Today, we made our bimonthly (as in every two months, not
twice in a month) trip to Andy's Liquor in Rochester, MN, to find some new kinds of booze and to stock up on favorites. Our shopping list included Cherry Heering, Carpano Antica, Vya sweet vermouth, Plymouth gin, and a case (!) of Darci's favorite wine, Predator. I had seen a good number of recipes for Cherry Heering in some of my cocktail books, so I was excited to find a bottle at Andy's. I really cannot rave enough about Andy's...they have amazing customer service (they carry the booze to your car!), the selection is pretty unbeatable, and they are just generally nice folks. Also, they have a good number of sample bottles of the stuff they carry, so if you are unsure about something, they'll often give you a taste.
Cherry Heering sort of smelled like cherry cough syrup, but it didn't taste anything like that. According to Imbibe, you can use Cherry Heering where you would use cherry brandy, but it really is not the same thing as a brandy. Anyway, the drink I decided to make is the Communist. This is a drink I saw in Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. This is originally from a 1933 pamphlet called "Cocktail Parade." I tried to find more information about the pamphlet online, but no luck. The ingredients:
- 1 oz gin (I used Tanqueray)
- 1 oz orange juice (I used fresh squeezed, but I would use bottled in a pinch)
- 1/2 oz Cherry Heering
- 3/4 oz lemon juice
Combine all ingredients in an ice-filled shaker, shake, and strain into a cocktail glass. This is quite sticky so watch out. We garnished with an orange peel. It's tart and tangy, and slightly sweet, although it might be sweeter if we used bottled orange juice instead of fresh-squeezed. I don't know that I could pick out any of the ingredients except the gin, so they worked well together. Tanqueray seems a bit floral/herbal to me, so I think next time I will use something that's a little more neutral. Overall, I enjoyed this drink and can't wait to try more Cherry Heering drinks.
I was just perusing my copy of that book tonight, too, and thinking that Cherry Heering was soon going to come up on my list of Things To Buy. The Communist looked interesting.
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