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Writer's pictureTara Wilson

Berries & Bourbon Summer Cocktails

Nothing like enjoying an ice-cold cocktail filled with sweet & plump in-season berries on a hot summer day! I always love to go to a farmer's market and come back with juicy raspberries and blackberries and find delicious new recipes to try them in.


Normally I would stick with clear liquor (vodka, rum, tequila) for hot weather and stick to drinking whiskey at night or when it's colder - the typical clear liquor drinks are just so light and refreshing, and sometimes whiskey cocktails can be pretty boozy. However, I love me some bourbon and wanted to create some equally refreshing whiskey cocktails that would be perfect for warm, sunny weather.


I also recently have had some friends reach out and say that they wish they could do whiskey, but they've never had a whiskey drink they liked or could find a way to like its taste. And to that, I say: Challenge Accepted!


These cocktails are filled with bourbon and seasonal berries and are just so darn good, that anyone can enjoy them!

Some things to keep in mind: you can replace the brown sugar simple syrup and honey syrup with regular simple syrup in any of these recipes, however, I specifically used brown sugar and honey because I loved how they tasted in these cocktails. To make either syrup, just mix equal parts of the sweetener with hot water and stir until it dissolves (ex: 1/2 cup of brown sugar with 1/2 cup of hot water). These syrups also taste great in coffees, teas, and other non-alcoholic drinks (hot or iced), so when you make a batch, you can get plenty of use out of them!


I decided to use Four Roses Bourbon for these cocktails because I wanted to use a smooth & mellow bourbon that would be easy to drink for those easing their way into whiskey. It's a great quality bourbon with a proof that doesn't have much bite, tastes great in cocktails and is usually a great price point for its quality (I found a bottle at the neighborhood liquor store on sale for $19.99). Buffalo Trace is another fantastic bourbon to use. For those of you who'd like their whiskey with a little heat, give Bookers, Larceny or Baker's a try!


Without further ado, here are my Berries & Bourbon cocktails!



Blackberry Bourbon Smash


Ingredients:

  • 1.0 oz of Brown Sugar Simple Syrup

  • 3-4 plump Blackberries

  • 1.5 oz of Bourbon

  • Juice from 1/2 a Lemon

  • 3-4 Mint Leaves

  • Top with Soda

  • Garnish: Lemon Wheel & a Blackberry

Muddle your blackberries with the brown sugar syrup in your shaker tin. Then add bourbon, lemon, mint leaves, and ice to your shaker and shake vigorously! Double strain into a highball over ice and top with soda. For your garnish, use a toothpick to pierce through a lemon wheel and blackberry.


**No need to muddle the mint leaves if you shake vigorously with ice. However, if you'd like a stronger mint taste, muddle the leaves with your blackberries.

**Start with a splash of soda, then add more to your liking if needed.


Honey Raspberry Bourbon Iced Tea


Ingredients:

  • 1.5 oz of Bourbon

  • 1.0 oz of Honey Syrup

  • 5-6 Plump Raspberries

  • Juice of half a Lemon (optional)

  • Iced Tea

  • Garnish with several Lemon Wheels directly in glass

Add raspberries and honey syrup to your glass and muddle until your raspberries are nice and mashed. Then add your spirit of choice, lemon juice, and fill your glass with ice and iced tea. Dump the whole thing into your shaker, shake vigorously, then dump back into your glass. Top with more ice (if needed), then add your lemon wheels.


**For non-alcoholic version: nix the alcohol and keep everything else the same

**I recommend using an unsweetened or lightly sweetened iced tea so that it doesn't come out too sweet. If sweetened tea is all you have, I recommend cutting back on the honey at first and adding more for taste. I used the Arizona RX Stress Herbal Iced tea because it is lightly sweetened and decaf. If you prefer sweet tea, then add as much honey syrup as you'd like!

**For my whiskey lovers, I'd up the whiskey to 2oz or 2.5oz based on the size of your cup and how much iced tea you use to fill up your cup.


Honey Blackberry Bourbon Iced Tea


Ingredients:

  • 1.5 oz of Bourbon

  • 1.0 oz of Honey Syrup

  • 5-6 Plump Blackberries

  • Juice of half a Lemon (optional)

  • Iced Tea

  • Garnish with several Lemon Wheels directly in glass

Add blackberries and honey syrup to your glass and muddle until your berries are nice and mashed. Then add your spirit of choice, lemon juice, and fill your glass with ice and iced tea. Dump the whole thing into your shaker, shake vigorously, then dump back into your glass. Top with more ice (if needed), then add your lemon wheels.


**See previous spiked tea cocktail for cocktail notes.

**For both spiked iced tea cocktails, you can also swap out the whiskey for any spirit of your choice. Vodka, rum, tequila, and the majority of flavored liquors will taste great with iced tea, honey and berries!


Raspberry Mint Julep

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 oz of Bourbon

  • 1.0 oz of Brown Sugar Simple Syrup

  • 5 Mint Leaves

  • 4-5 Plump Raspberries

  • Top with Soda

  • Garnish: Mint Sprig

Add raspberries and simple syrup directly into your glass and muddle until the raspberries are nice and mashed. Then add your mint leaves and very gently muddle the leaves (over muddling will bruise the mint and you'll have an overpowering mint flavor). Then pour your bourbon into your glass and add ice. Top with as much or as little soda as you'd like, then garnish with your mint sprig.


**This is a sweeter and less strong version of the Mint Julep cocktail (the official cocktail of the Kentucky Derby!). Mint Juleps are very boozy, so I created this version as a lighter alternative. For my Mint Julep recipe, click here.

**Traditionally, Mint Juleps have crushed ice. I'm lazy however, and rather than get a crushed ice machine or crush ice myself with a ziplock bag & hammer, I just use regular cubed ice.

**You can use any type of cup for this, but a smaller glass like a rocks glass or a julep cup usually look best.


Hope you enjoy these summer bourbon cocktails! If you get the chance to make any, let me know what you think in the comments!

 


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