Cherry Bounce, Part 4

Over the weekend we celebrated Kirk's birthday by cracking open the Cherry Bounce during a game night with friends. This is the first time we've served it, and we were playing it pretty safe by mixing it instead of drinking it straight. After all, it's pure rum with a cherry infusion and a lot of sugar.

Sure, George Washington drank it straight, but he was pretty bad-ass. We still wanted to be able to play party games competitively.


It turns out that the Cherry Bounce didn't pack much of a punch when mixed, so it might not be so potent as we feared. It really is delicious straight, and I think that a small cordial glass à la Colonial times would be quite lovely on a cold, winter night.

But for the first time out, we liked it a lot mixed with Coca-Cola and a twist of lime. You know, a rum and Cherry Coke. I love Cherry Coke, so this drink was a winner. We're calling this play on the Cuba Libre a Cereza Libre (cereza is Spanish for cherry).

Cereza Libre 

Fill an old fashioned glass about 1/3 with crushed ice and a squeeze of lime (and the wedge). Fill the glass with a double shot of Cherry Bounce and top with Coca-Cola. Stir and enjoy. A good drink for flavor without going on a bender.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 12, 2015 at 6:25 PM

    I guess you made your Cherry Bounce? I couldn't follow it back to the start---but I've been making the odd infusion (sometimes pretty odd) for a few years, and trying to gather borrowed experience so that my efforts might advance a bit. I was inspired by someone's rumtopf-like family concoction in a jar, stored intriguingly away in a cupboard, and tried it with the sad fruit I found at the end of its season at the 99 cent store, and some terrible cheap rum. Somehow I made the cranberry attempt work, and a pretty good anise liquer---which I though members of my family would be much more enthusiastic about than the were, alas, I think I ended up putting the bad liquor through a drinking water filtering pitcher many times, and stopped being so stingy with the sugar (or agave or honey).
    I can only imagine how lovely it would be to take ripe produce from one's own garden and do it all properly.
    It's nice to know that someone is out there doing that kind of thing----Someone who can also offer the wonderful details that only come with genuinely intimate experiences like snapping tiny Brussels Sprouts buds from between the leaves, and watching the growth to its conclusion.
    My washbarrel of vegetables, herbs, and flowers has been banished, the blessedly-shady hedges & vines cut down, and potted trees unceremoniously 'trimmed' by the landlord's idiot mower-blower henchmen, so I can only read this sometimes as I would a happy fairy-tale. But, again, it is pleasing to know that these places exist.

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    Replies
    1. BethJanuary 12, 2015 at 8:50 PM

      Thank you for taking the time to comment! We did make the Cherry Bounce from scratch using wild choke cherries that grow along our property line. It's all a lot of work, but the best kind. I hope the garden karma gods stick it to your crummy landlord!

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