Cherry Smash
Bourbon, muddled fresh cherries, lemon, sugar and mint over cracked ice. The smash in cherry season — dark fruit and bourbon with mint on the nose, and the best thing to do with a June cherry glut.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Muddle the cherries and lemon wedges in a shaker with the simple syrup until the cherries are crushed.
Add the mint leaves and press gently, then add the bourbon.
Fill with ice and shake for 10 seconds.
Strain over cracked ice in a rocks glass and garnish with a slapped mint sprig and a cherry.
A thoughtful finish
- Pit the cherries; a pit in a muddler is a broken glass.
- Muddle the cherries and lemon hard, the mint gently.
- Strain through a fine sieve if you want it clean; some bars dump it all in.
Common mistakes
- Maraschino cherries from a jar, which are sugar.
- Shredding the mint.
- Too much syrup; the cherries are sweet.
A few good questions.
What does a Cherry Smash taste like?
Bourbon with dark fresh cherry, lemon and mint over ice — a fruity Whiskey Smash.
Sweet or sour cherries?
Sweet Bing cherries for a rounder drink; sour cherries for a sharper one with less lemon.
Can I use frozen cherries?
Yes, thawed; they muddle easily and the flavour holds.
Rye or bourbon?
Bourbon; its sweetness suits the fruit.
Variations
- Whiskey Smash — Bourbon, lemon, sugar and mint.
- Maple Bourbon Smash — Bourbon, lemon, maple and mint.
- Bourbon Cherry Sour — Bourbon, lemon and cherry liqueur.
- Mint Julep — Bourbon, mint and sugar over crushed ice.
Where it comes from
c. 2000s · United States
The smash is a nineteenth-century form — spirit, citrus, sugar and mint muddled and served over ice — and Dale DeGroff’s Whiskey Smash of the 1990s brought it back; the fruit smashes followed, with whatever was in season muddled in, and the Cherry Smash is the early-summer one. Fresh cherries, pitted and muddled with the lemon and sugar, give bourbon a dark fruit that suits its vanilla, and the mint keeps it fresh. It appears on American menus from the mid-2000s and in Difford’s and Liquor.com since. Sweet cherries (Bing) make a rounder drink; sour cherries a sharper one, with less lemon. A dash of bitters is a good addition.
Sources
- Difford's Guide, Cherry Smash, 2012 (reference)
- Liquor.com, Cherry Smash, 2019 (reference)
- Dale DeGroff, The Craft of the Cocktail, 2002 (book)
Strength. About 1.5 US standard drinks at an estimated 23.5% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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