In the midst of food trends and Instagram-worthy delicacies, Smoking Goose is bringing its latest trendy meat treat collaboration to consumers’ holiday tables. In line with the recent domestic brandy boom and in time for the upcoming holidays, Smoking Goose’s Apple Brandy Ham with Copper & Kings Brandy Company ups the holiday meal stakes. Pour another round to toast this easy heat-and-serve center plate and slaved-all-day flavor.
“So, a butcher walks into a bar…It’s tricky to start this story without sounding like the set up to a bad joke,” said Libation and Narration Manager Corrie Quinn. “But Smoking Goose isn’t kidding around with a new limited-release holiday ham debuting right after Thanksgiving.”
Starting with whole-muscle boneless hams from purebred Duroc hogs, raised on the pastures of fourth-generation farmer Greg Gunthrop near Smoking Goose’s downtown Indianapolis meatery, the new Apple Brandy Hams are butchered by hand and cured inside whiskey and bourbon barrels for fourteen days, mulling together cinnamon, allspice, cloves, black peppercorns, and Copper & Kings’ Floodwall apple brandy to create that perfect sweet and savory flavor.
“The sea salt and spice cure on the ham pulls complex boozy and woody flavors from the barrels while the hams age inside. Fruit and spice from the apple brandy frames the rich pork and brings the toasty aromas together. More bourbon and whiskey barrel staves stoke the embers in the smoker as the ham cooks low and slow over the sweet smoke,” Quinn revealed about the process.
Chris Elay, Owner of Smoking Goose, has had an eye on this pairing long before American Brandy tippled into the spotlight. A few months ago, the New York Times reported that last year’s brandy sales outpaced gin, Scotch, and Irish whiskey, citing young consumers’ bar tabs as substantially increasing demand for domestic brandies. This places the Apple Brandy Ham right in the niche of craft, flavor, and ingenuity consumers are requesting for their small batch charcuterie boards.
And this isn’t Smoking Goose and Copper & Kings’ first rodeo together. The two have worked together on events like the annual “Crafted & Cured: An Uncommon Market” as well as previous seasonal releases like Wild Boar Sausage Links that Smoking Goose made with Copper & King’s brandy plus ginger.
Tender, juicy, and with boozy brandy and wintery spice flavors through and through, you won’t want to miss these limited-release holiday hams, fully cooked and ready to carve at room temp or heat and serve.
