Yaaay booze!

Last spring we (ok my wife) cut our blackberry brambles back...way back. Firstly because they are a nuisance and secondly because they are wild blackberries and are a little on the bitter side with lots of dead growth. She had read how sometimes a good cutting can add to the flavor even if they are wild. So she cut them back and watched them grow, and grow, and grow. So she next started threading them through the fence that keeps the great outdoors out of our lawn. Thank goodness she did too because they really filled out over the summer! So a few months ago the blackberry's along our woods were ripe and ready to pick. Sure we could have said forget it let the critters have them but where is the fun in that? Not to mention we are both frugal, to the point of being miserly sometimes, so why lose the blackberries to a bunch of birds who never ran a lawn mower in their lives?! So after clearing off a goodly section  we had a good haul of berries. Now wild blackberries have lots of seeds and these were no exception, but they were nice and sweet (yaayy baby!). So contemplating a bit I decided I would try something different with them.

Way back in 2009 we took a trip through bourbon country. Bardstown, Kentucky by name and found a little delight called white dog that we both loved. Growing up it was called moonshine but this is the good stuff! It is white whiskey before it is aged in new oak barrels (Google bourbon whiskey and you can see why bourbon is so lovely and why the only TRUE bourbon comes out of Kentucky!). So since white dog was not for sale at the time we figured we were out of luck in having any more the foreseeable future. You could only sample it in the factory tasting areas at that time. However a earlier this year I came across an article that said white dog was being sold! Hooray! So I went to the Washington State package store and went looking and finally found a bottle labelled white dog but bottle here in Washington State. HUH?! Well I am adventurous even if I am a purist and figured it would not be good. Turns out I was right. It wasn't good. It was as the French say, merde, so it sat untouched along a bottle of psuedo-grappa (from the same company). Until....

I took the blackberries and mashed them up and added sugar and let them  infuse in the white dog. Over two weeks it infused and was strained and sampled and re-sugar then left to age/infuse/simmer/percolate in the cool garage until tonight! We sampled it and it is yummy! So here it is! All we are waiting for is our guests to arrive in the summer so we can share it with them. Although a bottle is being reserved for my father-in-law who looks to be stranded in the far flung reaches of Switzerland this upcoming year. I think it will need posting to him by Saint Bernard...just to keep his spirits up!

Photos courtesy of my beautiful Bride!

Looks like Tamarind infused tequila is next!