19. Make Cherry Bounce

One of George Washington's favorite drinks to take with him on campaign was called cherry bounce, a cordial made from whiskey and cherries (the man loved his sweets). I've always wanted to try it since Diana Gabaldon wrote about it in the Outlander series, but it's the sort of thing you have to make because it's not sold anywhere (the closest I saw was the cherry moonshine that Ole Smoky sells).

Cherry bounce is usually made in the summer at the end of the cherry season, and it takes at least three months to infuse, so it was typically drunk at the winter holidays. Now, in a world where we can get cherries in winter from South America, I'm not going to let a simple thing like cherries not being in season stop me from making it. So I followed Southern Living's recipe, which you can find here.

My first mistake was making a 1.5x batch which was just slightly too large for the container I had planned on keeping it in while it infused. So then I had to start portioning out to two smaller jars, which it also didn't fit. So I finally had to separate it into three smaller jars. All of this while pouring and extremely strong bourbon whiskey, cherries, and a ton of sugar between three containers and a large bowl. When I was done, the kitchen smelled like a dive, complete with sticky floors and counters. But I had everything in three neat jars. I used a blend of Rock City's bourbon whiskey (made in Little Rock, Arkansas) and Bulleit bourbon whiskey which is make in Kentucky. So the final cordial will be a whiskey blend.

Finally jarred and ready to infuse!

Now the jars will sit on the window sill for about a week and then they go into the cabinet for another three months after that to infuse.

I decided to wait several extra weeks to let the cherries infuse a bit longer, and then it was time to decant and separate the cherries from the bounce. Removing the cherries was significantly less of a mess than the process of adding them in the first place and I decided to keep the (extremely alcoholic) infused cherries for use when we go camping in a little while. I poured a shot in one of the cordial glasses that Ariel gave me and gave it a taste.

It’s a gorgeous color!

I was expecting the bite that you often get with whiskey, but cherry bounce is remarkably smooth, not too sweet. I infused mine with cinnamon so that definitely comes through, and I see why this is a popular drink for Christmas. I really enjoy it and it will definitely be coming camping!

Success!