When I make cocktails, my patience varies with the season. On a winter’s night with nowhere to go, I don’t mind taking my time creating a demanding beverage that requires multiple steps with finely tune ingredients. On a hot summer night, when I don’t want to mess with anything, but I want something cool, now, then it’s another story.

Oh, and then you can add in my temperament. Food and drink wise, I always look for new things. Not that our catalog old things is bad, but new is fun to find, prepare, and enjoy.

The East Coast is in a heat wave today, and I wanted a new summer cocktail. Easy to prepare. Decidedly different in taste. And a pleasure to drink. I found it, The Ramble, in the new Mr. Boston Summer Cocktails. Assuming you have sugar syrup on hand, and what respectable home bartender does not, then this drink can be made in three minutes. Start to finish. It’s easy and has just that “difference” that I sought.

The Ramble is raspberries, lemon juice, simple syrup and gin. Gin, of course, is famous for being the British discovery that allowed civilized imbibing in oppressively warm climates. That’s the folklore at least. But it turns out to be a bit true. Gin is light and does not carry the heavy jolt of, say, whiskey. Gin blends well with other flavors, like the delicacy of raspberries. Try making The Ramble with whiskey and you’ll have a mess, just a cold whisky with very repressed hints of other flavors.

Repression is not good. Let’s not go into gin, the British, and India right now. Just get some berries and enjoy this drink. I’ve tried with the recommended raspberries, but I suspect blackberries or strawberries would be equally interesting. When you sip The Ramble, you get the gin and you get the berry, so alternative berries are going to generate alternative, tasty drinking.

The Mr. Boston Summer Cocktails book is filled, filled with new combinatins like The Ramble. It would be a perfect addition to any home library.

The Ramble

Yield: serves 1

Ingredients:
4 raspberries [I cheated and used 6 for enhance flavor]
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
¾ ounce simple syrup
2 ounces gin

Preparation:
In a mixing glass, muddle the raspberries. Add the rest of the ingredients and shake thoroughly, without ice. Pour the contents into a tall Collins glass filled with crushed ice. The raspberries should rise and mound at the top of the glass.

Source: Mr. Boston Summer Cocktails by Anthony Giglio and Jim Meehan