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Kyle Brown

Owner of Clawhammer Supply

Blackberry moonshine is an amazing summer treat. This article will show how we made this delicious drink in just a few simple steps. We have enjoyed it as a shot and also used it to enhance summer cocktails. WARNING this blackberry moonshine recipe is packed with intense flavor and it also provides quite a kick!

When we tested this recipe, we used store bought moonshine, which is how we suggest you do it as well. Why? Distilling alcohol for personal consumption in the United States is illegal.

We have used both fresh and frozen blackberries for this recipe. When we use frozen blackberries we always defrost them first. When using fresh wild blackberries we always taste them to see how sweet or tart they are. We always start with low amount of sugar and then add more depending on the preferred final product. 

Blackberry Moonshine Ingredients

Here's what you need to make blackberry moonshine at home.

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups Blackberries
• ¾ cup Ole Smoky moonshine (Everclear or vodka are good substitutions)
• Lime Zest
• Lemon Zest

How To Make Blackberry Simple Syrup

First, you need to make a blackberry simple syrup. This is the process we followed.

• We added 1 cup water to a sauce pan
• We turned the heat to high
• Then we added 1 cup sugar
• Then we squeezed a couple of black berries into mixture.
• Once everything was well incorporated  and reduced we poured into a mason jar.
• We then let it cool until room temperature
• Then we stored it in the refrigerator. .

Blackberry Moonshine Recipe

Once we made the blackberry simple syrup it was time to move onto making the blackberry moonshine. Here's how to do it.

• We added 2 cups of washed and then towel dried black berries. (If we use frozen we always defrost) 
• We added ¼inch lime zest
• We added ¼ inch lemon zest
• We added 1 cup of our blackberry simple syrup
• We added ¾ cups or so Ole Smokey Moonshine( we just filled the rest of the mason jar)

We then let sit in the refrigerator- shaking it daily until all of the sugar was dissolved. Once the sugar was dissolved we found letting it sit for at least another 24 hours works well -- but it just got better with age.

Once we were happy with the flavors we then strained everything through a fine mesh strainer to remove any seeds and chunky bits. We gently pressed the berries to extract the maximum amount of alcohol and flavor. 

We drank this on the rocks and it was quite refreshing. The lemon and lime really added depth to the drink and helped create a tremendously enjoyable accent to such a simple recipe.

How To Make Blackberry Moonshine Sangria

Now that you have your blackberry moonshine, you can drink it alone or make a cocktail. Here's one of our favorite blackberry moonshine cocktails. Leave a comment below if you try it!

Here's how we made blackberry moonshine sangria:

We added about to a 1/2 cup of our blackberry Ole Smoky moonshine, about 2 cups of a dessert red wine, our ole Smokey moonshine soaked blackberries, raspberries and blueberries and a few thin slices of lime, into a glass jar or jug.  We covered this  and refrigerated for 4-6 hours.
We then poured this over ice and served with Ole Smokey infused fruit.

Please note blackberries stain!!! 

Not a fan of blackberries? Check out the rest of our moonshine recipes.

To drive this point home: Distilling alcohol is illegal without a federal fuel alcohol or distilled spirit plant permit as well as relevant state permits. Our distillation equipment is designed for legal uses only and the information in this article is for educational purposes only. Please read our complete legal summary for more information on the legalities of distillation.