Blueberry-Infused Gin Recipe

Blueberry-Infused Gin is a two-ingredient infused spirit made with freeze-dried blueberries. The gin takes on intense blueberry flavor and a purple-blue color with just an hour of infusing. It can be substituted in for standard gin in a range of cocktails.

Bartender Jim Meehan developed the recipe, featured in his 2024 book, The Bartender’s Pantry: A Beverage Handbook for the Universal Bar, with Bart Sasso with Emma Janzen. The book features recipes and techniques accessible to home cooks to make simple yet impactful improvements to standard bartending practices. 

In this recipe, Meehan’s use of freeze-dried fruit is quite deliberate. Water that’s naturally present in the barry is removed during the freeze-drying process, allowing the fruit to rehydrate quickly when added to a liquor. This accelerates the infusion time while avoiding unnecessary dilution, resulting in a more intense, concentrated fruit flavor. 

Tips when making Blueberry-Infused Gin 

Since the blueberries have a subtly sweet flavor profile, the fruit offers a nice counterpoint to the more herbaceous and botanical notes present in the gin. While any kind of gin will work in this recipe, a classically styled London Dry gin like Beefeater makes for a great base. London Dry has a balance of juniper and gentle citrusy notes that blend seamlessly with nearly any flavoring. 

The infused gin can be used in a range of cocktails, from a simple Gin & Tonic to a blueberry-flavored gin sour, to a custom cocktail like the Kind of Blueberry, Meehan’s take on an Aviation. 

This recipe was developed by Jim Meehan; the text was written by Lucy Simon.