Cherry Heering - Before or After Dinner

While nearly everyone agrees that brandy is the par excellence drink to follow a meal, quite a few people are convinced that one of the very best before dinner drinks is the cherry liqueur known as Cherry Heering . This well known liqueur, readily available throughout the world, has been produced in basically the same method for nearly 165 years, a method that gives it a richness of flavor that make it unique in its class.

Made in Denmark, the process of making this liqueur starts with Zeeland or Stevns cherries. These dark colored cherries, which have a special deep rich taste, are crushed together with their stones and the pulp is then transferred to huge oak casks, some of which hold over 10,000 liters, there to be steeped in spirits and a secret combination of spices. The liqueur is then left to mature in the casks for at least three years.

Once bottled the liqueur, which has a nearly 25% alcoholic content, is remarkably smooth, rich, sweet and full of natural fla vor. This is one of the few liqueurs that is as appropriate before as after dinner. As popular in Europe and the United States, the most popular way to drink Cherry Heering is to pour it over ice cubes in a low glass. The cocktail made with this liqueur that I most enjoy is the Singapore Sling, made in a tall glass by mixing together 1 measure of Cherry Heering, 1 measure of gin, 1/3 measure of Benedictine, a few drops of Bitters and about 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice. Ice cubes are added, the glass is filled with soda water and, if desired, decorated with an orange or lemon slice. The cocktail is always served with a straw.

Sambuca- The Italian Touch

Few Italian beverages are as popular as Sambuca, an after-dinner liqueur flavored with anise, elderberrys, sugar and a secret combination of herbs and spices. First produced in the 1800s by the Molinari family in the area of Civitavecchia, about 80 kilometers from Rome, the drink is similar to arak, ouzo and pernod in that it has a 40% alcohol content, is as clear as water and has distinct flavors of anise and mint. Unlike those drinks, however, Sambuca does not turn cloudy in color when water is added to it. More than this, however, sambuca is a sweet after dinner drink, one that is considered especially subtle because of the complex overlay of flavors added by the various herbs that are used in making it.

Many products are called Sambuca but the best known is the one that continues to be bottled under the label of the original Molinary family. With rich, excellent and unalloyed flavors and a cleaan crisp aroma the beverage sits gently on the palate and makes for smooth easy sipping. Simply stated, those who enjoy after-dinner drinks will want to add this fine liqueur to their collections.

A well known Italian tradition, one that I am particularly fond of, says that sambuca should be served "mosca", by floating three (and only three) coffee beans on top of the liqueur and then setting it aflame. Those with less of a flare for either tradition or flamboyance will find that this liqueur can also be drunk straight, poured over ice cubes or used as an ingredient in cocktails.

Stunn -With No Appeal Whatever

During the course of many years I have tasted a great many alcoholic beverages. I have found very few to be as completely lacking in as the English produced Stunn that has recently found its way into bars, pubs and cocktail lounges from New York to Tel Aviv and from Berlin to Tokyo.

Made by adding 5% of alcohol to carbonated fruit-flavored drinks, this stuff comes with catchy titles such as Spicy Surprise (which contains apples and cinnamon), Potent Passion (blackcurrants), Fruit Fantasy (lemon), and Exotic Orange. Whether one describes the design of the 330 ml. bottles in which these beverages come as psychedelic or merely as vulgar is unimportant. The drinks themselves are watery, have too little identifiable flavor, far to much sugar and rely on such coarse alcohol that I cannot understand why anyone would spend their hard-earned money for the privilege of drinking them.

© Daniel Rogov