The weather is beautiful here in the Bluegrass sate right now. It’s that time when the mornings are cool  and you need a light jacket to go outside, but it warms up later in day. You can’t beat it! This is why September is National Bourbon Heritage Month, because you can’t help but want to sip good Bourbon in this weather! There’s nothing better than a great Bourbon cocktail around an evening campfire or at a tailgate. Our days can’t decide if they are fall or summer, and that inspired this week’s cocktail. It’s a refreshing combination of summer flavors mixed with the beautiful crispness of fall.

Summer flavors to me, are refreshing and bright. I love the combination of ginger and mint with almost any summer berry. I chose blackberries for this drink, because we had such a delicious crop of them this year. In my opinion, you can’t get any more fall than Bourbon, so the combination that I came up with for tonight is the perfect marriage between summer and fall.

So let’s get to it! A lot of areas of this drink can be open for your own interpretations and tastes. Add more blackberries for more tang, add more ginger for more zest. It’s all up to you. If you prefer a less strong drink, substitute club soda for the tonic water, or to take even a step further, and use ginger ale. I like to use a taller Collins glass for a drink like this, mostly because of the muddling, but it’s up to you. You could do all of this in a cocktail shaker and pour into chilled Martini glasses for a classier edge as well.

Blackberry Bourbon Cocktail – Makes 1 drink

Ingredients:

– 3-4 Fresh Blackberries

– ¾ inch Freshly zested ginger

– 4-5 Fresh Mint leaves

– 2 tablespoons pure cane sugar (You can use regular sugar, but I prefer cane sugar. Simple syrup works as well. If you like a sweeter drink, feel free to add more sugar)

– 2 Shots good quality Kentucky Bourbon

– Tonic Water to finish

– Blackberries and Mint to garnish

Directions:

– Add blackberries, ginger, mint leaves, and sugar to your glass.

– Muddle together, enough to break up the blackberries and bruise the mint. Remember, if you don’t have a muddler, the handle end of a wooden spoon also works.

– Add ice to fill the glass.

– Pour in Bourbon and finish with Tonic Water.

– Garnish with blackberries and mint leaves.

– Enjoy!!!

This drink is great at an early season tailgate or an end of summer party!