Growing up I used to love Shirley Temples, and my favorite part of the drink was the maraschino cherry. When I was a little kid my grandpa always had a jar of the super sweet, bright red cherries in his fridge, which I thought was so that he could make me an ice cream sundae at the drop of a hat, but was probably so that he could make someone a cocktail….

As I got older I still loved the idea of a maraschino cherry, but not so much the execution. And as my fondness for bourbon grew, and I started ordering and then making my own Manhattan cocktails, I just couldn’t bare to put a sickly sweet cherry into my perfectly executed drink. I love low end as much as the best of us, but not in the same glass as a high end bourbon.

Although I have seen good maraschino cherries in our local cheese shop, I could never justify their ridiculous price-tag. Then one day I stumbled upon sour cherries at the farmers market, which have an incredibly short season, and I was inspired to make my own. I had no idea how easy they are to make. I found recipes all over the internet – none of which took more than 5-10 minutes to make. However, I did have to commit to buying a rather large bottle of maraschino liqueur, which I have no other use for, but the liqueur won’t go bad and now I can make a new jar of cherries every season.

This bottle will last me awhile…

Maraschino Cherries

1 cup Maraschino liqueur
1 pint sour cherries, pitted (a Starbucks straw works nicely – just carefully push it through the cherry and the pit will stick in the straw)

Bring the liqueur to a simmer, and then turn off the heat. Add the cherries, stir, let cool, and then pour into jars. Refrigerate. 

Manhattans

My favorite way to drink bourbon, aside from neat. This recipe is from the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans so it must be perfect.

1 1/2 oz bourbon
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Garnish with a cherry.