We headed out to Liberty Bar a few days ago.  Their cocktail menu looked pretty adventurous, and their Charlie Don’t Surf was listed in the Seattle Times recently as one of ten must-try cocktails in the city.  (Mango, ginger, Pommeau de Normandie… nice balance of flavors.)  I then saw the Catfish Blues, which features bourbon, Amaro Nonino, Aperol,  and fresh blueberries.  Yeah, let’s do that.

No seats at the bar, so I had to crane my head a bit to watch the bartender put it together.  I’m waiting for the fresh blueberries.  There’s two for garnish.  But what’s this?  A frickin’ jar of Bonne Maman blueberry preserves?  Honestly?  You’re putting that in a drink?

After I got over my WTF moment, I started thinking…  why not?  You could totally use jam in a drink.  You’d just have to make sure you cut other sweet ingredients accordingly.  And strain the hell out of it.  That means you’d have viable fruit drinks of all sorts even in winter.

So I picked up a jar and started mucking around.  The first experiment actually turned out pretty damned good.

Violet Beauregarde

2 oz Appleton Estate Jamaican rum
.5 oz lemon
.5 oz John D. Taylor’s Velvet Falernum
two barspoons Bonne Maman blueberry preserves

Shake everything with ice and double strain into a cocktail glass.  I used a mint garnish for the color, but I really think this would do better with a lemon or orange twist.