Blackberry Bourbon Collins Cocktail
The Blackberry Bourbon Collins Cocktail could be the mainstay of your warm weather drinking; it’s a simple blend of blackberries, bourbon, simple syrup and lemon; change the fruit to whatever is freshest and mix it up all year long!
OK, so this might be a stretch to call it a ‘Collins‘ cocktail, referring to a Tom Collins which is a great basic drink consisting of gin, lemon juice and simple syrup. But hey…it’s got the booze, even if it is bourbon, the lemon juice, and the simple syrup, so for me it works (but I’m easy!) and we loved this Blackberry Bourbon Collins Cocktail.
This is a weird cocktail time for me and I blame it on the Rocky Mountains. Nestled at the base of the Rockies, Denver and it’s surrounding areas, including the suburb of Castle Rock where I live, are always forced to deal with a most fickle spring. One day warm and the next day a blizzard. Last week we saw a record at 79 degrees and the next day it was in the 20’s…BRRRRR!!!
While I love Colorado, especially the glorious and humidity free summer, both Spring and Fall can mess with, well, everything! I’ve had late summer barbecues planned and instead we were inside by the fire. It is what it is, always a surprise but sometimes hard to find the perfect end of summer cocktail.
There is no easy segue into seasonal drinks, so I love making ones that are not specific to one season and this one works. Even if I consider blackberries a summer fruit, I can usually find them year round but if not? Use something that is seasonal instead. Try cherries, blood oranges and more…it’s the bourbon, lemon, and sweetness that blends it all together.
Despite having lived her for 30 years, I seem wired to the years of growing up in St. Louis and my young adult years in Raleigh, NC. Warm weather was a given by about April 15th and I’ll probably always be more impatient this time of year than a Denver native; flowers should be blooming, not blizzards!
So today has a distinctive chill in the air and I’m sharing a decidedly warm weather cocktail. Let’s call it wishful thinking? Sunday is supposed to be warmer and I need that…my yard is crying for spring cleanup but my tootsies need it to be warmer than 45 degrees!
Truth be told, I would serve a cocktail like this through Fall too…anything with bourbon seems to fall in my ‘all year round’ list of cocktails. In summer I might typically enjoy lighter fare like vodka, gin, and white rum, but bourbon finds it’s way into my drinks twelve months out of the year.
So I’ll wait and dream and make things I wish it was warm enough to enjoy; I’m sure those days will be regulars here soon. PLEASE?
Oh, and before I forget…I want to reiterate what I mentioned in the blurb at the top of the page. This mixture minus the blackberries is the epitome of a cocktail that you can fiddle with all year long. Imagine strawberries, or blueberries or how about fresh, ripe, summer peaches in the summer with the bourbon and lemon combination? You can bet I’ll be trying that one! Cheers!
Love to have another sort of Blackberry Tom Collins cocktail? Try this Blackberry Collins Cocktail with St. Germain Liqueur; I may have made it for the holidays but it would be another great summertime beverage.
More Blackberry Cocktails!
- Blackberry, Bourbon, and Cranberry Cocktail
- Blackberry Serrano Margarita Cocktail
- Homemade Blackberry Liqueur
- Blackberry Bramble Cocktail
- Fresh Blackberry Margarita Cocktail
- Blackberry Collins Cocktail with St. Germain Liqueur
PIN IT! ‘Blackberry Bourbon Collins Cocktail’
Blackberry Bourbon Collins Cocktail
Ingredients
For the Cocktail
- 8 blackberries
- 3 ounces bourbon
- 1 ½ ounces fresh lemon juice
- 1 ½ ounces simple syrup
For Garnish
- Whole Blackberries and Lemon Slices
- 3-4 ounces chilled club soda
Instructions
- In a cocktail shaker, muddle 3 blackberries. Fill the shaker with ice and add the bourbon, lemon juice, and simple syrup and shake well.
- Strain into a chilled, ice-filled Collins glass. Top with club soda, stir gently and garnish with a lemon slice and blackberry.
St. Louis weather has been weird this April — we’ve had a couple of snow showers (no real accumulation), and had days in the 20s and the 70s. Low 60s today — just about warm enough for one of these beauties! I love a Collins, and you can use almost any kind of booze in them. So flexible! And good. 🙂
Snowing here again today! Luckily supposed tobe in the 60’s tomorrow! Fickle weather!