As Kyle was sitting contemplating our summer blog posts, he realized something – there has never been a single recipe on this site featuring cherries. Cherries are one of summer’s bountiful delights. Their ruby red glow and sweetness always reminds one of the season. But, since it has been too sticky and muggy to want to bake anything (with or without cherries) – he found a boozy way to break our cherry silence.
The boozy path led Kyle immediately to a Sangria-type drink to combine cherries with a cherry-forward wine such as Pinot Noir. He ended up using a Pinot Noir incidentally named Cerise, the French word for “cherry”. In his Sangria-creating quest he was led to Amada, a Spanish restaurant in Philadelphia. They use a specific technique for making batches of Sangria: the Sangria fruit is marinated in a mixture of simple syrup and spirits (typically brandy and orange liquor – to keep things traditional) and then they mix it with wine and a bit of sparkling water to order. This helps marry the flavors of the fruit and booze, getting the fruit extra boozy – the best part of a glass of Sangria. It also keeps the fruit crisp, instead of getting completely water-logged from the wine and soda.
With cherries on his mind, he had thought of pairing them with oranges. Then the thought came to him, what if he kept the orange liquor, but swapped the brandy for bourbon – and maybe added a dash of bitters. Now the drink began to resemble an Old-Fashioned Cocktail. An Old-Fashioned can be delicious, but it can tend to be a bit too booze-heavy for the summer heat. The addition of wine and the sparkling water lightens up the Old-Fashioned-ness of the drink, transforming it into a delightfully refreshing summertime cocktail. So, the recipe’s title Old-Fashioned Inspired Sangria came to be – not quite an Old-Fashioned Cocktail and not quite a traditional Spanish Sangria. Inspired it is.
In order to avoid pitting all those cherries for the cherry syrup, The Kitchn has a pretty ingenious cooking hack. Just heat the cherries and sugar in a saucepan until the cherries start to burst, mash them up with a potato masher, separating the cherry flesh from the pits. Once the mixture has cooked for about 15 minutes or so, strain the whole thing through a sieve, leaving all those pits behind.
There you go! You can have a delicious cherry syrup without any fussy pitting or ruby-stained fingers (a stain that can last for days, I might add). Once the cherry syrup was all strained, the oranges, bourbon, orange liquor and bitters were added to create the fruity, boozy base – all inspired by Amada’s Sangria.
This Sangria makes the perfect entertaining cocktail. It allows you to have a delicious signature cocktail for all guests to enjoy, but at the same time, making it totally customizable to suit each person’s tastes. If one prefers a boozier (and simultaneously sweeter due to the cherry syrup), slow, sipping drink, add roughly a 2:1 ratio of fruit base to the wine before topping it off with a bit of sparkling water. If a more traditional, wine-forward Sangria is someone’s thing, use roughly a 1:1 ratio of the base and wine. Sometimes one doesn’t particularly like Sangria. Not a problem, you can always have a bottle (or two) of wine already open for their sipping pleasure. This way you can have a Build-Your-Own-Sangria (or Pour-Your-Own-Wine) bar, allowing everyone at the party to enjoy the same type of signature drink. Since the fruit and booze are made ahead of time, you do not have to play bartender all evening. Everyone, including the host/hostess, can sit back and relish in a glass of Sangria (or wine) and enjoy the party.
Cherry Syrup adapted from The Kitchn.
- 1 pound stemmed sweet cherries (about 3 cups)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup cold water
- ½ cup bourbon
- ½ cup Cointreau or other orange liqueur
- 6 to 8 dashes orange bitters
- 3 oranges, cut into wedges
- 1 - 2 bottles red wine (I used a Pinot Noir blend)
- Club soda
- Combine cherries and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir to coat cherries in sugar. Bring to a simmer, then use a potato masher to squash the cherries and release their juice. Cook at a simmer, stirring occasionally, until cherries are soft and start to break down, about 15 minutes.
- Set a strainer over a medium bowl and pour cherry mixture into the strainer. Press down on the solids until all the juice has gone through the strainer. Discard solids. Add cold water, bourbon, orange liqueur, bitters and orange wedges to the cherry syrup and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour to allow flavors to combine.
- To serve, ladle 4 ounces of the fruit-and-booze mixture (orange wedges included!) into a large glass filled halfway with ice. If you want a drink that is a boozier, slow-sipper type drink (think: Old Fashioned with notes of wine), add 2 ounces of red wine. If you want a drink that resembles a more traditional Sangria (albeit with bourbon and cherries) add 4 ounces of red wine. Top with a splash of club soda and a cherry.
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