DrinkWire is Liquor.com’s showcase for the best articles, recipes and reviews from the web’s top writers and bloggers. This post is sponsored by Bacardi.

In the world of rum cocktails there are tons of drinks that use long lists of ingredients, but sometimes we need to go back to the simple things and use great ingredients and let those ingredients do the talking! In cocktails, that means upping the quality of the spirits and for our cocktail, the Blackberry and Thyme Rum Sour, we turned to Bacardi's Anejo Cuatro Rum which we were lucky enough to get to preview before it hits market in April!

Bacardi Anejo Cuatro is a premium 4 year old barrel aged golden rum inspired by Bacardi's founder Don Facundo's original recipe. Aged for minimum of 4 years (with a few 5 or 6 year old rums blended in to round out and mature the flavor) under the warm Caribbean sun, Bacardi Anejo Cuatro is full of hints of vanilla, caramel and baking spices and an aroma that teases the nose with spice and toasted cedar. A beautiful golden honey hue, Anejo Cuatro starts out warm and fruity on the palette before the flavors of ceder and vanilla bloom into prominence.

Bacardi Anejo Cuatro is a great rum to enjoy neat, but since we are cocktail nerds, we are big believers in using great spirits to make even better cocktails and Anejo Cuatro definitely fits that bill! Starting out with a great spirit like the Anejo Cuatro to elevate our cocktail, we wanted to make something simple that would highlight the spirit while enhancing the fruit flavors in the rum.

Blackberries are a great partner to spirits that have flavors of vanilla and fruit as they are a pleasing combination of sweet and tart. With Bacardi Anejo having a nice honeyed fruit and vanilla flavor, we knew that the blackberries would pair up nicely with the rum. We started out by muddling the blackberries to extract the juice and then added in a thyme infused simple syrup and bitters to round out the flavor. Fresh squeezed lemon juice balanced out the cocktail and brought a refreshing tartness to the Blackberry Thyme Rum Sour!

Cheers!

The BlackBerry Thyme Sour With Bacardi Anejo Cuatro

• 1.25 oz Bacardi Anejo Cuatro
• 1/2 oz Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
• 1/2 oz Thyme Simple Syrup
• 5 blackberries
• 3 dashes Angostura Bitters.

Instructions:

1. Add thyme simple syrup, blackberries and Angostura bitters to a shaker.
2. Muddle the blackberries until the fruit is fully broken down.
3. Add in the lemon juice and Bacardi Anejo Cuatro.
4. Fill the shaker with ice.
5. Chill a Rocks glass with a large cube.
6. Shake and double strain into a rocks glass so that the seeds and fruit are removed.
7. Garnish with a lemon twist if desired.

Cheers!

For the Thyme Simple Syrup

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup water.
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme.

Instructions:

1. Place sugar and water in a small sauce pan.
2. Bring sugar and water to a boil and stir until sugar is fully dissolved.
3. Remove from the heat and place the thyme in the syrup.
4. Allow to steep until cool.
5. Strain and place syrup in an jar.
6. Refrigerate, keeps for up to 1 week.