Drink: Cherry Vodka

Recipe by Anne Applebaum & Danielle Crittenden Wiśniówka"Life is dandy, cherry brandy!" So goes a line from a poem by Russian writer Osip Mandelstam—meant to be ironic, of course, as he lived in the darkest days of Stalinism and died in the Gulag. Cherry

Ingredients

1 1/8 lb/510 g fresh sour cherries (or black currants or jagody)
25 oz/750 ml clear vodka
1 to 2 tbsp sugar (optional)

Instructions

Pit and halve the cherries. As in all vodka recipes, it is important that the flesh of the fruit be somehow exposed.
Fill a jar with the cherries, but do not pack it. Pour the vodka on top and seal tightly. Leave in a dark place, preferably for at least 2 weeks—or up to 6 months. At the end of that time, open the jar and strain. If you have a very fine-mesh strainer, that will do. If not, use an ordinary strainer lined with a cheesecloth or even a coffee filter. Set the strainer over a large bowl, ideally one from which you'll be able to easily pour afterward. Pour the vodka mixture through the strainer and allow the fruit to sit, seeping liquid, for a good hour or so, stirring a bit and pressing if need be to make the liquid go through.
Now taste the vodka. Add sugar if you want an after-dinner liqueur, or leave it out if you want something sharper. Pour (or ladle) into a decorative bottle.

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