Homemade cherry vodka

[sadistick]

I made a batch of some with some nice cherries from my neighbour's tree.

It came out really well, amazing cherry flavour and quite smooth.

Question is, besides drinking it on the rocks, what drink(s) would you make with it?

I was thinking it might pair up well with some rum in a mixed drink...

[KatieLoeb]

Cherries and limes go quite well together. Howzabout a Cherry Gimlet??

A Cherry Long Island Iced Tea with Cherry Vodka rather than plain.

Cherry Vodka, Ruby red grapefruit juice, simple syrup and a squeeze of fresh lemon?

edited to add:

Would you care to share your technique on making the cherry vodka with the rest of us? Whole or chopped fruits? Pitted or unpitted? What was the vodka you infused? How long did you let it sit, etc.???

[Luckylies]

yes tell us please!!!!!!!!

[johnnyd]

Ahem! I was just going to start a topic on this.

Last month, someone at work described the "cherry bomb", cherries dropped in some vodka for a while. I had a few leftover from a 2# bag I bought at the store and thought, "what the hell?" I put about eight or nine whole cherries, minus stem, in a four oz jar with some Smirnoff and into the fridge it went.

I forgot about them for a week and then pulled one out. Hoo Boy!! fantastic. The Smirnoff was even better. So two weeks later, the "bombs" are even stronger, the liquor is really well infused, but the cherries are getting a little mushy around the pit.

I'm thinking there is a limit to the shelf-life here, an optimum length of time when the cherry maintains a certain crispness and the vodka has a light to medium infusion making it suitable for cocktail creations. Based on this first experiment, I think that number is 14 - 18 days, but I'm about to make another batch and make notes this time.

Anyone else do this?

[KatieLoeb]

Ahem!  I was just going to start a topic on this.

Last month, someone at work described the "cherry bomb", cherries dropped in some vodka for a while.  I had a few leftover from a 2# bag I bought at the store and thought, "what the hell?" I put about eight or nine whole cherries, minus stem, in a four oz jar with some Smirnoff and into the fridge it went.

I forgot about them for a week and then pulled one out.  Hoo Boy!! fantastic.  The Smirnoff was even better.  So two weeks later, the "bombs" are even stronger, the liquor is really well infused, but the cherries are getting a little mushy around the pit.

I'm thinking there is a limit to the shelf-life here, an optimum length of time when the cherry maintains a certain crispness and the vodka has a light to medium infusion making it suitable for cocktail creations.  Based on this first experiment, I think that number is 14 - 18 days, but I'm about to make another batch and make notes this time.

Anyone else do this?

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So you just dropped the fruits into the vodka whole, is that right?? No poking holes with a skewer, no light crushing, nothing?

What proof was the vodka you used? 80 or 100?

[johnnyd]

Whole fruit, unpierced (I was told the hole left by stem removal was enough - and I agree), and the Smirnoff was 80 proof.

I hacve to say they were just about perfect this time last week - crisp skin, great blend of vodka and natural cherry. I had one yesterday and the cherries are getting "loose" but the vodka, in a sense, is getting better - more able to stand up to mixing agents.

[donbert]

I just picked up a cherry pitter to try doing something similar with cachaca. Any reason why you used unpierced/uncut cherries?

[sadistick]

Hey Folks,

Katie - What else goes in to a Gimlet? Do tell...sounds interesting!

I wanted to do a bit of experimenting, this being my first time making cherry vodka and all, so I decided to cut 90% of the cherries in half (more surface area exposed = more flavour). I wanted to see how they held up in the alchohol texture wise, to see if they would be usable as garnishes later on.

This undertaking was before I made the cherry preserves, so at this point I did not have a pitter. I cut 90% of the cherries in half...(by hand! ) and placed in a large pickle jar. The rest of the whole cherries I just poked holes in them. Oh, and yes Katie, pits and fruit all went in. I read somewhere that the pits hold a lot of flavour as well!

Added about 1/2 cup sugar and a few squeezes of lemon juice to the cherries to try to let the sugar and lemon extract the natural cherry goodness. Let that stand about 30 mins while half way through mashing it around a bit.

I then added about 3/4 of a bottle of Smirnoff vodka to the pickle jar, shaked it around a bit, and its been sitting in a dark semi cool closet in the basement for 3.5 weeks now. Had to try some, so saturday night we had a little taste test, and boy was it good!

Lastly, I have read that you need to let it stand 3 months...and I am not sure I necessarily agree with this, for one, the halved cherries are now almost the texture of baby food, and the whole ones are rapidly approaching the same state. The flavour is unbelievable. As well, I am not too sure how much more flavour can be emparted to the vodka...who knows!

[slkinsey]

What else goes in to a Gimlet?

A Gimlet is made of gin and Rose's Lime Juice.

I can't think that cherry vodka would go very well with Rose's. I imagine Katie has something in mind along the lines of your cherry-infused vodka together with some fresh lime juice and lime-zest infused simple syrup.

[petite tête de chou]

Cherry vodka and slushy-cold lemonade.

[sadistick]

Cherry vodka and slushy-cold lemonade.

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Oooh that sounds good - gives me an idea of maybe doing a margarita with the cherry vodka instead of tequila, or maybe in addition to!

[Luckylies]

Anybody know?

Do you think I could leave the cherries in the vodka for like say...6 months...and then strain them out for that super cherry flavor? Do you think it will get cloudy? Can I use super cheap vodka without it tasting super cheap in the end?

I'm thinking of making some with sour cherries for Christ/Chun presents!

[Chef Shogun]

I did the same thing with some sour cherries (batch of bourbon as well), but I pitted mine and left it for about two weeks in a Mason jar of Smirnoff 80. Very tasty as a highball with ginger ale.

Tasted a cherry and wished I hadden't, though.

Luckylies: I wouldn't go too super cheap with it. You'll just end up with cherry flavoured crap. No running it through a Britta, either.

[KatieLoeb]

What else goes in to a Gimlet?

A Gimlet is made of gin and Rose's Lime Juice.

I can't think that cherry vodka would go very well with Rose's. I imagine Katie has something in mind along the lines of your cherry-infused vodka together with some fresh lime juice and lime-zest infused simple syrup.

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Thanks Sam, for being clairvoyant for me. I'm not too fond of Rose's Lime when fresh lime juice and simple syrup are better. Sam did me one better with the lime zest infusion. Sounds delicious!

[sadistick]

Because of the sugar I added to the cherries to mascerate them, I dont think I will need any simple syrup at all, its sweet, and smooth!

I will have to try some with some ice and lime juice though, that sounds tastey!

Matt, I'm with you, I hesitate to try one of those cherries, one of my big pet peeves is overly mushy texture, and I think I would run head on in to that if I put one of these cherries in my mouth.

Katie - How do you think the cherry vodka would go with rum?

[slkinsey]

What else goes in to a Gimlet?

A Gimlet is made of gin and Rose's Lime Juice.

I can't think that cherry vodka would go very well with Rose's. I imagine Katie has something in mind along the lines of your cherry-infused vodka together with some fresh lime juice and lime-zest infused simple syrup.

Thanks Sam, for being clairvoyant for me. I'm not too fond of Rose's Lime when fresh lime juice and simple syrup are better. Sam did me one better with the lime zest infusion. Sounds delicious!

Not sure I'd call anything made with fresh lime instead of Rose's a "Gimlet," per se. But the cherry and lime idea sounds like an interesting starting place for a drink.

[Luckylies]

I did the same thing with some sour cherries (batch of bourbon as well), but I pitted mine and left it for about two weeks in a Mason jar of Smirnoff 80.  Very tasty as a highball with ginger ale. 

Tasted a cherry and wished I hadden't, though. 

Luckylies: I wouldn't go too super cheap with it. You'll just end up with cherry flavoured crap.  No running it through a Britta, either. 

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word.

[KatieLoeb]

What else goes in to a Gimlet?

A Gimlet is made of gin and Rose's Lime Juice.

I can't think that cherry vodka would go very well with Rose's. I imagine Katie has something in mind along the lines of your cherry-infused vodka together with some fresh lime juice and lime-zest infused simple syrup.

Thanks Sam, for being clairvoyant for me. I'm not too fond of Rose's Lime when fresh lime juice and simple syrup are better. Sam did me one better with the lime zest infusion. Sounds delicious!

Not sure I'd call anything made with fresh lime instead of Rose's a "Gimlet," per se. But the cherry and lime idea sounds like an interesting starting place for a drink.

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Does a Gimlet imply you must use Rose's Lime Juice?? Were there no gimlets before there was Rose's?? I thought a gimlet meant sweetened lime juice and gin (or vodka - this is another drink like the martini that seems to have evolved into a vodka optional concoction), not necessarily Rose's, but usually because that's what the bar had on hand.

A bit of research yields these interesting little factoids about Rose's Lime Cordial:

It was first produced in 1876 in Edinburgh, Scotland, by Lauchlin Rose, who also patented this method of preserving lime juice without adding alcohol.

The same year it became mandatory for all Royal Navy and British merchant ships to include lime juice in the sailors' rations. That way Rose's lime juice quickly became known around the world.

And this about the drink's origin:

A 1928 description of the drink was: "gin, a spot of lime, and soda" (D. B. Wesson, I'll never be Cured III). A 1953 description was: "a real gimlet is half gin and half Rose's Lime Juice and nothing else" (Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye (novel)).

and this:

Surgeon Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Desmond Gimlette (1857-1943) served in the Royal Navy when cocktails started to become popular. A naval medical officer would certainly have had access to gin and lime juice. However, neither his obituary notice in The Times of October 6, 1943, nor his entry in Who Was Who, 1941-1950, mentions any inventiveness with regard to cocktails.

The real question is when was the Gimlet invented? Did the Royal Navy have anything to do with it? Was the gimlet a means of preventing scurvy??

Anyone?

[slkinsey]

There's a pretty good article on the Gimlet in last year's edition of Mixology, which seemed to come down on the side that it's a drink made with lime cordial. See also this interesting post by Dave W. If you believe, as many do, that it's a drink that has its origins in the Navy, then it's a no-brainer that it wasn't made with fresh lime juice.

[Mayhaw Man]

I can't think that cherry vodka would go very well with Rose's. 

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Dude, I don't know if you could call it a well made cocktail, but Cherry-Limeade from Sonic and Vodka was the first thing besides beer that I regularly drank. It's good. Really. Plus, they deliver it to your car. In a huge cup. Did I mention that it tastes really good? And that it's in a huge cup? OK, then.

[slkinsey]

Har! Can you ask for it in the huge cup "with room?" As in, "I'd like a large cherry limeade. But here's the thing: Fill the cup with ice, but only half-way with the cherry limeade." Do you think that would work, or would it be like Jack Black trying to buy only four McNuggets?

[Luckylies]

Think I can use everclear?

*poof*

House on fire...

[alicehat]

I just came across a recipe in Georgeanne Brennan's book Aperitif for something called Guignolet - it involves not only sour cherries, but the leaves from a sour cherry tree. Lacking the latter, at the very least, I would modify the recipe by steeping 1/2 pound unpitted sour cherries with 1/3 cup sugar, 3/4 cup vodka, and a bottle of full-bodied, fruity wine like California zinfandel, for 2 weeks. Strain and serve chilled.

Haven't made it yet, but doesn't it sound good?

[KatieLoeb]

I just came across a recipe in Georgeanne Brennan's book Aperitif for something called Guignolet - it involves not only sour cherries, but the leaves from a sour cherry tree. Lacking the latter, at the very least, I would modify the recipe by steeping 1/2 pound unpitted sour cherries with 1/3 cup sugar, 3/4 cup vodka, and a bottle of full-bodied, fruity wine like California zinfandel, for 2 weeks. Strain and serve chilled.

Haven't made it yet, but doesn't it sound good? 

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Cherry Kijafa by another name, perhaps??

[alicehat]

I don't know...I've never tried Kijafa (yet). Might be worth a little experimentation.

What better way to take advantage of the short lived cherry season?

Kijafa Martinis?

Edited July 28, 2006 by alicehat (log)