The Gunwale Jumper
If you grew up going to a summer camp with a lake, chances are you spent some time in a canoe. You may have learned to paddle, you may have learned how to right a swamped canoe, and if you were very, very lucky, you may have learned how to gunwale jump. It’s only a little easier than it looks.
Gunwale jumping involves standing with one foot on each gunwale, in the back quarter of the canoe. Keeping your feet on the gunwales (you don’t really jump), you repeatedly and forcefully pump your legs up and down to propel the canoe forward. It’s what you do when you’re up a creek without a paddle. And it’s really fun.
The ingredients in this drink are all things you might find in the bottom of your canoe after a paddle, except for the whisky. Unless you went to a very different kind of summer camp.
Wild blueberries are flavorful but tart; the sweetness of the acorn orgeat balances the sour fruit. Maple syrup would also be a nice sweetener here and fully in keeping with the theme of the cocktail.
To Make One Drink
2 ounces Canadian whisky
1 tablespoon wild blueberries
2 teaspoons acorn orgeat (page 00)
1/2 teaspoon spruce tip vodka (page 00)
1 pickled fiddlehead fern, for garnish (page 00)
Combine the whisky and blueberries in a shaker and muddle the blueberries. Add the orgeat and vodka and fill the shaker with ice. Shake for 30 seconds, then strain into a glass. Garnish with a pickled fiddlehead.
The Gunwale Jumper…a forager’s blueberry cocktail.