5-Minute Blackberry Bourbon Smash Cocktail (No Simple Syrup)
This 5-minute blackberry bourbon smash is part mojito and part mint julep. Made from fresh or frozen Oregon blackberries muddled with lime, basil, and sugar, this cocktail works for any season – no simple syrup required! With over a hundred 5-star ratings and 8,000+ Pinterest shares, this reader favorite is a refreshing twist on the classic whiskey smash that packs a kick.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Oregon Berries. All opinions are 100% mine.
5-Minute Whiskey Smash
Smash? Julep? If you are confused as to which is which, you aren’t the first and you won’t be the last! While both cocktails feature bourbon, sugar, and muddled fresh herbs, a mint julep is a simpler drink traditionally made with just mint, sugar, bourbon, and crushed ice. A bourbon smash, like this recipe, takes things further by incorporating fruit and citrus, giving it a more refreshing and complex flavor.
This blackberry bourbon smash recipe is my non-traditional take on the classic whiskey smash. I’ve swapped mint for basil, lemon for lime, and thrown in a handful of frozen blackberries for good measure. With sugar instead of simple syrup, this recipe is faster to make and tastes better, too. (More on that later.)
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To make this blackberry cocktail at home, you’ll need a couple of special tools: a cocktail shaker, strainer, and muddler. While the strainer style pictured above works fine, these days, I find myself more often reaching for a sieve-style strainer that can better hold the berries. If you make cocktails often, you probably already have these in your collection. You’ll also need a jigger or liquid measuring cup and a glass that will hold around 12 ounces.
Featured Ingredient: Frozen Oregon Blackberries
I had the pleasure of collaborating with my friends over at Oregon Blackberries to bring you another blackberry recipe inspired by my favorite homegrown fruit. Like my blackberry gin and tonic, this cocktail can be made with fresh or frozen Oregon blackberries (if you are using fresh, see how to preserve summer berries).
I prefer using frozen blackberries for this cocktail. As the blackberries thaw, they are going to break down much more easily than their fresh counterparts. When you muddle them with the basil, sugar, and lime, they create this sweet, aromatic combination that makes this cocktail so unique.
If you already have fresh blackberries on hand, by all means use them! You may just need a little more effort with the muddler and, if your berries are on the tart side, maybe an extra pinch of sugar. If you have some berries left over, check out my blackberry sorbet)
Featured Ingredient: White Granulated Sugar
We use plain white sugar rather than simple syrup for sweetness in this cocktail. While both the sugar and the syrup provide sweetness, the granulated sugar adds a level of abrasiveness that the simple syrup cannot.
Just like when making a raspberry mojito, this abrasiveness helps to draw out the oils from the lime and mint during muddling, creating a more intensely flavored cocktail.
Since this cocktail is muddled and then shaken, there is plenty of action to help dissolve the sugar. Don’t forget to adjust the sugar to taste based on the sweetness of your berries.
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5-Minute Blackberry Bourbon Smash (No Simple Syrup)
Ingredients
- 2 – 3 tsp sugar
- 3 – 4 basil leaves
- 1/2 lime
- 1/4 cup frozen blackberries
- 2 ounces bourbon whiskey
- ice cubes
- 2 ounces club soda
Instructions
- In a cocktail shaker, add sugar, basil leaves, blackberries, and bourbon. Squeeze in the juice from the lime, then toss the rind into the shaker as well. Muddle to break up the berries, release the oil in the basil and lime, and dissolve the sugar.
- Add a generous amount of ice to the shaker, then shake to chill and combine.
- Fill an old fashioned glass ice. Strain cocktail over ice, top off with club soda. Garnish with additional basil, berries, and lime if desired. Enjoy immediately.
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Nutrition
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My family loved this!
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
This is a great drink that allows the bourbon or whisky flavors shine through.
The only change I make is to use demerra sugar (or raw sugar) instead.
Timothy
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I haven’t made it with raw sugar as the crystals take much longer to dissolve than the fine grains in granulated sugar. Any tips on getting it to dissolve faster?
Renee
We will typically drink an old fashioned or I’ll take my bourbon whiskey neat and my husband takes his on the rocks, but he wanted something different and we had blackberries at home so I tried this. I didn’t have basil but the drink worked out anyway… So much so that he asked for a couple more.. haha. This was during Christmas and I thought about it again today so I’m going to get some basil and try it out with it.
Love this cocktail!