Going Foraging? Mix These 5 Berrylicious Cocktails Straight From The Woods
VIBRANT, brightly coloured and refreshing, cocktails made from strawberries, raspberries and blackberries have a decadent appeal. While a cocktail night in the city would mean heading to the store for fresh produce, when you are hiking outdoors or spending time in the natural ecosystem around your home, you can actually go foraging and pick up the wild and tangy berries growing here to prepare these delicious drinks.
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Many tasty and ‘berrylicious’ cocktails can be crafted out of such produce you might source on these foraging trips in your backyard or in the woods behind your family home. Often, gooseberries and blackberries grow in abundance in the wild outdoors and you can pluck them to prepare liqueurs, infusions and syrups that would introduce the taste of the forests into your glass. You can use techniques like smoking drinks using aromatic wood chips or soaking chopped berries in simple syrup to extract their flavours for layering your cocktails with the tangy and sour notes of jungle fruits.
Read on below to know more about some of the cocktails you can prepare the next time you end up filling your wicker basket with a whole lot of wild berries:
Enchanted Forest Martini
Once upon a time, we all believed in legends that spoke of how spirits secretly lived deep in the forests and guarded their mystical powers against the worlds beyond. Introduce such a mystical and enchanting element into your cocktails the next time you return from foraging with a basket full of wild berries.
Make infused liqueur or syrups out of these berries and mix them with elderflower liqueur and a splash of Ketel One Premium Distilled Vodka to craft a purple martini reminiscent of the deep dark woods. Heighten this mystical touch by using aromatic wood chips to infuse smoke in the drink.
Wild Berry Old Fashioned
Put a sweet, sour, tangy and fruity spin on a classic old fashioned by introducing the flavour notes of wild berries into this classic recipe. When you collect berries growing in the bramble bushes or running wild in your backyard, you can put them to good use as flourishes which adorn traditional numbers. Use quality bourbon or rye whisky to craft the old fashioned along with a dash of aromatic and orange bitters. To this mix, add mixed berries as a garnish instead of an orange twist so you can give it a wood-like feel. Drop in a cinnamon stick too for enhancing this touch of the forest.
Bramble Bash Cocktail
Using a generous 45 ml pour of Tanqueray No. Ten gin, craft a mixed berry cocktail that releases the flavours of the wild fruits you sourced when you went on a foraging trip. Often you might come across clumps of gooseberries or wild blackberries growing along the borders of the woods abutting your country home. Pluck these delicious fruits and use them to prepare an infused liqueur that can be added to gin along with a dash of lemon juice and simple syrup. Use plenty of ice to chill this flavourful and vibrant infusion perfect for a spring evening.
Forest Berry Bash
As its name suggests, this drink mixes lots of different berries in a fizzy, vibrant offering that contains sweet, sour and tangy flavour notes. Use raspberry flavoured vodka as the base liquor to craft this cocktail along with berry syrups and liqueurs as well as finely chopped berries that would act as garnishes decorating your cocktail glasses. You can use some of the berries to make infusions and freeze others in water to make flavoured ice too, for a rustic yet beautiful forest-like finish.
Foraged Berry Infused Gin
One of the singular delights on vacation days for connoisseurs of fine spirits is turning their kitchen into spaces that exude the aromas of various ingredients that would make premium infusions for plain liquors. When your foraging loot yields a harvest of ripe berries, put these to use in your infusions and craft an aromatic gin made out of the wild berries. This can be mixed with tonic water and a dash of lime juice to mix an inviting, tangy autumnal cocktail.
