Cherry Smash

I’ve been wanting to make this cocktail, the Cherry Smash, at home for some time. In late 2006, I believe it was, I tried it at the Flatiron Lounge (Julie Reiner there developed the drink) and I loved it, but didn’t think much more of it until I dug into
David Wondrich’s book Imbibe!. There’s a recipe for the Cherry Smash in there and Wondrich’s enthusiasm for well-made drinks made me really want to give it a try. (Many single young men I know got into the cocktails thing in college, partly as a seduction technique and mostly because they were budding alcoholics. This would culminate in several Leaving Las Vegas-style trips to the state liquor store next to Kroger, purchase of a paperback copy of Playboy’s Party Drinks and clearance of a bar space, usually the top of the dorm mini-fridge. I guess I’m a late bloomer.)

Shopping in Ohio over the holidays, I couldn’t find the dark cherry liqueur used by the Flatiron, a brand made in Denmark called Cherry Heering. I was told by clerks at two liquor stores that the state had halted on imports of it. You’d think an enterprising bartender could find an alternate cherry liqueur; you’d be wrong. I found liqueurs made with every fruit but cherry, including pomegranate, and it was driving me nuts. Back in New York, Park Avenue Liquors, my favorite single-malt scotch destination, echoed what the Ohio liquor-vendors had told me, but added that I should try Wine Library. And not only does that site carry it, it was on sale when I placed my order.

From my local liquor store, I bought the drink’s more common ingredients of Courvoisier VS (as specified by Wondrich, and if it’s good enough for Busta, it’s good enough for me) and Grand Marnier (which Wondrich says is a legitimate orange curaçao). The clerk was amused by this sale because apparently a well-off hobo used to come in with an empty 1-liter plastic Coke bottle, buy a hip-flask of those two liquors and mix them in the bottle to drink; apparently it was refreshing.

It’s of course not cherry season but the frozen Dole dark red cherries I tried for one batch were a fine substitute; even better from my local grocer were the fresh, here-today-gone-tomorrow cherries from Chile at $2.50/pound this time of year, though they involve more work for pit removal. (The Cherry Smash is too snooty for maraschino cherries, I’m afraid.) I soaked the fruit in some bottom-shelf Paul Masson “Grande Amber” brandy I had laying around from a previous bender. And if it’s good enough for Orson, it’s good enough for me.

Anyway, the drink is great: not sweet but tart and powerful. It may sound and look sweet and girly, but it ain’t. Stop by some time and I’ll shake one up for you.