I love blackberries and before the season was over I wanted to get one last fresh blackberry cocktail under my belt. As we are still dealing with summer temperatures here in Arizona despite it being fall, I also wanted something tall and cool.
When I'm not constructing a new craft cocktail for my brand or for an event I often revert to simple classic cocktails for my personal drinks. One of my favorites in summer is a tonic, usually gin tonics, occasionally vodka; the choice of spirit is usually based on what I'm adding to the drink. I rarely do a straight gin and tonic, I like adding fruits and using the herbs from my little garden on the back deck. This way I get a little variety at happy hour without a lot of thinking or work. I'll be honest here, if I'm not making any money on it I'm not going to spend hours creating a new cocktail just for myself.
That's not to say I don't make myself good cocktails, I do and this is a very good cocktail, just not complex. And sometimes that's just what you're looking for at happy hour. The only thing I tweaked a bit was using Crème de Cassis in place of the simple syrup.
