to 400 percent and that brings both
23:13competitors and imitators in New York City illicit booze makers have developed a drink of their own yeah
23:26I got nutcrackers nutcrackers I got a watermelon coconut I got a blue one it's like a blue Hawaiian guys
23:33love
23:33the drink and if they ain't got no business running I'm gonna get them nutcrackers that's how you get
23:37right
23:43you like the dark liquor which one you want I like it's a sizzling Friday in the Bronx and
23:48emphasis cashing in on his homemade elixir of fruit juice whiskey vodka schnapps and rum
23:56combining customer service with hip-hop hustle he sells frozen nutcrackers across all five boroughs
24:03nutcrackers is a part of New York City uptown it's like in our bloodline the reason why people
24:08get nutcrackers because instead of them being cooped up in a club and spending X amount of dollars for
24:12a bottle they can just grab a nutcracker for five ten dollars as a cheap you know sauce to get
24:17drunk
24:19over the weekend if aims to make over four thousand dollars but a street hustle always carries risks
24:25there's so much activity going on so any type of moving you make it even on the liquor you got
24:30to
24:30be careful because you never know police jump out and make it like a real hot situation for you
24:35you don't want to lose your whole quantity they'll take your whole and just dump it in the street
24:39yo don't drink it too fast
24:49imp has got to think fast if he's busted he can lose everything it's a hot Friday in New York
24:58City and
24:59nutcracker seller imp is double parked and dealing with a little heat himself I just bought a half in
25:05the store but they trying to find my size they said they had it in the back good with the
25:13crisis
25:13averted it's back to business he's in the Bronx sourcing raw materials for today's batch of frozen
25:21nutcrackers I want to get four cases like a moonshiner imp keeps his recipe a closely guarded
25:26secret the number one thing about nutcrackers that everybody thinks they know the recipe but they
25:30really don't know the recipe you got vodka you got rum you got snaps and um and then you see
25:36your different flavor the actual street recipe is unrevealed like top secret like CIA back home he'll
25:42turn all this legal liquor into nutcrackers selling them is a high-profit illegal enterprise these right
26:00you can basically buy one bottle of each ingredients and probably make at least $300
26:06where can you go and spend $40 make $300 an hour
26:12shake done
26:13a last crucial addition dry ice
26:16so you just pop one of those in there and whatever this touches is going to freeze
26:21and you just zip it and that's it
26:24with a trunk full of nutcrackers
26:27inf hits the streets oh how many I want and demand is soaring four flavors get that special flavor you
26:36know my
26:36like I'll call him for me and say yo me and my homie want a few but he'll get here
26:41and it'll be an
26:42extra five or six guys that want some so it's like you do the math you know what I'm saying
26:47hey yo where you at exactly where's just about me what's that singles are $10 a pop inf offers discounts
26:54attempt customers into buying more the popular the four for 35 that's what you know everybody likes
27:00the four for 35 they get it's like they can sell for free you know typical just Friday it's making
27:09money the American way as night falls the demand keeps rising I have an advantage because I offer
27:16a service where I deliver you will have local neighborhood guys you know they just have
27:21nutcrackers on they block and you go to them but for me personally like you know my advantage is that
27:26that you know I go to my clientele hey we get there I like the fluid that could be out
27:32sometimes
27:323 4 o'clock in the morning I'm at your 15 hour day you know it can be for a
27:38hustler like Inf any chance
27:40meeting is a business opportunity yo so you got my RG you know I'm saying if you need a delivery
27:45just hit me
27:45just follow me and I'll follow back all right all right do your thing baby all right cool inf has
27:50embraced
27:51social media it's driving the expansion of his underground business Facebook Instagram you got
27:57to learn how to utilize hashtagging um setting up the right keywords so when someone searches you on
28:03Google your thing pops up first you just got to learn the game the thing about the nutcrackers that
28:08you can actually promote the nutcrackers more than you could on other products you can't have a
28:12you know a crystal meth fan page on Instagram yeah yeah I got nutcrackers yeah
28:21he's on target to sell 400 shots this weekend and the night's still young you say you want East
28:26Tremont in this business you can pull in $4,000 in a two-week span it just depends on how
28:33consistent
28:33you are because it's all about the product if your customer is satisfied they'll continue to keep
28:38paying for what you deliver Inf thinks his nutcrackers trump any southern imports if I was in the hillbilly
28:46woods forget I'd be killing it they wouldn't be no moonshine nutcrackers would be the moonshine but
28:53down in Tennessee one couple has already cornered the market in flavored moonshine so we got seven
29:04peach four pineapple four blackberry we'll do some peanut butter and jelly and I don't use recipes I
29:13don't use measuring cups I've done it so many times that I sort of just know what it takes
29:23I'll do the friendship tea real quick today they're under pressure to fill an order for an important
29:29client it's a custom order it's what somebody specifically asked for they make 33 flavors but
29:37they focus their business on supplying a very select clientele they give us basically how many
29:44of what they want and so based on that that's that's what we make keeping large quantities of
29:51illegal liquor at home is risky so they only produce to order and they're eager to move their product fast
29:57we don't store it here and the other side of that is if it's sitting here and it's being stored
30:02here then
30:03obviously we're not making any money off of it same thing in any economics class the supply goes up
30:08demand goes down so you can control supply and demand like most manufacturers do and then as more
30:16people want it we can just get more selective on who we sell it to our price doesn't vary all
30:22the flavors
30:22are 20 and clear is 25 a court what started as a hobby has become a crucial source of income
30:291997 I was
30:32diagnosed with a small brain tumor and so over the course of the last several years I've had to have
30:42multiple surgeries last year Rebecca had to give up her career in nursing since then moonshining has
30:50become a way of life for the couple that really kind of kicked us into gear to say we got
30:57to be
30:57able to pay bills you know I'm not gonna live on the street I have a skill set here that
31:02I can do to
31:03not have to ask the government for assistance and keep me from being a burden to this country and if
31:08that means I got to do something illegal for my family to eat and keep a roof over their heads
31:11sorry
31:16culturally around here we look up to our outlaws if you're worried about going to jail or if you're
31:22upset or concerned about breaking the law then you probably shouldn't be doing it but there are plenty
31:29of mood shiners who are willing to risk capture when did you call him what was erotic in Columbus
31:35Mississippi Rusty Hannah's alcohol beverage control agents are running a sting operation to catch a
31:41bootlegger they set up a deal through a police informant he can't run nowhere I know where he
31:47lives Jason counts is the agent in charge of this operation it is running rampant it is running rampant
31:54I mean it's a lot of moonshine everywhere and we're doing our best to eliminate it hey man you you
32:05got
32:05the stuff we've already made one purchase we purchased one gallon from the subject about
32:10a week or so ago we arranged for him to drop off 10 gallons and that's for here today you
32:14know that
32:15gravel road across from cash and carry buildings goes back down to the river all right ain't nobody
32:21back here but me today the violator could possibly come with weapons it could turn wrong in just a
32:29split second or something you have to be mentally prepared for anything that takes place soon as
32:34we can see a gallon of it and know that it is here we will take them down in Mississippi
32:49alcohol beverage
32:51control agents are using a confidential informant to set up a sting to try and catch a moonshine bootlegger
33:01when the CI takes off his hat it's the signal that he's got eyes on the moonshine
33:14state police get on the ground get on the ground get on the ground get on the ground get on
33:20the ground
33:21spread your hands you have any narcotics any weapons anything on you
33:29looks like one two three four five total 11 gallons that's a little bit trash floating around in it
33:36but I mean this would definitely this would definitely kill you the detail went well it
33:43was textbook perfect uh it did have moonshine it did have a weapon in the vehicles I mean that's
33:47always that's always something that's involved with these guys clear all right you're under arrest
33:53for possession moonshine unless you want to help yourself and you know the drill the agents want
33:58to flip the bootlegger and make him turn in his supplier further up the chain you got just a
34:04couple minutes to do some soul searching to make your mind up if an item will seize your vehicle you
34:09ain't getting it back you're gonna be charged with second offense you're gonna spend about 60 days in
34:12the county jail choice is yours threatened with jail and the loss of his car the bootlegger is under
34:20pressure all right you're done some soul searching I'll go all right hello see can I get it all right
34:27where'd you live he live in Alabama you think he can cross over to Mississippi to bring bring you
34:32about 10 gallons I'll try to get it we can't go to Alabama game huh tell him say hey I
34:38got your money
34:39I need seven more and I'm pushed for time meet me halfway somewhere rusty needs to lure the bootlegger
34:46supplier across the state line into his jurisdiction to make the arrest he's agreed to cooperate with us
34:53and to try to help us catch a bigger fish maybe and he's gonna attempt to make some purchases hey
35:02um I need seven more of them gallons you beat me somewhere the bootlegger's so nervous he's shaken
35:13hello and his supplier might have smelled a rat mr. big slips through their grasp today but rusty is up
35:30beat it's going as good as we expected even if we get anything else or not the rest of the
35:35day it's
35:35been a successful operation but taking down the bigger players is never going to be easy because
35:41of the moonshiner code there's a bond between moonshiners they don't rat nobody out they have a bond
35:52there's a limited supply of moonshine out there and they don't want to give their supplier up for fear
35:57that they can't replace them deep in moonshine country Roscoe is making his first sale of the
36:05day day is when the risk turns into reward make a little money get paid for our work he's picking
36:14up
36:1430 gallons I got about $30 overhead in it I got about a $90 markup on each gallon so we
36:22got to make
36:23$270 right here it's a profit gonna do this kind of quick Roscoe's buyer is right on time and the
36:32deal is
36:32over in seconds all right all the money is there that's what we're looking for let's get the hell
36:43out of here that's all of those now we're about to box it up back in Tennessee Chris and Rebecca
36:58have
36:58a tight bond with their bootlegger today they're preparing another order the mason jars will attract
37:05attention so it's crucial they disguise them people get kind of question they'll be like what are you
37:11doing with all them jars back here so you put it in the box like this we seal them back
37:16it just looks
37:17like you've got an unopened box of oil in the back of your truck I know basically kind of where
37:23it's
37:24going because I like to keep track of it a little bit and I know that they sell it for
37:28more money
37:29well all right well that's fine I'm not gonna go up in price because they're making more money off of
37:34it again if I go up in price it's gonna sit here I don't want it to sit here I
37:37want it gone in any
37:39black market supply chain each point of sale is a weak link as soon as you sell it or transport
37:48it
37:48is a felony so a lot more of the risk falls on the next guy Ohio Mike is the main
37:59distributor for
38:00Chris and Rebecca's moonshine both locally and out of state I'll get back with you the next stuff
38:07definitely today's delivery is local but if he's caught Mike still faces severe consequences it
38:14definitely could be bad oh I'd go to prison for a while long while especially with the quantity that
38:21I have can't really say it's a personal use type thing his vehicle sitting on the side of the road
38:30basically just make a quick drop-off very high stress situation I definitely do my homework on meeting
38:38points roads wise which way and get out gotta know where the back door so to speak black trucker
38:48right there is kind of where I'm going to making a drop on a public road is extremely risky Mike
38:57could
38:57be heading right into a trap in Tennessee bootlegger Ohio Mike is dropping off two cases of moonshine
39:07disguised as motor oil he's on a public road and he's exposed
39:15time to get out of here oil boxes maybe you've noticed most people are out to become rich I'm just
39:27doing it to make a little extra money to kind of help out at home but Mike can't stop he's
39:33a slave to
39:34market forces usually on most runs that I do I get upwards about 1800 to 2500 I'm usually out for
39:46upwards of a week
39:49depending on how many states I have to hit it gets stressful when you're hopping state to state to state
40:02sometimes that money doesn't look that good then but now illegal producers and distributors are facing
40:09new competition changes to state laws have allowed legal moonshine distilleries to open up across the
40:19region selling fully taxed and regulated moonshine we've tried to bring that same tradition that
40:26prohibition era style moonshine into what we're doing we've got a 250 gallon still and we're running it
40:39twice a day about every day of the week distilleries like sugar lands are introducing moonshine to a much
40:47wider consumer base moonshine has become more well known there's more interest in it and there are a
40:53lot of people that couldn't get their hands on it before and now they can for the first time you
40:58know
40:58they get to come through and sample it and see that it's actually very good and there's a lot of
41:04different flavors a lot of things you can do with it in the face of creeping respectability the black
41:10market for moonshine soldiers on there's always going to be a certain segment of the population
41:16that's going to want that backwoods illegal moonshine because that's what they've grown up thinking is real
41:22moonshine and they're going to still be looking for it you're not going to see the the backwoods guys and
41:27the guys doing it out of the garage that's not going to die off just a few miles down the
41:34road
41:34chris is preparing to do another run he senses the changing tide but he can't see himself ever going
41:41legit i would love to do this legally i would love to do this as a job i love this
41:47that much i would
41:47love to do that but i don't have the pockets to do that so that makes it very hard
41:56you can make beer legally you can make wine legally make up to 50 gallons of beer per person in
42:01the
42:01household that's over 21 but this is illegal because tax money yeah i'd love to make this
42:09out in the open not not hiding you know back like we are right now
42:17you want another one back in the big apple inf has only just begun riding the nutcracker craze
42:24still a lot of people out here that's in poverty they need different resources to make money
42:29and nutcrackers is one of the best ways to make money because it's low risk high reward
42:34business is booming and rivals are not a problem there's enough money for all the composition to
42:40survive equally two or three people with the same product can be in the same place at the same time
42:44and win down in mississippi rusty still sees and shine in the past 12 months in the state of
42:54mississippi we're seeing and seizing more moonshine than we have in the past two or three years i don't
43:00believe it's going to die anytime soon i believe 30 years from now there'll still be moonshine
43:05long as there's a demand for it somebody's going to make it no one knows this better than roscoe
43:12he's still up in appalachia still making shine still one step ahead of the law
43:18be a successful moonshiner you got to be a sort of an outlaw or you'll never make it
43:29i've been doing for about eight years i still love doing
43:35you got to enjoy hard work you got to have tight lips because you can't tell of yourself
43:43one of the main motivations is keeping an art going an old appalachian art it's going to die off
43:50if people don't take interest but then again the less competition i have the better off i ain't
43:57well you
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