Well, another vacation is in the books. This time we spent a week in Sevierville, TN. We traveled around Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN as well.
We did a bit of hiking around the Smoky Mountains and checked out as many Moonshine Distilleries as time allowed.
Back home, I rounded up my taste testing volunteers and resumed the usual Saturday pool party / day drinking experiments. Of course, this week included samplings of all 7 moonshines that I brought home from the trip.
Needless to say, there were no survivors.
Todays cocktail. the Smoky Tropical Sunset, comes from a recipe card from Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine. I’ve seen this brand around local liquor stores but, I was amazed at how many different flavored moonshines they had at their retail location.
This recipe features their limited run, 153 proof Moonshine.
Ingredients:
- 2 oz. Ole Smoky® 153 Moonshine
- 3 oz. Pineapple juice
- 1 oz. Sour mix
- 1/2 oz. Cream of Coconut
- 1/4 oz. Grenadine
Steps:
Add all of the ingredients into a shaker tin and shake with ice. Strain into a glass with fresh ice and garnish with a lime wheel.
Tasting Notes:
This is unlike any tropical or tiki cocktail I have made before. The 153 proof moonshine is the predominant flavor. It has a woody, smoky, nutty flavor. Towards the finish, I picked up on the pineapple flavors. The grenadine was there to add a little red for the “sunset effect”.
Alternative recipe:
One of my taste testers suggested swapping out the 153 proof moonshine with some Pina Colada Moonshine from Sugarlands Shine.
That one swap was like night and day. The cocktail took on a much sweeter flavor with a traditional tropical flavor. It was the winner with my test subjects.
What do you guys think about moonshine? what other brands / flavors have you tried? Will you try the Smoky Tropical Sunset or the variation I made for this post? Let me know in the comments below!