OK, so the weather is decidedly cool again but this year’s recent hot Scottish summer has produced a bumper crop of delicious Scotty Brand raspberries. To celebrate their bumper crop, the lovely people at Scotty brand sent me a berry hamper to create my own Very Scotty Berry cocktail, which arrived at work in a white box, tied with a hot pink ribbon. I was definitely the envy of all my colleagues.
The Very Scotty Berry Cocktail made by Dine Mixologists
Raspberries this summer are larger, sweeter and juicier than ever thanks to the recent hot weather, filled with long daylight hours. My hamper contained some Scotty raspberries and strawberries, some vanilla essence, a miniature bottle of Daffy’s Gin, 1 fresh lime, some fresh mint and a recipe, created by the multi-award winning luxury brasserie and cocktail lounge Dine. They’d also thrown in a bar of my favourite Cadbury’s Milk chocolate that although doesn’t feature in the recipe, has been lovely to tuck into after some fringe shows.
Thank you Scotty Brand for my berry hamper
My concern was when I was going to find the time to make this cocktail as during the Fringe, I’m rarely in. I also wondered if I’d need any special equipment as despite being an avid cook, I don’t have any cocktail making barware. I tend to prefer to let a specialist mixologist from one of our great cocktail bars like the Voodoo Rooms or Dine to make my cocktails as I never do them justice.
As the berries only had a short shelf life, I found a small window of opportunity to try out my own version of the cocktail before heading out for a food related fringe show, The Midnight Soup, which I can highly recommend. This was a good move considering the subject matter of the play.
The Midnight Soup – a fringe show where you get entertained and fed – highly recommended
A piece of theatre in which the audience prepare a meal that they share at the end, The Midnight Soup starts as a monologue and gently opens out to become a conversation. It tells the story of an unremarkable woman who every day sat down to meticulously record the facts of her life in a diary, until one day she chose her own death. The Midnight Soup is the love letter of a grandson to his grandmother. It is also an edible memorial, celebrating a life lived to the rhythm of the seasons and far from being depressing, was a really fabulous way to spend an evening in the company of new friends
So now back to the the Very Scotty Berry cocktail. The recipe called for crushed ice, so I improvised and crushed mine in a mini blender, However, my over enthusiasm with the pulser, produced a rather snow like consistency rather than crushed ice! I then blended in the rest of the ingredients, producing a more watery consistency that the original recipe, filled my glass with fresh ice and poured in my cocktail. I think that perhaps I should have taken the time to make some vanilla gomme or sugar syrup rather than improvising on the vanilla sugar as my version wasn’t as sweet as I would have liked. It was nonetheless a good attempt, but next time, I think I will leave this to the professionals at Dine.
My take on the very Scotty Berry cocktail – not quite like the professional’s version but still ‘berry’ tasty
- 6 Scotty Brand raspberries
- 50ml Daffy's Gin
- 20ml fresh lime juice
- 5 leaves fresh mint
- 15ml vanilla sugar
- Blend with crushed ice. Serve and garnish with a mint spring, extra Scotty Brand raspberries and icing sugar
Get your raspberries while you can as sales are surging in Scotty berries – demand is almost a third higher than last year. Available to purchase in 180g punnets, they are available from Asda, for a limited time only.
