Chicken Bones liqueur is back — but different

When Moonshine Creek Distillery released a Chicken Bones liqueur last year, New Brunswickers lined up for hours to get a taste.

Made in collaboration with iconic N.B. candymaker Ganong, the product was made with the spicy-sweet candy melted down with syrup and blended into a corn whiskey.

This year Moonshine’s brought it back and says the chocolate and cinnamon flavours are even better in this batch.

“We always want to improve our products,” says Moonshine Creek Distillery president Jeremiah Clark.

“That’s the great thing about craft products is that all of us producers are always looking at ways to improve our products.”

The liqueur will not be made from melted Chicken Bones for 2020.

Instead, the distillery has sourced cinnamon flours and come up with a dark chocolate base similar to a cream base – partly out of necessity, as Moonshine isn’t partnering with Ganong this time around.

Ganong may be synonymous with the treat for many, known for being the original manufacturer of the candy known and loved across the Maritimes, but it doesn’t own the name, concept or flavours of it.

Ganong and Moonshine reached a licensing agreement in 2019 that allowed the distillery to use the company’s logo and their trademarked name: THE ORIGINAL CHICKEN BONES®, as well as the candy itself in the recipe.

Clark says partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic limiting meeting time, the two businesses weren’t able to come to an agreement in time to get the liqueur on shelves for the holiday season.

“Although Ganong’s collaboration with Moonshine Creek has ended, we wish the team at Moonshine Creek continued success as they move forward independently,” Ganong told Global News in a statement.

Clark says he’s confident the product will satisfy fans of the regional snack – maybe even more than last year’s version.

He says the distillery’s open to reuniting with Ganong down the road and hopes to collaborate with other local companies as well.

“It’s always good marketing when you try to promote one another,” says Clark.

He says Moonshine is working on a partnership with Crosby’s Molasses for a 2021 drink – as well as a local producer for a hard iced tea.

Their Chicken Bones liqueur is set to hit store shelves in all four Atlantic provinces on November 19.