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. My goal is that I will be able to take along a small flask to drink on my birthday trip, which is almost exactly three months!