Lock up your vampires and break out the mouthwash: April is National Garlic Month. While garlic isn’t traditionally used as a cocktail ingredient, these recipes show how it pairs well with a variety of spirits. Roasted garlic and fermented black garlic add sweet accents, while raw garlic provides a piquant punch. Garlic is said to cure everything from baldness to scurvy, so here’s to your health!
What is Black Garlic moonshine / ice wine? A fermented beverage made from the juice of frozen APPLES and GARLIC from our orchard in Lac La Biche. Our Ice wine is traditionally made using fruits from our orchard that are flash frozen in peak season. When the fruit freezes, the water in the fruit freezes as well. Since the sugars and other dissolved solids don't freeze, when the frozen fruit are pressed you're left with a much more concentrated, sweeter wine. From our orchard to your table!
How do you drink moonshine / ice wine in Canada? Best Enjoyed: On its own after a meal (think of it as dessert in a glass). The rule is to serve our rich, sweet wine with a dessert that is a bit lighter and less sweet, or with something savoury and full-flavoured for balance. Serving it with a too-rich or too-sweet dessert doesn't allow you to enjoy its merits.
How do you serve Black Garlic moonshine / ice wine? Perfect as an aperitif or to accompany sharp cheese (Cheddar or goat) or veined cheese (blue), and desserts. Serve chilled. Our Ice wines pair well alongside fruit-driven desserts, cheesecake, ice cream and with soft cheeses like Brie and pungent cheeses such as Stilton. Milder cheeses tend to disappear in the presence of our ice wine's sweetness and complex acidity, which is why you can always choose blue cheeses like Roquefort or Gorgonzola. If you don't like blue cheese, hard, aged cheeses also work well. Go for a Parmigiano Reggiano or a very aged Sharp Cheddar.
Can you drink moonshine / ice wine straight? Pro tip—chill the wine glasses in the fridge for 10 minutes before pouring in our Black Garlic Ice wine. Do I have to drink it straight? Absolutely not. A splash is a great addition to a cocktail or to add a little something extra to a glass of sparkling wine, or a flute of ice cream!
What does Black Garlic moonshine / ice wine taste like? It is darkish purple black garlic in color, with a whisper of effervescence, perfectly garlic! It would not be out of place at any meal, as an aperitif or an evening sip before turning in at night.
Is our moonshine / ice wine high in alcohol? Our Ice Wine is designed to be a very fruity tasting wine to go along with the high sugar and high acidity. It varies in alcohol content, but usually hovers around 20% alcohol.
Should Black Garlic moonshine / ice wine be refrigerated? Yes.You must refrigerate your open bottle after you reseal it to maintain ideal temperature conditions. The cold temperature will slow oxidation (air entering the wine), prolonging the drinking window of your bottle.
Try these tasty ideas below...
Garlicky Citrus Bloody Mary Horseradish and jalapeño with roasted garlic for this sweet-spicy take on a Bloody Mary. Ingredients
2-3 cups Black Garlic Moonshine / Ice Wine (add more to taste after every thing is mixed)
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1 lime, cut into wedges
1/2 orange, cut into wedges
¾ tablespoon horseradish, drained
1 minced jalapeño
3 cups tomato juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Directions Muddle lemon, lime, orange, garlic, horseradish, jalapeño and salt in a cocktail shaker. Add Black Garlic Ice Wine, tomato juice and Worcestershire, and stir to combine. Pour into a cocktail glass filled with fresh ice and serve. Pinch of salt to taste!
Garlic Scapes and Thyme Cocktail
We developed this cocktail using garlic scapes and thyme to make a shrub syrup. Shrubs were used during colonial times as a preservative. Garlic scapes are the long stalks that are removed from hardneck garlic plants to redirect the plant’s energy into fattening up the bulbs. Ingredients
Directions In a mixing glass filled with ice, add Black Garlic Ice Wine, and stir for about 30 seconds. Fill a tall glass with crushed ice, and add lime juice. Add our chilled Ice Wine mixture to tall glass. Top with shrub (and soda water, if desired). Garnish with an orange twist. Garlic Scape & Thyme Shrub Syrup
2 cups chopped garlic scapes
1 cup loosely packed thyme flowers and leaves, no stems
2 cups organic Demerara sugar: Demerara sugar is a type of sugar that is minimally processed. Like many types of white sugar, it is extracted from sugarcane, but it does not undergo the full processing method that produces white—or granulated—sugar, so it still contains traces of molasses and micronutrients.
2 cups of our Garlic Vinegar
Shrub Syrup Directions Crush scapes and thyme, and add to a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate. After several hours, the scapes and thyme should be surrounded by juice and syrup. It will appear jam-like. Strain syrup from solids, pressing lightly to expel juice from the remaining herbs. Scrape the remaining sugar stuck to the bowl into the syrup. This sugar will settle to the bottom of the mixture. Add vinegar to the syrup. Whisk to combine until sugar is completely dissolved. Funnel into a clean bottle. Cap, shake vigorously and refrigerate. Check periodically to be sure that the sugar is dissolving by looking at the bottom. If you see sugar, shake. Eventually, the vinegar will take care of the granules.