Cherry Bounce

Door County cherry season is here, so let's part course with the Around America Series for a recipe for sour cherry cordial, classically known since as far back as 1690s as cherry bounce. This fruit-filled concoction made its way to the United States, like many things in our history, through England. Originally this infusion was made from brandy and cherries, which I'm sure is the method of most of our Korbel-loving northerners, but since Cindy isn't a tremendous fan of cherries or brandy, we are going to use the sweet woodiness of bourbon. 

The particular recipe we riffed from calls for vodka--something that I would presume would emphasize the visual and gustatory prominence of the fruit itself. This is fine if you are looking for alcoholic cherry juice, but it won't have the complexity of flavors that you will be waiting so long for. If you really want to keep the cherry-red color, do yourself a favor and skip the vodka and trade in a good white rum.

Longtime Lounge Lizards won't be surprised to hear that cherry bounce was one of George Washington's favorite tipples. His wife Martha even had a recipe for it herself that her family prized. Let's give you the Door County recipe and then Martha Washington's.

Cherry Bounce
1/2 pound pitted sour cherries
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups spirit (brandy, cognac, bourbon, or rum)

Combine sugar and 1 cup of spirit in a quart jar. Shake well to dissolve as much sugar as possible. Add the fruit to the mixture. Shake again. Add the remaining spirit. Shake a third time. Store the mixture in a sunny indoor spot for one week, agitating daily, then move into a cabinet for the next 40-60 days. After your wait is over, strain the cherries from the liquid and pour the bounce into a clean storage vessel. It should keep indefinitely in a cool, dark area. (like it's going to last that long!)

Martha Washington's bounce is similar, but she used just fresh-squeezed juice.

Martha Washington's Cherry Bounce
5 1/2 pounds of pitted sour cherries
2 cups brandy or whiskey
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cinnamon stick, broken in pieces
2 whole cloves
1/4 inch fresh whole nutmeg

Mash the cherries to extract as much juice as possible. Strain. Set aside the mashed cherries for some later use. In a large jar, combine the fresh cherry juice with brandy and sugar, stirring or shaking to dissolve the sugar. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, occasionally agitating. Remove a cup of the liquid and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add the cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Strain out the spices and allow liquid to cool before re-adding it to the rest of the remaining refrigerated liquid. Wait two weeks to serve, occasionally agitating the jar.

You could definitely add Martha's spices to the first recipe if you are looking to take that infusion up a notch. We intend to drink our batch in cocktails, likely pairing an array of bitters like Boker's, Regan's orange, Aphrodite chocolate, Aztec chocolate, and, of course, the humble Angostura.