In the past few years, we’ve established a new tradition. It involves making a batch of Smoked Cherry Bounce for the holiday season. When we started making Smoked Cherry Bounce, it was for personal enjoyment. However, we quickly realized it also makes a great holiday gift to share with friends. After all, whiskey is always better when shared.
After looking at my calendar and remembering I needed to return to school this week, I knew it was time to get started on a new batch of Smoked Cherry Bounce. This year will be Batch #4. Although the general recipe is posted below, I should note that each batch is a little different. This year, I used a little less sugar and substituted sugar in the raw for regular, granulated sugar. I don’t know how it turned out for months.
Making Smoked Cherry Bounce is a labor-intensive process, and it needs to sit for a few months for the flavors to blend. However, it is worth the wait for this fantastic Smoked Cherry Bounce.
Smoked Cherry Bounce is a versatile liqueur. It was reportedly George Washington’s favorite drink, and I can see why. You can sip it straight up, use it in various cocktails, bake or cook with it, or even use it as a garnish for various cocktails. Best of all, the numerous cherries from each batch make a perfect garnish for various cocktails.
Looking ahead to the finished product in 2023, Alie and I plan to use the leftover cherries to make Bourbon Cherry Fudge. Keep an eye out for the recipe sometime in December.
Preparing Smoked Cherry Bounce
You can make Smoked Cherry Bounce using a smoker or a grill. If you don’t have access to a smoker, take the cherry wood and place it on tinfoil, and wrap the wood into a pouch. Make sure to poke holes in the tin foil. Then, place the wood chip pouch directly over the flame or heat source in your grill. You will need to remove the drip guard using a propane grill.
If you’re using a grill, the temperature might be hotter than 225 degrees. You can resolve this issue by leaving the other burner in the off position and placing the cherries over the cool side. On the grill, the cherries will likely need less time to pick up the smokey flavors in the cherry wood.
We’ve used a variety of whiskeys for our Smoked Cherry Bounce over the past few years. For this batch, we used Evan Williams Black Label. In 2023, we returned to the black label Evan Williams for our newest batch. Smoked Cherry Bounce would also be great with a rye whiskey, which was generally how Martha Washington created her batches. If you use rye whiskey, we recommend Rittenhouse Bottled-in-Bond Straight Rye Whiskey. It is budget-friendly, and the 750ML bottles are relatively easy to find. Check out our Rittenhouse BiB review here.
Making a batch of Smoked Cherry Bounce takes a few hours, so we recommend tackling this project when you have more time. Once you’ve stored it, you must wait patiently for the liqueur to age. Although you can drink it immediately, you will want to wait at least 12 weeks to experience the full flavor of the Smoked Cherry Bounce. However, aging longer often allows the whiskey flavor to soften and more of the cherry flavor to emerge. The wait is definitely worth it.
If you plan to bottle your batch of Smoked Cherry Bounce, we recommend using these 5oz bottles. They come with a heat shrink wrap to help preserve the Smoked Cherry Bounce. They’re the perfect size if you want to share with friends.
Happy Exploring!
Smoked Cherry Bounce
Ingredients
- 6 cups Cherries halved and pitted
- 2 cups Sugar
- 3 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 37 ounces Bourbon or Rye Whiskey
- 1 cup Cherry wood chips
Instructions
- Place cherry wood in a smoker or grill set to 225-250 degrees.
- Place 1/3 of the cherries on a foil or baking tin. Smoke for 60-90 minutes.
- In a large saucepan, combine all the cherries (smoked and fresh), sugar, and lemon juice. Heat on medium until the sugar is dissolved.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for 25 minutes.
- Remove contents from heat. Cool for at least 1 hour.
- Add cherry mixture to a lidded, glass container. Add whiskey. Seal tightly and store in a dark cool place for 12 weeks.
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