The term “Moonshine” gets knocked around quite a bit these days. It obviously refers back to the days of Prohibition and secret stills making booze in the dead of night somewhere in the Smoky Mountains. It can’t really exist anymore because liquor is legal and there’s no need to hide its creation anymore.
Moonshine these days is more of a marketing term for non-aged alcohol made from corn or rye. Some distilleries still make it the old fashioned way and serve it strong, while others mess with the mash a little — making it sweeter and less potent. Bloomery’s SweetShine craft, pre-mixed cocktails are going the “farm fresh” mixology route to set their Shine-inspired products apart from the competition.
Related: Prohibition Moonshine Lives Again
Bloomery SweetShine calls itself a leader in the locally sustainable craft distillery trade. Rather than bottle straightforward Moonshine, Bloomery mixes up pre-blended cocktails with organic ingredients. The available flavors include: Limoncello, Cremma Lemma, Raspberry Lemon, Hard Lemonade, Chocolate Raspberry, Peach, Ginger, Black Walnut and Seasonal Pumpkin Spice.
The distillery is located two miles east of Charles Town, West Virginia on a 12-acre parcel of land where they grow farm-fresh ingredients, including ginger, raspberries and lemons. The distiller looks to distinguish its product by relying on local sourcing. According to the minds behind Bloomery, they grow their own produce — from Italian lemons to Hawaiian, black walnuts to pumpkins. With spirits as with dinner plates, the thinking is the faster the ingredients arrive, the fresher they are and they better the resulting product.
