The legality of filming a show like Moonshiners is kind of undercut by the fact that if the guys were doing something illegal then authorities would have zoomed in on them by now and seized everything that goes into their operation.
One thing that is correctly stated by the moonshiners is that the government wants its share of the profits, which is why making moonshine and selling it without being registered salesmen or manufacturers in any way is considered highly illegal. This is about the only way that showing how to make moonshine is legal, since the illegality of it also comes from the fact that if someone sells a bad batch then it can be extremely harmful to the consumers.
Right now this show is more for entertainment than anything. Big Brother also had to settle a lawsuit after accepting a housemate with a history of assault, who proceeded to threaten another contestant at knifepoint. Because the stars of Moonshiners are paid to appear on the show, the producers would almost certainly be liable if anyone was injured from drinking illegal alcohol produced for the show. Since sheer insurance costs haven't shut down production, it seems likely that no actual moonshine is being sold on the Discovery Channel's dime.
Although it's illegal to distill spirits in the US without state and federal permits , it's not like those permits are impossible to get. With the publicity from the show, it would be super-easy for the show's stars to secure backing and go legit.
Which is exactly what cast member Tim Smith did , partnering with the Prost Beverage Company to market "Climax" brand moonshine in stores nationwide. In other words, even if the show does feature real moonshining, it's not because the cast members are desperate criminals with no other options. They're just deliberately choosing not to get the correct permits for the sake of the show.
Hopefully, more reality shows embrace this model, since Extreme Makeover: Home Edition would definitely be more interesting if all the work was done at night, with no planning permission. The show does feature unquestionably real footage of moonshine being produced by legendary bootlegger "Popcorn" Sutton. However, this footage wasn't filmed for the show. In fact, Sutton sadly took his own life in , two years before Moonshiners first aired. The producers merely bought the rights to the movie and used the footage in the first season of their show.
At the time of his death, Sutton was awaiting trial for illegally distilling spirits, a charge notably avoided by the other stars of the show, who we're told are doing the exact same thing, while millions watch.
When asked how they get away with breaking the law on national TV, the stars of Moonshiners usually have a simple answer: nobody can prove they're actually doing that. Tim Smith told BourbonBlog that it's not enough to see someone making something that looks like moonshine. Instead, "physical samples of the product you're producing have to be taken and analyzed.
And for two, I could be doing anything, it could be just water. When Magilla Entertainment started working on the show in , executives thought that focusing on illicit moonshiners would be legally risky, probably because it is.
Instead, they planned to feature licensed moonshiners going legit. Millions of people have tuned into watch moonshiners in states like Tennessee, Virginia, and Louisiana produce their own brands of moonshine Whether they want to learn more about the history and culture of moonshine or are just entertained by the relationships the cast members have with one another, the viewership of Moonshiners has stayed pretty strong.
Which cast members have gotten in trouble with the law? Is the show as real as it claims to be? Occasionally, the personalities on the show are stopped by law enforcement while cameras are rolling. They almost always are allowed to walk or drive away, but it does make for a good moment of tension during the show. However, not every law enforcement interaction is caught by the Moonshiners cameras. In bonus footage, Tim Smith admitted that police officers tried to confront him about the show one evening when he was at home.
Tim kept his cool, though, and just invited them to come in and sit down since he was about to have dinner. If you watched season one of Moonshiners , you probably remember special agent Jesse Tate. If you pay attention, though, he never actually interacts with people like Tim and Tickle, the two of the main people on the series.
It turns out that Tate was misled about the nature of the show. He had no idea that it was going to be depicting moonshine manufacturing or distribution -- the Bureau had thought that Discovery was making a show about the history of moonshine and moonshine distribution in the state. Needless to say, the state of Virginia was not happy when the first season of Moonshiners aired on television.
Tate also never appeared on the show again. Wonder why? In the same press release where they claimed to be misled about the nature of the show, Virginia authorities slammed Discovery for airing a false, misleading show. After viewers kept asking why the state was allowing a crime to take place, Virginia said that the show was not actually portraying illegal moonshine, but was actually just a dramatization.
Cast members of the show continue to say the opposite, though. Tim learned that quickly once viewers realized what he did during the day. Most people think of firemen as upstanding members of society, so some viewers had issues with Tim going from one on-the-level job to operating something that was potentially harmful. Viewers who have been with the show since the first season probably remember the occasional clip of Popcorn Sutton.
Sutton was one of the most famous moonshiners, so famous, in fact, that he even had a few documentaries made about him. One of them won an Emmy. Sutton was lucky enough to mostly evade the law for decades, until he told an undercover officer that he had over nine hundred gallons of illegal moonshine that he was ready to sell.
He was charged with illegally distilling spirits shocker and possession of a handgun as a felon.
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