I’ve always loved a good cocktail, but perhaps even more so now that Steve has adopted beer brewing as his hobby of choice. I LOVE beer, but there’s only so much one woman can take. I’m definitely a brown liquors kind of gal, and love concocting new recipes with whatever I have on hand.
This “Pretend It’s Summer Bramble” cocktail was inspired by the pints of blackberry shurb syrup I have stashed in my fridge. I became mildly obsessed with the idea of shrubs after reading about them on Serious Eats. It’s basically just fruit, sugar, and vinegar, but the resulting syrup is lovely in cocktails or even just with sparkling water. I’ve also been using them in my salad dressings this week. (And if you’re wondering, I’ve been doing the cold shrubing method)
The blackberries were harvested from a roadside in Menlo Park. Gotta love free fruit.
“Pretend It’s Summer Bramble”
- 1.5 oz rye (I use “Ri” brand)
- .5 oz blackberry shrub (I made mine iwht apple cider vinegar)
- 1/4 tsp blackberry preserves
- dash bitters
Combine in cocktail shaker with ice. Serve in glass over ice. Maybe throw a few frozen blackberries in for good measure. Drink up.
Lately, I’ve been pondering the direction of the blog, and decided I want to have more frequent posting, more behind the scenes, more recipes, and more inspiration generally. So this friday o’clock feature is part of that. strap yourselves in for awesomeness.
