This post is a long time in the making. If you've been following me, you may recall that I decided to experiment with turning the fruits from my strawberry tree into liqueur a couple of years ago. But once the jars were left to hibernate in a darkened corner of our wine cellar, I promptly forgot about them.
About a year later, an interesting thing started to happen with this site. Right around October, when the strawberry tree fruits were beginning to ripen, visitors from seemingly every corner of the globe started to visit the post about my strawberry tree fruit liqueur experiment. Finally, this past fall, I started to get requests asking how the experiment panned out. So if you've been patient, here are the long-awaited results.
The process for bottling was extremely straightforward. I ran the contents of the jars through a sieve, poured the filtered liquid into a washed bottle, and then discarded the fruit. I had a little extra liquid left over so I poured a couple of shots for my mom and me to sample. When we each took our first sip, we immediately said "Wow". It was better than expected. Smooth, sweet, and somewhat almond-like. We tried to figure out how best to describe it but struggled to come up with anything we could truly compare it to. It was wonderfully enjoyable to sip and I immediately regretted not having made more.
Now, I had stated in my original post that the liqueur could serve as a perfect substitute for the sweet vermouth in Manhattans. So after reviewing some standard recipes, I came up with the following Strawberry Tree Fruit Liqueur Manhattan cocktail recipe for us to try:
Strawberry Tree Fruit Manhattan Cocktail Recipe
2 oz Hirsch The Horizon Straight Bourbon Whiskey
1 oz Strawberry Tree Fruit Liqueur
2 Dashes Woodford Reserve Aromatic Bitters
1 Dash Luxardo Maraschino Cherry Syrup
2 Luxardo Maraschino Cherries
Step 1 Place ice, bourbon, strawberry tree fruit liqueur, aromatic bitters, and cherry syrup into a cocktail shaker. Close the lid and shake until well-mixed.
Step 2
Strain into a chilled coupe glass.
Step 3
Garnish with cherries.
This recipe produced a well-balanced Manhattan that brought out the best in the bourbon and the strawberry tree fruit liqueur. It was mellow with just the right level of sweetness. A truly perfect Manhattan and, perhaps no surprise, my glass didn't remain full for long. In fact, I had to steal my mother's glass for the picture below.
So, did the experiment pan out? YES. My biggest regret is that I waited so long to pull the liqueur from its hibernation. I also regret not making more. I can already tell the one bottle I have won't last very long and I've already started to refer to it as liquid gold.
If you have a strawberry tree in your yard, try this! The liqueur is fantastic on its own as well as in mixed drinks and it will be perfect as a gift to give to friends and family. One final note, you do not have to wait two years for the liqueur to rest. Three months is all that's needed for the liqueur to pull the flavor from the fruits. So try it out and let me know what you think!