Blackberry Vodka Lemonade

It’s another Thirsty Thursday – and it’s game 4 of the Bruins vs. Capitals playoff series – and man has it been a nail biter so far!  Luckily for me though, I did not spend this Thursday at home alone – Dave had a hockey game last night, so tonight, he’s home, and ready to participate in the awesomeness that is Thirsty Thursday 🙂  Since last week’s Stanley Cup seemed to bring some luck to the Bruins (or that’s what I tell myself anyway) I thought I’d give a Bruins themed cocktail a go again. 

I have been seeing a lot of recipes for blueberry vodka w/ lemonade, which sounds amazing.  So I took this recipe from Keep It Simple Foods and modified it to make it Bruins appropriate – how’d I do it? Swapped ‘Blue’berries with ‘Black’berries!  Genius!

This drink is coming to you 24 hours in the making, as the recipe calls for infusing the vodka with the blackberries overnight, to give the flavors time to meld (i.e. give the blackberries plenty of time to soak in as much vodka as possible) So last night, that’s what I did, and boy was it hard to wait a whole day!

Basically, I took a carton of blackberries (which equals about 1/2 cup – well more if I hadn’t eaten some), put them in a mason jar, and filled to the top (or almost the top) with Vodka.  Then tick-tock, tick-tock…..

Tonight, I got home, opened the fridge, and the vodka had turned a beautiful shade of purple (or ‘black’ – right) and I was ready to start shakin’!

Bruins Black and Yellow

INGREDIENTS

1.5 oz (1 shot) Blackberry infused vodka

3 oz (2 shots) water

1.5 oz (1 shot) simple syrup (I made my own cal’ friendly version with 1/4 cup of water and 6 splenda packets – makes enough simple syrup for 3-4 drinks, incase you’re extra thirsty!)

Juice of 2 Lemons

Splash of seltzer (optional – I used Polar Triple Berry)

1)  First step is to drain the vodka from the mason jar, using a strainer to separate the vodka from the berries (and save those berry! That is valuable fruit and booze!)

Hello Blackberry Vodka – I waited a long time for you!

Don’t be fooled by these innocent looking berries – they pack a mean punch

2) In a cocktail shaker mix blackberry vodka, water, lemon juice and simple syrup – shake a minute or so.  If you think the lemon juice is too tart, you can always add more simple syrup.

3)  Fill a glass with ice and the berries from the jar, pour the mixture over ice, and then top off with seltzer water (if you like the fizz)

4) Garnish with a lemon and enjoy!

I gotta say, this is probably my favorite TT drink so far – it is light and refreshing, the perfect summer drink! I was really hoping it’d be a little more ‘black and yellow’, but pink is a good alternative I suppose.  And the best part is that all in all, it’s a pretty healthy drink, made with all fresh fruit and simple syrup made with splenda (and that means you can drink more of them!)

Unfortunately it didn’t bring a win to the Bruins, but two of these delicious libations definitely helped to soften the blow of the loss for their biggest fan 🙂

Spotted – Dave – drinking a pink cocktail – in a Bruins jersey – Cam Neely would be horrified