Top Tips:
To make the puree, take half of the strawberries (200g), raspberries (100g) and blueberries (75g). Chop these and add them to a bowl (not your punch bowl!). Mash the combination with a muddler. Pour the gin in, stir, then cover and leave for a good hour or so.
This punch has a relatively low ABV (1 part booze to 4 parts soft) so that it doesn't make everyone wobble at the knees. It goes without saying that you can tweak the amount of gin used to your desire.
As with all punches, ice is your friend. Add loads. It's counterintuitive, but it'll dilute slower if you have more ice.
Garden herbs like verbena, lemon balm and rosemary are all good additions for garnishing. If you have them in the garden, give the plant a ‘trim’ and use some in the glass.
A Brief, Inebriated History:
We took our initial inspiration from the Basil Smash for this one and looked to replace the basil for red berries, and as things tend to do when playing with cocktail serves things went from there… We love the idea of getting hold of a farm’s worth of ripe berries and beating them to a pulp before adding in a whole vat of gin to infuse.
Yes, it does require a little prepping ahead, but the end result is more than worth it. We steered clear of using sugar syrup in this one as some cranberry juices tend to be very sweet and conversely, stuck to fruits to keep it simple and easy to make.
For those who want more depth, you can also add some spice (like cracked cubeb berries or pink peppercorns) to the initial infusion which will add an extra dimension to go behind the huge fruit delivery. Don’t be shy to play around in order to make it perfect for you!
