September Drink of the Month - Blackberry Bourbon Smash

Our ingredients for experimenting

This month's journey started out with me trying to recreate a wonderful drink that Ann ordered when I took her out for her birthday. We dined at Woochi, a Japanese Sushi/Fusion bar in town, and had the opportunity to enjoy a few of their drinks, including an excellent Singapore Sling and a solid take on a Between the Sheets cocktail. Looking over the menu, we chose a bar original cocktail for Ann, what the folks at Woochi call their Basil Smash #2. It had light rum, muddled basil and lime, Cointreau, and a pinch of agave syrup. I invited my friend Justin over a few days later, and we spent an hour or so trying to recreate the recipe, without success (our problem was that we only had enough basil for three attempts - we would have cracked it with a bigger supply!). However, the evening was not a total loss, as my research while attempting to discover proportions for the drink caused me to stumble upon a whole class of cocktails that are excellent this time of year: Smashes!

Drink components: Assemble!

In hindsight, I should have remembered more about Smashes from my time spent reading The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart. As it turns out, she has kept blogging after publishing her book and she has a great recipe for a Blueberry Smash that inspired me to play around with a few of the ingredients I had laying around the house. Justin and I played around with a combination of fresh blackberries (I love blackberries, and the Amelia is my new favorite vodka drink), mint, lemon juice, Cointreau, and bourbon. A little experimentation helped us to discover that wheated bourbon played really nicely with this flavor profile, and I still had a full bottle of John E. Fitzgerald Larceny on hand from my trip down the bourbon trail in June (this was my favorite of all the wheated whiskies - sorry Maker's Mark). The combination of these elements had great acid and sweet notes that went down incredibly smoothly when paired with the Larceny.

I made this drink for my parents in honor of their anniversary last week when they came up to visit. It was a bourbon drink, so I knew my dad would be happy (he's been on a Sazerac kick since his time in New Orleans last month, but that's a story for another month), but it was sweet enough that it would go down smoothly even for my whiskey-adverse mom. Ann was brave enough to test drive the drink (being notably whiskey-adverse herself) and it earned a coveted "not terrible" rating from my bride-to-be. That's high praise coming from her mouth, especially when whiskey is concerned! Upon serving, both parents enjoyed the cocktail. The only complaint? My dad thought it could have been even a bit sweeter (this is the only time in my life I've ever heard him utter such a thought). Take that for what it's worth, but I think the recipe below is a crowd pleaser, even for those in your circles who avoid whiskey like the plague! Here's the recipe:

Ready to muddle!

In a cocktail shaker:
Muddle 4-6 mint leaves and 5-6 blackberries with 0.5 oz Cointreau or rich (2:1) simple syrup*
Add 2 oz wheated bourbon (I used John E. Fitzgerald Larceny) and 0.75 oz lemon juice

Shake over ice for 15 seconds. Double strain** into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice*** and garnish with a sprig of mint.

*I like the extra citrus notes from the Cointreau, but if you want this a little sweeter, rich simple syrup with suffice.
**I double strain to get out all of the blackberry particles and crushed mint. If you like that business in your glass, be my guest. Muddling the fresh ingredients should release most of the flavor (and shaking with also aid in the release), but if you like them in the glass, you can omit this step (but I wouldn't - blackberries in particular have pesky seeds, which can really ruin your sipping experience).
***The ice will help turn this into a long sipper and brings out even more of the wheat flavor of the bourbon as it melts. If you'd rather not water down your drink, however, omit the ice and serve in a coupe of martini glass.

I hope you enjoy your Blackberry Bourbon Smash!

Finished product!