It’s Gold Rush time for huckleberries in western Montana.
It’s Gold Rush time for huckleberries in western Montana, where residents and other fruit aficionados have likely wiped the state clean of the precious little purple gem and incorporated them in myriad foods. We’re not just talking cake and cookies. The Montana favorite plays a role in roasted potatoes with thyme and huckleberries, bread pudding with huckleberry compote, pan-fried trout with huckleberry lemon sauce, doughnut holes, and huckleberry seafood salad, as seen in Alex and Stephanie Hester’s The Huckleberry Cookbook.
The fruit is also popular with regional distillers, including Bozeman Spirits, which uses the seasonal pickings for Cold Spring Huckleberry Vodka. If you can’t hop into the downtown distillery’s tasting room, a few recipes utilizing the huckleberry hooch are below.
Huckleberry Lemonade
2 ounces Cold Spring Huckleberry Vodka
3 ounces fresh squeezed lemonade
Lemon slice, for garnish
Pour vodka and lemonade into a chilled glass with ice. Stir, and garnish with lemon slice.
Huckleberry Mule
2 ounces Cold Spring Huckleberry Vodka
Ginger beer
Spoonful huckleberries, for garnish
Lime wedge, for garnish
Pour vodka over ice in a copper mug. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with huckleberries and a lime wedge.
Huckleberry Press
Spoonful huckleberries
2 ounces Cold Spring Huckleberry Vodka
2 ounces soda water
1 ounce Sprite
Lime wedge
In a tall glass, muddle the huckleberries. Add ice and the remaining ingredients. Squeeze juice from 1 lime wedge. Stir, and garnish with the lime wedge.
For more information on Bozeman Spirits, visit the distillery’s website. Photography: Bozeman Spirits/Facebook. Subscribe to the forthcoming monthly Taste of the West e-newsletter below.
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