The perfect summer cocktail
There’s nothing like a sensational beverage to bring longtime friends together ... even if they are on Zoom.
The introverted side of me was living for this quarantine — no plans to make, nowhere to be, working in my bathrobe and watching every season of Top Chef available on Hulu. Introvert Tess has been thriving. But there is a small sliver of me that desperately wants to get dressed up and gossip — and for that, I am eternally thankful for Zoom. I’m even more thankful that the free version of Zoom limits calls to 40 minutes, so I can go back to being my anti-social self within the hour.
I have, however, managed to muster up the energy to Zoom with my college gal-pals every Friday of quarantine for a very special and frankly sacred 40 minutes. Most of us live far apart from each other and we are lucky if we see each other once a year. The quarantine has given us the unique opportunity to see each other and form an even closer bond ... and what bonds a group of 30-something girls together the most, you ask? Booze.
The past few months I’ve put my years and years of bartending and restaurant experience to good use and each week I teach my girlfriends how to make a cocktail they’ve never made before. We started simple and classic: a martini. Next, we got a little more advanced, a champagne cocktail. By week 6 and 7, these girls were muddling and straining and shaking cocktail tins like pros. I introduced them to the wonders that simple syrups can do to a drink, and the even more wonderful things that can happen when you infuse simple syrup with herbs like mint or rosemary or basil. The cocktails advanced from week to week but every time we talked, the girls would always say: This was so easy.
And it’s true. The art of crafting a balanced cocktail is simple. You need very few things to make a drink shine, fresh ingredients, something to measure them with, and some friends around the table, or on your computer screen, make it all the better.
I think all my friends can agree that one cocktail stood high above the others as a “class favorite,” if you will. We’ll call this one the Blackberry Basil Gimlet. It’s tart and herbal and hits all the right notes. Since it’s a gimlet, it should technically be made with gin, but we have tried it out with gin, vodka and whiskey and it’s honestly delicious no matter what. So ... without further ado, your college-friend approved cocktail recipe, perfect to make on a hot, summer night.