My friend Scott stopped by L’Ecole this week so I could taste him on some Finger Lakes Distilling Products. He’s got plenty of experience, as he’s behind DH Krahn gin (the website is under construction, but for more info in the meantime, click here). When we got to the Crème de Cassis, he exclaimed, “This would make a delicious bramble!”
Thanks for the tip, buddy and here goes:
See the cassis trickling down the inside of the glass?
Is your mouth watering yet?
The cassis will have a pretty label soon instead of my post-it note
Brambles are thorny plants in the rose family and the bramble fruits that come from those plants are raspberries and blackberries. The bramble cocktail was created by Dick Bradsell in the 1980s at a club in London. The original calls for blackberry liqueur, but I opted for blackcurrant with FLD’s Cassis.
With the help of a Chef-Instructor and a robot coupe, I got some crushed ice. If you don’t have either of those at home, I suggest a blender or a mallet. The crushed ice really is an important part of the cocktail and you’ll see why in a moment. Here’s the recipe:
2 oz. Seneca Drums gin
1 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 oz. simple syrup
dash salt
Combine the above ingredients with ice and shake vigorously. Strain over crushed ice in a rocks glass. Top with 1 oz. Crème de Cassis – the crushed ice slows the dissipation of the cassis, making quite a pretty show. The trickle would have been more obvious in the first photo above, but I was a one-woman cocktail-making, photo-taking show. Garnish with lemon slice and blackberries.
This is an easy cocktail that’s got everything you want – a little sweet, a little tart, a little herbaceous and a little bite.
A Thirsty Spirit 