Blackberry Brandy Recipe

Blackberry Brandy is a satisfying, easy project made with seasonal, foraged fruit. The spirit is flavoured with blackberries and sweetened with sugar to make a delicious, liqueur-like drink. Swap the brandy for gin, vodka, whisky, or dark rum if you prefer.

Made using fresh or frozen blackberries, you’ll need the patience to let it infuse for three months before straining and bottling. Then it’s up to you how long to mature it before enjoying on its own, in cocktails, with mixers, or even in desserts.

Disclosure: this post may contain affiliate links. If you buy via my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

This is an updated version of a post first published in 2022.

Jump to Recipe

BLACKBERRYING & BRAMBLING

Native to Britain, the blackberry or bramble plant is very common in woodlands, hedgerows, and almost any scrubby bit of land. When I was a child, a summer didn’t go by without my sisters and I going blackberrying or brambling. Although in a large town, there were plenty of opportunities to pick blackberries for free. We were foragers before we’d even heard of the now-trendy word!

Back then, most of the inky blackberries would go straight from the hedgerow into our mouths via juice-stained fingers. Nowadays, the berries (which, technically speaking, aren’t actually berries) are more likely to end up in jams, jellies, smoothies, pies, or ice-cream. But when you’ve had your fill of those, how about making Blackberry Brandy?

HOW TO MAKE BLACKBERRY BRANDY

This satisfying and tasty little project is so simple you won’t believe it. The only skill you need is patience to let the fruity, dark liqueur mature.  You’ll find ingredients amounts and full instructions in the recipe card at the end. But I recommend you read this post first for extra tips and step-by-step images to guide you.

1. PICK & PREPARE BLACKBERRIES

Pick medium or even slightly overripe blackberries. While a few underripe ones are fine in homemade jam, you want the luscious flavour of ripe fruit for Blackberry Brandy. You’ll need 500 grams per 700 ml or 70cl bottle of brandy. If you can’t pick that many at once, just freeze what you have and add to them until you’ve amassed enough.

Important: when foraging for blackberries, please don’t strip plants of all fruit. Leave some for others and the many insects, mammals, and birds that feed on brambles.

After picking, rinse and drain the blackberries in a sieve. If freezing, I do it on a tray and transfer to a container when firm. This stops them forming a big clump which means you don’t have to defrost before making the Blackberry Brandy.

2. MUDDLE THE BLACKBERRIES WITH SUGAR

The first step is to ‘muddle’ the blackberries with some sugar. Muddling just means lightly bruise and mash the fruit to release its flavour. Not bash it to smithereens.

I put the berries and sugar in a large, very clean jar and muddle them with a wooden spoon. Your jar should be large enough to hold the fruit, sugar, plus the brandy. It should also have a good seal as you’ll be shaking it up now and then.

I think white granulated or caster sugar is best here. It has neutral flavour and colour so won’t affect the final product. Wanting a liqueur-like medium-sweet Blackberry Brandy, I used half the weight of sugar to blackberries i.e. 250 g of sugar for 500 g or blackberries. You can make it less sweet by reducing the sugar if you prefer.

3. ADD BRANDY

When choosing a brandy, it’s probably obvious that there’s no point using a fine, expensive one for this recipe. Its flavour will be completely wasted. On the other hand, I wouldn’t make it with something undrinkable either. I think a mid-priced brandy, with sweetish notes complementing the dark blackberries, is about right.

However, there’s no reason you can’t use a spirit other than brandy. Rum, whisky, vodka or gin would all be fine.

Pour the brandy into the jar and give everything a good stir. Aim to dissolve as much of the sugar as you can. Don’t worry if some is still undissolved though. It will disappear over the coming days.

4. INFUSE

Now we need to leave the jar so the brandy takes on the flavour of the blackberries. It will also be further sweetened by the dissolving sugar. I put it in a kitchen cupboard that’s within easy reach but not in a warm spot. To help along the infusing, shake the jar every other day for 3 weeks. Being forgetful, I put a reminder on my phone.

After 3 weeks, you can reduce the shaking to just once a week. How long you continue this stage is up to you. The longer you leave it, the more flavoursome the mixture should get. Because I wanted my first Blackberry Brandy ready for Christmas, I infused it for 3 months.

5. STRAIN & BOTTLE

After infusing for your chosen length of time, strain the mixture through a sieve, catching the liquid. If you don’t want to waste the blackberries you can use them in puddings, cakes, smoothies etc. Just bear in mind they will have absorbed some of the alcohol.

As with all preserve making (and Blackberry Brandy is a fantastic way to preserve seasonal fruit for a long time) all your equipment should be scrupulously clean. Wash everything in hot, soapy water and rinse.

To make filling the bottles easier, I transfer the liqueur to a jug first. But not before having a little taste, of course! Even at the bottling stage, you might be surprisingly pleased with it. It reminds me of a fruity port.

For your first batch, you may wish to do as I did and mature the liqueur in these 250ml bottles (paid link) rather than larger ones. This allows you to open one, taste, then leave the others to mature. Open another one a few months later and see how they’ve changed.

If any of your bottles aren’t completely full, put them in the fridge and use within a few days.

6. MATURING BLACKBERRY BRANDY

As with the infusing, you can leave the bottles to mature for as long as you like. Place them in a cool, dark place, just as you would a chutney. After just a few weeks, it probably won’t taste much different. But I couldn’t resist opening some of my very first batch for New Years Eve, just 3 weeks after bottling. It did make a nice cocktail with prosecco though.

If you can resist, I recommend leaving at least 6 months. The flavour should have greatly improved with those fruity port-like flavours intensifying into something more complex. Give at least one bottle a full year of maturing and you’ll have something rather lovely.

With experience, you’ll come to know what’s best for you and can mature future batches in larger bottles. Some people mature for 18 months or even several years, although I don’t have that much discipline.

WAYS TO USE BLACKBERRY BRANDY

There’s all sorts of ways of using your Blackberry Brandy. Here’s just a few.

• On its own: Enjoy a tipple in a small glass either chilled or, on cool nights in front of the fire, served just as it is.

• A simple cool drink: for summer refreshment, put plenty of ice in a glass, pour over a generous glug of the liqueur, and top up with soda water or lemonade.
• As a dessert wine: Blackberry Brandy is great with rich puddings, especially boozy or chocolatey ones.
• Instead of sherry in trifle: Brush sponge fingers with lots of the liqueur before covering them with a tin of black cherries (or the soaked blackberries if you’ve stored them in the freezer), black cherry jelly, proper homemade custard, whipped cream and, of course, a sprinkle of hundreds and thousands.

• Wine spritzer: add a dash to white or rose wine, topping up with soda water or lemonade.
• Blackberry Brandy Smash: in a glass, gently bruise a few mint leaves then add ice cubes. Pour in some Blackberry Brandy, add a dash of soda water or ginger ale, serve with a slice of lemon, orange, or lime.

If you’ve made Blackberry Brandy, I’d love to hear from you so please leave a comment. How long do you infuse and mature yours for and how do you drink it?

5 from 7 votes

Print

Blackberry Brandy Recipe

A satisfying, easy project made with seasonal, foraged fruit. Brandy is flavoured with blackberries and sweetened with sugar to make a delicious, liqueur-like drink.

It's recommended that you read the accompanying blog post before starting.

Course Drinks

Cuisine British, European

Keyword preserves, seasonal

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 0 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 900 ml (approx)

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 500 g blackberries, fresh or frozen see Recipe Note #1
• 700 ml brandy see Recipe Note #2
• 250 g white granulated or caster sugar see Recipe Note #3

Instructions

1. Mix the blackberries with the sugar and brandy.

   Put the blackberries into a very clean, large jar (it will need a secure lid) along with the sugar.

   Stir them together, muddling so that the blackberries start to break up a little and release some of their juices.

   Pour the brandy into the jar and stir well, aiming to dissolve as much of the sugar as possible. Don't worry if all the sugar doesn't dissolve: it will do over the coming days.

2. Leave to infuse.

   Put the lid on the jar and place in a dark place that's in easy reach such as a kitchen cupboard.

   Shake the jar vigorously every other day for 3 weeks.

   After 3 weeks, shake the jar once per week.

   Continue shaking once per week for 3 months, or longer if preferred.

3. Bottle and mature.

   Strain the mixture through a sieve into a clean jug or bowl: the blackberries can be discarded or used in cakes, puddings, smoothies etc. but bear in mind they will have absorbed some of the alcohol.

   Transfer the Blackberry Brandy to very clean, dry bottles and put on the lids.

   Leave to mature for as long as you like: a minimum of 6 months is recommended.

Recipe Notes

Note 1 There's no need to defrost frozen blackberries so long as they're not frozen in a large clump.

Note 2 Other spirits can be used instead of brandy e.g. vodka, gin, whisky, rum.

Note 3 This amount of sugar makes a sweet liqueur. Add less sugar if preferred.

This is an updated post first published in 2022

RELATED RECIPES