This Brown Butter Pecan Moonshine is all about layers of rich, toasted flavor. Roasted pecans, real browned butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, and a touch of cinnamon come together to make a deep, smooth moonshine that tastes like pecan pie in a jar.

Here’s everything you’ll need to make a batch:

Ingredients

• 2 cups pecans
• 6 tablespoons real butter
• 2 cups water — for making the pecan syrup
• 1½ cups brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons real maple syrup
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 quart 80-proof moonshine or other neutral spirit — for the brown-butter fat wash
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon butter extract
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 pint water — for the final mixture
• 1 pint finished pecan syrup — made from the ingredients above

Instructions

1. Roast the Pecans

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Spread 2 cups of pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for about 8–10 minutes, or until they smell toasted and nutty. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.

Remove the pecans from the oven, allow them to cool slightly, and then roughly chop them.

2. Make the Pecan Syrup

Add the chopped roasted pecans to a saucepan along with:

• 2 cups water
• 1½ cups brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons maple syrup
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Stir everything together and bring the mixture up to a gentle simmer.

Let it simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After 20 minutes, turn off the heat, cover the pot with a lid, and allow the pecans to steep for 1 hour.

3. Strain the Pecan Syrup

Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth to remove the pecan pieces and sediment.

You should end up with approximately 1 pint of rich pecan syrup. Set it aside while you prepare the brown-butter moonshine.

4. Brown the Butter

Place 6 tablespoons of real butter in a saucepan over medium to medium-low heat.

Allow the butter to melt and continue cooking it until the milk solids begin turning golden brown and the butter develops a deep, toasted, nutty aroma.

Watch it closely—there’s a short window between beautifully browned butter and burnt butter.

Remove it from the heat once it reaches a rich golden-brown color.

5. Fat-Wash the Moonshine

Pour 1 quart of 80-proof moonshine into a freezer-safe jar or container.

Carefully add the browned butter, including those flavorful browned milk solids, to the moonshine. Seal the container and mix it thoroughly.

Place the container upside down in the freezer. As it freezes, the butterfat will solidify at what is currently the top of the container.

Once everything is thoroughly chilled and the fat has hardened, flip the container upright. The solid layer of butterfat will now be at the bottom, allowing you to carefully pour the flavored moonshine away from it.

6. Filter the Brown-Butter Moonshine

Run the moonshine through a fine filter to remove any remaining butterfat and milk solids.

For an especially clean finished product, filter it 3–4 times. The goal is to capture the rich toasted-butter flavor without leaving visible fat floating in the finished moonshine.

7. Add the Flavorings

Add the following to the filtered brown-butter moonshine:

• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon butter extract
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Shake well, then stir for a couple of minutes to thoroughly incorporate the flavors.

8. Put It All Together

For the final batch, combine:

• 1 quart brown-butter-washed 80-proof moonshine
• 1 pint pecan syrup
• 1 pint water

Stir or shake everything thoroughly until completely combined.

The finished Brown Butter Pecan Moonshine should have a deep, very dark brown color with layers of roasted pecan, caramelized brown sugar, maple, vanilla, cinnamon, and rich toasted butter.

Bottle it in clean glass jars or bottles and keep it refrigerated. Give it a good shake before pouring, especially if you notice any separation.

Serve chilled or over ice and enjoy!

An Award-Winning Moonshine Recipe

This isn’t just another flavored moonshine recipe I threw together. My Brown Butter Pecan Moonshine actually won an award, and once you taste it, you’ll understand why.

What makes this recipe different is the way the flavors are built in layers instead of simply dumping flavoring into a jar of shine. The pecans are roasted first to bring out that deep, toasted nuttiness. Then they’re cooked down with brown sugar and real maple syrup to make a rich homemade pecan syrup.

But the part that really sets this recipe apart is the brown-butter fat wash.

Browning real butter develops those toasted, caramelized, almost hazelnut-like flavors you simply can’t get from butter extract alone. Fat-washing the moonshine lets the alcohol pull in those flavors, and then the actual butterfat is frozen and filtered back out. You’re left with the flavor and aroma of browned butter without turning your moonshine into a greasy mess.

Once that brown-butter-washed shine meets the roasted pecan syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and just a little extra butter flavor, everything comes together. The finished moonshine is dark, rich, nutty, buttery, slightly sweet, and incredibly smooth.

There are a few extra steps involved in making this one, but that’s also why I’m proud of it. It’s not a shortcut recipe. Taking the time to roast the pecans, properly brown the butter, let everything steep, and filter the shine makes a noticeable difference in the finished jar.

If you’d rather see exactly how I make it instead of just reading the instructions, watch the video below. I’ll take you through the process from start to finish so you can make your own batch of PhilBilly Brown Butter Pecan Moonshine at home.