• 1 750ml bottle of Brandy
• 2 pounds (600g) blackberries
• 1.5c (300g) white sugar

1. Macerate the blackberries to release the juices. I usually macerate 3-4 blackberries at a time in a bowl and just keep adding blackberries. Not only does it keep it in one place, it helps further mash the blackberries already in the bowl.
2. Once blackberries are macerated, use a funnel and pour them into a growler sized contain (roughly 64 fl oz or 2L). Add in sugar, cap, and shake to incorporate. Using a funnel again, add in brandy until container is full. Cap and shake again.
3. Let the mixture sit anywhere from 14 – 30 days. If blackberries are looking “white/bleached” in the container, this is also a sign that the process has completed. Once this process has finished, strain the liquid using a cheese cloth or fine mesh to separate the solids from it.
4. Bottle in whatever desired bottle you wish. From here, I usually let this sit again for another 14 days to mellow out the flavor. The flavor gets better over time as any drink does – so I would recommend against drinking it before 2 weeks as it will still be too “young”. Depending on the brandy you use, the final ABV will be around 20-23%.

This came about from a drink I grew crazy about when I was lost one time on an island in the Puget Sound. I came across this distillery that was on this farm in the middle of nowhere and they had the best fruit liqueur I ever had. I used this to drink this straight, but it is also amazing over ice cream. However, when I moved back to Wisconsin there were no distributors here that carried their brand, so I had to try to recreate it on my own. I only had two real facts to go off of – the fact that they said that each bottle had 1 pound of fruit and that they also sold a few other neutral spirits that they distilled on location. So with that knowledge and a lot of experimentation, I went about trying to get this as close as I could to the few bottles I had brought with me. I have been told that this version is better than the bottles I brought back, but it still does not stop me from tinkering it a little bit here and there still to get it “just right”. It also makes a good gift, the picture from above is what is left of the bottles I made to give out to my family for Christmas. This can be made with pretty much any berry (blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, boysenberry, or (my favorite) loganberry). I have used blackberry only because it is the easiest to obtain. But if you can find loganberries near you – you won’t regret using that instead! --Mike L. --Milwaukee, WI