This recipe is a bit of a happy accident. Last year I was experimenting with cherries to make our own garnishes for cocktails. Someone had left some brandy at our place after a party, and I thought I’d play with this forgotten bottle.
The process was simple: Buy some fresh cherries (the sweet kind, not the bitter/sour kind), remove the stems and the pits, put them in a jar, and fill the jar with brandy so the cherries are completely submerged.
Leave the jar in the refrigerator for some period of time (days, weeks, months), and that’s it. Super easy.
The problem was when I tried the cherries after a few weeks. WAY too strong with brandy and not enjoyable as a garnish for anything. The alcohol in the brandy had also pulled the color out, so they resembled green olives more than cherries. Again, not good for a garnish.
Honestly, then I forgot about them. They lived in the back of the refrigerator for months. It was only recently that I realized what I did have was a nice cherry-infused brandy, which was much more interesting than the cherries themselves.
So, what to make with cherry-infused brandy? How about a Brandy Manhattan? It is sometimes also called a Metropolitan, which causes some confusion. There is another version of a Metropolitan cocktail out there, that is a cousin of the Cosmopolitan and includes vodka, lime juice and cranberry juice. I am not talking about this drink.
As the name would imply, this lovely drink uses the same ratios of a regular Manhattan, but with brandy in the place of Rye.
Cheers!
Ingredients
- 60 ml (2 oz) Cherry-infused brandy
- 30 ml (1 oz) Sweet vermouth
- 3-4 dashes Angostura bitters (or other savory bitters)
- Garnish with a Maraschino cherry (the real kind, like Luxardo or Amarena)
Instructions
- Chill glass
- Mix all ingredients in a mixing glass full of ice for 20-30 seconds
- Pour into chilled glass, add garnish.
- Enjoy!
Notes
If this is too much brandy for you, you can tone it back to 45 ml (1.5 oz).
Gillie-just sent you a recipe for brandied cherries from a friend of mine. The cherries are an excellent garnish to Oldies and Mannies 🙂 Maybe we’ll see them up here some time?
Sorry, Bri. Didn’t realize this was your post 😛
Haha, no worries. Love that recipe! Will give it a go 🙂