While it’s good to try our local moonshine by itself, and with a few healthy chunks of ice, I think it makes a swell base for cocktails, too. Try it as a substitute for vodka or gin in your favorites, or in one of the mixes proffered below, which bring Washington moonshine together with a few other delicious bottled products from our state.
Master of the Seattle Hounds
This is a Seattle-centric updating of a drink I originally found in Crosby Gaige’s Cocktail Guide and Ladies’ Companion, from 1941. It’s ideal for sipping while holding the drink in one hand and petting a dog with the other.
Cracked ice
2 ounces 2bar Spirits moonshine
1 ounce Old Ballard Liquor Co. Cherry Bounce
2 dashes Scrappy’s aromatic bitters
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass half full with cracked ice. Add the moonshine, Cherry Bounce and bitters. Stir well.
2. Strain the mix into a cocktail glass.
Shores & Valleys
Using ingredients made in Anacortes, on Vashon Island and in a little farming valley right outside of Kent, this cocktail highlights the diversity of products from our small-batch distillers. In addition, the host of flavors bursting out of this drink is sure to make any day amazing.
Cracked ice
1 1/2 ounces Deception Distilling Skagit Moon moonshine
1 ounce Sidetrack Distillery blueberry liqueur
1/2 ounce Seattle Distilling coffee liqueur
Lemon twist
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass half full with cracked ice. Add the moonshine and liqueurs. Stir well.
2. Strain the mix into a cocktail glass. Twist the lemon over the glass and drop it in.
