Summer has been teasing us around here, but I am so totally prepared because I’m party people and I adore easy drink recipes for a party.
It really makes me love finally having a house that’s all my own, especially since it’s the house I grew up in. I had all these dreams for how I would like it to look, and all the things I would do to make it my own, and I get to make that reality.
Love it.
Usually we’re grilling it up all hardcore Texas-style, but over the weekend we went simple with burgers and sausage. I finally planted all my edible flowers, and we pulled the fire pit out into the yard.
We maybe kind of killed the grass underneath it. Oops. Our bad.
But it didn’t stop us from staying up way later than our old asses would normally, I mean, like 10pm. We’re so old. But it was so much fun!
In the meantime, I of course had to whip up some very easy cocktail recipes, like this Blueberry Thyme Gin Smash. So good. I broke out my bottles of Seagram’s Extra Dry Gin and Seagram’s Lime Twisted Gin and just straight up went to town on cocktail central.
Usually, with a gin smash, you just press the fruit straight through a sieve, hence the smash part. But I really wanted to bring out the flavor of the blueberries with the infused thyme, so I put it all on the stove.
It actually saved me the step of creating a simple syrup, since this is, in essence, a blueberry simple syrup.
I also swapped the club soda for lemon-lime soda, because I love the added fizzy lime-ness. You could go either way, really.
With the amount of syrup this recipe makes, you can easily serve eight cocktails, so party on, because summer is coming, and those long sunny days wait for no one!
Simply Sweet Blueberry Thyme Smash
Ingredients
For the Blueberry Thyme Syrup
- 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
- 4-5 thyme stems
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup water
For the Cocktail
- 2 Tbsp blueberry thyme syrup
- 2 oz Seagram's Extra Dry Gin
- 5 oz lemon-lime soda
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the blueberries, thyme stems, sugar and water. Cook until the berries are bursting and become very soft, around 5 minutes. Place a mesh sieve over a small bowl and push the berry mixture through to remove large chunks of skins, seeds, and stems. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- To make the cocktail, fill a glass with ice. Add the blueberry thyme syrup, followed by the Seagram's Extra Dry Gin, and top with the lemon-lime soda. Stir gently to combine, then garnish with fresh blueberries, thyme sprigs, and a slice of fresh lime. Enjoy responsibly.
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