How to make a Blackberry Buck cocktail recipe

How to make a Blackberry Buck cocktail

A vibrant cocktail primed for long weekend lunches or lavish dinner parties. Garnish with lime slices before serving.

Blackberry Buck cocktail.

Kristina Soljo

In a cocktail landscape growing ever more crowded with Spritzes and Highballs, it’s easy to lose sight of the Buck – that timeless, foolproof cousin of the Collins, which brings a spirit together with citrus and ginger beer over ice. It’s a category that’s given rise to undying classics including the Moscow Mule and Dark ‘n’ Stormy, but the absurdly simple formula leaves it open to all manner of reinvention.

This family of drinks is thought to have sprung to life somewhere in the mid-to-late 1800s, as ginger beer became increasingly popular as a digestive aid. Among the more famous variations to emerge is the Mamie Taylor, a Scotch and ginger number often considered to be the Moscow Mule’s precursor.

To welcome guests to GT’s Annual Restaurant Awards at Sydney’s Brasserie 1930, sommelier Nick Hildebrandt rejigged the turn-of-the-century favourite by adding crème de mûre for colour and contrast.

“We like the combo of Glenlivet and blackberry,” he says. “The roundness of the fruit sits nicely below the heat of the whisky, making it full flavoured and very appealing.”

How to make a Blackberry Buck at home

In a Collins glass, combine 45ml Glenlivet 12-year-old single-malt Scotch whisky, 2 tsp blackberry liqueur and 2 tsp of freshly squeezed lime juice. Fill the glass with ice, top up with ginger beer and stir gently to combine. Garnish with a lime wheel and crystallised ginger on a cocktail skewer.