Blueberries

Friends who know my passion for a new  summer cocktail adapted this recipe from a summer drink they recently discovered. We served this sweet and tart drink along with with the modern day dry martini for a gathering we call “Martini Moments.”  We keep our get-togethers spontaneous and simple by only serving a few cheese selections with crispy crackers and salty nuts and grapes.

Blueberry Bramble

Ingredients:

a hand full of blueberries, about a dozen,muddled

1 – 2  oz blueberry – or blackberry liqueur

2  oz gin

a squeeze of lemon, a teaspoon or two to taste

ice

Mixology:

Muddle berries.

Mix in a shaker with liqueur, gin and lemon.

Pour into a glass over ice, I prefer shaved.

Garnish with a blueberries, lemon slice, or a blackberry.

Martini

Ingredients:

4 oz gin

1/2 oz dry vermouth

ice

lemon peel or olive garnish

Mixology:

Pour gin and vermouth into and ice-filled shaker.

Shake, then strain into a glass.

garnish with lemon peel or olive.

Tips:

Use a chilled crystal glass and the purest of spirits.

Most old-timer martini drinkers prefer gin.

If you substitute vodka, it is a vodkatini.

An onion makes this drink a Gibson.

When I lived in England, most martinis were half gin and half vermouth. The Mayfair Hotel, however, made perfect American martinis.

The Hill Team enjoys the occasional vodka gimlet, made with lime juice.

My favorite book about martinis is by Barnaby Conrad 111, called The Martini.