About this season
Think the days of bootleggers, backwoods stills and "white lightning" are over? Not a chance! It's a multi-million dollar industry. But perhaps more importantly to the moonshiners, it's a tradition dating back hundreds of years, passed down to them from their forefathers. It's part of their history and culture. While this practice is surprisingly alive and well, it's not always legal. Moonshiners tells the story of those who brew their shine - often in the woods near their homes using camouflaged equipment - and the local authorities who try to keep them honest. Viewers will witness practices rarely, if ever, seen on television including the sacred rite of passage for a moonshiner - firing up the still for the first time. They will also meet legends, including notorious moonshiner Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton.
Episodes (20)
1. Hard Times Make the Best Shine
Aired 24 November 2020 • 42 min
With national supply chains disrupted, Mark and Digger unearth a ton of free ingredients, Tickle helps Josh build a submarine still farm and Mike designs a first-ever backwoods column still, perfect for endless runs of high-quality low-cost liquor.
2. Interstate Alliance
Aired 1 December 2020 • 42 min
When Josh lands a windfall of peaches, he and Tickle forge a peach brandy-making alliance.
3. Mark and Digger's Big Test
Aired 8 December 2020 • 42 min
With his partner in quarantine, Digger has much more on the line than shine. Mike and Jerry's moonshine Frankenstein turns on its creators.
4. Backwoods is Booming
Aired 15 December 2020 • 42 min
Mark and Digger deploy an old-world innovation to bring their barrel-aged reserves to market, while Tim attempts to make Tickle's CBD moonshine on a commercial scale.
5. No Ordinary Run
Aired 22 December 2020 • 42 min
Tickle and the Laws unleash a 700-gallon run on a whisper-quiet steamer still. Mark and Huck traverse Appalachia's roughest terrain to run liquor with moonshine legend Jim Tom. Mike and Jerry engineer a high-tech solution to a backwoods problem.
6. Single Malt Moonshine
Aired 29 December 2020 • 42 min
Mark and Digger's plan to employ an out of work friend backfires on payday. Tim invents a low-cost way to make his first single-malt moonshine. With their backwoods column still cranking out liquor, Mike discovers Jerry isn't carrying his own weight.
7. Overproof and Under the Gun
Aired 5 January 2021 • 42 min
Mark and Digger attempt oatmeal raisin shine for a high-flying Nashville customer; Mike and Jerry find themselves under the gun when they over deliver on proof to a biker gang; Mark and Huck forge a lifeline to old-time shiners deep in the mountains.
8. Too Much of a Good Thing
Aired 12 January 2021 • 42 min
As Tickle and the Laws start a massive rye run, a mysterious tip results in too much of a good thing. Jerry gets rushed to the hospital and Mike finds himself shorthanded. Tim innovates a backwoods process for his single-malt shine.
9. Sweet Corn Revenge
Aired 19 January 2021 • 42 min
After Mike asks the wrong shiner for help, Mark and Digger land a skilled new partner. On a mountain run, Mark and Huck nearly meet the barrel of a gun. Jerry attempts a comeback as a land sale forces him and Mike to abandon their column still site.
10. Smoke to the Fire
Aired 26 January 2021 • 42 min
Facing more rye and apples than the Laws can run, Josh moves his steamer still to Virginia and Tickle adds smoke to the fire. Mark and Huck help Jim Tom turn cherries into shine. Mike and Jerry risk a huge run in the barn of an unsuspecting farmer.
11. Mason Jar Shortage
Aired 2 February 2021 • 42 min
A Mason jar shortage puts a lid on Mark and Digger's distribution plans.
12. Caught Red-Handed
Aired 9 February 2021 • 42 min
Mark converts a free load of sugar beets into high-proof moonshine.
13. Hog Heaven
Aired 16 February 2021 • 42 min
Tim and Tickle's friend Howard recreate the first whiskey made in America.
14. Ice Shine
Aired 23 February 2021 • 42 min
Tickle and the Laws attempt to produce freeze-distilled apple liquor.
15. Another Man's Mash
Aired 2 March 2021 • 42 min
Tickle and the Laws invent a new recipe with master distiller Richard Landry. Mark and Digger crack their thousand jar problem while mashing in their most profitable run in years. Tim and Howard make a ceramic still to rediscover a colonial whiskey.
16. Basement Bust
Aired 9 March 2021 • 42 min
Josh gains access to a cellar still site, but even help from the Laws can't keep trouble from surfacing. Mark and Digger innovate a way to cut the cost of water cooling, and bayou shiner Richard makes a medicinal moonshine from wild-grown manglier.
17. Tennessee Whiskey
Aired 16 March 2021 • 42 min
Mark and Digger discover a rare limestone spring to make Tennessee Whiskey.
18. Two Tons Of Fun
Aired 23 March 2021 • 42 min
Josh drives a tractor trailer full of stills across state lines to help Tickle and the Laws run two tons of malted corn; Mark and Digger christen their own secret Tennessee Whiskey distillery; Richard builds a copper Virginia-style submarine still.
19. Moonshine Capital Returns
Aired 30 March 2021 • 42 min
Josh, Tickle and the Laws build a still farm the likes of which Virginia hasn't seen since the heyday of Amos Law. Jerry misses a day of work and Mike lets down his guard. Mark and Digger discover a rival moonshiner faces a reckoning with the law.
20. Backwoods Bonanza
Aired 6 April 2021 • 42 min
In the season finale, with eight stills running full tilt, Tickle enlists Mrs. Tickle to stash too much shine. Mark and Digger devise a way to age their Tennessee whiskey at sea. Tim gets drawn into an epic bootleg, while Mike and Jerry face the law.