Moonshiners | |
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Genre | Docudrama |
Narrated by | Jeremy Schwartz |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of seasons | 12 |
No. of episodes | 262 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | Discovery Channel |
Release | December 6, 2011 – present |
Related | |
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Moonshiners is an American docudrama television series on the Discovery Channel produced by Magilla Entertainment that dramatizes the life of people who produce (illegal) moonshine in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The series dramatizes their liquor production efforts, law-evading techniques and life. [1] There have been claims by local officials that the show is not what it portrays itself to be. Virginia authorities have stated that no illegal liquor is actually being produced by the people depicted in the show. The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) said in March 2012 that, "If illegal activity was actually taking place, the Virginia ABC Bureau of Law Enforcement would have taken action." [2] They also said that they had requested for the producers to add a disclaimer to clarify that the show was only a dramatization, "but the request was overlooked", [2] and the show's producers, Magilla Entertainment, have stated their documentary content is real. [3]
Portions of the show that feature Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton were taken from a documentary film by Neal Hutcheson. Hutcheson's documentary was filmed in 2002 and released the same year with the title This is the Last Dam Run of Likker I'll Ever Make. [4] In 2008, a version of the documentary that was edited for television was broadcast on PBS [ citation needed ] and the Documentary Channel [5] with the title The Last One, and it received a Southeast Emmy Award in 2009. [6] Sutton was arrested in 2007 by ATF agents in Cocke County, Tennessee (led by Jim Cavanaugh of Waco siege fame) for illegally distilling liquor and possession of a handgun by a felon, and was sentenced to eighteen months in jail in 2009. He subsequently died by suicide, apparently to avoid serving the federal prison term. [7]
The show's first season premiered on December 6, 2011.
The twelfth season premiered on November 9, 2022, [8] with a preseason special airing on November 2, 2022.
Season | Episodes | Specials | Originally aired | Average rating (millions) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||||
1 | 6 | 1 | December 6, 2011 | January 4, 2012 | 2.76 | |
2 | 12 | 3 | November 7, 2012 | January 30, 2013 | 3.03 | |
3 | 13 | 7 | November 5, 2013 | February 4, 2014 | 2.53 | |
4 | 14 | 10 | November 4, 2014 | February 3, 2015 | 2.00 | |
5 | 17 | 1 | November 17, 2015 | March 8, 2016 | 1.85 | |
6 | 17 | 5 | November 15, 2016 | March 14, 2017 | TBA | |
7 | 18 | 12 | November 15, 2017 | March 27, 2018 | 1.59 | |
8 | 18 | 10 | December 11, 2018 | July 9, 2019 | TBA | |
9 | 17 | 4 | November 19, 2019 | May 9, 2020 | TBA | |
10 | 20 | 7 | November 23, 2020 | April 13, 2021 | TBA | |
11 | 21 | 2 | October 20, 2021 | March 30, 2022 | TBA | |
12 | 20 | 5 | November 2, 2022 | April 10, 2023 | TBA | |
13 | TBA | TBA | January 2, 2024 | 2024 | TBA |
Key: indicates a season in which a person appeared
Cast | Role | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6 | Season 7 | Season 8 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tim | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Tickle | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Jesse | Law Enforcement Agent | ||||||||
Jeff | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Mark | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Lance | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Jim Tom | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Josh | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Bill | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Howard | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Chuck | Deputy Sheriff | ||||||||
Mike (MS) | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Tweedy | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Chico | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Tyler | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Wayne | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Darlene | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Chris Thompson | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Digger | Moonshiner | ||||||||
David | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Patti | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Big Chuck | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Mike (TN) | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Daniel | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Henry | Moonshiner | ||||||||
Kenny | Moonshiner | ||||||||
In May 2013, it was announced that, in addition to renewing Moonshiners for a third season, Discovery Channel would be purchasing a spinoff about Steven Ray Tickle, to be called Tickle . [9] The series premiered on August 13, 2013. [10]
In February 2019, a new series titled Moonshiners: Whiskey Business was announced through Discovery Channel. The spinoff sprouted from a Moonshiners season seven special titled Whiskey Business, in which Tim Smith travels to help out struggling Missouri Ridge Distillery and keep them in business. The special proved successful and four more episodes were made to air at the end of Moonshiners' season 8. The spin-off started airing March 13, 2019. [11]
A new Moonshiners series titled Moonshiners: Master Distiller premiered on March 3, 2020, on Discovery Channel. [12]
The theme song for the show is Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road". The intro montage introduces the cast members, and also shows some of the difficulties they face while making the moonshine. Since season 5, the theme song has been Bleeding Fingers' "Livin' Outside the Law". [13]
Moonshine is high-proof liquor, traditionally made or distributed illegally. Its clandestine distribution is known as bootlegging. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial distilleries have adopted the term for its outlaw cachet and begun producing their own legally sanctioned, novelty "moonshine", including many flavored varieties, that in some sense continue its tradition, generally having a similar method and/or location of production.
Tennessee whiskey is straight whiskey produced in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Although it has been legally defined as a bourbon whiskey in some international trade agreements, most current producers of Tennessee whiskey disclaim references to their products as "bourbon" and do not label them as such on any of their bottles or advertising materials. All current Tennessee whiskey producers are required by Tennessee law to produce their whiskeys in Tennessee and – with the sole exception of Benjamin Prichard's – to use a filtering step known as the Lincoln County Process prior to aging the whiskey. Beyond the perceived marketing value of the distinction, Tennessee whiskey and bourbon have almost identical requirements, and most Tennessee whiskeys meet the criteria for bourbon.
A pot still is a type of distillation apparatus or still used to distill liquors such as whisky or brandy. In modern (post-1850s) practice, they are not used to produce rectified spirit, because they do not separate congeners from ethanol as effectively as other distillation methods. Pot stills operate on a batch distillation basis. Traditionally constructed from copper, pot stills are made in a range of shapes and sizes depending on the quantity and style of spirit desired.
Trailer Park Boys is a Canadian mockumentary television sitcom created by Mike Clattenburg that began airing in 2001 as a continuation of his 1999 film bearing the same name. The show follows the misadventures of a group of trailer park residents, including two lead characters in and out of prison, living in the fictional "Sunnyvale Trailer Park" in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The series premiered on Showcase on April 20, 2001, and originally ran for seven seasons before concluding with a one-hour special on December 7, 2008. The series spawned three films: The Movie, released on October 6, 2006; Countdown to Liquor Day, released on September 25, 2009; and Don't Legalize It, released on April 18, 2014.
George Dickel is a brand of Tennessee whisky produced in Tullahoma, in Coffee County, Tennessee. Today owned by Diageo, the modern brand was introduced in 1964, though the distillery has a longer history. Whisky production and aging takes place at the Cascade Hollow Distillery, which offers tours to the public and is part of the American Whiskey Trail. George Dickel operates the second-largest distillery in Tennessee, selling 130,000 cases in 2013, while the largest is Jack Daniel's, which sold 11.5 million cases the same year.
Conecuh Ridge Whiskey is a type of whiskey produced and officially marketed as "Clyde May's Alabama Style Whiskey" by Conecuh Ridge Distillery Inc. It is marketed as a high-quality aged moonshine whiskey which was produced illegally in Alabama during the mid to late 20th century. The brand was legalized by the moonshiner's son Kenny May.
Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. , better known as Junior Johnson, was an American professional stock car racing driver, engineer, and team owner as well as an entrepreneur. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s, he became a NASCAR racing team owner, winning the NASCAR championship with Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. He is credited as the first to use the drafting technique in stock car racing. He was nicknamed "The Last American Hero," and his autobiography and movie based on his upbringing is of the same name. In May 2007, Johnson teamed with Piedmont Distillers of Madison, North Carolina, to introduce the company's second moonshine product, called "Midnight Moon Moonshine", a nod to the days of his early youth in the 1940s when he made a living as a moonshiner/moonrunner and bootlegger.
Poitín, anglicized as poteen or potcheen, is a traditional Irish distilled beverage. Former common names for Poitín were "Irish moonshine" and "mountain dew". It was traditionally distilled in a small pot still and the term is a diminutive of the Irish word pota, meaning "pot". The Irish word for a hangover is póit. In accordance with the Irish Poteen/Irish Poitín technical file, it can only be made from cereals, grain, whey, sugar beet, molasses and potatoes.
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Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton was an American Appalachian moonshiner and bootlegger. Born in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, he grew up, lived and died in the rural areas around Maggie Valley and nearby Cocke County, Tennessee. He wrote a self-published autobiographical guide to moonshining production, self-produced a home video depicting his moonshining activities, was the subject of several documentaries, including one that received a Regional Emmy Award, and is the subject of the award-winning biography and photobook The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton.
Moonshine is referenced in many works, including books, motion pictures, musical lyrics and television.
Sazerac Company, Inc. is a privately held American alcoholic beverage company headquartered in Metairie in the metropolitan area of New Orleans, Louisiana, but with its principal office in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is owned by billionaire William Goldring and his family. As of 2017, it operated nine distilleries, had 2,000 employees, and operated in 112 countries. It is one of the two largest spirits companies in the United States, with annual revenue of about $1 billion made from selling about 300 beverage brands.
Benjamin Prichard's Tennessee Whiskey is a brand of Tennessee whiskey produced in the small community of Kelso, Tennessee in the United States. Although it is produced by one of only two distilleries operating in Lincoln County – and its unaged variation is named Lincoln County Lightning – Prichard's is not produced using the Lincoln County Process. Due to a special grandfathering exemption under a Tennessee law enacted in 2013, the Prichard's distillery in Kelso is the only producer allowed to label its product as "Tennessee Whiskey" without using this process. Prichard's whiskey is produced entirely using pot stills rather than column stills.
Steven Ray Tickle, usually referred to as simply "Tickle," is an American television personality, known for his role in Discovery Channel docudramas Moonshiners and Tickle. Tickle lives in rural Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and is shown as working in the town of Gretna.
Tickle is an American docudrama television series that aired in 2013 on the Discovery Channel. A spin-off of Moonshiners, the series follows moonshiner Steven Ray Tickle as he attempts to sell a large stash of moonshine that he found in the backwoods of Virginia. Tickle opens a fishing store called "Tickle's Tackle" in the town of Gretna as a front to move the liquor, but discovers that managing a business is more difficult than he expected.
The Great Moonshine Conspiracy Trial of 1935 resulted in the indictment of 80 people involved in the illegal production and distribution of moonshine whisky in Virginia. At the time, Franklin County was believed to produce the highest volume of illegal liquor in the U.S., colloquially referred to as "the moonshine capital of the world." From 1928-1935, prosecutors alleged that a conspiracy ring had defrauded the government out of 5.5 million dollars in whisky excise taxes, equivalent to roughly 95 million dollars today. The case is the second longest in Virginia’s history and eventually resulted in 20 convictions, including several officers of the law and government officials.
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Master distiller is a title often used for a distilling expert or a key leader or owner at modern distilleries. The title doesn't have a fixed definition and can mean different things at different companies. Although the craft of distilling has existed for centuries throughout history, the term "master distiller" only dates back as far as the 1800s when it was first used to acknowledge the distilling expertise and knowledge a person gained after practicing and perfecting the craft of distilling for many years. In more recent usage, the term can have a much broader meaning and is sometimes used for owners and company leaders who run their companies but do not actively create the distilling recipes and processes used at their distilleries.
Neal Hutcheson is an American filmmaker, photographer, and author. He has received three regional Emmy Awards for documentaries on regional culture, language, and identity. He has produced 17 television documentaries on topics such as Appalachian culture, heritage fisheries on the North Carolina Outer Banks, Cherokee language preservation efforts, African American vernacular speech, and climate change. Hutcheson’s most visible work has featured Popcorn Sutton, a moonshiner from Western North Carolina. The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton, a book of photos, interviews and essays by Hutcheson, was released in 2021 and received a National Indie Excellence Award and the Outstanding Book—Independent Spirit Award from The Independent Publisher Book Awards, the largest unaffiliated book contest in the world, and was the grand prize winner of the 30th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards. Hutcheson works as a producer for the Language & Life Project at North Carolina State University and is a contributing producer to independent production companies Empty Bottle Pictures and Sucker Punch Pictures.