A smash is one of the older cocktail formats. Spirit, something fresh muddled in the bottom of the shaker, ice, shake, strain. It predates most of what people think of as classic cocktails.

This one uses summer blueberries and fresh basil, which give it a deep purple colour and a herbal edge that stops the fruit reading as simply sweet. Bourbon underneath, lemon and simple syrup to balance.

Ten minutes, one glass.

Muddle before anything else goes in

Basil leaves and blueberries into the empty shaker, mashed well with a muddler, and nothing else in there yet.

This is the sequence that matters. Muddling in an empty shaker means the muddler makes direct contact with the fruit and there is nowhere for the blueberries to escape to. Add the liquid first and they float, bob away from the muddler and stay largely intact.

You want the blueberries genuinely broken open so their juice and colour come out. A quarter cup of whole berries rattling around a finished drink looks nice and contributes almost nothing.

Press the basil, do not shred it

Basil needs a lighter hand than the berries.

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Herb leaves torn and pulverised release chlorophyll, which tastes green and grassy and slightly bitter. What you want is the aromatic oils, and those come out under gentle pressure rather than aggressive grinding.

The practical approach is to press the basil a few times first with light pressure, then go harder once you add the blueberries, letting the berries take the force. Two leaves is the starting point and more is fine if you like it herbal.

Shake until the shaker frosts

Fill with ice, cover, and shake until the outside of the shaker has visibly frosted over.

That frost is a useful signal and better than counting seconds. It tells you the contents have reached the point where the metal has dropped below freezing, which means the drink is properly cold and has taken on the right amount of dilution from the melting ice.

Usually fifteen to twenty seconds of hard shaking. Shake like you mean it.

Strain into a chilled glass

A rocks glass, chilled beforehand.

Straining leaves the muddled basil and blueberry skins behind, which is what you want. Muddled solids in the glass go slimy and unpleasant within a couple of minutes, and basil in particular turns dark and looks tired fast.

If you want it completely clear of pulp, pour through a fine mesh strainer as well as the shaker strainer. Most people do not bother and the result is fine.

Blueberry lemonade plus lemon juice

Two and a half ounces of blueberry lemonade and two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, which is roughly an ounce.

Both are doing separate jobs. The lemonade is sweet and lightly flavoured and it lengthens the drink into something you can sip rather than a concentrated sour. The fresh lemon juice is sharp and unsweetened and it provides the acidity that keeps the whole thing from going flabby.

Ordinary lemonade works if blueberry is not available. You lose a little colour and depth and the drink still works.

Simple syrup, and how to make it

Two tablespoons, or agave if you prefer.

Simple syrup is equal parts sugar and water, heated just until the sugar dissolves, then cooled. It exists because granulated sugar does not dissolve properly in a cold drink and you end up with grit at the bottom of the glass.

Make a batch and keep it in the fridge. It holds a month and it is used in a large proportion of cocktails.

Two tablespoons alongside sweetened lemonade is on the sweeter side. Start with one and taste if you prefer drinks drier.

Bourbon rather than another whiskey

Two ounces, which is a standard single pour.

Bourbon is sweeter and rounder than rye, with vanilla and caramel from the charred oak, and that sweetness sits naturally alongside fruit. Rye is spicier and drier and would fight the blueberries rather than support them.

Nothing expensive is required. This drink has muddled fruit, lemon, syrup and basil in it, so the finer notes of a good bourbon are not going to survive to the glass.

Garnish and serve

A lemon wedge, a basil leaf, or a few fresh blueberries. Any of the three, or all of them.

The basil leaf is the one I would pick. Sitting on top of the drink, it sits right under your nose as you sip, and aroma is a large part of how a herbal cocktail tastes.

Serve immediately while it is properly cold.

Making a pitcher

Muddle the fruit and basil in the bottom of a jug, scaling up by the number of drinks, then add the liquids and stir. Do not add ice to the jug, since it will dilute the whole batch as it stands. Pour over ice in individual glasses instead.

Without alcohol

Drop the bourbon and increase the blueberry lemonade to four ounces. Add a splash of soda water for length. It becomes a completely different drink and a genuinely good one.