Blueberry Invasion – Infused Cocktails

Posted by Degan on September 12th, 2012

We try to eat fresh fruit. We at least buy a lot of it and much of it does get eaten but we are so busy in summer that inevitably we’re packing for a dive trip or a weekend away and I see a big bowl of fruit on the table. Bananas go in the freezer to make bread or muffins (there are some in the oven even as I write this) and more often than not, excess fruit gets made into an infusion. If you have any end of season blueberries that need to be used up, they do really well in an infusion, lending both a beautiful color and flavour to clear spirit and then to blueberry infused cocktails like these.

Matt’s handwriting can be pretty bad sometimes so I’ve since realized that his bottle of blueberry vodka says infusion on it, rather than invasion, but it makes a good name for a cocktail. In actuality, Matt named them “Blue Degan” and “Bluer Degan” after our house tradition of naming all the cocktails after me but that won’t translate very well to your home bar.

Blueberry Invasion the First (a.k.a. Blue Degan)

Makes 2 cocktails

• 3 Rye
• 1.5 oz blueberry-infused vodka (recipe below)
• 1/8 oz Amaro Averna
• Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• Agave nectar to taste – maybe a spoonful or two

Rinse a coupe glass with absinthe and mix the rest of the ingredients in a shaker with some ice. A lemon twist garnish would look nice on this but we’re pretty lazy when we’re just making drinks for ourselves.

Blueberry Invasion the Second (a.k.a. Bluer Degan)

Makes 2 cocktails

• 3 oz gin (we also tried whiskey with pleasing results)
• 1.5 oz blueberry-infused vodka (recipe below)
• a few drops Bittered Sling crabapple & cardamom bitters
• Agave nectar to taste – maybe a spoonful or two

Combine all of these with some ice in a shaker and give it a hard shake then strain into a coupe glass to serve.

To make the Blueberry Infused Vodka: 

Wash the blueberries and macerate them slightly, then put them in a clean, freshly washed mason jar.. This is one of the easiest infusions I’ve ever done and so I’m tempted to say that it doesn’t really matter how much fruit you use, just play around with it until it’s at a colour and flavour that makes you happy. For us it was about 2 cups of blueberries for a week. We always use Banff Ice vodka now, after a tip from the bartenders at West Restaurant because it’s cheap and has very little taste. When the infusion is complete, strain the liquid through cheesecloth or a fine sieve into a stoppered bottle and it will keep for a long while.