Paint It Black — The Berry Crush

Paint It Black is one of my favorite Rolling Stones tunes.  The Berry Crush has nothing to do with the song, but it does contain a particular type of berry — yes, the blackberry. I slightly modified the recipe in Chilled magazine; someone at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas created the original cocktail.

The Berry Crush

1 ounce vodka (right now I’m drinking Belvedere)
1 ounce Cointreau
1/4 lime cut into small chunks
4 blackberries
.5 ounces super simple syrup

Muddle the blackberries and lime in the bottom of a shaker.  Add the other ingredients and ice, shake like you’re Mick Jagger on stage, and strain into a chilled glass.  Blackberry garnish optional.

The original Berry Crush uses more lime, but I cut it back so the blackberry flavor is more pronounced. After all, this is the Berry Crush. The cocktail is messy, even if you muddle the fruits properly (press firmly but gently, don’t beat the hell out of it).  I think I had to scrub the cocktail shaker two or three times before I finally removed all of the blackberry pulp.

The mess is worth the effort.  Now go make yourself a Berry Crush and get some liquid satisfaction.