Blackberry Season

Actually blackberry season around here was a couple months ago. I bought a couple quarts, but all my plans for making a cobbler came to naught. I ate them with cereal or with sugar for breakfast instead, which is almost as good as in a cobbler.

My calendar has a couple recipes this week calling for blackberry brandy, so I had to go out and buy a bottle. I asked my liquor consultant at the local Kwik-E-Mart which is better: De Kuyper or Hiram Walker. She said the latter and it's cheaper too (I didn't double check).

The first one calls for brandy, bb brandy, dry sherry, dash of lemon juice (restraint on the part of my calendar's author; she's a lemon juice fan), and orange bitters. Not bad: you can't really taste the sherry (at least I couldn't), the dash of lemon is just enough, and the sweetness of the bb brandy comes through. Not a bad drink.

The second cocktail is a twist on the sidecar, calling for cognac (which I used, Remy Martin) or brandy, bb brandy, cointreau, lemon juice. I liked this one even better; I'd push it up to my Drinks I'd Make Again list. I'm not a big sidecar fan, but the flavors in this really do it for me; using a better quality cognac probably helps. Look this one up on the internet; I think you'll like it.