Remember My Blackberry Patch?

Well, some of the blackberries ended up in this!

Briar Patch

• 1.5 oz / 45 ml Plymouth gin
• ¾ oz /  22.5 ml fresh lemon juice
• ½ oz / 15 ml sugar syrup (1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water - place in squeezy bottle and shake till dissolved - you'll end up with more than you need)*
• ¼ oz / 7.5 ml homemade blackberry cordial (recipe down below)
• ice cubes
• crushed ice (blitz in a blender until it resembles semi-slush - place in freezer until ready to use)

Glass: Collins
Garnish: Blackberry and Knotted Pigtail Lemon Twist

Method:
Grab your cocktail shaker and fill with gin, lemon juice, blackberry cordial and sugar syrup - add ice cubes. Shake hard 3 times to combine and chill mix. Strain into glass filled with crushed ice. Top with more crushed ice then add a hefty splash more of the blackberry cordial.

To make the cordial, take half a kilo of blackberries and muddle in a stainless steel or glass bowl. Add a cup of sugar syrup, and three hefty slugs of Angostura Bitters. Allow to sit for an hour then pass through a very fine sieve, or a cloth fat filter if you have one; otherwise you'll have floaty bits, which spoils the appearance of the drink. Use this in a raft of recipes: add to soda water and ice, along with a sprig of mint for a non-alcoholic drink; pour over ice cream - experiment with it! When not being used, keep in the fridge.

The Briar Patch recipe comes from the famous Chicago bar, The Violet Hour.

*to extend the life of your sugar syrup by a couple of weeks, add a tablespoon of vodka to the mix.

Big thanks to Stiffy :)

Links:

Interview with Toby Maloney, owner of The Violet Hour and his unique approach to running a popular bar clickety

Some of The Violet Hour's Cocktail recipes, as posted by Toby Maloney clickety