Summer so far…

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Summer has been good so far. Really good. Full of great food, drinks, family and friends. Lots of summer fruits and veggies. Eating outside and ice-cold beers. Its hard to believe we are almost half way through July.

But I want to talk about the drink pictured in the top image. I am all about a good cocktail. Especially a cold one during these hot summer months. This one does the trick.

On a recent trip to the mountains, my brother-in-laws family gave me a huge bucket of fresh picked blackberries. (pictured above) I graciously accepted and spent the whole weekend using them in different ways. We made a cobbler, we made jam, we cooked them to a syrup and poured it over pecan pancakes. But, I had recently read somewhere about summer cocktails using all sorts of berries, mint and rosemary, (yes, rosemary) so I wanted to give some a try.

I muddled about 5 large blackberries and a couple sprigs of mint with about a teaspoon of sugar in the bottom of a small glass. I added about a shot of gin, (you could use vodka) a wedge of lime, ( throw the lime in the glass after squeezing) and topped it off with lots of ice and some club soda. Now take a short sprig of rosemary and a few more sprigs of mint and just give the herbs a crush with your fingers. (Just enough to release the oils. Your nose will tell you.) Place the sprigs in the drink but dont submerge them. You want to smell the rosemary and mint as you drink the cocktail. The piney sent of the rosemary subtly infuses throughout the drink, without being too overpowering. It surprisingly adds a great freshness to the cocktail and seems to enhance the flavor of the mint.

Try it out.

-t