I want to thank Gene (Hikerman) for putting me onto yet another use for my SV pool. With his suggestion, I wanted to try infusing fruit into another alcohol. I have done strawberries successfully with vodka. Recently I finally found some fresh sweet cherries to try with some rye. I cut 3 pounds of beautiful looking sweet cherries in half and removed the stone in each. I mashed them up and split them between 2 quart jars. I split the rye between the two jars. Into the pool at 155 degrees. Gene recommended 160 for 2 hours, but I couldn’t get my setup to go above 155. So, I added another 30 minutes to my swim. Plunged the jars into an ice bath to cool everyone down.
The last step was to strain the good juice out of the jars and get ready to make a new version of an old favorite of mine, an Old Fashioned.
In an old fashioned glass place 1 tsp brown sugar. Add 2 - 3 dashes of bitters (I used Peychaud’s Bitters) and a small splash of club soda (or in my case, a splash of water). Stir to dissolve sugar. Add ice and top off with cherry-infused rye. Sit back and enjoy!!
Art