<h3>Strawberry Midnight Moon Punch</h3>

For the second time, I went to the Independent Spirits Expo here in NYC, only this time I was smart enough to share my blog with the exhibitors. Several generously offered to supply me with some of their product so that I could create cocktails to blog about. Piedmont Distillers, Inc. was one of the first. Among the case of samples they kindly sent me was a jar of Junior Johnson's Midnight Moon aged with strawberries. It ended up being the base to a punch I made for St. John's Church as they celebrated the church's 185th birthday.

The word Punch comes from a hindu word meaning, "five" and traditionally has 5 ingredients. Using the five taste buds for inspiration, I used the following ratios.

2 parts Midnight Moonshine Strawberry

(sweet, but not artificially so)

2 parts Q Tonic (champagne could work well also, it's the bubbles I was after more than anything)

1/2 part Cynar (a bitter Amaro partly flavored by artichokes)

1/4 part Juice of fresh lemons (the sour plays well against the natural sweetness that the strawberries impart on the moonshine)

A generous amount of muddled Basil (an earthy component to balance the berry, tart, and bitter notes).

I also threw in blueberries mostly because I had them and I wanted to float some in each person's cup.

The result was delicious by all accounts. I had one guest tell me that it was the best punch he ever had. I even encouraged people to eat the strawberries that had been soaked in the moonshine, akin to eating the worm from a bottle of Mezcal. They did not disappoint. Some even wanted me to just serve them another strawberry!

Thanks again to Piedmont Distillers, Inc for graciously supplying the very mixable Strawberry Midnight Moonshine. I was honored to use such a tasty product for this summertime punch.