The Bramble Cocktail

A blackberry ramble with London gin

Fresh summer berries. What could be better? Well, maybe a cocktail that salutes their perky flavor.

Like the Bramble. It celebrates blackberries, which grow wild in much of the world — to the delight of berry pickers.

So mix up a Bramble for a hit of summer-suffused refreshment. Without the thorns.

Recipe: The Bramble Cocktail

The Bramble is made with dry gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup – making it a form of gin sour. What distinguishes the Bramble, though, is crème de mûre (blackberry liqueur), which gives the drink deep color and tangy flavor.

If you don’t have crème de mûre on hand, you can substitute crème de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur). The flavor is slightly different, but close enough that it makes for a pleasant-tasting Bramble.

This drink is meant to be served over crushed ice in a rocks glass. Or you can substitute ice that’s been finely chipped (that’s what we generally use).

This recipe takes about 5 minutes to prepare and serves 1.

Ingredients

• 1½ ounces dry gin
• ¾ ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ½ ounce simple syrup (or to taste)
• ¾ ounce crème de mûre or crème de cassis (see headnote)
• garnish of fresh blackberries and/or a lemon wheel (optional)
  

Procedure

1. Place the gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker that’s half filled with ice. Shake vigorously until the contents are well chilled (20 seconds or so).
2. Strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed or chipped ice. Drizzle the crème de mûre over the top. Garnish, if you wish, and serve.
   

Notes

• Don’t have crème de mûre or crème de cassis on hand? You could probably substitute Chambord (black raspberry liqueur). We haven’t tried that, but it should work.
• When you drizzle the crème de mûre over the top of the drink, you’ll experience an intense, fruity aroma for the first few sips. (After about a minute, the liqueur will sink into the glass and mix with the other ingredients. If it settles on the bottom of the glass, just stir it up with a spoon to mix with the gin mixture.)
• The easiest way to crush or chip ice (if your ice maker doesn’t do it), is to wrap the ice in a clean, sturdy towel and hit it with a meat pounder or even a hammer. Be careful not to whack your fingers!
• Most gins you’ll find for sale in liquor stores are “dry” gin. (The exception is Old Tom, which has some sweetness to it.) If in doubt, ask your friendly liquor salesperson for guidance.
• Dry gin (which originated in London) traditionally featured a botanical, juniper-forward flavor. The term “London dry gin” originally just indicated the location where the gin was made, but eventually came to denote its distinctive flavor profile.
• These days, many gins are less juniper heavy. They’re still dry, just not “London dry” –because their style has drifted from that of traditional London gin (and of course because they often aren’t made in London).
• So how did The Bramble come to be? It was created in 1984 by London bartender Dick Bradsell, at the famed Fred’s Club in Soho.
  
• Bradsell said he wanted to create a “British” cocktail. So he used London dry gin – probably the most iconic English spirit. And he combined it with crème de mûre because its flavor reminded him of picking blackberries as a child on the Isle of Wright.
• The word “bramble” refers to a rough, prickly shrub – the sort that grows blackberries. 
  

Fruit Cocktail

“Slurp-o,” said Mrs. Kitchen Riffs. “This is what I call fruit punch.”

“Berry cool stuff for berry hot days,” I said. “Plum-believably good.”

“Your ‘jokes’ should be forbidden fruit,” said Mrs K R. “You don’t guava clue.”

“It’s so unberry-able when you fail to find my humor a-peeling,” I said.

“Kiwi just stop this now, old fella?” said Mrs K R. “Think I’m going bananas.”

Sigh. We elder-berries just get no respect.

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