Life is just a Bowl of Cherries

In hindsight I probably should have called this Blog "House of Rye" or the "Manhattan Project" because I drink much more rye than bourbon these days and most of that rye is consumed in the form of Manhattans.

One of my earlier posts, Garnish with a Cherry, dealt with recipes for Manhattans. Since a Manhattan consists of only four ingredients, whiskey, vermouth, bitters and a cherry or two, it shouldn't be that hard to reach nirvana.

Whiskey in the form of Rye is my preferred poison in a Manhattan. Some folks use Bourbon in a Manhattan, but I find they make the cocktail too sweet. I most often choose Wild Turkey 101. It has a nice spicy rye bite and the high proof gives it some kick. It's a bargain to boot at $22 for a 750ml bottle. I usually have a few other bottles of Rye in the house as well. Currently I've got Jim Beam, Rittenhouse, Russell's Reserve and the ubiquitous WT 101 ryes on hand. There are other high end ryes out there that I cast a covetous eye on when I hit the local liquor shop, but basically I'm a cheap bastard and unwilling to pay price they command. With liquor as with many other things in life, a doubling of price doesn't extend in to a doubling of enjoyment or quality. That being said I'd gladly accept a gift or donation of a bottle of Black Maple Hill for the purposes of research.

Sweet Vermouth is the second component in a Manhattan. There are a couple of vermouths that are widely available in Oregon; Noily Prat and Martini & Rossi. Of the two I prefer Martini and Rossi. It's a bit fruitier and complex in my opinion and better compliments the rye. For folks with a fatter purse there are some additional choices to consider including Carpano Antica, Punt e Mas or the domestically produced Vya.

The third ingredient in a Manhattan is bitters. A couple of dashes of bitters changes the whole complexion of cocktail. For years the only bitter's choices available were Angostura and Peychaud. Angostura are the bitters of choice for an everyday Manhattan. Angostura now has an orange bitter available too and it make an interesting variation with it's strong orange aromas. Bitter's: both homemade and commercial are becoming much more widely available and are worth of posts of there own.

Last and certainly not least is the cherry. Many people are put off by dayglo maraschino cherries. One can hardly blame them. The maraschino on the grocery store shelf is a shadow of the original liquor soaked wild maraska cherries that were the original Maraschino Cherry. Maraschino. Luxardo, an Italian Liquor producer makes a high quality candied cherry that is pretty good, but it wasn't what I was looking for in the ultimate cherry for a Manhattan. While it's much better than the dayglo variety, it didn't quite cut it.

What's a guy to do? Life wasn't a bowl of cherries. I needed the perfect cherry to reach my Manhattan Nirvana.

Time to search the internet, because you can find anything on the internet can't you? Most of the recipes I found called for putting cherries in a jar, adding sugar and covering them with brandy. This produces brandied cherries; tasty, but not a Maraschino Cherry. After searching further and not finding anything that really looked like it would make me happy, I decided it was time to experiment.

Call it beginner's luck, karma, kismet or whatever, the first batch of cherries I made were spectacular. Now known by the few who have had the privilege of tasting them as "The Chcrries". The Cherries were everything I wanted. They are tasty, not too sweet, have complex flavors. They are the treat at the bottom of the glass. Indulge, use two! A half gallon of them, I'm rich! Those things will last me a year for sure. Share the wealth and give a few away, because there's a half gallon of them, I'll never run out.

Okay, I ran out. What's a guy to do? I thought why not try infusing some frozen or canned cherries. So I got a pound of frozen cherries at Trader Joe's and made the following recipe.

Housemade Maraschino Cherries - Using Frozen Cherries

The advantage of this recipe is that it can be made year round. The frozen cherries seem to absorb the alcohol and sugar much more quickly than the fresh cherries and the process only takes a week.

• 1lb of Frozen Sweet Cherries
• 2/3 C evaporated cane sugar
• 1/2 C Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
• 1/2 C Clear Creek Kirschwasser

1. Put the cherries in an empty one quart canning jar with all of the rest of the ingredients.
2. Give the jar an occasional gentle shake.
3. When the sugar is dissolved put the cherries in the refrigerator and let them age a week before using.

This makes just under a quart of damn good cherries, not "The Cherries", but damn good. These are not inexpensive to make, but they'll last a long time, not as long as you think, but a long time.

A special shout out to Cat for kicking me in the ass and getting me to write a post.

Thanks Cat!