Cheery Brandy
Posted: Sun 07 Jan, 2024 1:18 pmInterestingly [ or not] somebody just gifted us a couple of kilos of over ripe red cherries so I've started a batch of cheery cherry brandy.
After stripping the stalks and discarding the rotten ones I would up with 1700 grams of fruit, I measured out 1200 grams of raw sugar and pummeled it with one of my wooden rolling pins trying to break a few of the pips for that authentic taste of bitter almonds that a good cherry brandy should have. I bought a half litre bottle of Polish Rectified and put everything into a 5 litre carboy.
Into a dark cupboard for a couple of weeks and then I'll decant and strain out most of the pips and pulp and back into storage for another few weeks then decant and strain again before adjusting the spirit level with enough brandy to get it down to 30%
Why I have to get neutral spirit distilled in Europe when we have an excess of white wine at the moment I can't tell you but I'd much rather use Neutral Grape Spirit at the lower excise rate than an import. Anybody else make their own fruit based or spice based liqueurs?
We also have a couple of litres of the Christmas spice honey liqueur maturing too
After stripping the stalks and discarding the rotten ones I would up with 1700 grams of fruit, I measured out 1200 grams of raw sugar and pummeled it with one of my wooden rolling pins trying to break a few of the pips for that authentic taste of bitter almonds that a good cherry brandy should have. I bought a half litre bottle of Polish Rectified and put everything into a 5 litre carboy.
Into a dark cupboard for a couple of weeks and then I'll decant and strain out most of the pips and pulp and back into storage for another few weeks then decant and strain again before adjusting the spirit level with enough brandy to get it down to 30%
Why I have to get neutral spirit distilled in Europe when we have an excess of white wine at the moment I can't tell you but I'd much rather use Neutral Grape Spirit at the lower excise rate than an import. Anybody else make their own fruit based or spice based liqueurs?
We also have a couple of litres of the Christmas spice honey liqueur maturing too
