How to make cherry liqueur – some delicious recipes

Cherry liqueur is a very old drink. It is known that it was prepared back in Hetman times in Ukraine, and maybe even earlier. For example, there is a recipe where a wooden barrel was filled with cherries, and then it was filled with white honey. After that, the barrel was tarred and left for three months in a cool place, and more often buried in the ground or sand. It turned out to be a very tasty, intoxicating drink.

There are a lot of such recipes, but in the current realities they seem too exotic and tricky. We offer you simple, time-tested recipes for cherry liqueurs, both on vodka or any other alcohol, and without it.

A little about the alcohol base, where everything depends on the recipe. In most cases, ordinary, but high-quality vodka is used, as the most affordable option for an alcohol-containing mixture (available, but not the cheapest). Cherry goes very well with cognac, we were convinced of this when making cherry tinctures – cherries on cognac are a miracle how good. Some recipes call for pure alcohol, which can also be diluted to 45-50% and used instead of vodka.

Finally, if you are an avid moonshiner and you always have a couple of dozen liters of high-quality homemade distillate or rectified at your disposal, then, of course, use it. If the “sam” is good and was thoroughly cleaned during the preparation process, then the drink will turn out even better than on purchased alcohol. Cherry is better to take ripe or even overripe. Rotten and spoiled berries should be discarded immediately. If there is a suspicion of worminess, then the cherry can be soaked in water for a couple of hours – uninvited guests will emerge themselves.

Cherry vodka “Classic”

We wash the cherries well and sort them out, we don’t free them from the seeds! We put the berries in a three-liter jar and fill them with vodka. We insist the future cherry liqueur for 2 weeks in a dark, cool place. Periodically, the drink can be stirred. After two weeks, pour the tincture into another container without berries. Pour the cherry itself with sugar, from 300 to 400 g, depending on preferences, and shake well so that the sugar covers all the berries. We leave the alcoholized cherry with sugar for another 2 weeks in a dark, cool place. We shake the jar every 2-3 days.

Cherry season is short, but we are not afraid. Frozen berries, which are sold in every supermarket, are better for liqueurs than fresh ones, with the exception of a naturally fermented drink.

In two weeks we get our goods again. Cherries with sugar should give juice and turn into concentrated sugar syrup. We strain it through a colander or several layers of gauze, squeeze the berry. We mix the initial infusion with syrup and bottle our cherry liqueur on vodka. With bottling, you can not rush, but leave the drink in the jar until a precipitate occurs, after which the liquor is carefully drained and filtered through cotton wool or coffee filters. Before tasting, it is recommended to wait at least 2-4 weeks, and it is better to leave it in the refrigerator cellar until the New Year or other significant event. The aged liqueur according to this recipe is just a bomb!

In this recipe, you can safely use pure alcohol, but the drink will turn out to be too strong. You can fix this as follows: the remaining alcoholized and candied berry must be filled with water so that it just covers the cherry. Wait another 2 weeks, after which pour the fragrant, tinted and partly sweet water into the liqueur – you get a drink of moderate strength. It is not recommended to simply dilute the liquor with water, this can greatly impair its taste and aroma.

Cherry liqueur without vodka

If you do not want to spend money on alcohol, and there are more than enough cherries in the bins, you can make the liqueur without vodka. In fact, we will be preparing a cherry dessert semi-wine (however, why go to such extremes if you can make a good cherry wine using technology). Based on a three-liter jar, we need:

A whole cherry with a stone (if you do not like the almond taste, then you can remove the stone) wash and fill in a three-liter jar in layers. Sprinkle each layer with sugar so that 800 g eventually fit in. Add no more than 200 ml of water, but so that 3-4 cm of free space remains in the jar for fermentation of the berry – it will rise and foam. After that, the cherry needs to be crushed a little with a rolling pin or any kitchen utensil suitable for this (in principle, the berries do not need to be crushed, but then each cherry must be pierced with a toothpick before putting it in a jar).

Now you need to install a water seal on the jar and let it completely ferment in a warm place, for example, on the windowsill. Here it is easiest to use a rubber medical glove: we pull it over the neck of the jar and tie it with a rope, in one of the fingers of the glove we make a small hole with a needle so that carbon dioxide escapes through it. During the fermentation process, the glove will inflate, and when this process is over, it will fall off (in turn, the water seal will stop blowing bubbles). A glove is easier, but a water seal is more reliable.

After the berries have fermented, the liqueur must be filtered through several layers of gauze and the remaining cherries should be squeezed well. Let the drink stand for 2-3 days, and then filter again, you can through a cotton filter. Bottle and store in a cellar or refrigerator for up to three years (here it makes sense to cook in large batches for the whole year and even with a margin for the next 2 years to taste the most delicious aged drink).

Cherry liqueur on spicy alcohol

Pour a little more than half of the cherry into a three-liter jar. Pour the berries in layers and sprinkle each layer with sugar. We close the neck of the jar with a thick cotton cloth and leave it in a warm place for about a week, until signs of fermentation appear. When the berry ferments, fill it up to the very neck with 50% alcohol or moonshine and add spices. You can add a little wormwood, which goes to homemade absinthe – it will give an interesting taste and aroma.

It is necessary to infuse cherry liqueur according to this recipe for 2 weeks, then strain through several layers of gauze, squeeze out alcoholized cherries and filter the drink through a cotton filter. Pour the liquor into bottles and let it ripen for at least a month, and preferably six months. It turns out a very tasty and fragrant digestif, which will definitely appeal to the weaker sex. Fermentation of berries always justifies itself – the taste of any drink changes dramatically and only for the better (without exaggeration, fermenting a berry before pouring it with alcohol is the best way to make berry liqueurs and even tinctures).

Polish cherry liqueur from Beata Tyszkiewicz

According to the Polish actress, this tincture not only warms on cold evenings and adds coziness to friendly meetings, but also preserves vitality.

Wash and sort the cherries, remove the pits. Together with a handful of seeds, the berries are poured into a jar with layers of sugar. Close the jar with gauze in several layers, securing it with a rope or elastic band. Let stand for a few days until the cherries release their juice. Drain the juice into a saucepan and boil. Cool boiled syrup to room temperature and mix with alcohol. Set the resulting mixture aside. Pour the remaining berries with vodka and let them brew for 2 weeks in a dark, cool place. After 2 weeks, strain the infusion, mix it with cherry alcohol and bottle the liquor. You need to defend the drink for at least 1 month.

Pouring cherry “Bourgeois”

Rinse and sort the cherries, remove the stones from half. Put the berries in a jar, sprinkling them with sugar. Let the cherries release their juice and wait for the sugar to dissolve on its own – this may take several days. Add rum and brandy, mix well and let it brew for 1 month. After a month, filter and bottle. The drink is not cheap, so it would be foolish to drink it right away. In the best form, the liqueur will come in 6 months – then get it out of the bins. It is recommended to add 2-3 teaspoons to hot tea.

If you do everything right, your cherry liqueurs will not leave indifferent tasters in principle. And yes, be sure to prepare more of them … however, such “delicacies” are never enough.