Cherry Heering

Cherry Heering is a deep ruby-red Danish cherry liqueur, made in Denmark since 1818 from a recipe the Copenhagen merchant Peter Heering acquired — by tradition from his former employer's wife — and built into an export brand, steeping crushed dark Stevns cherries — pits and all — with spices in neutral spirit and maturing the result in oak. It tastes intensely of ripe morello-style cherry laced with cinnamon, clove and a soft, marzipan-like almond edge that comes from the crushed stones, over a long, gently bittersweet finish. Bottled at around 24% alcohol by volume, it is richer, darker and spicier than a plain cherry brandy, and less almondy and dry than clear maraschino. It is sipped neat or over ice as a digestif and poured into dessert dishes, but it is best known as a cocktail ingredient — the defining cherry note of the Singapore Sling and the Blood and Sand.