‘Moonshiners’ Explosive Season 16 First Look Teases High Stakes Turf Battles & Law Run-Ins

Moonshiners is headed back to Discovery Channel. TV Insider can exclusively reveal that Season 16 premieres September 29 with your favorite Appalachian distillers. Check out our sneak peek video below.

For the show’s stars, life, liberty, and the pursuit of tax-free liquor continues as Tim Smith and Steve Tickle embrace their outlaw heritage in Culpeper County, Virginia. In the new season, the dynamic duo take on a $70,000 order for corn whiskey from across the Canadian border with customers seeking tariff-free American liquor. Mike Cockrell and Jerry Benson are busy themselves in Haywood County, North Carolina. They set up a shop a month early for a head start in order to produce a $40,000 order for a high-proof strawberry-jalapeño brandy. And it wouldn’t be Moonshiners without Mark Ramsey and Eric “Digger” Manes. The Tennessee legends score a deal on 20,000 bushels of corn, but face a race against the clock to empty it before the farmer needs his silos back. 

The show’s makers tease that in the new season “alliances crumble under pressure and turf battles push neighbors to the brink, the backwoods distillers take bigger risks to protect their craft, their way of life, and a rebellious tradition as old as America itself.”

The teaser shared first with TV Insider suggests the upcoming season was 250 years in the making. Things appear to get explosive for the crews figuratively and literally when a truck and property catches fire. Livelihoods are often on the line where retribution can have serious ramifications. If that wasn’t enough, the long arm of the law also looks hot on their tails on the road and in the air via helicopter. The first look ends with, “If you love your country, you’re going to have to have to love moonshine.” 

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From the American Revolution through Prohibition, outlaw distillers have been rooted in rebellion. It’s been a long-running battle against taxes and government pressure.  The industry has evolved somewhat, but remains very similar at its core with these personalities facing similar challenges. They’ve endured hard times and economic uncertainties. Farmers also have unsold grain, overflowing silos, and stalled exports to worry about. Given the unpredictability of the business, the Appalachian distillers fire up their stills early with hopes to turn the surplus crops into tax-and-and-tariff-free liquor. There’s no telling what will unfold as they look to move their product across county lines and international borders.  

Are you excited to see more Moonshiners? Let us know in the comments. 

Moonshiners Season 16 premiere, September 29, 8/7c, Discovery Channel