By
George Brozowski
Pineapple
moonshine? Why, I had no idea that pineapples grew
in Tennessee but that's just the tip of this iceberg. These
folks have a dozen flavors of Ole Smokey Moonshine.
They must have caught the flavor fever from the vodka producers
who now offer hundreds of exotic flavored vodkas. I could
almost understand their apple pie flavored moonshine or blackberry,
strawberry, peach or possibly even watermelon but come on,
pineapple?
Traditionally
moonshine is meant to be a pure, straightforward, un-aged
corn whiskey of high proof that causes swearing, thigh slapping,
foot stomping and back whacking and not some watered down
drink with an umbrella in it that causes delicate conversations
about pastel colored frocks, the shapes of fluffy clouds and
bemused gentle wonderings about the neighbor's latest indiscretion.
Ole Smokey's unflavored moonshine weighs in at 100 proof while
the fruit flavored shine has been stepped back to a gentle
40 proof. At that low proof I would venture to not call this
stuff moonshine but maybe some sort of digestif or aperitif
or even a liqueur or maybe a froo-froo drink or even sunshine
rather than moonshine. Okay, now I admit all these rants originate
from my prejudiced purist soul that demands that moonshine
be moonshine and nothing but moonshine and on the way down
seriously injure my mouth and throat, not to mention my liver.
But maybe a taste will sway me from my straight, narrow, highly
opinionated blind and bigoted path, let's see.
I'll
give them this, it comes in the traditional mason jar with
the screw down cap. The contents is pineapple in color and
syrupy looking and definitely not transparent. The nose approximates
the smell of tart pineapple with a hint of pear and is sharp
but not alcohol sharp as I cannot detect the aroma of the
alcohol at all. WOW that's one sweet and fruity palate for
sure. There is definitely the taste of pineapple again followed
by the pear and a hint of orange and although there is a fair
amount of sugar it is balanced by a tartness I can't quite
put my finger on. I also get a bit of the traditional sugar
and corn flavor of standard moonshine. I detect little to
almost no alcohol in this blend.
The
finish is sweet and short and smooth. It is so laid back that
you could actually sip this straight up without a problem.
I find it rather pleasing on the rocks if just maybe a bit
too much on the sweet side. I tried it in iced tea and much
to my surprise it played quite nice, sweetening up the tea
just enough. I do believe this might make a very nice mixer
in a margarita or maybe even replace the simple syrup in a
Long Island Iced Tea.
For
a low calorie, low alcohol, fruit flavored spirit, it's pleasant
enough but I would recommend you get a jar of their full strength
100 proof moonshine (it's the same price $19.99) as this 40
proof pineapple flavored sunshine and slice up some fresh
pineapple and muddle up a batch and let me know which one
you prefer.
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