The Bramble: A Cocktail Makes A Comeback

Today is special. Not only do you get a Spring inspired cocktail recipe using fresh blackberries (I prefer Driscoll’s Berries)– you also get to hear about this great idea I had for a TV Show.

It’s set in London during the 1980s and focuses on a glamorous gay man named Corey Bradshaw and his three best friends, Randy Hobbes, Charles York and Samuel Jones. Through a series of voice-overs and thematically intertwined story lines, the men discuss their sexual desires and fantasies as they travel through 80s-style life and love in the Big (British) City.

Naturally these guys will need a signature cocktail. I have chosen The Bramble for them. It’s perfect! It was created in the mid-1980s by Dick Bradsell at Fred’s Club in Soho, London. It’s exactly the sort of glamorous tipple my four heroes might enjoy as they romp their way through the beats of Duran Duran and the stomp of London’s Heaven-ly gay nightlife.

Though The Bramble is making a trendy comeback in England, it’s not a drink with which many people in the US are well acquainted. So not only will my show be a big hit, but it will also bring some much needed attention to a really remarkable cocktail.

Can’t you just see throngs of meterosexual men from sea to shining sea ordering these purple-hued beauties as they compulsively follow the fashions and foibles of Corey and his cohorts?

If the show goes as expected, all sorts of 80s iconography will come back in fashion. I can just see the gobs of guys adopting mile-wide shoulder pads and flouncy gold highlighted bangs. Can you say Ton Sur Ton??

Be it a sports bar or a poker game this new breed of American man will also embrace The Bramble as their “boys night out” cocktail of choice. That’s because this drink is well balanced between sweet and sour. It also has enough fruit flavor to mask the fact that this cocktail is liquor and not much else. Besides it has a great name with just enough sexual innuendo. The Bramble. Maybe we can get Cyndi Lauper to write the theme song? If anyone can find a fun rhyme for bramble it’s Cyndi!

And just so you feel like you are in the know I’ll tell you a bit more about this cocktail. It is basically a short gin sour with a good drizzle of crème de mûre, (blackberry liqueur) “floated” on top. I use the quotation marks because crème de mûre doesn’t float– it sinks. For this reason you should serve it over crushed ice. The proper garnishes are a lemon slice and, to be true to Bradsell’s original, two blackberries (I prefer Driscoll’s Berries!).

Okay, so who do I pitch this thing to at HBO? GREG