Brambles are an easy but very tasty cocktail, perfect for summer - especially if you like gin.
As with any cocktail, there are loads of variations and different recipes. Here's a pretty standard Bramble recipe:
50ml Gin (London dryg gin is what most cocktail recipes talk about)
50ml lemon juice
12.5ml sugar cane syrup
12.5ml creme de mure (blackberry liquer).
This cocktail is built in an old fashioned glass, which means you pour all the ingredients straight into the glass and then simply heap some ice in and give it all a good stir.
My variation on a Bramble
The first thing I'd do to improve a classic Bramble is through in some fresh fruit. I have a theory that pretty much any cocktail can be improved with some fruit, and in the case of the Bramble, you'd obviously use berries!
Simply add the berries at the very beginning, soften them up with a dash of sugar cane syrup (or sugar), and "muddle" them up.
Although the average Bramble recipe calls for creme de mure, you can use any berry liqueur you like.
I'm partial to a bit of Chambord, but anything from creme de cassis through to creme de framboise can work too.
I think the key to a good Bramble is balance. Balancing the sweetness of the liqueur and sugar against the lemon.
You can also tweak the 2:1 ratio of gin to liqueur to find your preferred strength.