5 Summer Cocktails Made With Mountain Spirits
While craft beer gets a great deal of attention across the Smokies, craft distilling is coming on strong.
More small distilleries are opening with a range of products, giving consumers a wide variety of products beyond the big national and international brands. Celebrate the warmer weather with a cocktail made with North Carolina or Tennessee spirits.
Asheville Distilling
This was the first Asheville-area craft distillery and now produces a line of whiskey and moonshine. The distillery is located in the same complex as the separately owned Highland Brewing.
Strawberry Blonde
- 1 ½ ounce of Blonde Whiskey
- ¼ ounce of simple syrup
- ½ Ounce Fragoli Strawberry Liqueur
- 3 dashes Angostura Bitters
- 1 lemon rind
Shake all ingredients over ice, strain into glass, garnish with lemon twist.
Howling Moon
This Asheville area distillery makes such products as Mountain Moonshine, Apple Pie Moonshine, Peach Moonshine, Strawberry Moonshine and Moonshine Whiskey.
Moonshine and peaches
- 1 ½ ounces Mountain Moonshine
- 2 ounces of Asheville’s Gingers Revenge ginger beer or any ginger brew
- 5 ounces sweet and sour mixer
- ½ ounce peach juice
- ½ ounce cranberry juice
- 6 torn mint leaves
- 3 peach wedges skin removed
Shake all ingredients except the ginger beer, which is then added.
Blue Ridge Distilling
This distillery is located in Bostic, North Carolina, and makes Defiant American Single Malt Whiskey. The distillery began on a family farm and uses pure clean water drawn from beneath that property.
Tom Collins
- 5-6 dashes freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 large measure of Defiant American Single Malt Whiskey
Combine ingredients in a glass and top off with soda.
Sugarland Distilling
With a location in downtown Gatlinburg, Sugarland Distilling is a great reason to pay a visit. Come to this eastern Tennessee town and show some love this spring and summer, as the community rebounds from a serious wildfire in 2016.
Blackberry Sunset
- 3 ounces Blockader’s Blackberry Moonshine
- 1 ounce pineapple juice
- 2 ounces club soda
- Dash of cayenne pepper
- Pineapple and blackberry to garnish
Combine liquid ingredients, pour over ice, add the garnish and top with cayenne pepper.
Knoxville Whiskey Works
This was the first craft distillery in Knoxville and has developed a big line of spirits since opening in 2015.
Gin and tonic
- Two ounces Jackson Avenue Gin
- Four ounces tonic water
- One tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
Combine the liquid ingredients, add ice cubes and a lime wedge.