Cherry Pie Moonshine

By cindyandmojo

Ingredients

• 2 32 ounce jars all cherry juice
• 2 cans tart cherries in heavy syrup
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 liter bottle everclear
• 8 8 oz sized mason jars

Details

Servings 68
Cooking time 10mins
Adapted from sweetcsdesigns.com

Preparation

Step 1

Make It

One of my favorite new drinks is flavored “moonshine”. No, we’re not distilling (totes illegal- don’t do it), but flavoring grain alcohol with fun different creations. It’s a delicious (and super strong) drink base, it makes for a fabulous gift, and it’s pretty easy and inexpensive. This Cherry Pie Moonshine is beyond delicious and is perfect for Christmas or Valentines Day- and makes a great group gift! (you’ll get 8 mason jars full, so you can spread the love around!)

You can drink this moonshine straight, or mix it with sprite, ginger ale or tonic for a fizzy drink- or use as a base in all sorts of drinks!

One note- this is STRONG. Everclear is 190 proof- even though we’ve added juice to this, it is SUPER strong. Be careful because these can sneak up on you! Always be sure to drink in moderation, and have a designated driver. And if you are giving these as a gift, make sure your recipient is over 21!



In a large saucepan, bring all ingredients but everclear to a boil.

Stir to make sure sugar completely dissolves, remove from heat.

Pour in Everclear.

Pour into sterilized mason jars.

Moonshine can be consumed immediately, but gets better after time. 2 + weeks is ideal.

make flavored moonshine

Andrew- Id buy those, and mix them. Taste the mixture, and add more tart cherry juice or some sugar to get to a flavor you like. Some people like their drinks really sugary- some a bit more tart. So you can play around a bit and taste the mixture before boiling to get a flavor you like. Then you’ll just add the everclear after and be good to go!

My husband and I made this tonight, but ours tastes like cough syrup, any suggestions to make it taste great?

I have sub Vodka for many Moonshine recipes. I do, however, suggest you buy the cheapest vodka and filter it in a Britta (or like) filter 5x or more to make it taste like the expensive kind.

Sorry to be a killjoy but I am so concerned about the massively high alcohol content in this recipe, the pretty colour and sweet taste will appeal to children so please advise people to place the jars way out of the reach of little ones to avoid danger xx

I will add that Claire. My kids smell anything slightly alcoholic and shudder (I know many kids ask for sips, but ours do not like the smell even remotely) so I didn’t think to add one.

Hi! I’m very excited to make this but the virginia ABC store only sells Everclear White Lightinin which is 90 proof instead of 190 proof like your recipe calls for

I can order some 190 online but is there a way to make the 90 proof work in the recipe?

I made this today and can’t wait to make some drinks.

Your recipe is delicious! The liter size bottles of Everclear aren’t available where I live in California so I just added cherry schnapps I had in my cabinet to make up the difference. I am planning to give trios (half-pint mason jars) of your flavored “shines” as gifts to my relatives this Christmas. Cherry, apple, and peach, oh my! That ought to make me popular. LOL

You can- but it would be super tart. I’d prepare it the way you’d make filling for a cherry pie and add that to the everclear so the tartness calms a bit.

Do you drain the cherries or pour the whole can in the mix ?

You can do either- I pour it all in.

How long will these last? I wanted to make them but not give them away for a month or so and was worried if they didn’t drink it right away either. Thanks in advance

Whitney- I am not the authority on food safety- but let me just say we’ve had some that we held onto for over a year, and they were still just as yummy! Since everclear is so alchoholic, and you’re boiling the mix (not the everclear) beforehand, it should stay very germ-free.

Laurie- they would, but it will be pretty sweet. I’d just be sure to mix it with something that isn’t super sweet when you go to drink it.

this sounds like what i’ve been looking for for a good cherry recipe. i am going to try as is, and may try to add some vanilla vodka to it to make that ala mode taste next time if i like it..thanks, i’ll let you know how it turns out.

We just put it in a cool, dry and dark place (like our pantry)

This recipe can not possibly make 8 1/2 quarts and if you meant 8-1/2 quarts that is 8 pints and that is 16 cups. But you have 8 8oz jars list under ingredients which is 8 cups.

Heather

You could, but it’s really just heating the liquid to make it come together, so it would be a long time. I’d just mix it all and skip the heating, and go straight to bottling it.