Start Your Weekend Off on a Sweet Note With Tom & Cherry
Coming up with a new cocktail every week is fun, but after 125 episodes of this column, it got a little harder. Sometimes I ask my brilliant bartender friends for advice , but sometimes I just look at the different bottles on the trolley at the bar, wanting a new recipe to take shape. (The latter strategy is what I used today.)
This morning, straining my neck to see the bar cart from my couch, I saw a bottle of cherry liqueur (which I had forgotten about) next to a bottle of Old Tom gin. “Hehe. It’s Tom and Cherry! I mumbled to myself, before completely getting carried away with creating a cocktail from a pun.
Although cherry liqueur is a liqueur, it is quite tart. I first tried pairing it with lemon, assuming it would require a little acid, and the results were pretty dire. But as soon as I replaced the lemon with a little honey syrup, heaven parted and Tom & Cherry was born. It tastes slightly herbal alcoholic cherry juice and is delicious. To make it you will need:
- 2 ounces Old Tom gin
- 30 grams of cherry liqueur
- 1 teaspoon honey syrup (3: 1 honey and hot water by volume)
Add everything to a shaker with ice and shake until very cold. Strain into a glass compartment. If you want a side dish (or two), try a strip of lemon zest expertly strung over Luxardo cherries.