Bourbon Cherry Crush

I tried all kinds of recipes in 2010 when I tried 365 new recipes. One was this Bourbon Cherry Crush, a simple alcoholic bourbon-cherry slushie.

It's easy to make, and pretty delicious when made right (which I definitely didn't do 15 years ago). It's a refreshing, not-too-sweet frozen cocktail.

If you like this slushy but not sweet cocktail, you'll also enjoy my Bourbon Cranberry Cocktail and my Whiskey Sherry Cocktail.

When I was looking up pina coladas in 2010 I came across another blended drink recipe that The New York Times called Cherry Crush. Alex and I were having drinks, and I figured I might as well make it since I had the stuff for it.

More recently, I've come to appreciate the drink as a refreshing summer alternative to an Old-Fashioned. It's great for having on the patio as a counterpart to my Steak Salad with Lime and Cashews.

Ingredients

Ingredients are pretty simple:

• Bourbon: use a standard 40%, 80-proof one that you like the taste of.
• Cherries: fresh, and not grocery store maraschinos, which have no flavor. Use a cherry pitter to pit them. Frozen cherries are probably also okay.
• Lemon juice: fresh is better, but bottled is fine.
• Sugar
• Angostura bitters
• Ice: I use crushed ice if possible, to make it easier to blend.

Instructions

Pit the cherries; I recommend using a cherry pitter.

Combine all the ingredients in blender or bullet blender, like I use. Add the sugar directly to the liquid to help it dissolve.

Blend in 15 second increments for 1 minute total. The slushie blended better when I gave it a 10-15 second rest halfway through blending.

Garnish with mint or basil if desired. Enjoy immediately!

More Bourbon and Other Spirits

Here's other bourbon and drinks recipes I've made!

I hope this becomes a recipe you'll return to. If you try it, a star rating below helps others find it - and I'd love to hear how yours turns out in the comments! 💕 Questions or trouble? Drop a note, and I'll do my best to help.