Bramble Recipe

[Photograph: Jonny Ho on Flickr]

There's no shortage of drink recipes you can turn to this weekend to dispel the summer heat. But among the class of seasonal coolers, few seem more appropriate to August than the Bramble.

A hallmark drink in the UK, where it was introduced in the 1980s by London barman Dick Bradsell, the Bramble is something of a rare bird in the U.S.—and that's a shame, considering the drink's simple preparation and basic yet alluring character. The Bramble starts as a simple gin sour, made with lemon juice and simple syrup and served with crushed ice; but the real entertainment begins with the Bramble's crowning feature, a purple splash of blackberry liqueur that gradually sinks through the crags of crushed ice and into the bottom of the glass, giving each sip of the drink a different mix of citrusy tartness and summer-berry sweetness.

French crème de mure can be difficult to find, but fortunately there's a domestic version, Clear Creek Distillery's blackberry liqueur, which is absolutely excellent in this drink. Blackberry season is coming into full swing, and the Bramble is perfectly suited for a warm August evening.