Cherry Blossom Cocktail — Cold sake over muddled cherries, lengthened with ginger ale

Cherry Blossom Cocktail

Cold sake over muddled cherries, lengthened with ginger ale

Number of people

Ingredients

  • 2 ozSake
    Cold, and the only spirit in the glass
  • 4 dropsSpiced Cherry Bitters
    Gentian root under the cherry and the spice
    Substitute: Any cherry-led aromatic bitters
  • 3Cocktail Cherries
    Bourbon cherries in the original
    Substitute: Any brandied cherry
  • topGinger Ale
    Enough to fill; it carries the drink rather than flavours it

Instructions

  1. Drop 3 cocktail cherries into a rocks glass and muddle them gently with the back of a spoon

    Break the skins; do not pulp them

  2. Pour in 2 oz cold sake and add 4 drops spiced cherry bitters
  3. Fill with ice and top with ginger ale
  4. Garnish with a lime wedge and a lime peel

Technique Notes

Muddle the cherries gently with the back of a spoon, not a muddler. The point is to break the skins and let the syrup out, and pulping them leaves fruit debris that never settles and makes the last third of the glass unpleasant.

Why the Cherry Blossom Cocktail Works

Sake and ginger ale are both light and both faintly sweet, and neither has any bitterness of its own. Four drops is enough to be the whole structural backbone of the drink, which is unusual and is the reason it works at this strength.