Always looking for cocktails that will pair well with a sunny summer day? Need that jolt of freshness to hit while you are sunbathing? It has always been a task to find drinks or cocktails that don’t make you feel heavy. Everyone wants summer day drinking without the heavy cream or sweetener. Fruity drinks are the way to go. So do not worry. You’ve come to the right place.
We’ve curated a list of light, fun and fresh drinks for your next pool party with the showstopper being the Bramble drink. There is no other drink that will make you feel as refreshed as this one, it will be a definite hit with any kind of audience. It will make you go, “Ah! That was a great sip!” If you want to know how to elicit this response from all the party people, read on to find out.
What is the Bramble Drink?
It is literally THE spring cocktail – it was created in London for the very purpose of having fruity freshness wrapped into a cocktail. The Bramble drink was the brainchild of the godfather of cocktails in London – Dick Bradsell. He strongly advocated drinks with fresh ingredients at a time where club culture was prevailing in the landscape. It is basically a gin-based cocktail that has a hint of tartness from blueberries, cranberries, or blackberries.
More importantly, blackberry bushes are locally called brambles and hence the name of this drink. New York Times said the Bramble drink will be the next big thing. It has everything a perfect cocktail needs – gin, lemon, and fresh fruits. Might give all the other summer cocktails a run for their money. It has been picking up as one of the best cocktails of the modern era, and we totally agree.
What is the Bramble Drink Made up of?
The Bramble recipe is basically a sweet concoction of gin, lemon juice, crème de mure and simple syrup. Let’s breakdown the most important ingredients.
1. Gin
Famously known as being vodka’s lesser-known cousin, Gin is often seen as an alternative for Vodka. Though distilled in a similar fashion, the ingredients added to create the gin flavor are essentially different. It has a medicinal and herby essence to it on account of the juniper berries used therein. Vodka has absolutely no taste whereas gin serves as the best low-key fruity neutral spirit. There are four prominent types of gin – London dry, Plymouth, Old Tom and Genever.
For this Bramble drink, we need dry gin. This is the most commonly produced kind of gin around the world. When we think of a typical gin and tonic or a Gin Martini. Basically, dry gin means gin without any added artificial flavor. It stays true to its original taste without any acquired one. It is the best base for cocktails and hence makes it perfect for this Bramble recipe.
2. Crème de Mure
Crème de Mure, also known as blackberry liqueur – one of the most important components of the Bramble recipe. This adds the sweetness quotient the drink needs. The liqueur can be store-bought or easily made at home. Mash about half a kilogram of blackberries over one bottle of red wine and leave them aside in a cool place for two days. Then strain the mash through a sieve first and then through a sieve cloth to make sure all the unnecessary parts are left behind.
Crème de MureAdd this to a pan on medium heat along with 1 and a half cups of sugar. Stir on medium heat until all the sugar is dissolved. Remove it from the heat and mix it with half a cup of vodka. Once mixed thoroughly, store in a cool and preferably dark place. And there you have it – your very own blackberry liqueur.
Making the Bramble Drink
In a cocktail shaker, pour in 25 ml of lemon juice, 15 ml of simple syrup and 60 ml of dry gin. To recover from the last one, throw in some crushed ice and give it a nice quick shake. Feel free to whip shake it until all of the ice is completely melted – so we got the chill and dilution along with aerating the lemon juice. Pour this nice gin fix into a glass.
To this, add more pebble ice till the top and then take 15ml of blackberry liqueur and float it on top of the cocktail. Garnish with a lemon wedge on the side and one or two blackberries on top. This drink is nice and tart owing to the lemon, but the simple syrup mellows the lemon out. The botanicals and the dryness of the gin just cut through everything else. All the flavors work in nice tandem to create the most refreshing drink you will ever have. This is how you make the perfect Bramble drink.
Bramble DrinkImage source: punchdrink.com
But your spring-summer cocktail recipe book shouldn’t end here. Look up cherry blossomtini – the perfect variation of a good old cosmopolitan. Any strawberry schnapps drink will never let you down. A Tartini, French Manhattan, Daiquiris are all to die for. On the same vein, another extremely refreshing drink is the Nigerian Chapman.
If you are a whiskey person – a whiskey sour or a whiskey smash will never go wrong. Pitcher wise, the pine classic lemonade with vodka situation is literally perfection, just like a mojito. It is not just fruits that you can use to freshen up a drink, use herbs and veggies as well. A watermelon cucumber cooler is one of the best gin pitchers this season.
You can create your own variation of any of these drinks using ingredients you love and adore. It is, in the end, all about the fun you have while making and drinking these. These drinks are so yummy that gulping them down is no problem at all. But with great fun comes great responsibility. There is no fun if you’re not being safe. So, take care of yourself and your fellow party members so you could have the best time this summer – or any time you want some garden-fresh cocktails.
Also read- The Singapore Sling
