This blueberry cocktail is striking in appearance and just as wonderful to taste. Blending freeze-dried blueberries, gin, peach liqueur and citrus juice, the result is a sour-style blueberry drink bursting with intense fruit flavour.
Save This Recipe
We’ll send the link straight to your inbox and you'll receive my trusted recipes each week!
This post is sponsored by Mixologist's Garden. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Why I Love This Blueberry Drink
- Quick & easy: This blueberry cocktail is surprisingly quick and easy to knock together at home. Made by lightly crushing freeze-dried blueberries directly into the gin, there's no need to spend time making specialist blueberry simple syrup for this libation.
- Balance of flavour: It also tastes amazingly fresh & lively - loaded with ripe blueberry flavour, hints of floral peach and just the right level of tart lemon freshness.
- Appearance: The bold hue & pretty frothy top, ideal for showing off garnishes, make this blueberry cocktail a winner in the looks department.
- Texture: If you've ever hankered after that impressive soft-as-silk mouthfeel that comes with some cocktails you have out in bars and restaurants, this alcoholic blueberry drink will deliver that to you. It's down to the inclusion of egg white combined with a jolly good shake.
- Purse-friendly: Drink for drink, enjoying cocktails at home is so much cheaper than enjoying them on a night out.
Jump to:
Insider Tip: Why Use Freeze-Dried Fruit In Cocktails
This blueberry cocktail has been created using freeze-dried blueberries from Mixologist's Garden, specialists in providing high-quality and easy-to-use fruit garnishes to effortlessly elevate your drinks.
The benefit of using freeze-dried fruit over fresh fruit in this cocktail is two-fold:
- The flavour of the berries has been intensified during the process of freeze-drying them. This means that they impart a robust flavour to the cocktail.
- It doesn't matter what the season is - freeze-dried berries can be relied upon to give great flavour consistently.
Take a look at the other cocktails I've created using freeze-dried fruit. There's a Negroni sour, a raspberry margarita, Southern Comfort cocktail and my version of the English Garden cocktail.
Ingredients Notes
Freeze-dried blueberries: These are used to create the blueberry infused gin that makes the backbone of this blueberry cocktail recipe. You'll find the Mixologist's Garden range in their online shop or on Amazon.
Gin: Use a good London Dry gin or an American-style gin for this blueberry drink. Opt for one with either zesty citrus notes or floral undertones.
Peach liqueur: This ingredient is optional, but the hint of floral peach really does enhance this libation.
Egg white: This is essential if you would like to create the signature foamy top to this cocktail. Alternatively use 30ml aquafaba.
Equipment Notes
Sour cocktails such as this blueberry drink are traditionally made in a cocktail shaker. However, if you do not own one then a large, sturdy jar with a screw-top lid will suffice.
If you intend to make a powder from the freeze-dried blueberries for a stencil garnish then you will also need a pestle and mortar.
How To Make A Blueberry Cocktail (Step-By-Step Instructions
Full instructions and measurements are given in the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Step 1: Put 10 freeze-dried blueberries into the base of a cocktail shaker, pour in the gin and use a muddler to gently break up the fruit.
Step 2: Give the blueberry infused gin a good stir then strain it through a fine-meshed sieve. Press the fruit down using the muddler to extra any liquid trapped within the fruit. Discard the contents of the sieve.
Step 3: Now pour the gin into the base of a cocktail shaker along with the peach liqueur, lemon juice, egg white and simple syrup (do not add ice).
Step 4: Secure the lid and shake hard for 30 seconds (this is the dry shake).
Step 5: Now add a large handful of ice and shake for another 30 seconds (this is the wet shake).
Step 6: Strain the liquid into a suitable glass and garnish as desired (see the following section for ideas).
Garnishes
There are numerous ways that you could garnish this freeze-dried blueberry cocktail. Here are a few options:
- Thread several freeze-dried blueberries onto a cocktail pick and suspend it over the glass.
- Alternatively, float a freeze-dried lemon slice over the egg white foam and crush a couple of the freeze-dried blueberries roughly in your hand. Scatter them over the top.
- For a showstopping garnish, use the freeze-dried blueberries to make a powder for use as a glass rim or to create a stencil pattern:
Grind half a pack of the freeze-dried blueberries to a fine powder in a pestle and mortar.
Suspend a drink stencil over the top of the glass and dust over it with the blueberry powder. Carefully lift off the stencil to reveal the pattern.
Expert Tips
- Chill your serving glass for 15 minutes to ensure that your drink is served deliciously ice cold.
- It is essential to strain the blueberry-infused gin through a fine-meshed sieve before proceeding with the cocktail to ensure that the drink is smooth.
- Shake this cocktail twice, first without ice and then with ice, to build up that wonderful creamy mouthfeel and foamy top.
- Double-strain your drink into serving glasses to make sure that shards of ice and citrus flesh do not fall into the glass.
- If using blueberry powder to create a pretty stencil garnish then pound the fruit as close to serving time as possible as it has a tendency to clump once exposed to the air.
- If necessary, use a spoon to push the powder through the sieve if it has begun to clump.
Frequently asked questions
A London Dry gin with plenty of zesty citrus notes is the ideal choice for this blueberry gin cocktail.
Freeze-dried blueberries have a bolder flavour compared to their fresh counterparts. For this reason, I urge you not to swap to fresh blueberries. The flavour of this alcoholic blueberry drink will be much less pronounced if you do. And of course, that gorgeous stencil garnish requires the freeze-dried fruit regardless.
Yes, you can. You'll need to swap the gin for your favourite non-alcoholic gin alternative. The peach liqueur will also need to be left out and replaced with 10ml peach syrup (if you cannot find this ingredient then add in an additional 10ml simple syrup).
A great alternative to egg white is aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas). It may sound slightly strange, but this vegan and dairy-free product has become a popular choice for those wishing to create a foamy cocktail without using egg white. Try 30ml per cocktail.
Technically, yes, you could omit the egg white but you will forego that gorgeous foamy top on this lovely alcoholic blueberry drink. Egg white has a neutral taste that you won't notice at all alongside the other ingredients in this blueberry lemon cocktail. As for the texture, it turns the entire drink into something silky smooth and utterly luxurious.
Variations
It's easy to adapt this alcoholic blueberry drink to keep your cocktail repertoire fresh and exciting:
- Omit the peach liqueur: This results in a simpler blueberry cocktail (add in an extra 10ml simple syrup).
- Vary the base spirit: Try vodka or tequila in place of the gin.
- Add herbs: Muddle the blueberries with a few sprigs of thyme or 5 basil leaves. Alternatively, use an herb-based simple syrup to carry through the flavour.
- Peach Melba Sour: Swap the blueberries for freeze-dried raspberries and have yourself a gin sour incorporating the classic combination of raspberries and peach.
Serving Suggestions
- Lightly salted bar snacks: Classic options such as crisps and nuts work well with fruity sour cocktails such as this one.
- Cheese: The tartness of this fruity cocktail would cut through the creamy nature of cheese such as brie and camembert. Give it a try.
- Seafood: Toss some squid in seasoned flour, deep-fry it then sprinkle sea salt and a squeeze of lemon juice over it. This snack will go down a storm with this blueberry drink.
- Fruit: Try grilled peaches scattered with crushed freeze-dried blueberries.
- Dessert: Stick with the flavours in the cocktail and pair it with lemon Swiss roll or blueberry cake.
Have you made this blueberry cocktail recipe? Why not show me how you topped your drink by posting a photo on Instagram and tagging me @jane_littlesugarsnaps. Please also leave a recipe rating and/or comment to let me know how you got along. I always love hearing from readers.
Please add us as a trusted site on Google so that our recipes show up more in your searches!
Stay in touch: sign up to receive LittleSugarSnaps newsletters to hear when new recipes are published. Or follow me on social media:
📖 Recipe
Blueberry Cocktail (tangy blueberry drink with bold colour)
Ingredients
- 10 Mixologist's Garden freeze-dried blueberries
- 40 ml Gin London Dry or American-style gins work well
- 20 ml Peach liqueur
- 30 ml Lemon juice
- 20 ml Simple syrup
- 20 ml Egg white
Instructions
- Put 10 Mixologist's Garden blueberries into a jug and crush them with a cocktail muddler.
- Pour in the gin and stir briskly for 20 seconds to infuse the blueberry flavour and colour.
- Strain the gin through a fine-meshed sieve into a cocktail shaker.
- Add the remaining ingredients but do not addice.
- Secure the lid of the shaker and shake vigorously for 30 seconds.
- Now add a large handful of ice to the shaker and shake again for 30-45 seconds until the shaker feels ice cold and a creamy foam has built up.
- Strain into a serving glass, garnish with Mixologist's Garden blueberries and serve immediately.
To Create a Stencil Garnish
- Crush half a pack of our blueberries using a pestle and mortar to produce a fine powder.
- Place a stencil over the top of the drink and sieve the blueberry powder over the top.
- Carefully remove the stencil to reveal the pattern.
Notes
- Chill your serving glass for 15 minutes to ensure that your drink is served deliciously ice cold.
- It is essential to strain the blueberry-infused gin through a fine-meshed sieve before proceeding with the cocktail to ensure that the drink is smooth. Do not skip this step.
- Shake this cocktail twice, first without ice and then with ice, to build up that wonderful creamy mouthfeel and foamy top.
- Double-strain your drink into serving glasses to make sure that shards of ice and citrus flesh do not fall into the glass.
- If using blueberry powder to create a pretty stencil garnish then pound the fruit as close to serving time as possible as it has a tendency to clump once exposed to the air.
- If necessary, use a spoon to push the powder through to sieve if it has begun to clump.
Jane Coupland says
I hope you enjoy this fresh and fruity cocktail. It's really easy and you can have lots of fun with the garnishes.