Here at Consumatorium labs, we are dedicated to the research of the finest cocktails that anybody can make. Recently, a friend asked for suggestions for drinks made with blueberries, which are now fresh, local and readily available here in New England. I did some web searching and came up with a few suggestions, including the Blueberry Smash on the Absolut web site. The drink sounded great, but after making it, I thought it could be a lot better. The key here is that the blueberry taste gets drowned out by most other flavors, so the ingredients need to be subtle. After half a dozen variations were consumed – scientific method and all – here is the Consumatorium version of the Blueberry Smash.
- 2 oz Vodka (I used Ketel One)
- 1/4 oz Lemon Juice
- 1 Handful (scientific measurement) or about a dozen fresh blueberries
- 3/4 oz Simple Syrup (1:1 sugar and water, I used store-bought)
- Lemon peel and a couple of blueberries for garnish
First, pick some fresh blueberries. This is science, after all, but feel free to buy lab-tested fruit at the store.
Strain into a cocktail glass. Some blueberry skin will inevitably get into the glass. Don’t sweat it, it adds to the presentation. Then, garnish with a couple of blueberries and a lemon peel, making sure the oils from the lemon go into the glass as you cut your lemon slice (yes, it makes a difference).
It sounds like a lot to do, but it literally only takes a couple of minutes to make this drink. And did we mention that it’s delicious? Now that’s science helping mankind!
9Comments
August 9, 2013 at 2:38 pm
I love the pictures Will. How long did you pick berries before you got bored? The drink looks great. It will be my next cocktail We have enjoyed the blueberries this summer a great deal.
August 9, 2013 at 2:49 pm
I think it was a full 10 minutes before I was bored 🙂 Fortunately, it was a target rich environment and 10 minutes netted loads of berries.
August 9, 2013 at 9:46 pm
If you’re not a fan of the Boston, why not just muddle in the shaker bottom?
August 9, 2013 at 11:43 pm
You certainly can do that. The strainer in a Cobbler shaker is generally pretty large and big chunks of Blueberry will make it into the drink. You could use the Cobbler shaker to shake, then strain it with something different. At that point though, you might as well stick with the Boston. An additional benefit of using the Boston when muddling is that you can easily see how well you’ve muddled.
August 13, 2013 at 7:32 pm
This recipe has been updated to add our friend Shawn’s suggestion that the garnish include blueberries along with the lemon peel. Doh! Of course it should.
October 19, 2013 at 9:29 pm
FYI/FWIW – I tried this with Raspberries instead of Blueberries (improvise, adapt, overcome). It didn’t work very well. Raspberry and Lemon are hardly enemies, but Blueberry and Lemon are certainly dear dear lovers. The vodka really came through – maybe it’d work with the ratios mucked around a bit. I am going to try it at some point with Raspberries and LIME instead – lovers since the dawn of time…
October 22, 2013 at 9:06 pm
Great feedback! The raspberry taste is a little more subtle too. Tell us how it works out with a lime.
May 31, 2015 at 1:00 am
So I think the 3/4 oz of simple syrup is too much. It certainly, without a doubt, tastes YUMMY as-is. But I’ve tried ratcheting it down a bit (1/2 oz) and now the flavors are less masked by the sweetness. I can feel/taste the vodka coming through. I prefer it and might try 1/4 oz instead – or maybe just muddle a brown sugar cube into the mix as one might for a Saz. FWIW!
June 1, 2015 at 7:22 pm
Shawn, that makes sense. It depends a bit on the sweetness of the blueberries to some extent. I’ll make the drink again soon and try it out less SS. BTW, after a lot of taste testing, I think a muddled brown sugar cube is 1/4-1/3 of an ounce of 1:1 SS. Just one alcoholic’s opinion. The math around the whole solid/liquid measurement mixup with 1:1 SS makes my head spin.