Cherries with Alcohol

There are many different ways to dress up your cocktail or enhance its flavor profile. Some choose to add a small garnish such as a mint leaf or cranberry in order to improve its aesthetics or, if applicable, to match the types of foods being served at a certain meal, such as during a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. However, some choose to go the extra mile and infuse their alcoholic beverages with a delicious and tangy twist.

Adding fruit to alcoholic beverages is nothing new; one of the most common examples of this is sangria, a sweet wine infused with different types of fruits. However, the use of cherries with alcohol as well as cherry juice and alcohol-soaked cherries is often underrated and can take your cocktail to a whole new level.

Cherries with Alcohol in Signature Cocktails

Adding a splash of cherry juice as well as a few cherry garnishes to your favorite cocktail can add a hint of sweetness that many enjoy. Some of the most common cherry-infused cocktails are made with bourbon, which is known to mix well with anything from a tart, freshly picked cherry to a sweet, syrupy Maraschino cherry.

Soaking Cherries with Alcohol

Combining cherries with alcohol doesn’t always take place within beverages. In fact, many desserts such as cherries jubilee and Black Forest cake are traditionally made with a combination of cherries and fermented cherry liqueur or another similar alcohol. A common cherry liqueur used for this very purpose is Kirsch, a traditional German brandy made from distilled morello cherries

If you’d like to add a boozy cherry glaze to your next dessert, fermenting cherries with alcohol is extremely easy to do. Once you’ve simmered pitted cherries over a stove, simply stir in your liqueur and allow the combination to cool before jarring.