Why You Should Drink Blackberry Brandy Today - St. Michael's Sword

Celebrating St. Michael’s Day

From the Middle Ages to the 1800s, the Feast of St. Michael or Michaelmas (MICK-el-mus), was a major holy day with morning Mass followed by fairs, parades, plays, and drinking.   Michael is the guardian angel of the  faithful on earth (the Church Militant), and he conducts souls to Purgatory (the Church Suffering), and then to Heaven (the Church Triumphant).  

According to an old Irish legend, when St. Michael cast Lucifer out of Heaven, the devil fell on a blackberry bush and cursed and spat on the blackberries, thereby rendering them sour after September 29.  Therefore, folks would eat blackberries on Michaelmas but not after.  

Here is a drink that contains blackberry brandy as well as Jim Beam Devil’s Cut bourbon.   As you know, the “angels share” is the portion of whiskey that escapes into the air during distillation, but the ”Devil’s cut” is the portion that seeps into the wood of the barrels.  Jim Beam claims to have stolen this cut back from the devil, and so we offer this portion to St. Michael for a job well done.

St. Michael’s Sword

1.5 oz. Jim Beam Devil’s Cut Bourbon

¾ oz. blackberry brandy

2 dashes orange bitters

Shake 40 times over ice. 

Ge sure to use a cocktail spear (St. Michael’s Sword) to transfix a cherry for garnish.  The cherry represents the devil who is red with shame and rage.

Be sure to toast St. Michael with your drink and say, “May St. Michael the Archangel defend us in the day of battle.”

There are a number of San Miguel breweries and beers from around the world, and the largest producer is the San Miguel Brewery in the Philippines.

You might also find wines named for St. Michael including wine from Chateau Ste. Michelle in Washington State.  Even though the name Michelle is feminine, remember that angels are without sexual differentiation (which is why they are often depicted as being effeminate), and we have it on good authority that St. Michael will not be offended if you drink this wine in his honor.

From Drinking With the Saints by Michael P. Foley