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Take advantage of all the sweet blackberries this season with this sweet and tangy blackberry bramble cocktail recipe! It's a gorgeous summer cocktail made with fresh lemon juice, your fave gin, a little blackberry simple syrup, and fresh berries. Top it with bubbly ginger beer and enjoy it ice cold!
I love Thirsty Thursdays with y'all so much because I get to learn and dabble in mixology and bring awesome drink recipes into your dinner parties, barbeques, and holiday meals. It makes me so happy.
This week we are taking on a modern classic that I really enjoy this time of year: blackberry bramble. It's a simple cocktail that is very fruit-forward, and while the classic version doesn't contain any bubbliness, I love the spicy vibrancy of ginger beer here(it's one of my fave mix-ins!). It works so well with all the fruity flavors.
So when you see the bramble bushes hanging heavy with fruit this summer, give this bramble drink a try.
Jump to:
Origins of the Blackberry Bramble Cocktail
The Bramble is a cocktail invented by British bartender Dick Bradsell in 1984 at Fred's Club fred’s club in London. Known as The Cocktail King, he invented many cocktails including the recently trending Espresso Martini.
The Bramble is considered England's cosmo in terms of popularity, classically a gin sour made with crème de mûre, garnished with a lemon slice and exactly two fresh blackberries on top. He came up with the name because the taste of the drink reminded him of picking blackberries with his family during childhood.
Ingredients
It's a really simple cocktail, and we all know the best things are simple.
You need a good gin to make this classic drink. I used one with citrus notes since I thought it would go well with the tart lemon juice.
Next, you need the lemon juice. Use fresh lemon juice, it really makes a difference. If you want a sweet-tart flavor, try using Meyer lemons!
Here's where you can veer off course in the homemade version of the Bramble. The blackberry addition. Some people like to muddle blackberries with sugar like in a blackberry mojito, others will stay the traditional course of using creme de mure or Chambord or creme de cassis, which are french blackberry liqueur you can find at your local liquor stores.
I like making a blackberry sugar syrup. It's super easy, packs a fruity punch and takes care of both the sweet and blackberry aspect of the drink.
Next is also not traditional: the bubbles! I love an effervescent, delicious cocktail. It adds to the experience! While you could use club soda, if you're looking to boost all those bright flavors in the fresh ingredients added to this, go with the ginger beer. Ginger beer is spicy, much more gingery than, say, a ginger ale. So if you're one who coughs after drinking it, try using just ginger ale instead.
Instructions
In a cocktail shaker, take some ice, gin, and blackberry simple syrup and give it a good ole shake.
Pour them into the cocktail glasses with crushed ice, add more blackberry syrup if desired, then top with the bubbly goodness. Stir up again, and enjoy this refreshing drink with a lemon wedge and plenty of blackberries.
Variations
Make a brambly blackberry margarita by swapping the gin for tequila and the lemon for lime juice!
Add fresh basil leaves to the blackberry syrup for a peppery, herbaceous flavor.
Make it a mocktail by leaving out the gin and adding more ginger beer or club soda.
Want more amazing cocktails? Check out my entire archive in the Thirsty Thursday category.
More Summer Cocktails
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Blackberry Bramble
Ingredients
Blackberry Simple Syrup:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup blackberries, fresh or frozen
Blackberry Bramble
- 4 ounces gin
- 2 ounce lemon juice
- 4 ounces blackberry simple syrup or créme de mûre
- Ginger beer or soda water, for topping
- Lemon slices and fresh blackberries, for garnish
Instructions
Blackberry Simple Syrup:
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the water, sugar, and blackberries.
- Bring the simple syrup to a simmer and let simmer until the sugar completely dissolves. Bring the temperature to low and continue to extract that blackberry flavor for another 5 minutes.
- Strain the blackberries from the simple syrup using a fine mesh sieve and let it cool completely in a heat safe container.
Blackberry Bramble:
- In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake together the gin, blackberry syrup, and lemon juice and strain into two cocktail glasses filled with crushed ice.
- Drizzle ½ ounce of blackberry simple syrup over the top of the cocktails. Top with the ginger beer and garnish with a lemon slice and blackberries.
- Enjoy cold!
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