There's alcoholic beverages and then there's moonshine pickles. If you're going to take a shot of tequila, or Irish whiskey or scotch whisky, you might as well replace it with moonshine. Whether you read about the health benefits of drinking pickle juice, debated baking pickle cupcakes, or bought a gallon of pure Texas pickle juice, you definitely encountered the tangy dills, and mixed with moonshine it's something. It almost makes you wonder if pickle ice cream exists. Just when you thought you had seen all of the pickle products ever, like pickle candy canes, we found moonshine pickles.
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Indiana Pickle Co. in Indianapolis specializes in boozy pickling experiments with everything from pickles to pears in craft beer and spirits. As Robert Carmack, founder of Indiana Pickle Co., wrote about the beginning of his fascination with pickles:
It all started when I was just a kid, growing up on a small farm in Indianapolis. Every summer my mother would take fresh cucumbers from the garden and pickle them in a whiskey barrel. These pickles were so good, my friends asked for them as gifts. My whole adult life I never came across anything quite like those pickles. Years would pass before I asked my mom for the recipe.
And thank goodness he did, because during all of the experiments with pickles, Moonshine Pickles were born.
Made with Bear Wallow Distillery Hoosier Hooch, these pickles are salty and sweet with a hint of tang that you want from a good, crunchy pickle. A little bit of dill pickle goes a long way.
Moonshine Pickles aren't all Indiana Pickle Co. is fermenting, either. Right now you can find Pickle Chips fermented in Sun King Brewing's Wee Mac Scottish Ale. These are thick-cut pickle chips brined in the ale with dill, a hint of spice, and garlic. Here we were thinking you only need to ferment white wine and red wine.
Their Spicy Spears are brined in Triton Brewing Company's Railspliter IPA. The IPA's flavor compliments the heat of the pickles so well, even those who don't love spicy food can't help but try one.
The Dragon Tails are pickled carrot sticks brined in Upland Brewing Company's Dragonfly IPA. As the Indiana Pickle Co. suggests, pop these in a Bloody Mary or straight onto a cheese plate.
You can find Indiana Pickle Co.'s creative and varietal pickles in the Indiana area. For the rest of us across the country, from North Carolina to Georgia to California to Texas and more, you can buy them online in packs at their online store. These would be such a perfect treat to any holiday party or dinner as an appetizer. Hopefully they can send out some moonshine peaches for the season. Or how about apple pie moonshine, or moonshine cherries? So many possibilities!
Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine, the brand out of Smoky Mountains also serves their version of dill-icious moonshine dill pickles. Firm and crunchy, the moonshine pickles are great in Bloody Marys or you could also use the pickle moonshine as a chaser for American Whiskey. Might as well call it the Ole Smoky Moonshine Pickles. Take a dill pickle shot and call it a party!
Who's ready to drink? Tell us, do moonshine pickles make your wishlist? Pickle flavored moonshine just might replace your perfect dill pickle jar. We can even see it coming out as a hard seltzer flavor.
