Huckleberry/blackberry shine

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KornLikker
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Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2017 11:37 pm

Huckleberry/blackberry shine

Post by KornLikker »

Been doing this for a while and seems to be a huge hit with the friends and family..
This recipe works well for Mt. huckleberries (blue, not red) little wild blackberries, wild strawberries and blueberries.
Pick and freeze berries. It helps to break them down.
Place berries in sauce pan with a little water and 1/4-1/2 cup cane sugar to each cup of berries. Cook and reduce into a syrup and pour into jars.
Make a basic sugar shine and distill it several times and filter to remove all flavor. Or filter with activated charcoal . I prefer using dextrose to table sugar. It seems to be smoother and less bitter after taste.
Temper shine down to 70-90 proof
Add 1/4-1/2 cup of berry syrup per each quart of shine depending on how strong or sweet you like it. Make a little extra to compensate for the berries.
Soak for a couple of weeks shaking the jug a couple of times per day.
Once you get the desired taste rack off as much of the clear and filter through paper towels. Once you get to the berries and sediment, strain through a wire sieve into a separate jar and lightly mash to get a little more juice out.
Once all the big stuff is out I filter through paper towels several times and then through coffee filters until it freely runs through. I like my shine clear and with no sediment.
This stuff makes great gifts but is hard to stop at one or 2 sips.
I made a peach version of this but added a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg to the mix. I tastes like Gandma's peach pie. The peach is a booger to filter though.
Enjoy!
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