Cocktail & Other Recipes By Spirit Gin Cocktails

Bramble

By
Kevin Gray
Kevin Gray
Kevin Gray
Kevin Gray is a Dallas freelance writer specializing in food, drinks and travel. He’s been covering spirits and cocktails since 2009.
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Updated 06/29/23
dark-red Bramble cocktail in an angled rocks glass. the color gets lighter toward the top of the glass. it is garnished with a lone blackberry and a half lemon wheel

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

The Bramble is one of those cocktails that feels like a century-old classic. It looks the part, and every good barkeep knows how to make one.

But the drink wasn’t first invented until 1984, when Dick Bradsell (whose resume also includes the Espresso Martini) mixed this modern-classic at Fred’s Club in London’s Soho neighborhood. It’s one of that decade’s best success stories, standing apart from the era’s provocatively named drinks that eschewed fresh ingredients in favor of bottled, neon-hued mixers.

The Bramble was named for the bush that blackberries grow on and was inspired by the fresh berries that Bradsell picked as a child on the Isle of Wight. After receiving some creme de mure (a blackberry liqueur) for the bar, Bradsell began experimenting and came on a combination of gin, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup and creme de mure that was part Gin Sour and part Singapore Sling. He shook up the ingredients, then strained them over crushed ice to tame the sweetness.

There’s no reason to tweak Bradsell’s Bramble—it’s great precisely as he made it in 1984. But that hasn’t stopped inventive bartenders from playing with the recipe. The easiest way to tweak the original is to swap in a different base spirit for the gin, like a dry pisco or grassy rhum agricole, or to drizzle another product on top, like Chambord raspberry liqueur. You can also shake a couple berries with the liquid ingredients to lend more flavor and color to the cocktail. All of these variations create a fine drink, but perhaps none provide the simple refreshment that Bradsell achieved behind the bar at Fred’s Club.

This recipe pays homage to the well-balanced original. Mix one during spring and summer when blackberries are in season, and throw a berry on the ice crown for visuals (and a healthy snack). You might discover your new favorite way to drink gin.

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces gin

  • 1 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed

  • 2 teaspoons simple syrup

  • 1/2 ounce creme de mure

  • Garnish: lemon half-wheel

  • Garnish: fresh blackberry

Steps

  1. Add the gin, lemon juice and simple syrup into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.

  2. Fine-strain into an rocks glass over crushed ice.

  3. Slowly pour the creme de mure over the top of the drink

  4. Garnish with a lemon half-wheel and a fresh blackberry.

Can You Swap Liqueurs In a Bramble?

The Bramble’s creator, Dick Bradsell, used creme de mure, aka blackberry liqueur to top the now-iconic cocktail. But there is much room for play here. One example: Legendary New York bartender Toby Cecchini has noted that he has sometimes employed both creme de mure and creme de framboise, the raspberry version of the fruit liqueur. He would then garnish, accordingly, his Bramble with both a blackberry and a raspberry.

What Type of Ice Is in a Bramble?

The Bramble absolutely requires smaller pieces of ice. The briskness and mouthfeel of this kind of ice is crucial to the drink’s charms. If you have access to pebble ice, consider trying the Bramble with it. It’s like crushed ice’s fraternal twin: shared DNA; different experience.