Moonshiners is an Americandocudrama television series on the Discovery Channel produced by Magilla Entertainment that dramatizes the life of people who produce 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. There have been claims by local officials that the show is not what it portrays 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 said in March 2012 that, "If illegal activity was actually taking place, the Virginia ABC Bureau of Law Enforcement would have taken action." 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", and the show's producers, Magilla Entertainment, have stated their documentary content is real. 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. In 2008, a version of the documentary that was edited for television was broadcast on PBS and the with the title The Last One, and it received a Southeast Emmy Award in 2009. Sutton was arrested in 2007 by ATF agents in Cocke County, Tennessee for illegally distilling liquor and possession of a handgun by a felon, and was sentenced to eighteen months in jail in 2009. He subsequently committed suicide, apparently to avoid serving the federal prison term, and because he had been diagnosed with cancer. The show's first season premiered on December 6, 2011, and its second season premiered on November 7, 2012. Season 3 premiered on November 3, 2013. Season 4 premiered on November 4, 2014. Season 5's premiere date was November 17, 2015. Season 8 premiered on January 2, 2019. On October 30, 2019, it was announced that the ninth season will premiere on November 19, 2019.
Series overview
Cast
Key: indicates a season in which a person appeared
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. The series premiered on August 13, 2013.
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.
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".
