🔥 “DEVIL’S KISS”: THE DEADLY BERRY MOONSHINE THAT NEARLY TOOK MARK AND DIGGER TOO FAR
Season 14, Episode 7 of Moonshiners pushes Appalachian distilling into dangerous new territory
A thick mountain mist clings to the hollers as Moonshiners Season 14, Episode 7 — titled “Berry Dangerous Business” — plunges viewers into one of Mark Ramsey and Digger Mains’ riskiest ventures yet. Trading in apples and peaches for something far more dangerous, the duo sets their sights on an outlaw experiment: turning toxic pokeberries into premium liquor.
“That ain’t your average blackberry,” Digger mutters, crouched in a thicket.
“Nope,” Mark replies. “That’s pokeberry. Deadly if you eat it wrong.”
Despite its lethal reputation, old-timers once claimed it could be tamed. Now, Mark and Digger want to find out if there’s truth to that mountain myth — but they won’t go it alone. Enter Amanda Bryant, a backwoods distiller, herbalist, and folk medicine expert, whose deep knowledge of Appalachian plants might just make the impossible drinkable.
A WITCH’S BREW IN THE WOODS
Amanda’s woodland cabin is half laboratory, half sanctuary — filled with beakers, copper coils, dried herbs, and the faint scent of pine and wildflowers. The trio lays out a bucket of ripe, ink-dark pokeberries. Amanda raises an eyebrow. “You boys brought me poison and want a miracle?” she jokes, but her tone quickly turns serious.
“We ain’t after the juice — just the soul of the berry.”
Using a method part science, part sorcery, Amanda carefully removes the seeds (where most toxins live), boils the skins, and begins a low-temp distillation to capture only the volatile aromatics. The result? A floral, musky distillate unlike anything they’ve ever seen — or smelled. One sip and Mark is stunned.
“It’s like licking the mountain itself,” he says.
Digger grins: “Weird. But good weird.”
After testing confirms it’s non-toxic, Amanda adds botanicals — sassafras, honeysuckle, wild ginger — and blends it into a clean corn base. The result is dangerously smooth and shockingly sophisticated. They name it “DEVIL’S KISS”, a nod to the berry’s poisonous reputation and seductive flavor.
A SIP OF TROUBLE
Devil’s Kiss debuts in a speakeasy-style Asheville bar, where connoisseurs sip moonshine from crystal glasses and whisper about terroir. The response? Electric. One taste and the bar owner places a $1,200 bulk order. It’s official: the wildest shine in Appalachia is also its most elegant.
But not everyone’s impressed.
Old rival Curtis “Buckshot” Bryant hears the rumors and fumes. “That ain’t moonshinin’. That’s sorcery,” he growls. When a black SUV shows up near Amanda’s cabin days later, the warning becomes real. Could the feds be watching?
Amanda, Mark, and Digger move fast — dismantling Amanda’s still, hiding the remaining bottles in a root cellar, and putting the Devil’s Kiss operation on pause… for now.
“We played with fire,” Mark says. “Time to stop the forest from burning.”
ONE LAST SIP
The episode ends where it all began — at Mark and Digger’s still, brewing peach brandy under a golden sunset. Amanda pulls up, tosses them a single bottle of Devil’s Kiss, and winks.
“Keep it for special occasions — or enemies.”
As the trio clinks glasses and sips the wildest liquor they’ve ever made, one thing is clear: in the mountains, danger isn’t just part of the job — it’s the secret ingredient.
