Cocktail no 68 - Eton Blazer

It helps if you like Kirsch, that fiery eau de vie made from morello cherries & their stones. The Kirsch is the dominant taste, with the lemon undercutting it and highlighting that unique sour cherry flavour. The gin follows as an afterthought, with the sugar syrup compensating for the tartness of the lemon juice. The soda gives some bubbles and dilution that prevents these very strong flavours being over-powering.

It is incredible refreshing and perfect for a hot summers afternoon as we have today and the Cherries are even better after their soak in the drink

Certainly worth adding to your to-try list.

Recipe

25 ml Birkdale Gin
25 ml Kirsch
15 ml Lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar syrup
Soda water
2 cocktail cherries

Place ice, Birkdale Gin, Kirsch, lemon juice and sugar syrup in a tumbler. Stir, then top up with soda water. decorate with cherries.

Cocktail No 50 Kirsch Cobbler

As mentioned previously with Kirsch you either love it or hate it, so I suspect this one won't be too popular. Its an interesting drink all the same. The "attack" that you get from Kirsch is tamed very extensively. Partly its through diluting the spirits so its not too strong. Partly its from the alkaline and chalky taste from the bicarbonate in the soda water. The Maraschino adds a sweetening, though I can't say whether I can taste it or not - it does seem more Cherry flavoured than Kirsch alone, so I think it must be rounding out the flavours.

I would say its worth trying at least once. Better as a long drink in the summer perhaps.

Recipe

Add ice cubes to a goblet. Add equal measures of Kirsch and Maraschino and 4-6 Maraschino Cherries. Stir and top up with Soda Water.

Cocktail No 43 Eton Blazer

The most expensive cocktail to date, due to the ridiculous price of Kirsch here in the UK. Pick a bottle up when next in France or on a ski trip and it will be 1/3 the price.

Kirsch is like most of the Eau de vie family - you either love them or loath them. There is rarely any middle ground. Fortunately for me, I love them. The flavour is hard to describe. There is a bitter nuttiness, with a very delicate hint of the fruit above it. It has to be drunk icy cold.

Water of Life: Eau de vie Wikipedia

There are so many conflicting recipes for this one on the internet. Some substitute Maraschino for Kirch, which is also cherry based. I'll have some from my brother in Naples in a few days, so will compare the tastes. Absolut uses Cherry Brandy, which is a completely different and more full cherry flavour. The Cocktail database and the Savoy Cocktail book both use Kirsch, but in lower proportions than my book and the lemon juice is higher. So I am going with Kirsch as the authentic recipe.

I have wanted to make the Eton Blazer for years and yesterday purchased a tiny 20 ml bottle of Kirsch for the purpose. The taste comes through very strongly, but also very differently. The bitter sweetness, is changed by the lemon juice and the sour actually makes the Kirsch light cherry flavour more pleasant. The soda water dilutes everything so its not too strong and a great highball for the summer.

Recipe

Add ice, 1 measure Gin, 1 measure kirsch and 1/2 measure Lemon Juice to a tumbler with 2 teaspoons sugar syrup. Stir then top up with Soda Water. Decorate with 2 Cherries.

Aah chilled Maraschino cocktail cherries - I think I am getting hooked!