Welp, the December holiday season *is* the crazy-busiest time of year for anyone working in the retail spirits and wine business, and that’s my excuse for not posting a thing in 10 days. I’ll try to make up for it. After all, the Twelve Days of Christmas haven’t even started yet (I call on my liturgy-nerd friends for defense on this point). 

The Christmas Cheer-y is boozy cherries in cherry “sauce,” like a high-proof cherry pie with no crust. It’s sweet, but with a touch of bitter so it’s not cloying at all. This is a combination of six (count ‘em, six) ingredients, few of which most households will have laying around.

Ours, of course, is not most households. I had these ingredients, but would never have thought to combine them this way (thank you, Difford’s Guide). Most households in large metropolitan areas (be proud, Rochester NY, I’m declaring us ‘large’) should be able to find the ingredients when not burdened by winter storms or holiday shopping mobs. 

CHRISTMAS CHEER-Y
1 oz Oude Genever
1 oz Barolo Chinato
1 oz Heering Cherry Liqueur
½ oz Plymouth Gin or London Dry Gin of choice
¼ oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
2 dashes Fee Brothers Gin Barrel Aged Orange Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass, add plenty of ice and 20-25 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail coupe or Martini glass. Express the oils from a peel of orange zest onto the drink, discard the orange peel, and garnish the cocktail with Luxardo Maraschino cherries.

Merry Christmas, indeed!!

A little more about the less common ingredients in this drink…

Oude Genever is a malty “proto-gin” created centuries ago by the Dutch. There are two essential styles of genever under European Union law: Yonge Genever (less malty) and Oude Genever (more malty). The best Oude Genever I’ve ever had is De Borgen’s. Read more of the genever story in this previous Libation Lounge post. 

Barolo Chinato is a ‘near-vermouth’—a Barolo DOCG wine (from the Nebbiolo grape, grown and vinified in Piedmont, Italy) aromatized with a variety of herbs and spices and pleasantly bittered with chincona bark (a/k/a quinine). If you can’t find a Barolo Chinato, there are some similar Italian aperitifs that could serve. I’ve used a good Vermouth di Torino with pleasing results.

Heering Cherry Liqueur is the most prominent donor of cherry flavor to this cocktail. It’s more full-bodied and syrupy than the Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur that also appears in this recipe, which is aromatic but clear and lighter. Each of these liqueurs adds something a little different to the drink, so for best results I recommend against using just one or the other.