The WORST episodes of Moonshiners
Every episode of Moonshiners ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Moonshiners!
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 - A New Tariff in Town
Season 15 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/17/2026
After rivals destroy Tim's Canada-bound moonshine, he relocates his tariff-dodging operation to Kentucky, where neighbors follow their own unwritten code. Tickle and Henry target the lake house crowd, while Amanda crafts a new Manhattan-style corn liquor.
#2 - Resisting Arrest
Season 14 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/11/2025
In the season finale, Mark and Digger scramble to clear evidence of outlaw activity -- only to discover the law is one step ahead. Mike and Jerry build a column still that runs two proofs at once. In his final run, Kenny lends a hand to a legend in need.
#3 - Imposter Syndrome
Season 14 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/4/2025
Desperate to discover who is surveilling them, Mark and Digger set a trap. Tim and Howard attempt a new path to recreating the family's high-proof elixir recipe. When Big Chuk arrives in Franklin County unexpectedly, Tickle and Henry have concerns.
#4 - Unintended Consequences
Season 14 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/17/2024
Mark and Digger recruit Patti Bryan to help make hot pepper moonshine.
#5 - Vengeance Is Shine
Season 14 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/10/2024
Mark and Digger corner a man who stole 175 gallons of their barrel-aged liquor; Mike and Jerry retreat to Mississippi to raise cash for their vengeful return.
#6 - Quarter Ton of Backwoods Fun
Season 13 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/30/2024
Amanda and Kelly attempt to reinvent an Appalachian apple brandy made famous by a 500-pound woman. Mark and Digger lend Popcorn Sutton's condenser to a new team of shiners. Richard and Jerry find a common cause, putting Mike in the hot seat.
#7 - Disappearing Act
Season 12 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/29/2023
Digger enlists a combat veteran to run his supernatural rye apple recipe, then pulls his own disappearing act. Richard and Craig struggle to keep their mash warm in cold weather. Jerry engineers some backwoods tech to keep making shine into winter.
#8 - Caffeinated Moonshine
Season 12 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/18/2023
Seeking advice from Mark and Digger, Richard attempts to salvage the $3,000 copper still he imploded before Daniel returns. On the run from the law, Josh motors deep into the Brazilian highlands in search of a new recipe for caffeinated cachaça moonshine.
#9 - Still Imploder
Season 12 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/11/2023
In a rare lapse of judgment, Richard implodes Daniel's $3,000 copper still. As the fire marshal ramps up his investigation, Josh makes a tough decision to flee the country. Tim's solution to a centuries-old still build is going to sting a bit for Howard.
#10 - Mobile Moonshiner Madness
Season 8 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/6/2019
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.
#11 - High Proof Holidays
Season 8 - Episode 1 - Aired 12/11/2018
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.
#12 - Firewater
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/14/2014
Josh and Bill suffer the consequences of bootlegging. Darlene goes against her best instinct and lights up her still indoors. Jeff, Mark, and Lance find their competition is still out there. Tim takes final measures to protect his legal shine business.
#13 - Rival Shiners
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/24/2013
Tim reaches a milestone with his first bottled batch of shine. Jeff and Mark suspect a rival in their territory. Chico takes a risk that could cost him everything. Josh and Bill's only hope at financing their shine operation is to consider bootlegging.
#14 - Moonshine War
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/7/2014
Tickle goes undercover to learn what Chico has been doing; Josh and Bill travel to a music festival; Mark and Lance seek to eliminate the competition.
#15 - Swamp Shiners
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/19/2013
Mark and Jeff struggle to set up their remote still site, while Josh and Bill are desperate for cash to build a new copper still. Tensions run high in the Kentucky distillery with Tim and his partner Steve, and a new moonshiner appears in Mississippi.
Watch Now:Apple TV#16 - Bootleg or Bust
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/20/2015
Josh and Bill secretly sell their shine; Tim returns to Virginia to fill an order; Mark tries to make a delivery by boat; Tickle's deal nearly breaks down.
#17 - Hush Money
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/3/2013
In North Carolina, Jeff and Mark must pay hush money to the property owner of their still site, while veteran shiner Jim Tom helps Wayne perfect his moonshine recipe. In Virginia, Tickle encounters bad luck when he starts bootlegging his own shine.
#18 - More Shiners More Problems
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/26/2013
Tim Smith hires a person with a checkered past to help at the distillery in Kentucky. Tickle learns how to make moonshine in a copper pot still from one of the best. In North Carolina, Jeff and Mark are surprised by an unexpected visitor.
#19 - Moonshine Cascade
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/11/2014
Tickle and Tyler need to fix a bad feed line and get back to work at the moonshine cave. Jim Tom and Roy build the still that will carry them to greatness. Josh and Bill are sidelined with a crushed still. Sheriff’s Deputy Chuck gains ground on Lance.
#20 - A Shiner in Kentucky
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/12/2013
Mark and Jeff clear their remote North Carolina still site, while an argument between Josh and Bill threatens to destroy their partnership. Tim has a tough time adjusting to moonshining in a legal Kentucky distillery, and Tickle takes a road trip.
#21 - First Run
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/10/2013
Tickle bootlegs at night, while Wayne comes up with an ingenious drop-off plan for his own bootleggers. Equipment failure threatens the production of Tim Smith's legal moonshine, and Josh and Bill finally begin their first run of strawberry brandy.
Watch Now:Apple TV#22 - Prophecy Fulfilled
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/12/2012
Tickle builds a new still. Josh gets angry when he damages the nearly completed underground still site. Mark and Jeff make a risky move when they sell some of their product in town. Jim Tom teaches Jeff's son Lance how to measure the alcohol by volume concentration of moonshine.
Watch Now:Apple TV#23 - Bootlegging Blowups
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/2/2014
Tim enlists Tickle's help to investigate his new still hand, Chico. Josh and Bill take on new risks as they try to stay alive in the moonshine game, as bootleggers. Jeff, Mark and Lance look to take out the competition.
#24 - Time to 'Shine
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/5/2013
It's the start of moonshine season! Moonshiners Jeff and Mark, and partners Josh and Bill hit the ground running. Meanwhile, veteran shiner Tim Smith will make a life-changing move, and Tickle is forced to realize that his time to shine has just begun.
#25 - Moonshine Season Starts
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 12/6/2011
As the season approaches, moonshiner Tim and his partner Tickle search Appalachia for the perfect site to set up his operation. Law enforcement agent Jesse Tate is on the hunt for his first big arrest, but runs into a dangerous web of counter-surveillance.
Watch Now:Apple TV