Sour Cherry

Last weekend I went on a lovely autumn trip with good people to the winery that makes Frederiksdal Cherry Wine.

We visited after the harvest but there were still quite a few, lovely, almost black and very ripe cherries on the trees. And we had time to pick some before tasting the wines and picnicking on the grounds.

So last Sunday I made some Maraschino Cocktail Cherries adapting this recipe with a bit of bourbon.

Today the cherries we ready to meet a cocktail and I started setting up for a rye based sour with a cherry wine float that I envisioned would be great.

I got a glass of the cherries from the fridge and put it on my kitchen counter and next time I picked it up to twist of the cap the bottom fell out of the glass and the lovely boozy syrup poured down my cupboard.

I suppose I should be grateful it didn't happen in the fridge but it's annoying in a first world kind of way.

On the other hand now I get to eat the cherries as I don't have any syrup to cover them with, and they turned out great with a real deep and lovely taste.

And why not put three of these rare cherries on a single drink:

• 6 cl rye - I used Old Overholt
• 3 cl honey syrup
• 3 cl fresh lemon juice
• 1 cl cherry wine

 Shake the first three ingredients with plenty of ice, strain into a rocks glass over ice and float cherry wine on top - garnish with Maraschino cherries.

Here's hoping the rest of the glasses won't break too.

Trinidad Sour - and a cherry twist

Looking at it, the Trinidad Sour (r) reminds me a bit of a Blood and Sand - or of something out of a blood bank in a carefully labeled laboratory bag  - and I can't decide if I find that appealing or not.

I came across it at Cocktail Virgin Slut, and found further descriptions here and here.

It's a modern cocktail with a very classic look and a pretty surprising taste created by Guiseppe Gonzales who seems on the brink of opening a new bar in New York. (Another to add to my long must-visit-list)

It might just be, that  because I'm a Dane and we have a long tradition of strong, medicinal tasting bitters before breakfast even, that the idea of using more than a dash or two of Angostura bitters wasn't that mind blowing.

But as I like medicinal tastes I gave it a shot. I also wanted to try a small twist as I read that the Angostura lends the drink a cherry note:

My adopted measures - as I was going to mix two drinks was for the Trinidad Sour

• 2 cl Angostura
• 2 cl Orgeat
• 3 cl lemon juice
• 1 cl Rye Whiskey

Shaken over ice and strained into small, pretty cocktail glass.

For my twist I took out the whiskey and added cherry wine and brandy instead. Let's call it Trinidad Cherry Sour:

• 2 cl Angostura
• 2 cl Orgeat
• 3 cl lemon juice
• 0,5 cl cherry wine
• 0,5 cl cognac or brandy

Shaken over ice and strained into another small, pretty cocktail glass.

The original has the more elegant and simple taste, but my cherry twist is not too bad - probably need to work on the balance between wine and brandy.

But over all I have to say, that both does not really register as medicinal on my taste buds, the overwhelming taste I get is Christmas and unfortunately it's not something I really go crazy about.

But now I'm that much wiser - and out of Angostura...

Weeping Ukulele

What is a gin hound to do when the theme for the next Mixology Monday hosted by the Pegu Blog is TIKI?

Well I could lie down and weep or be bold. I choose the latter.

Two things inspired me: A wonderful Danish cherry wine and my first batch of syrup for home made tonic water, made by pretty much following Jeffrey Morgenthaler's recipe, but with a few changes described here.

• 6 cl (2 oz) Appleton Estate V/X rum
• 2 cl (3/4 oz) Picon
• 2 cl (3/4 oz) Frederiksdal cherry wine (Cheery Heering would work, but then only half as much)
• 1 cl (2 teaspoons or 3/8 oz) Campari
• 2 cl (3/4 oz) fresh blood orange juice
  
• 1 cl (2 teaspoons or 3/8 oz) tonic syrup (or 4 cl (2 3/4 oz) tonic water)
• 3 cl seltzers (not if tonic water is used)
• Dash of Bitter Truth Xoxolatl Mole chocolate bitters

If using tonic syrup, shake first 6 ingredients with lots of crushed ice. Pour into generous glass, add the seltzers and the dash of bitters and garnish with a slice of fresh pineapple and couple of maraschino cherries and umbrella.

If using tonic water just shake the first five ingredients and then add tonic water, bitters and garnish.

Enjoy - or weep!

Cherry Coke

Cherry wine is a really old tradition in Denmark going back to the 17-hundreds.

When I was young - before Bacardi Breezer's - teenagers first got drunk on either beer or cheery wine.

Since then cheery wine went completely out of fashion and is not even brewed as such very many places any more, mostly its watered down spirits with artificial cherry color and taste.

But one places makes it the old fashioned way: Frederiksdal and this drink takes me way back to my teenage years:

• 5 cl cherry wine
• 1 cl Maraschino liqueur
• 25 cl Coca Cola
• Dash of chocolate bitters

Everything in a tall glass full of ice and then garnish with a slice of lime and a couple of Maraschino cherries. A truely retro taste!