Four Roses Yellow Label is actually what PDT in New York uses as the base for their Benton's Old Fashioned -- which is their famous bacon-bourbon cocktail. It's an awesome drink.

Fixed my post, good looking out Jim!

Mixoholic wrote:Fixed my post, good looking out Jim!

Except, now you call it a rye, which it isn't...it's bourbon made from (among other things) rye. But, to be a bourbon it must be at least 51% corn. Rye must be at least 51% rye...so bourbon cannot be rye and rye cannot be bourbon. Confused yet?

That said, I like Four Roses...I generally stick to the single barrel, though. Good call on using maple syrup in an old fashioned. I love an Applejack Old Fashioned with Blis Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup.

Yeah I certainly didn't mean to suggest that it wasn't a bourbon at all. It's just that most bourbons use, in addition to at least 51% corn, a combination of rye and barley in their mash. The few exceptions use wheat instead of rye and are called wheated bourbons. They include Maker's Mark, W. L. Weller, the Van Winkle line, and just a couple others that escape me at the moment.

I obviously have a lot to learn thanks for the explanations!

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Darren72 wrote:You will notice a big difference between my version and Ronnie's: he heats the brandy and then processed the jars in a hot water bath. I've tried this and find that the texture of the cherries deteriorates faster than leaving everything cold. Note that if you leave everything cold, you need to store the cherries in the fridge. They will keep for at least a year (at which point fresh cherries will be available to make a new batch).

Shelf-stability is a nice thing to have. But I also make a few jars for myself, which I simply store in the fridge. I haven't noticed a huge difference in cherry quality between the 2 methods (the main issue is pitting, which does more to tear up the cherries than anything else). But since I make many small jars and give them away throughout the year, I like the traditional canning method a lot.

=R=

I was lucky enough to get about 8# of pitted tart cherries from Seedlings this year and decided to follow Darren's advice and go strictly refrigerated this time around. I ended up with more than 2-dozen jars and packing them in the traditional canning method would have been a ton more work, so I was happy to skip that step. I made a double batch of 'brine' and never heated the cognac at all. Again, the recipe is very simple:

1 liter cognac
750g water
500g sugar
(again, I doubled this)

I made a syrup out of the water and sugar, heating it briefly, and let it cool in the fridge. After it had cooled completely, I added the cognac, stirred it thoroughly, then poured it over all the cherries in a glass punch bowl. I put the punch bowl in my fridge and after about 2 weeks, I portioned out all the cherries into canning jars and topped off each jar with the cognac syrup. They're now back in the fridge where the punch bowl was. When I give them away, I'll just let the recipients know to keep them chilled. One nice additional benefit was that I ended up with some extra 'cherry liqueur,' which is very tasty. I bottled it off and put it in the fridge as well.

Until next year . . .

=R=

For my first try at cocktail cherries, I made two jars of (unpitted) cherries using Darren's method. One is soaking in Kraken rum, and the other in plain cognac+Navan, both with various spices and sugar. I tasted them recently (after 2+ weeks in the liquor), and they both are very harshly alcoholic and not very sweet. Can I adjust the ratio now by draining some alcohol and adding more simple syrup? Or is there a better fix? Thanks!

pamiam wrote:For my first try at cocktail cherries, I made two jars of (unpitted) cherries using Darren's method. One is soaking in Kraken rum, and the other in plain cognac+Navan, both with various spices and sugar. I tasted them recently (after 2+ weeks in the liquor), and they both are very harshly alcoholic and not very sweet. Can I adjust the ratio now by draining some alcohol and adding more simple syrup? Or is there a better fix? Thanks!

They aren't supposed to be sweet, per se, at least how I make them. But if they are too alcoholic, go ahead and add more syrup. My wife actually thinks my cherries are bit too alcoholic also. So that you don't need to remove that much alcohol, make a pretty strong syrup (i.e. 2 parts sugar to 1 part water).

If you eat the brandied cherries from the jar, yes, they can be harsh. I agree that they're not supposed to be sweet. Harshness be damned, I love them in Manhattans. I take one teaspoon of the cherry juice and mix it in the drink. Might be heresy to some, but the smidgen of brandied cherry juice adds some depth and sweetness without breaking up the Bourbon taste.

Thanks for the responses! I'll try them in a drink before messing with them, though I do think I may have skimped on the sugar at the beginning because I didn't want them too sweet.

pamiam wrote:For my first try at cocktail cherries, I made two jars of (unpitted) cherries using Darren's method. One is soaking in Kraken rum, and the other in plain cognac+Navan, both with various spices and sugar. I tasted them recently (after 2+ weeks in the liquor), and they both are very harshly alcoholic and not very sweet. Can I adjust the ratio now by draining some alcohol and adding more simple syrup? Or is there a better fix? Thanks!

I too tried Darren's recipe, using a mix of maraschino, homemade Grand Marnier, and 1/4 cup of simple syrup. I don't notice any of the harshness, probably because I'm not using rum/cognac/any harsher spirit, just liqueurs. The flavor appears to be highly dependent on what kind of liquor you use. After about a month, mine are beautifully sweet with a very vibrant cherry flavor. Next time, I'd probably cut out some of the syrup and add a little whiskey to give them some bite. I also wish I had managed to cram more into the jar, as they've shrunken quite a bit. Can't wait to try these in Manhattans!

How do you make that grand marnier?

Darren72 wrote:How do you make that grand marnier?

I wish I could tell you, it was a gift. I am 99% sure, though, that it came from this book: http://www.amazon.com/Homemade-Liqueurs ... 0809271370

Next time I am over at her house, I can track it down and report back.

It's time to make cocktail cherries again. I thought I'd bump this thread to ask Ronnie how the no-cook version of 2010 turned out.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Darren72 wrote:You will notice a big difference between my version and Ronnie's: he heats the brandy and then processed the jars in a hot water bath. I've tried this and find that the texture of the cherries deteriorates faster than leaving everything cold. Note that if you leave everything cold, you need to store the cherries in the fridge. They will keep for at least a year (at which point fresh cherries will be available to make a new batch).

Shelf-stability is a nice thing to have. But I also make a few jars for myself, which I simply store in the fridge. I haven't noticed a huge difference in cherry quality between the 2 methods (the main issue is pitting, which does more to tear up the cherries than anything else). But since I make many small jars and give them away throughout the year, I like the traditional canning method a lot.

=R=

I was lucky enough to get about 8# of pitted tart cherries from Seedlings this year and decided to follow Darren's advice and go strictly refrigerated this time around. I ended up with more than 2-dozen jars and packing them in the traditional canning method would have been a ton more work, so I was happy to skip that step. I made a double batch of 'brine' and never heated the cognac at all. Again, the recipe is very simple:

1 liter cognac
750g water
500g sugar
(again, I doubled this)

I made a syrup out of the water and sugar, heating it briefly, and let it cool in the fridge. After it had cooled completely, I added the cognac, stirred it thoroughly, then poured it over all the cherries in a glass punch bowl. I put the punch bowl in my fridge and after about 2 weeks, I portioned out all the cherries into canning jars and topped off each jar with the cognac syrup. They're now back in the fridge where the punch bowl was. When I give them away, I'll just let the recipients know to keep them chilled. One nice additional benefit was that I ended up with some extra 'cherry liqueur,' which is very tasty. I bottled it off and put it in the fridge as well.

Until next year . . .

=R=

Darren72 wrote:It's time to make cocktail cherries again. I thought I'd bump this thread to ask Ronnie how the no-cook version of 2010 turned out.

Very well. I cannot foresee ever cooking them again. I don't make enough that I cannot store them cold, so keeping them cold from beginning to end is going to work out great for me.

=R=

Good to know.
How do you find the sweetness level? Too sweet?

Darren72 wrote:Good to know.
How do you find the sweetness level? Too sweet?

That depends on the cherries you use more than the mixture. Generally, I find these cherries very boozy and not too sweet at all.

=R=

Got it - thanks. I'm making some now and will experiment a bit with the syrup-alcohol ratio.

I never cook and don't use sugar either. Sour cherries aren't actually all that sour and the rye sweetens it enough for me. I added some mint to the latest batch. Yum!

For the no cook method, curious as to opinions/views on how long these will keep in the fridge. (Promise I won't sue you, and pretty sure I waived that right in the new ToS in any event.)

Reason I ask is that I just found a jar I put up last summer in the basement beer and CSA-spillover fridge. I had done three jars last summer, two in cognac and one in Luxardo maraschino liqueur, but this was one of the cognac ones I guess I just never got to (I thought I had given it away). I tried a cherry tonight and it tasted fine and I am not dead as far as I know. Even if I were to just ditch the cherries, think I can retain the cherry-infused booze and either use it on its own or for this year's crop?

Matt wrote:For the no cook method, curious as to opinions/views on how long these will keep in the fridge. (Promise I won't sue you, and pretty sure I waived that right in the new ToS in any event.)

Reason I ask is that I just found a jar I put up last summer in the basement beer and CSA-spillover fridge. I had done three jars last summer, two in cognac and one in Luxardo maraschino liqueur, but this was one of the cognac ones I guess I just never got to (I thought I had given it away). I tried a cherry tonight and it tasted fine and I am not dead as far as I know. Even if I were to just ditch the cherries, think I can retain the cherry-infused booze and either use it on its own or for this year's crop?

I think you'll be fine with them for quite some time. I'm not sure they ever go bad, as much as they just lose their luster after a while. I happen to think the leftover booze (aka the nectar) is outstanding and I always retain it. I wouldn't re-use it to make another batch of cherries because it's not as strong as it once was. I typically drink it by incorporating it into cocktails or pouring it over some ice and sipping it.

=R=

I agree. Since I make a new batch every summer, I generally don't have cherries that are older than a year and a half or so in the house. The taste fades and the text changes a bit, but they are definitely fine. Since this year's batch is still soaking, I'm still using the batch from last summer.

Note also that tart cherries are still available. Lots of them at the Andersonville market yesterday.

While we're talking cherries, how do you guys store your Luxardos? I used to store them in the fridge, but that did weird stuff to them. So now I just store them in the cabinet, in the dark. Not very helpfully, there's no info on the bottle, and it took me a lot of googling to find one person who claimed to have spoken with someone at the company who said the standard store in a cool, dark place or something like that.

Darren72 wrote:I agree. Since I make a new batch every summer, I generally don't have cherries that are older than a year and a half or so in the house. The taste fades and the text changes a bit, but they are definitely fine. Since this year's batch is still soaking, I'm still using the batch from last summer.

Note also that tart cherries are still available. Lots of them at the Andersonville market yesterday.

Vitesse98 wrote:While we're talking cherries, how do you guys store your Luxardos? I used to store them in the fridge, but that did weird stuff to them. So now I just store them in the cabinet, in the dark. Not very helpfully, there's no info on the bottle, and it took me a lot of googling to find one person who claimed to have spoken with someone at the company who said the standard store in a cool, dark place or something like that.

You're going to experience crystalization -- which is totally normal for this type of product -- when stored between 0 and 50 degrees F. Above or below that range, you can avoid it. I'm guessing that in a cool, dark cabinet is probably the best place, though I have no idea what the shelf-lfe would be under those conditions.

=R=

Thanks for the replies, all. Will continue to work my way through the old ones and am going to do some new ones with tart cherries I got this week as well. For what it's worth, I prefer the cognac ones to the ones I did in Luxardo maraschino.

Matt wrote:Thanks for the replies, all. Will continue to work my way through the old ones and am going to do some new ones with tart cherries I got this week as well. For what it's worth, I prefer the cognac ones to the ones I did in Luxardo maraschino.

Ha, makes sense. There's a reason that Cognac is legendary and Luxardo Marashino is, um, well-known.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Darren72 wrote: shelf-life
=R=

? Circa 70 cherries per jar, that's 35 days' worth ... pretty sure they'll be okay that long.