Drunken Cherries – Part II

I have a few pics from Bologna sitting on my hard drive waiting to be blogged about, but I have very important news. My drunken cherries are FANTASTIC!

If you recall, I did a little experiment right before I left for Europe. I bottled some cherries in plain vodka (Russian Standard) and some in cherry vodka (Three Olives). My theory was that the cherries in cherry vodka would take on a more intense cherry flavor. Turns out I was semi-right. The vodka itself has an intense cherry flavor because it had essentially become “double-infused”. As for the cherries, the cherries took on the flavor of the cherry vodka, dark cherry and vodka, but aren’t any more cherry flavored. That said, the cherries are amazing, boozy but still tasting like fruit. And because I left them unpitted with the stems on, they remained crisp.

As for the batch made with plain vodka, the vodka has a lighter, but still pronounced, cherry flavor. As for the cherries, unfortunately most of the cherry flavor is gone as it had all been released into the vodka. The cherries no longer taste like cherries but pulpy orbs of vodka. I much prefer the cherries from the cherry vodka batch. However, because the cherry infused plain vodka is less heavy, I prefer it for sipping. For mixing, however, the double-infused cherry vodka is probably best.

So what to do? Marinate cherries in plain vodka or cherry vodka? It depends on what you’re going for. If your goal is drunken cherries, go with cherry vodka. If your goal is infused cherry vodka for sipping, go with plain vodka. And if your goal is intense cherry vodka for cocktails because regular cherry vodka doesn’t quite cut it for you, go with cherry vodka. I’m planning to make more drunken cherries soon, and I’ll probably just make a big batch with cherry vodka. Although the plain infused vodka is quite good, it’s rare I want to drink cherry vodka straight. I rather have delicious drunken cherries that still taste like cherries, and have strong cherry vodka on hand for mixed drinks. Also, the double-infused cherry liquor is amazing with gelato. It’s hot as hell now, you might as well combine ice cream time with cocktail time.