Wild Foraged Cocktails

Living in Alaska provides access to incredible natural beauty and outdoor adventures. We pay homage to the unique place we call home daily at our Haines distillery, creating   Port Chilkoot spirits and cocktails with a distinct sense of place. When the season is right, we head into the wild to forage ingredients that can only be found here. Here are two of our favorite syrup and cocktail recipes featuring delicious things gathered from the Last Frontier! 

Highbush Cranberries 

In Autumn, you will find Highbush Cranberries growing all over Alaska. These sour, bright red berries are not true cranberries, but bear a strong resemblance. They pack a tart, juicy flavor and are rich in Vitamin C. While a bit acidic raw, they cook down beautifully for a versatile and bright red syrup. 

Highbush Cranberry Syrup

1. After you’ve collected your berries, sift through to remove the stems and other debris.

2. Rinse berries and add them to a steam juicer.

3. Steam the berries for 2 hours. 

4. Squeeze the berries to extract any remaining juice. This will reduce the clarity, but will yield more juice for the syrup.

5. Strain and weigh the juice.

6. Add 1.5x the amount of sugar to the juice and stir over medium heat until the sugar is fully dissolved.

7. Allow to cool and transfer to containers for storage. Syrup will keep in refrigerator for one month.

Once you’ve made your Highbush Cranberry Syrup, try it out in one of our favorite cocktails! The Highbush Gimlet is a top selling drink at our Tasting Room in Haines. A riff on the 90’s classic Cosmopolitan, we put an Alaskan spin on the drink. 

The Highbush Gimlet

1.5 oz 50 Fathoms Gin

.75 oz Cranberry Juice

.5 oz Highbush Cranberry Syrup

.25 oz Lime Juice

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. 

Shake and double strain into a martini glass. 

Garnish with a lime twist. 

Enjoy! 

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Spruce Tips

In the Alaskan spring, electric green new growth appears on every spruce tree. These fresh buds can be eaten right off the branch and have a citrusy and floral flavor. We have a short window to harvest spruce tips —  they are only available for about three weeks in early May. During that time we harvest several gallons that we use year round for garnishes, in our 50 Fathoms Gin, and for our delicious Spruce Tip Syrup! 

Spruce Tip Syrup 

1 cup Spruce Tips

2 cups Sugar

4 cups Water  

1. Add all ingredients to a sauce pan over medium heat.

2. Stir occasionally until sugar is dissolved. 

3. Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Remove from heat and allow syrup to cool. 

5. Strain and bottle. Syrup will keep in refrigerator for one month. 

Once you’ve made your Spruce Tip Syrup, shake up a local favorite from our Tasting Room! The Svenson is a whiskey sour variation enhanced with the flavor of spruce tips.

The Svenson

1.5 oz Boatwright Bourbon

.5 oz Spruce Tip Syrup

.25 oz Lemon Juice

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker.

Shake and strain into a rocks glass over ice.

Garnish with a half lemon wheel and spruce tip. 

Canned Cocktails - Now Available

We're going out with a bang this year, introducing our new line of canned cocktails available in Anchorage and throughout Alaska in the coming months. We're starting out with a few of our favorites: Moscow Mule, Bee's Knees, and Cucumber Cooler. 

Bee’s Knees: Inspired by the prohibition-era cocktail featuring lemon juice, honey, a splash of carbonated water and our Gin. We think you’ll find this one to be both refreshing and restoring. 

Moscow Mule: Featuring our clean, flavorful Icy Straight Vodka, lime juice, agave syrup, and light carbonation; perfectly balanced to be crisp & refreshing right out of the can. 

Cucumber Cooler: Enjoy the freshness of cucumbers and basil with our Gin, highlighting the subtle flavor notes in our hand-harvested botanicals. 

Look for these around Anchorage and in Haines now, and keep an eye out as we begin to distribute throughout the state and beyond. 

Rye Thai Tea

Rye Thai

A Thai Tea is one of my biggest weaknesses.  If I ever find myself at a place that sells them, best believe I’ll be getting one (or two).  We decided to put our own little twist on this tasty drink and added some of our Wrackline Rye to it.

Rye Thai

-1.5 oz Wrackline Rye

- 3 oz Thai Tea*

-Splash of Half and Half

Add all ingredients to a tall glass and top off with the half and half.

*4 cups water

4 black tea bags or 8 grams loose leaf

¾ cup sugar

2 anise stars

1 green cardamom pod

2 whole cloves

½ & ½

Bring water to boil

Add ingredients (not milk)

Stir until sugar dissolves

Gently boil tea for 3 minutes

Remove from heat, let steep for 2 hours

Strain and bottle.  Keep refrigerated for 1 week     

Gimlet

Gimlet

At first this drink was made with equal parts gin and Rose’s Lime Juice, but now with craft taking over, the omitting of the overly sweetened and artificial syrup is highly encouraged.  To make a fresh lime cordial is super easy and will lead you to a beautiful drink that pops with lime flavor!  Dealers’ choice on serving this cocktail, straight up or on the rocks, but as of right now with the sun out, we opted for the rocks!

Gimlet

1.5 oz 50 Fathoms Gin

.75 oz Lime Cordial*

Shake and strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice.

Garnish with a fresh squeezed lime wedge.

Lime Cordial*

Grab 8 to 10 limes.

Zest the limes and set zest aside.

Juice limes and add equal parts sugar by weight.

Add lime zest and let soak overnight.

Strain the zest and enjoy your sweet and tangy lime cordial!

Whiskey Highball

Whiskey Highball

A Whiskey Highball has a warm summer’s day written all over it.  This drink really lets you appreciate the whiskey itself and its certainly nice a refreshing too.  Purists stick to just the whiskey and soda water, nothing else.  We think a dash of Angostura bitters and a twist of a lemon will really make this one your go to drink this summer!

Whiskey Highball

∙1.5 oz Boatwright Bourbon

∙4 oz Soda Water

∙1 dash Angostura

∙ Lemon Twist

Add all ingredients to a highball glass and stir briefly.

Moscow Mule

Moscow Mule

One of the most popular drinks out there, the Moscow Mule is amazingly refreshing and perfect for those warm summer days. We prepare our own ginger mix that we serve in the Tasting Room, but at home we reach for a canned or bottled ginger beer ourselves, because lets face it, we earned our drink after a long day distilling and making cocktails!

Moscow Mule

- 1.5 oz Icy Strait Vodka

- 4 oz Ginger Beer (We prefer Fever Tree or Goslings)

Add your ingredients to a glass with some ice and give it a quick stir. Throw a lime wedge in there for good measure!

Cinco de Mayo

Paloma

Paloma

Cinco de Mayo is coming up soon and we wanted to share this super refreshing cocktail perfect for the sunny weather!  A distant cousin from the well-known margarita cocktail, this Highball style of beverage features tequila, lime, and grapefruit soda.  Years ago we created an unaged whiskey, better known as moonshine, and this sweet spirit has similar characteristics of a silver tequila; we only serve this in our Tasting Room in Haines, but substitute your favorite tequila, or mezcal for this tasty beverage.

1.5 oz 12 Volt Moonshine

.5 oz Lime Juice

3 oz Grapefruit Soda.  Squirt soda or San Pellegrino’s are the recommended sodas.

Salt Rim

Salt the rim of your glass and add ice.

Add remaining ingredients and stir.

Garnish with grapefruit or lime wedge

Blackberry Sour

You can’t go wrong with sours!  A simple 3 ingredient cocktail – Spirit, Sugar and Citrus – all perfectly balanced for a wonderful sipping experience.  Kayla, our other Tasting Room mixologist, whipped up this delightful blackberry sour.  Not only are the flavors great, but the color is beautiful too.  Feels like spring in a cup!

∙ 1.5 oz Boatwright Bourbon

∙ .75 oz Blackberry Syrup*

∙ .5 oz Lemon Juice

*Blackberry Syrup

2.5 cups of blackberries

1.5 cups water

1.5 cups sugar

Add the water, sugar, and berries to a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and mash the berries.

Let stand until it reaches room temperature, strain and bottle.

The Last Straw

I find shrubs to be a good choice for your early spring cocktails.  The fruit lets you know the sun is coming out soon, but that little bite of vinegar reminds you winter is still on the tail end of making its departure.  Shrubs also have the perfect balance of sweet and tangy that you can omit the alcohol and serve these as a non-alcoholic drink for family functions, just top them off with soda water!

The Last Straw

∙ 1.5 oz 50 Fathoms Gin

∙ .5 oz Strawberry Shrub*

∙ .5 oz Lemon Juice

∙ Splash of Sparkling Wine

Shake and strain gin, shrub, and lemon juice, into a rocks glass with ice.  Add a splash of sparkling wine and give a quick stir.  Garnish with a dehydrated lemon wheel.

*Strawberry Shrub

1 bag frozen strawberries, or 3 cups fresh strawberries

2 cups sugar

2 cups apple cider vinegar

Add thawed berries, or fresh berries, to mixing bowl

Mash berries and sugar together

Add apple cider vinegar and stir

Cover and let sit overnight

Strain and bottle

Spruce Tip Martini

Inspired by a recipe from Drinking French, a beautiful cocktail book by renowned chef David Lebovitz.  France gets their own varieties of spruce tips and with spring finally here in Haines that means that the vibrant and flavorful spruce tips will be in full force within the next couple weeks!  We harvest gallons of these and store them for use throughout the year since they are only around for a short period of time! 

- 1.5 oz Spruce Tip Infused 50 Fathoms Gin

- .5 oz Dry Vermouth

- 3 drops Lactic acid solution

Add ice and ingredients to mixing glass and stir until well chilled.  Express lemon oil and rub the rim of the glass with the lemon twist and drop it in the drink.

Pb&j

We have been experimenting in the Tasting Room with “fat washing”; infusing a spirit with a fatty component which will add flavor and a richer mouthfeel.  We tried a brown butter bourbon old fashioned, a coconut oil gin which was in one of our weekly specials, and then a peanut butter rye.  Before the first sip the peanut butter is already strong and upfront, then the thought of what cocktail to use this in began.  Here is what we came up with!

Pb&j

∙ 1.5 oz Peanut Butter Infused Rye

∙ .5 oz Grape Jelly Syrup

∙ .25 oz Lemon Juice

∙ ½ teaspoon Cranberry Juice

2 drops of saline solution or a pinch of salt

Shake all ingredients and strain into a rocks glass.  Garnish with a small pb&j sandwich.

Peanut Butter Rye

Add 200g of creamy peanut butter and 750ml of Wrackline Rye to a large mason jar.  Shake vigorously and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours.  Move to freezer for 2 more hours.  Remove once peanut butter is settled at the bottom and strain liquid through a few coffee filters (this will take a couple hours).  You will lose about 20% of your total volume.

Song of the Siren

This Alaska meets Ireland mashup creates a charming and inspiring cocktail that will have you daydreaming of rainbow-chasing adventures upon snow-capped mountains this St. Patrick's Day. Here's what you'll need:

• 1oz 50 Fathoms Gin
• .5oz Green Siren Absinthe
• .5oz Lime Juice
• .25oz Simple Syrup
• 1 Kiwi, skin removed

Add kiwi, lime and simple syrup to mixing tin and muddle. Add spirits and ice. Shake and double strain into a coupe. Garnish with a lime twist!