Bourbon Fruit Smash
1-2 slices ginger (optional)
Fruit (8-10 blueberries, 2-3 strawberries, 4 peach slices, etc)
3-5 leaves mint or other fresh herb
2 oz Bourbon
1/2 oz lemon juice, or to taste
1/2 oz simple syrup, or to taste
Muddle ginger well (if using), then add fruit and herbs and muddle again. Combine remaining ingredients in shaker with ice. Shake, strain into ice filled old-fashioned glass.
"It's berry season in Michigan," Tammy Coxen with Tammy's Tastings said as she sliced a bit of ginger and threw it into a mixing cup and began muddling. She then added some black raspberries and sage and muddled a bit more.
"Soon we will see an awesome stream of berries," she said, adding that Michigan is rich in farmers markets with locally grown berries.
The Bourbon Fruit Mash can be made with just about any bourbon or rye. For this drink, Coxen used Traverse City Whiskey Company bourbon.
The distiller's website indicates:
Here at the Traverse City Whiskey Co., we've worked hard to reconstruct the recipe that's been lingering in one of our family heirlooms for three generations.
Tammy Coxen says the Bourbon Fruit Smash is a concept more than a recipe. She says any kind of berry can be used. The herb can be sage, thyme, basil, or mint. Use more simple syrup or less. Same for the lemon juice.
Make the mash your own!
*This story was originally broadcast on July 8, 2017.
