How to Make Simple Blackberry Gin Using Just 3 Ingredients
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What’s better than freshly picked blackberries? Blackberry drinks and cocktails! They can be very easy to make, and this simple blackberry gin recipe helps preserve that flavor right through winter. It uses just three ingredients and is perfect for late summer cocktails or tucked away to enjoy as a holiday tipple.
Across the country, hedgerows are bursting with an abundance of blackberries. Harvested between August and mid-October, blackberries grow wild as brambles throughout the northern hemisphere. Though they’re delicious on their own or baked into a pie, blackberries are great for preserving for the winter. Jams and jellies, of course, but also preserved in alcohol. That’s what makes this blackberry gin recipe so great. It’s not only delicious and a special treat, but it preserves that taste of autumn abundance for many months to come.
When nature is in such a giving mood, we should certainly reap the rewards our hedgerows are providing. Blackberries are probably the easiest wild food to identify and forage. They grow wild in both urban and rural areas, and many of us have memories of blackberry picking as children. I can’t think of any berry that they could be mistaken for, and not only are the berries delicious and the juices sweeter as we move into September, but they are also a fantastic source of vitamin C and dietary fiber. The sweeter the blackberries, the better this blackberry gin recipe will be.
Grow Your Own Blackberries
Although you can forage for berries to make this blackberry gin recipe, you can also grow your own. I do, and love the convenience of jumbo-sized berries in the garden. I grow an unknown variety of thornless blackberry that is about double the size of a wild berry. It’s in a league of its own! If you’d like to grow them too, blackberries prefer full sun but can tolerate a little shade, making them somewhat versatile. My own plants came from cuttings from another gardener, and they root easily. It’s easy to propagate soft fruit! You can also buy pot-grown blackberries from nurseries or bare-root plants in winter. Soak them in water before planting and water them in well after.
Most varieties require a five-foot spacing, but even one plant will provide a plentiful crop. There’s a little bit of management required as you’ll need to grow them up a network of wires or a blackberry trellis. It’s not difficult, though, and all you need to do is tie the new growth in and cut back the old canes to soil level each winter. They also enjoy a good mulch with compost each year. When it comes time to harvest, pick juicy, fully black berries on a warm and sunny day. Leave any that are green or red to continue ripening.
Simple Blackberry Gin Recipe
Blackberries, as fresh berries, have a short shelf life. You really need to use them as soon as possible after you pick them or freeze them to use later. Freezing is my go-to method for preserving fresh berries since you can freeze today and make jam, pie, crumbles, and even blackberry gin later in the year! My freezer is currently filled with raspberries, blueberries, bilberries, and various other fruits. Whether you make this blackberry-infused gin today or later, it’s the perfect way to see out the end of summer or even to keep until Christmas. It’s also a great way to use up a cheap bottle of gin!
Once made, you can enjoy it in the same way as a classic gin and tonic or use it to make cocktail recipes. Fill a glass with ice, pour over a shot of blackberry gin, and then top it up with tonic water. For a citrusy twist, add fresh lime juice and fresh mint leaves and substitute tonic water for club soda to create a blackberry gin smash.
You could also use homemade blackberry gin to make a blackberry gin fizz, which you’ll need a shaker for. Fill it with ice, a shot of blackberry gin, half a shot of fresh lemon juice, and an egg white, and shake it until the outside is cold. Strain the liquid into a pint glass filled with more ice, then top it up with sparkling water. Garnish it with more blackberries or citrus slices if you wish.
Grow Your Own Drinks
If you enjoy this blackberry gin recipe, you might also like this easy-to-make pink rhubarb gin recipe. It’s sweet, mellow, and has a spectacular color. Here are even more delicious homemade drinks for you to make:
- Rhubarb Wine Recipe
- Homemade Kahlua Coffee Liqueur
- Elderflower Cordial Recipe
- Blackcurrant Liqueur Recipe
Simple Blackberry Gin Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 g ripe blackberries (about 2 cups)
- 70 cl gin (about 3 cups / No need for a premium brand, but not one with complex botanicals)
- 110 g white sugar (about 1/2 cup)
Instructions
- Place the blackberries in a sterilized jar and cover with the sugar. Add the gin and give the jar a good shake. Place the jar in a dark place, such as a kitchen cupboard.
- Give the jar a shake every so often over the next few days until the sugar has dissolved.
- Leave to mature. It’s drinkable in four weeks, but it can be left for three months.
- Strain the gin through a sieve and/or muslin cloth and try not to break up the blackberries*. Have a taste, and if you think it needs it, stir in a little more sugar and shake until it’s dissolved. Pour the blackberry gin into a bottle and seal.
- After four weeks, the gin will be a beautiful dark red in color. It still holds a boozy strength but with the sweet and fruity tone of the blackberries. For the perfect, refreshing summer cocktail, serve a double measure chilled over ice and topped up with tonic.
- If you leave the gin for three months, it mellows and the full fruitiness of the blackberries comes through. It can even be smooth enough to serve over ice as a liqueur.
I’ve made infused spirits before and have come to conclude that a quality base spirit will result in a quality infused spirit.
That said, I recently moved to the PNW and discovered a Londry Dry gin by a Seattle based distiller (at Costco of all places) called Big Gin.
Big Gin London Dry on its own makes for a great dry gin with juniper up front and the botanicals ghosting just ever so slightly at the back (not a true London Dry with that characteristic peppery back finish, Big Gin’s finish hints of its Scottish cousin Hendrick’s — though nowhere near as botanical) and makes a perfect base for the wild blackberries that grow everywhere here in Washington.
This recipe was perfect. Followed to a T and bottled after a month (the wait was killing me!) it was still young but not as boozy as I’d expected it (due to the base spirit, I’m sure) and tastes as if it could lean into cordial territory if left to steep for a few months more.
Whatever the case may be, it tastes perfectly balanced between sweet/tart and makes one hell of a blackberry G&T… with lemon making the blackberry flavor pop even more in lieu of the ubiquitous lime! Delish!
Thanks so much for your detailed feedback and review! Enjoy :)
This sounds delicious. I have made this using brandy (any cheap one will do). So good in cold weather. So good too for a nip on the golf course – a bad shot doesn’t seem to matter!
Blackberry brandy sounds delish! Thanks, Audrey :)
Hi, I have been making blackberry and gin, and used other liquor as well for many years. Just have to get those berries before the bears do. I’m in northern Catskills NY.
Hi, instead of using all blackberry’s can you halve the amount and use raspberries too?
Sure, I don’t see why no. It sounds delicious too :) Just make sure that the raspberries are always kept submerged since they have a tendency to mold very quickly if exposed to air.
Hi can you use frozen blackberries? Do you need to add more or the same amount?
Frozen is fine, and the same amount is also fine :)
Hi can I use frozen blackberries for this recipe?
Absolutely
Place the saved berries on a baking tray, pour over melted chocolate then place in the fridge until set.
Cut into squares and serve with the blackberry/cinnamon gin.
Can’t wait to try this concoction! I went off piste a bit and substituted the sugar for honey, adding extra than the sugar content to compensate for sweetness. I also added a cinnamon stick!
Just wondering why I shouldn’t leave it for after 3 months when it says you can enjoy it as a Christmas tipple. Does it mean to take out the blackberries at the 3 months mark and then the gin would be ok for however long? Want to give this a try as I have a load 9f blackberries at the moment and thought this would be lovely for Christmas presents and just to drink at Christmas in general.
Thanks
Hi Rachel, in the past I’ve left berries in for much longer than three months but they start to fade and break down. Basically looking a bit un-gift-like. So strain the gin from the berries, and bottle it up after. It’s probably good for up to a year since the alcohol will keep bacteria from growing inside. Don’t forget that the gin-soaked blackberries can be eaten afterwards too. A lovely adult treat maybe served on vanilla ice cream :)
Hi, I’ve made my gin – do I leave it in the jar with the blackberries for 4 weeks or decant it and leave it in the bottle for 4 weeks?
Thanks,
Sue
Leave it in the jar with the blackberries for four weeks.
Why shouldn’t you leave it over 3 months?
What tonic would this go well with?
Hi, I have made my gin and ready to decant…..I can I freeze the blacrrys for when I’m ready to add to Prosecco? Many thanks
That’s a marvelous idea Jacqueline!
Fingers crossed it works?any reason wh6 it wouldn’t I wonder????
None at all!
This sounds like a keeper, not really a gin drinker I like run. But willing to try something new when it come to libation.this summer was Sangria so fruit gin may be the next try. Thanks for the tips!
Blackberry infused gin is both easy to make and absolutely delicious! I hope you enjoy making (and sipping) this recipe