“So I want the ‘The Cherry Thing’, Cherry Bling, Cherry Whisky, Cherry Bourbon.” Whatever it is you call it, ’cause we’ve heard all the names, is it Cherry Bounce that you are talking about. It’s one of our most popular products and people seem to just love it. We love it for that reason and so many more.
As you may or may not know we try to incorporate history in all we do and this beverage is chock full of history. Originating in 17th Century England, Cherry Bounce is a cordial that was popular throughout the Colonial era and said to be a favorite of George Washington, our favorite guest to the Sun Inn. We actually use Martha Washington’s recipe which was found in her Mount Vernon Cookbook to make ours.
So what is a cordial you ask? It’s a liquor that has been infused with fruit and spices and sweetened but making Cherry Bounce is a labor intensive process and we don’t cut corners. We start with a base spirit which is a multi-grain whisky product that we produce specifically for this product. Once we make that which takes about a month we start the magical transformation. Everything added to our spirit is real and natural in our Cherry Bounce. There are no flavorings other than what mother nature has provided. In our last batch we used over 100lbs of real unflavored natural dark sweet cherries, more than 10 gallons of natural tart cherry juice, real cinnamon and some other natural spices. We combine the spirit and natural ingredients and let them get to know each other in a maturing container for about a month or so. Only when they are thoroughly acquainted with each other do we start “the extraction”.
The extraction now involves getting all the natural deliciousness out of what is an incredibly delicious smelling slurry of liquor and broken down cherries. If we didn’t do this next step, #1 we couldn’t bottle it with the cherries in there and #2 it wouldn’t be nearly as delicious. We loose strain the solids from the liquid and press them in a fruit press to get all the deliciousness out. This process alone takes up to three day to complete.
The remaining “squeezed” solids are then used by our chefs at the Sun Inn and Peoples Kitchen to make a delicious addition to bread pudding, pancake topping, jelly etc.
When all the sweet boozy nectar is collected we’re then ready to strain it again through a fine strainer and send it to the bottling team. Bottling Video
Once bottled it’s ready to go to market and enjoyed by our consumers. So once it’s in your hands what do you do with it? This stuff is versatile. You can have it straight, pour it over ice cream add a little club soda to it, add a little CCS Select Grain Vodka to it if you want some more punch or as is our favorite, make yourself a the awesome Mount Vernon Manhattan.
Mount Vernon Manhatten:
3oz CCS 100% Barley Whiskey Batch #2
1oz Cherry Bounce
dash of bitters
So now maybe you can see why it’s a little pricey. It takes a lot of work to make something so special and that tastes so good. If it’s still in stock orders yours today.