Source: Jeff Thompson's Open Recipes
Muddle eight raspberries with the fresh thyme in the base of a mixing glass — press firmly for 10–15 seconds until the berries collapse and release their juice and the thyme leaves bruise enough to perfume the liquid. You're not pulverising them into jam; stop when the flesh breaks down and the aromatics open. This muddling step is the anchor: the cell walls rupture and leach anthocyanins and tannins into the gin, which acts as both solvent and vehicle.
Pour 45 ml gin over the crushed fruit. The spirit's botanicals — juniper, coriander, whatever your bottle carries — will marry with the raspberry and herb in a way that simple cordial cannot match. Add 15 ml fresh lime juice. The acid sharpens the drink, cuts the richness of the berries, and prevents the whole thing sliding into cloying sweetness. Choose between 15–30 ml St Germaine (if you want the floral, honeyed note that elderflower brings) or 5 ml simple syrup (if you want the berries and gin to dominate). St Germaine is the better call here — it plays with the thyme and raspberry rather than just sweetening.
Fill a mixing glass with ice and strain the drink into it, leaving the solids behind. Stir for 8–10 seconds; you're chilling and diluting slightly, which softens the alcohol burn and lets the flavour layers emerge. Strain into a fresh glass filled with large ice cubes — the thermal mass keeps the drink cold longer than crushed ice, which melts fast and waters everything down. Top with a good spirits tonic (one with actual quinine bite, not the saccharine stuff), roughly 100–150 ml. The carbonation lifts the drink, aerates the botanicals, and the bitter quinine anchor prevents the whole thing becoming a dessert.
Garnish with a thyme sprig and lime wheel. Pour immediately. The drink is alive for about six minutes before the ice surrender kills it.
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