The Best Episodes of Moonshiners
Last Updated: May 28, 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 - Unfinished Business
Season 8 - Episode 16
Moonshiners share their tricks for running shine and how they avoid the long arm of the law. Tim reveals a visit with Tickle behind bars, and Mark & Digger reveal an unexpected twist in their search for Popcorn Sutton's shine, stashed a decade ago.
8.14 #2 - Popcorn's Secret Stash
Season 8 - Episode 5
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.
8.10 #3 - Mobile Moonshiner Madness
Season 8 - Episode 13
Josh debuts his mobile still at a North Carolina biker rally. In the Great Smoky Mountains, Mike gets burned by a taste of his own medicine. There's a reason Franklin County, VA is the Moonshine Capital of America, and someone there is above the law.
8.04 #4 - Backwoods Justice
Season 8 - Episode 3
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.
8.01 #5 - Mid-season Secret Summit
Season 8 - Episode 8
Midway into the season, America's top moonshiners gather to deal with unfinished business. Mike tells his side of the Mark & Digger feud. Josh reveals scars from his checkered past, and the shiners put their skills to the test in a whiskey showdown.
8.00 #6 - Whisky Deception
Season 8 - Episode 17
When a dead drop goes sideways, Mark Rogers deploys backwoods justice to straighten out a thief. Kelly's massive sorghum haul puts Mark and Digger's pot stills to the test. Mike & Daniel's clear apple pie has buyers calling from across county lines.
7.94 #7 - Hillbilly Ingenuity
Season 8 - Episode 10
As Josh gets set to fire up his hidden mobile still at a biker rally, law enforcement gets wise to his illicit plan. Mark & Digger's backwoods potato vodka hits a sweet spot. Short on payback cash, Mike and Daniel invent a new way to get out of debt.
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#8 - 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 #9 - Hillbilly Hack
Season 8 - Episode 20
Mark and Digger build a hillbilly hack to save their handmade vodka. Pam may know more than she thinks about Popcorn's lost shine. Nothing but trouble for Josh running a still outside of the woods. Patti and David risk a seaplane bootleg on the bayou.
7.89 #10 - Burden of Proof
Season 8 - Episode 6
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.
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#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.
7.84 #13 - 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.
7.83 #14 - 100 Proof Heritage
Season 8 - Episode 14
Mark and Digger's first run of barrel-aged bourbon gets interrupted by a bear. Scaling up Tickle's double rye tests Tim's backwoods engineering. Mark Rogers builds a malt house to make corn whiskey. In Kentucky, Donnie and Theresa come up short.
7.83 #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.
7.82 #16 - Breaking the Laws
Season 8 - Episode 7
When their still site gets compromised, shiners Henry and Kenny enlist the help of bootlegging legend, Amos Law; to pay off his debt to Mark and Digger, Mike runs his still to the breaking point; Tim doubles down on JT and Tickle's double rye.
7.81 #17 - Moonshiner's Apprentice
Season 8 - Episode 9
Mark and Digger's new apprentice proves talent can't be taught. Josh tempts fate converting a new race car trailer into a mobile moonshining masterpiece. Mark Rogers enlists a retired lawman to bootleg 30 gallons of shine into a music festival.
7.78 #18 - 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.
7.77 #19 - Legend of Popcorn Sutton
Season 8 - Episode 15
Mark and Digger find a decade-old jar of Popcorn Sutton's shine and vow to re-create their mentor's infamous last run; with help from old-timer JB Rader, they rebuild Popcorn's pot still and recount the antics of Appalachia's most legendary outlaw.
7.76 #20 - Free Tickle
Season 8 - Episode 18
A year behind bars, Tickle transfers to Culpeper County, and Tim concocts a plan to get him out. Breaking the shiner code can come at a steep price for Mark Rogers. Mark & Digger's handmade vodka is on a hot streak until a cold snap puts profits at risk...
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#21 - 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 #22 - Moonshine Treasure Hunt
Season 2 - Episode 10
Tim searches for 200 gallons of moonshine in a lake; Tickle finds his former helper; Jeff protects his still from an intruder; Mike uses horse manure for something other than gardening.
7.75 #23 - The Trouble With Tickle
Season 8 - Episode 22
Tickle returns to Tim's legal distillery and discovers he's traded one prison for another. Mark and Digger unearth a trove of Popcorn's shine. Josh finds an untapped market at a biker rally, but learns the cost of entry is more than the ticket price.
7.75 #24 - Hat in Hand
Season 2 - Episode 11
Tickle asks Tim for help; Jeff, Mark and Jim Tom battle a swarm of yellow jackets; and Josh rescues Cutie Pie.
7.74 #25 - High Proof Holidays
Season 8 - Episode 1
It's Christmas in Appalachia and Tim Smith is 4000 miles away in Alaska making a special delivery to his northernmost customer. In Tennessee, Mark and Digger cook up a plan to make a holiday run of liquor for two legendary shiners from a bygone era.
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