Name: Bramble
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Gin; 30 ml Lemon juice; 12.5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 12.5 ml Blackberry liqueur

Bramble
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Serve in a Double old-fashioned

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
1 oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
0.42 oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
0.42 oz	Giffard Crème de Mûre liqueur

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Double old-fashioned glass.
Prepare garnish of blackberry, lemon slice wheel and icing sugar.
SHAKE first 3 ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into glass filled with crushed ice.
Top with more crushed ice and compact ice to form a volcano-shaped mound.
DRIZZLE liqueur over this mound to create a 'bleeding' effect in the glass.
Garnish with blackberry and lemon slice dusted with icing sugar.
Serve with a straw.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

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Review:

One of the best and most popular drinks to come out of the 1980s.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Earl Grey MarTEAni
Fallen Angel
Fitzgerald
Gin Basil Smash
Gin Fix
Gin Fizz
Gin Punch No. 1
Gin Sling
Gin Sour
Gin Twist
John Collins

History:

Created in the mid-80s by Dick Bradsell at Fred's Club, Soho, London, England.

In 2001 and again in 2015, Dick wrote about how he came to create this contemporary classic and you can read the Bramble Cocktail - its inception told by its creator here.

More cocktails by Dick Bradsell

Nutrition:

One serving of Bramble contains 177 calories

Alcohol content:

1.1 standard drinks
15.1% alc./vol. (15.1° proof)
15.1 grams of pure alcohol

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 10 of 14 comments for Bramble.
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Chris Dimal

2nd June at 10:07

Of course, one of (if not the best) drinks of the 1980s and a true indicator of where cocktails were heading towards. I tip my (non existent) hat off to you, Dick Bradsell. Slightly tart sour with moreish blackberry fruit.

Simon Sedgley

10th January at 13:30

We went a bit off the reservation on this one, substituting Merlet Creme de Fraise des Bois for the Creme de Mure. And we just shook everything and strained into a standard old-fashioned glass with a large block of ice. Strawberry and lemon for the garnish. Hardly a Bramble but was delicious.

Henry Tran

6th October 2024 at 16:36

Change the ratio a bit and it was good as well.
- 45 ml gin
- 22.5 ml lemon juice
- 12.5 ml rich syrup
- 15 ml Crème de mure

Michael Cronin

16th August 2023 at 20:40

I was looking for cocktails for my bottle of Barr Hill, Kingdom Strength Tom Cat Gin and a blackberry bramble was the one. I had made some blackberry syrup a few weeks before so I substituted about half an ounce for the sugar syrup and creme de mure and it was delicious.

Lee Clarke

7th September 2022 at 21:41

A couple of years ago I commented that this was a great drink. Just reading the new book about Dick’s life- Dicktales or "Thankyous and Sluggings". It’s a great read and I notice Simon and Paloma get a couple of nice mentions.
Made myself the drink again and I really think it’s deserving of a 5 Star rating. Never met anyone who doesn’t like it.

Koorosh Roodbaraky

22nd October 2021 at 11:21

Why shake over stir like Bradsell advocates? Presumably incorporation of citrus and syrup etc, but then do we not need to worry about over-diluting when serving over crushed?

Maciej Pawlikowski

31st October 2021 at 15:34

@Koorosh I see your point now. You’re right, the best choice to prevent dilution would be an option with big chunk of clear ice (sphere if we want to be most precise). However this particular recipe calls for crushed, inter alia, for cool looking garnish effect. I wouldn’t be worried about over-diluting it as long as you use a lot of “fresh” ice ;) Of course you can drink it the way you like and try it on block. I assume it might be good option for a person who likes to slowly sip his cocktail

Koorosh Roodbaraky

31st October 2021 at 13:05

@maciej, because crushed means you can fit more ice in the glass --> more thermal mass? I'd assume cubed is better just for surface area reasons for preventing dilution.

Leigh Leppard

3rd September 2021 at 07:44

Great recipe, but this doesn’t need a DOF glass in my opinion. Fits fine in an old fashioned glass and it felt to
me that the volume of crushed ice is more than enough.

Charlemagne Wong

10th August 2021 at 08:51

I finally did this Recipe infused into the Cheesecake. And the outcome is amazing.

Anonymous

21st October 2020 at 09:05

Hi! What is the conversion from sugar cane syrup to simple syrup in cocktails?

Simon Difford

21st October 2020 at 10:10

Approx. a third-more. So for 12.5ml rich sugar syrup (65 brix) use 18.75 simple syrup (50 brix).

Tony Jones

17th October 2020 at 17:03

Damn - this is my first Fail in a long time.
I thought I could make crushed ice in the Nutribullet -what I made was snow, and the drink became a slushy.
Shame, as it's a great use for our homemade Creme de Mur.

Tony Jones

31st December 2021 at 17:34

A year later, a triumphant first outing for our ice crusher. Half gin, half sloe gin and slightly less lemon. Success!

Simon Difford

18th October 2020 at 08:59

To make crushed ice, best use a canvas lewis bag and mallet or even wrap ice in a tea-towel and smash with a heavy rolling pin.

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