Sour Cherry Vodka

As I have already mentioned somewhere, sour cherry is one of my beloved fruits. It is perfect for cooking, baking and especially preserving. For me sugarless plum jam is the only jam in the world superior to sour cherry jam and sour cherry based alcohols are simply outstanding. Unfortunately, frozen sour cherries  – the only ones I have found where I live – have  quite limited preserving possibilities. Putting them in long – keeping jars is simply impossible, but something told me to consider liquor production. In fact, looking through internet I have discovered frozen sour cherry infused vodka is totally feasible. Even though not as good as the one based on fresh fruit, it is apparently often made and appreciated by many home liquor makers. Following the advice from this forum and modifying certain details I embarked on my first sour cherry vodka adventure!

The cherry vodka can be made with any variety of cherries (as well the light red ones as the best variety, e.i. the black sour cherries), as long as they are sour of course. It doesn’t require maturing, takes 6 weeks to be made and, last but not least, it can be made at any time of the year! Even though I am only in the middle of the production process, judging from the aroma and colour the result is very promising…

(UPDATE: After the six impatient weeks I have filtered the cherry vodka. I can’t decide which is better: the taste or the colour! I can’t wait to see the changes after a couple of months…)

(UPDATE nr2: after a couple of months… the taste is even deeper, the colour still beautiful… I will definitely make it once more!)

Preparation: 6 weeks

Ingredients:

1/2 kg frozen or fresh sour cherries (without pits)

1/2 litre vodka (I used 90% alcohol diluted by half with boiled and cooled water, kept together for two days before the fruit addition)

250 g caster sugar

2 cloves


Put the frozen or fresh cherries in a big jar and cover with alcohol.

Close the jar and let the vodka infuse with the fruit.

After three weeks, strain the infused vodka and place it in a closed jar or bottle in a cool place.

Put the fruit back into the big jar and cover with sugar. Add two cloves. Close the jar.

Shake the jar from time to time to help the sugar dissolution.

After three weeks strain the cherry infused syrup, combine with the infused alcohol from the first preparation stage and strain it through a coffee filter or a piece of gauze folded four times.

At this point the sour cherry vodka is ready to be drunk, but it will improve with time.

Sour Cherry Vodka on Punk Domestics

4 Replies to “Sour Cherry Vodka”

  1. Too cool! I only make vanilla vodka and well, limoncello, but I don’t use vodka for that. Am digging all your recipes.

    1. I am so happy you are interested in my liqueur recipes! It’s a very creative and rewarding hobby 😉 I have never made vanilla vodka… Thanks for the idea!

  2. Fantastic recipes, love this website. I am going to make some vodka with cherries ready for xmas- great gift to take round to friends & much more fun than wine 🙂

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