Blog Post
What happens when the legendary Black Shuck meets the 'hare' raising Moongazer Ales?
Oct 18, 2022
In the spring of 2020, when pubs were forced to close their doors, breweries had barrels of beer going to waste. Read all about how Moongazer Ales and Black Shuck turned adversity into opportunity.
When lockdown was announced Sarah and Patrick spoke to their friends David and Rachel at Norfolk Brewhouse, home of Moongazer Ales. Faced with pouring barrels of beer down the drain David was understandably worried about their future and devastated to see good beer go to waste.
But all was not lost. The two teams got their heads together (virtually of course) and hatched a plan.
Over the coming weeks Patrick filled the Black Shuck still with hundreds of litres of Moongazer ales including their Bouchard Dark Mild. When Faith (the still) was asked to do her magic she did not disappoint. A clear spirit with tasting notes of hops and malts was produced.
The two teams then used the power of Zoom to have a virtual tasting session to decide what to do with the new spirit. After much tasting and discussion it was agreed to amalgamate the two brands Moongazer and Black Shuck to make the new brand name Moonshuck. Yes, it does sound a bit like Moonshine - more on that later.
As for the name of the spirit - well it needed something to give a clue to its character. Various names were discussed including Gaze and Howl, Hopnip, and even Bunny Growler (I will leave that one there). When the votes were in the name Distale, as in distilled ale, was the unanimous winner. By the time the group were ready to work on label design another idea had arisen and so the name was updated to White Distale.
So how is Moonshuck connected to Moonshine? Moonshine is a white spirit made from a distilled grain mash but the similarities end just about there. Moonshine has a reputation for being coarse, cheap and illegal. Legend has it that during the 18th century moonshiners made 'White Whiskey' at night time, using the light of the moon, to avoid detection by tax collectors.
Now what about that term White Whiskey?
It is not an official term with a legal classification so what is it and where does it come from?
White Whiskey is basically raw, unaged and unfinished whiskey. The process for making a whiskey involves mixing water with malted grain to make a beer type mash. The fermented mash is then distilled to produce a white spirit which is then barrel aged for a number of years. It is during the ageing stage that the whiskey takes much of its flavour and colour from the barrels.
Setting up a Whiskey distillery requires a lot of patience. You will have to wait several years before you have anything to sell as all whiskies must, by definition, age in a barrel for at least 3 years. Hence it is not surprising that many whiskey distilleries choose to release a 'white whiskey' while they wait for their prized spirits to age.
It seemed logical to put some of our White Distale into barrels as a little experiment. The barrels were left alone for around 6 months then samples were tasted every few weeks. The aim was to retain the malty, hoppy notes whilst taking on some character from the barrels. The regular tasting became critical as it was intended not to over-oak the spirit. In October 2022 after applying some Back Shuck magic the team, delighted with the flavour, decided it was time to prepare the Golden Distale for bottling. Due to the experimental nature of the Golden Distale there will be just 120 bottles of this first edition Golden Distale launched in November 2022. This will coincide with the release of a new edition, small batch, of White Distale which will also have just 120 bottles in the batch.
If you want to know more about the Moonshuck Distale story then you can always arrange a visit to the Black Shuck distillery where you can also try before you buy.
