Blackberries and gin are a perfect pair, and they don't get much better than in this delicious Blackberry Empress Gin Sour! The herbal notes of gin are rounded out by the jammy goodness of the blackberries. This drink pairs them together with lime for an easy and tasty gin cocktail!
The sweetness and flavor of blackberries is best when they're in season in the summer. (And that's usually when this kind of drink is the most refreshing!)
Love this drink? You'll definitely want to try the tasty Blackberry Margarita, or the raspberry-flavored Chambord Margarita!
If you want to stick to gin, try out this fancy Blueberry Gin Sour, or the fabulous Lychee Gin Martini.
Recipe Video
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Muddling the Blackberries
Of all of the fruits to muddle, I think blackberries are probably the most fun. It's kind of like popping bubble wrap. So satisfying!
When you muddle fruit, it will naturally leave some pulp behind. If you want to fully take out the pulp, when you are straining your cocktail over the ice, you can pour it through a second fine-mesh strainer at the same time (see this video for the double straining technique).
Why is Empress Gin Purple?
Empress Gin is a pretty popular gin over on Instagram (side note: you can follow me on Insta here!). Besides its smooth and floral flavor, it has a gorgeous dark purple color. The color comes from infusing butterfly pea blooms after the spirit is distilled.
The magic comes in when you bring an acid to the party. When the butterfly pea infusion is mixed with an acidic ingredient, it changes to a pinkish color. Remember those pH strips from science class? This is the same kind of reaction.
You can infuse your own color-changing spirits too! Check out my Color-Changing Butterfly Pea Tequila recipe for how to do it.
Shake, Garnish & Serve
Since this drink is a sour, it's probably best if you shake all the ingredients together with ice, then strain it back out onto fresh ice. In the recipe video on my YouTube, I actually just shook the berries, gin and syrup and then poured them on top of the lime juice, because I wanted to see the color change. It's just cool!
When you're done mixing up the drink, just garnish with some more fresh blackberries and serve. It's the perfect summertime drink!
📖 Recipe
Blackberry Empress Gin Sour
Equipment
- Second strainer (optional)
- Old Fashioned glass
Ingredients
- 2 oz Empress Gin
- 1 oz fresh lime juice
- 1 oz simple syrup
- 7 ripe blackberries (5 for muddling, 2 for garnish)
Instructions
- Muddle the blackberries in the bottom of a cocktail shaker.
- Add in the gin, simple syrup and ice. If you don't care about seeing the color change in the glass, feel free to add the lime juice in during this step.
- Add the lime juice (unless you already shook it up) and fresh ice to an old fashioned cocktail glass.
- Strain the cocktail onto the ice. If you didn't shake with the lime juice, give it a few stirs with a cocktail spoon.
- Place two blackberries on a cocktail pick for garnish, and serve.
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