Cherry Bounce

[Dan McFeeley]

I found this recipe in the _Whitehouse Cookbook_ a collection of recipes from the 1800's that were part of the USA Whitehouse cuisine. I altered the recipe, however (see my reply to Joe M. in the Mulled Wine thread : )

Pretty simple -- take a big plastic food grade storage container, oh, about a gallon or so, fill it almost full with cherries. Good cherries. Then, add enough Kentucky Bourbon whiskey to fill the gaps between the cherries and fill the container. Let it set for several months. Several more if necessary. Strain the whole mess through a rice colander. Let it sit in glass bottles for a while, enough for the sediment to settle. Siphon off the liquid, once it's clear. Let it age for about a year, more if necessary.

Good stuff!

The original recipe called for sugar in addition to the cherries and the bourbon whiskey. I've found that sugar adds extra body to the liquor, but my personal preference has been to leave the sugar out.

Cherry Bounce is a well known home made liquor from the 1800's, and likely older than that.

 

[Erik_the_Red]

That sounds delicious... but does anybody have recipes with some instant satisfaction?

I know, I know Good things come to those who wait and wait and....

I like Vickie's Cider, I love Mead! I enjoy being intoxicated with some good friends.

And it is great when it is made by friends and people we know.

...... Anyway now I've got Cherry Bounce setting away for a later day or year? LOL :

 

[Dan McFeeley]

That sounds delicious... but does anybody have recipes with some instant satisfaction?

Sure -- mix orange juice and vodka, shake and drink. Instant recipe and instant satisfaction. ;D ;D ;D

Seriously, Cherry Bounce is really good stuff. Takes a while to make but it's worth the wait. Because I cut out the sugar, the body is somewhat light but I found I liked it that way. Less sweet taste, more cherry flavor, better flavor from the Bourbon whiskey. The aging is important. I found that newly bottled, the cherry and whiskey flavors were distinct from each other. With sufficient aging they blended together wonderfully.

 

[Whteknght]

Kijafa is a good instant cherry drink. Good stuff, definately.

 

[Oskaar]

Two shots good cognac, 1 shot Gran Marnier, 1 Shot Chambord combine in a large non-leaded crystal Snifter and nuke in the microwave for about 15 - 20 seconds. Nice with a good Cuban Cigar after a feast.

Cheers,

Oskaar

 

[Erik_the_Red]

Now were talkin instant satisfaction. ;D ;D

Tired of counting bubbles sober. These should all help

 

[Talon]

I've a loquat liquer very similar to the cherry bounce you describe. A friend of mine makes moonshine soaked cherries and uses the resultant liquid as cherry bounce.

 

[Brewbear]

My folks backhome used sour cherries and grain alcohol ( whatever was cheaper). They would put about 2 kg. sour cherries in a big bottle, cover them in about 1/2 kg. sugar and let them sit in the sun. The resulting syrup was yummy but I never got very close to it, they put grain alcohol on top of the mix after a couple of weeks( I'm not sure how long, I'll have to ask the old folks that still remember).The result was awsome, even the macerated cherries packed a punch. My cousin and I fed them to the chickens once....

For instant gratification....go to any european/middle eastern grocery store, grab a bottle of your favorite syrup (sour cherry, raspberry...) + 1 bottle vodka. Mix the stuff, make as sweet as you like, and ENJOY ;D

Got to check on my pyment...
Ted

 

[JamesP]

Dan,

thanks for the recipe.

I've got a very small batch aging, and already after a couple of months its smoothed out.

The Cherries didn't disintegrate after about a month, but to eat, they had a wonderful "dry" oaked flavour - an added bonus

 

[JamesP]

I saw on the box a demonstration of how to make a french black forest cake, and guess what they used (between two layers of cake, with cream)?

Cherries soaked in Brandy.

So there is another option - enjoy the cherries as part of a dessert, while sipping the Cherry Bounce :

Or maybe, the birthday cake and a present of Cherry Bounce, both using the same cherries.

 

[pain]

Here's one I found in http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006AYY2O/gotmethelarge-20/102-6221057-3310548?creative=327641&camp=14573&adid=1WH0VAQEQE4309WJKN6W&link_code=as1"]Folk Wines, Cordials & Brandies[/url]:

Get your cherries, fresh if you can, canned or dried if not, and cut away half the stems and put into a gallon or half-gallon jar. Fill the jar about half-full. Be sure to wash the cherries first, many use pesticides.

Mash the fruit thoroughly with a wooden spoon pour over it about a 1/2 lb of sugar, and fill the rest of the jar with brandy, vodka or some neutral spirit. Put on the cover, not too tightly, and let stand in a dark place for four weeks. Then mash thoroughly again, and let rest for a few months. Most old recipes tell you to strain the liquour at this point. You can also drink it right on the cherries, and its good. You can add almonds or spices (any kind you like) to give this a spicy flavor.

If you choose to rack off the cherries, use the cherries over ice cream, in a cake, or as a compote (hey, what a great cherry cobbler this would make!).

 

[Dan McFeeley]

Is that the one by Moritz Jagendorf? I have that one!

What a great book -- I'll have to look up the recipe.

In my own versions of Cherry Bounce, I avoided using sugar. Then I tried a recipe made with sugar and found that it had added body to the liquor.

I'll have to try this again soon, sticking closer to the tradtional recipe. Should have known better!

 

[pain]

That's the one! Great book. But Dan, go read the mead section starting on page 333......LOL...you'll cringe. The man knows a lot of stuff, but he didn't do his homework on mead. Some of it is ok, but some is more like *what the heck were you thinking?*

 

[Dan McFeeley]

That's the one! Great book. But Dan, go read the mead section starting on page 333......LOL...you'll cringe. The man knows a lot of stuff, but he didn't do his homework on mead. Some of it is ok, but some is more like *what the heck were you thinking?*

I read it.

One of the things I really appreciate about this book is that it gives a glimpse into country wine making practices in the past. The book was published in 1963, but Jagendorf had gathered his info from people who had been making country wines long before that date.

In that time, mead was a country wine, as much as the other recipes in his book.

Ancient Joe's recipe for Ancient Orange is actually a country wine recipe for mead. It breaks the rules, so to speak, but it works.

Some time back, I played around with the idea of comparing folk music with old time wine recipes on the mead lovers digest. It's an idea I've had for a long time, "linear" descriptions of history v/s "non linear."

It's an odd thing with me, but I feel a connection with history when I make physical contact of some kind, like touching an old stone wall along a roadside dating from the Colonial period. That's what I mean by "non linear" descriptions of history.

Mead making is also a way of making a "non linear" connection with history. The descriptions of meadmaking, which Jagendorf learned from his neighbors, are that kind of connection for me.

 

[pain]

Oh, totally! I loved the way he used toast and yeast. I had to wonder what sort of yeast he was using (cake, bread, etc.) that 6-8 lbs of honey per gallon of water made a 'dry' mead. Must be some hairy stuff!

It was his definitions in a couple cases that got me laughing....but I *love* his narrative style!

I've only cruised the book for certain things, but I'm going to be sitting down to read it more thoroughly. I'm keen to try some country wines, and this seems a good place to start.

 

[Dan McFeeley]

That's what you've gotta do -- read the whole book, from the introduction to the finish. Forget everything you know about wine/beer/mead, step into your personal TARDIS and go back to country winemaking in the early part of this century. Connect with the rural farm culture of New York state, which is what Jagendorf is describing.

Maybe even sip an Ancient Orange while you're reading it. Joe's recipe would fit perfectly with the mead recipes Jadendorf describes. They're really the same thing. It'll give you that physical contact with a culture that hardly exists now, if at all.

 

[Miriam]

Dan (and Vicky),

Reviving this thread to ask, can you give me a brand name or two of Kentucky Bourbon whiskey? Unless that is a brand name itself. I'm going to a couple of liquor stores in the shouk to see if I can find some, to make that Cherry Bounce. Since I moved here in my early twenties (when I was drinking only beer), I have not had much experience with a range of whiskeys: you see Chivas, Johnny Walker, Jim Bean and some Scotch brands usually. But some of those places offer Southern Comfort - would that do?

I know what you mean about feeling a physical connection with people and events that lived before. Life in Israel is packed with these associations.

Miriam

 

[Oskaar]

Hi Miriam,

Here's some names to look for:

Basil Hayden
Black Maple Hill
Booker's
Knob Creek
Jack Daniels
Maker's Mark
Wild Turkey
Jim Beam

Cheers,

Oskaar

 

[Miriam]

Oh, cool, Oskaar! I've seen Jim Beam, Jack Daniels and Wild Turkey here. The other brands I've never seen.

We do get about 5 different brands of ouzo and absinthe, though...

Thank you,

Miriam

 

[Dan McFeeley]

Reviving this thread to ask, can you give me a brand name or two of Kentucky Bourbon whiskey? Unless that is a brand name itself. I'm going to a couple of liquor stores in the shouk to see if I can find some, to make that Cherry Bounce. Since I moved here in my early twenties (when I was drinking only beer), I have not had much experience with a range of whiskeys: you see Chivas, Johnny Walker, Jim Bean and some Scotch brands usually. But some of those places offer Southern Comfort - would that do?

I know what you mean about feeling a physical connection with people and events that lived before. Life in Israel is packed with these associations.

It's been a long while since I've made Cherry Bounce, but my preference was Jim Bean whiskey. Southern Comfort actually is a liqueur, apparently made with peach, citrus, other secret flavorings, infused into a Bourbon base. It was created by M. W. Heron a bar owner in New Orleans, in 1874.

Purists may insist that it's not genuine Bourbon whiskey unless it was made in Kentucky, but others point out that, so long as the process for sour mash corn whiskey is followed it doesn't matter where it came from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_whiskey

http://home.netcom.com/~cowdery/articles/name.html

Historical connections -- comparitively speaking, the USA is a young country, only a couple of centuries old. And that applies to the area of the 13 original colonies. I've often thought that it can be hard for US citizens to fully appreciate what it's like to live in another country where the concrete reminders of historical tradition are far older, often stretching back for milenia.