The Best Episodes of Moonshiners
Last Updated: Feb 5, 2019
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. Discovery Channel's all-new series 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.
#1 - Shine in the Sky
Season 7 - Episode 2
Josh awaits Cutie Pie's fate; Mark and Digger struggle with materials while building an experimental 3-Pot still; Chico and Sondra build a still high in the trees.
9.00
#2 - Highway To Hell
Season 7 - Episode 12
Josh embarks on a harrowing cross-country delivery; rain threatens the final run of a special seasonal shine recipe; America's first Shiner in Chief inspires a top dollar batch of malted rye whiskey.
9.00
#3 - Burden of Proof
Season 8 - Episode 5
Booted off his backwoods still site, Josh turns to his stock-car racing roots to invent a whole new way of making moonshine. Old-timer JB comes to the rescue as Mark and Digger fall short on a run. Mark Rogers faces a close encounter with the law.
8.25
#4 - Wrong Side of the Law
Season 8 - Episode 3
Legal shiner Tim finds himself on the wrong side of the law after son JT spots an agent near a still site. Mike designs a unique still to make high-dollar shine. Mark and Digger make an in-town run and Josh discovers what bears do in the woods.
8.04
#5 - Take Me to the River
Season 6 - Episode 2
Patti & David scramble to locate a clean water source for their operation. Mark Rogers ventures into unfamiliar territory to secure new buyers. Mark & Digger use an old moonshiner's trick to spook intruders from their still site.
8.00
#6 - Whiskey Time Machine
Season 6 - Episode 7
Tim needs to rescue his operation, challenging the laws of nature and time. Mark and Digger implement a high tech addition to their operation that could double their output, if it doesn't blow them up. Jeff and Lance make a once banned liquor.
8.00
#7 - Green Dragon
Season 6 - Episode 10
Josh and Chuck work to reclaim their place at the top. Later, money threatens an old partnership for Jeff, Mark and Lance; and Mark and Digger craft a special brew for a high-rolling customer.
8.00
#8 - Big City Bootleg
Season 6 - Episode 11
With liquor stockpiled, Carolina shiners Josh and Big Chuck start digging for a new stash site. The pressure's on as backwoods distillers Mark and Digger haul 60 gallons of premium gin to Nashville the sale of their career. In the Louisiana swamplands, father/daughter duo Patti and David follow nature's harvest to make a sweet new brew.
8.00
#9 - Big Wheels Keep On Turning
Season 6 - Episode 12
Mark and Digger bring in a moonshine legend to rev-up production; Josh and Chuck turn to an old power source to prolong their operation; Chico and Sondra gear up for their first big sale of the season; Tim puts money on the line.
8.00
#10 - Bootleg Hustle
Season 1 - Episode 7
It's the dead of winter in Appalachia, and moonshine season is months away. Moonshiner Tim and his partner Tickle are planning a daring 100-mile bootleg run capped with a risky midday moonshine transfer - something Tim rarely does.
7.89
#11 - Moonshine Takedown
Season 4 - Episode 6
Tickle nails down a stash spot. Josh and Bill butt heads in the backwoods. Jim Tom and Roy are back in action. Mark and Digger's still goes from old school to state-of-the-art. And Mark and Jeff put the bells and whistles on their new shine spot.
7.86
#12 - Foraging for a Long Winter Ahead
Season 7 - Episode 17
In Tennessee, Mike sets himself up for a career high with a run of specialty liquor but faces a devastating setback. In the last run of the season, Sondra takes the reigns and Rodgers tampers with his final run in an attempt to cash out.
7.82
#13 - Legacy On The Line
Season 8 - Episode 1
Moonshine season is on and the shiners must step it up to stay ahead of big liquor and the law. A 100mph wipeout puts Josh's operation in jeopardy, Tim takes a risk on rye, and Mark and Digger are hell-bent on backwoods justice after Mike's betrayal.
7.82
#14 - Liquid Courage
Season 3 - Episode 13
Jeff and Mark reach a roadblock; Deputy Chuck is in hot pursuit; Mike travels to finish off his biggest sale of the season; Tickle attracts unwanted attention.
7.80
#15 - Adios, Mr. Still
Season 2 - Episode 9
Gunfire erupts in the bamboo patch just as Josh & Bill fire up their still for the first time this season. Meanwhile, Jeff, Mark & Jim Tom run a batch of President George Washington's rye whiskey. Then, Tickle hits the skids when his still is sabotaged.
7.79
#16 - Skins in the Game
Season 7 - Episode 10
More setbacks confront Chico and Sondra; Mark and Digger secure ingredients for an experimental liquor; Mark and Mike reunite; Tim's centuries old method for finding water is met with opposition.
7.78
#17 - Backwoods Justice
Season 8 - Episode 2
Tensions boil over in Tennessee as Mike must answer for blowing up Mark and Digger's still. With Tickle in jail, JT answers the call when two outlaw shiners show up looking for help in the woods. Josh faces more bad news in the form of a bear.
7.76
#18 - Outlaw Brotherhood
Season 1 - Episode 4
Moonshiner Tim and his partner Tickle soup up Tim's hot rod when they are forced into a daring, daytime bootlegging run. Meanwhile, a hurricane threatens the still site. Then, a new bootlegging biker legend sets out on an 800 mile run.
7.76
#19 - A Price to Pay
Season 1 - Episode 5
With the leaves falling, Moonshiner Tim makes a risky move and adds a second pot to the still site to double his profits. Tickle has a bad accident - and Agent Jesse prepares for the mother lode of all busts.
7.73
#20 - Arrested Development
Season 7 - Episode 9
Tickle mentors JT at Belmont Farm; Mark and Digger receive an impossible shine order; Patti and David secure their still site after spotting a deadly intruder; Lance and Jeff scramble when their bootlegger goes missing.
7.73
#21 - Last nail in the Coffin
Season 7 - Episode 18
In this explosive season finale, backwoods rivalries reach the breaking point! Cops stop Mark and Digger during their last big bootleg. Josh risks a $20K sale with an unreliable biker gang, and Mike lights the fuse on an Appalachian turf war.
7.72
#22 - Popcorn's Secret Stash
Season 8 - Episode 4
Ten years after Popcorn Sutton's death, his widow reveals a clue that could lead Mark and Digger to a hidden stash; Mike must gin up his brandy game to pay off his debt to Mark and Digger; Donnie and Teresa build a still site in a Kentucky cave.
7.72
#23 - Snake Bitten
Season 7 - Episode 1
Moonshine season is back and the demand for white lightning is higher than ever. Tim Smith has a visitor from his outlaw past, Mark and Digger get a sign from above in Tennessee, and Josh's favorite still hand has a brush with death.
7.71
#24 - Aftershock
Season 3 - Episode 12
Jeff and Mark look to cash in on one final run of the season. Tickle and Chico's still site is compromised. Mike is desperate to complete his New Orleans order, and turns to Darlene. Josh and Bill might get to sell some of their own liquor after all.
7.70
#25 - Luck of the Irish
Season 6 - Episode 4
A rookie mistake could ruin Josh and Chuck's operation and Tim travels across the Atlantic to teach an old Irish distillery about making moonshine. Mark and Digger's mash test is interrupted by an unwanted visitor.
7.67