Bordeaux Cherry Mezcal

Pair smoky mezcal with the sweet fruitiness of real maraschino cherries to get Bordeaux Cherry Mezcal! It's deliciously good with dark cherry flavors. Plus, it only needs a handful of ingredients.

What are Maraschino Cherries?

Old World maraschino cherries are from Croatia and Italy. The cherries steep in a cherry liqueur yielding a luxurious concoction. Italian Luxardo cherries are the gold standard for cocktails and their continuous quality and delicious flavor have stood the test of time. During Prohibition, these European cherries were banned in the U.S. because of their alcohol content.

To compensate, American-made maraschino cherries were made without alcohol to replace the boozy European ones. They became the "cherry on the top" for ice cream sundaes, Shirley Temple drinks, and even Old Fashioned cocktails. Neon red, over the top sweet, and almost waxy in texture, they taste nothing like real cherries, thanks to the calcium chloride, sulfur dioxide, sugar syrup, and red food coloring added to them.

Recently, I found a jar of delicious Oregon-grown Bordeaux cherries. Made by Royal Harvest, they cost less than one-third of the price of Luxardo. No red food coloring here, just deep dark cherry flavor. They are perfect for this smoky cocktail!

What is Mezcal?

Many people see mezcal as a smokier version of tequila. They are both agave spirits but that is where the similarity ends. Mezcal production includes any kind of agave but tequila comes from only the blue agave. Because the core of the agave is roasted in the production of mezcal, the final product has a smoky, earthy flavor.

The production of mezcal is all done by hand by workers called mescaleros. The labor intensive methods and small batch production are part of why mezcal is a higher price point than many other agave spirits. Each bottle contains many hours of labor.

Lessons Learned

• If you have room in the budget for Luxardo, go for it! You will not regret buying them.
• Looking for a less pricey option? There are several good quality maraschino cherries including Royal Harvest, Trader Joe's Amarena Cherries, and Peninsula Premium Cocktail Cherries.
• Mezcal range in price from $30-ish up into the $100-ish per bottle. If you are new to drinking mezcal, start with a small, more reasonably priced bottle like Madre Mezcal. Or visit a bar that does a mezcal sampling to determine which one you like best.

Hat Tips

Many thanks to Hip Cooks for the blood-red cherry margarita recipe inspiration.

Print