How to capture a Minnesota summer in a cocktail

In the Gillman household, July 4 isn't just Independence Day. It's Black Raspberry Day.

That's the day Bentley Gillman, distillery manager at Tattersall, goes out foraging with his family for ripe blackcap raspberries at the peak of their season.

"The kids obviously love it and I feel like it really hearkens to that innate knowledge of understanding: ripe fruit, in season," Gillman said. "Because when you see a raspberry in the wild, your body and your mind and everything else just knows, 'OK, this is a raspberry.'"

At Tattersall, the distillery and cocktail room in northeast Minneapolis and River Falls, Wis., foraged ingredients are the foundation for many of their spirits. In "Cocktails in Bloom," a recipe book sold at both Tattersall locations, Gillman takes foraging a step further, infusing in-season herbs, berries and flowers into cocktail ingredients. Gillman muddles those blackcap raspberries for a simple shaken whiskey cocktail (or tops them with soda for an all-ages, spirit-free drink), for a true taste of summer.

"There's really just so much coming at that time," Gillman said. "Berry season is in full swing."

"Cocktails in Bloom" is one of two new books that explore Minnesota's cocktail connections in different ways.

In "Twin Cities Cocktails," Peter Sieve, Molly Each and Mecca Bos — the editors of Meal magazine — share recipes and stories from more than 100 local bars and bartenders, each with their own truly local spin on spirited drinks.

Sieve found that many bartenders have been "leaning into what 'Minnesota terroir' is, and how that might show up not just in our food, but in our cocktails," he said.

The idea that the land we live on has a flavor of its own is "a really interesting movement that's been happening behind the scenes for a while but is starting to come out in the forefront more," Sieve said.

An example? The recipe for the nonalcoholic Manoomin cocktail at Owamni, the groundbreaking Indigenous restaurant in Minneapolis. The drink draws its flavors from ingredients that are culturally significant to the Ojibwe tribe, such as sarsaparilla, spiceberry and hand-harvested wild rice.

Others in the book use garden-fresh flavors such as carrots, tomatillos and ginger.

But one summer cocktail ingredient that can't be harvested is the setting. In Minnesota's fleeting warm season — the one we like to refer to as "patio" — summer drinking is all about being outside.

"Priority one is patio," Sieve said. Once outdoor tables and chairs are accounted for, "whatever you've got is pretty much fine," he laughed.

Hai Hai's tropical patio in northeast Minneapolis is a prime summer-sipping locale, and one with a number of transporting drinks, such as a rum cocktail with freshly pressed sugarcane juice, ginger syrup and lime. Centro's large-batch margaritas are another popular summer quencher.

Sieve also loves a shot of the bracing horseradish-infused Referent vodka on the charming back patio at St. Paul's Moscow on the Hill, where the spirit's icy cold is perfectly paired with the root's sinus-clearing heat.

Other selections in the book pay tribute to Minnesota products with a longer shelf life, such as Cry Baby Craig's hot honey, which makes an appearance in Sidebar at Surdyk's mix of hot honey, bourbon and Meyer lemon juice.

Infusing fresh, local ingredients into syrups is a way to make those fleeting summer weeks last a little longer. In "Cocktails in Bloom," Gillman provides multiple uses for each foraged ingredient he highlights. Invasive garlic mustard roots, for example, can become a sauce or flavor the vodka for a Bloody Mary.

"The thought was, how do we make these recipes super accessible and how do we make the botanicals super accessible, because I think there's this big mystique. As with a lot of subjects, there is this barrier to entry" when it comes to exploring the endless possibilities of drinking with Minnesota-grown ingredients, Gillman said. "When really, nature is our birthright as human beings."

Blackcap Whiskey Smash

Makes 1 drink.

From "Cocktails in Bloom," by Bentley Gillman.

• 3 to 5 blackcap raspberries

• 1½ oz. (3 tbsp.) Tattersall Rye Whiskey

• 3/4 oz. (1½ tbsp.) lemon juice

• 3/4 oz. (1½ tbsp.) honey

• Mint sprig and lemon wedge, for garnish

Directions

Muddle raspberries and whiskey in a shaker tin with ice. Add lemon juice and honey. Shake vigorously until well chilled, then strain into a glass with ice or dump with seasoned ice in a fresh glass. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig and lemon wedge.

Blackcap Press

Makes 1 drink.

A spirit-free drink from "Cocktails in Bloom," by Bentley Gillman.

• 3 to 5 blackcap raspberries

• 3/4 oz. (1½ tbsp.) lemon juice

• Soda water

• Lemon-lime soda

Directions

Muddle raspberries in a glass with a splash of soda water. Add ice and lemon juice, then stir and top with a mix of soda water and lemon-lime soda. If you like it sweeter, go with more lemon-lime; if you like it dryer, add more soda water. You can also try ginger beer or sparkling lemonade instead of lemon-lime soda.

Next Up ...

Makes 1 drink.

Note: A cocktail from Hai Hai in Minneapolis, featured in "Twin Cities Cocktails" by Peter Sieve, Molly Each and Mecca Bos. Freshly pressed sugarcane juice is preferred, but it can be purchased canned in grocery stores.

• 2½ oz. (5 tbsp.) sugarcane juice (see Note)

• 2 oz. (4 tbsp.) rum

• 1/2 oz. (1 tbsp.) ginger syrup (see Directions)

• 1/2 oz. (1 tbsp.) fresh lime juice

• Thai basil, for garnish

Directions

Combine the sugarcane juice, rum, ginger syrup and lime juice in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain the cocktail into a collins glass with ice. Garnish with a Thai basil bouquet and a piece of dehydrated ginger.

To make ginger syrup: Peel and rough-chop enough ginger to yield 1 cup of juice. Run the ginger through a juice extractor. Take the discarded pulp from the juice extractor, wrap it in cheesecloth, and press it in a basket strainer. Prep 1 cup ginger juice this way, then mix it with 1 cup simple syrup and a pinch of salt.

Quincy Margarita

Makes 1 drink.

A cocktail from Centro in Minneapolis and St. Paul, featured in "Twin Cities Cocktails" by Peter Sieve, Molly Each and Mecca Bos.

• Salt, for the rim

• 2 oz. (4 tbsp.) tequila

• 1 oz. (2 tbsp.) lime juice

• 1/2 oz. (1 tbsp.) simple syrup

• 1/2 oz. (1 tbsp.) Tattersall Orange Crema

• Lime slice, for garnish

Directions

Salt the rim of a rocks glass. Combine the tequila, lime juice, simple syrup and Orange Crema in a cocktail shaker. Shake. Pour the cocktail into the salted glass and garnish with a lime slice.