Cherry Bounce: George Washington's Travel Tipple

About Cherry Bounce
A bounce is a drink made with a mixture of brandy and sweetened cherry juice. The earliest reference for such a drink dates to 1693 where it was referenced in W. Robertson’s Phraseologia Generalis as a "mingled [mixed] drink" called cherrybouncer. A bounce was also considered to be a colloquialism for cherry brandy, as the two beverages are almost exactly the same. The term bounce may have started to be used as a substitute for brandy to try to hide from tax collectors that there was alcohol in the drink to avoid paying the required duties (taxes) levied on spirits (but there is no proof of this theory).

George Washington’s diary reveals that in September 1784 he packed liquid provisions in the form of cherry bounce, port, and Madeira wine for a trip west. It was often safer to drink alcoholic beverages when traveling for fear of drinking water from unknown sources. A bounce was a drink made with a mixture of brandy and sweetened cherry juice, and the earliest reference to it dates to 1693 in W. Robertson’s Phraseologia Generalis in which the drink cherrybouncer was described as a mingled drink. Notably, later versions of cherry bounce often contain whiskey or rum. Martha Washington’s papers include a recipe for cherry bounce written in an unknown hand on paper with George Washington’s personal watermark. This recipe is made with classic brandy and the flavor is enhanced with spices.

To Make Excellent Cherry Bounce
Extract the juice of 20 pounds well ripend morrella cherrys Add to this 10 quarts of old french brandy and sweeten it with white sugar to your taste–To 5 Gallons of this mixture add one ounce
of spice such as cinnamon, cloves and Nutmegs of each an Equal quantity slightly bruisd and a pint and half of cherry kirnels that have been gently broken in a mortar–After the liquor has fermented let it stand close-stoped for a month or six weeks then bottle it remembering to put a lump of Loaf Sugar into each bottle.

Bounces made with brandy form the classic bounce, but whiskey, rum or even deodorized pure spirits were used frequently, as well. Recipes for whisky bounces appear in noted period cookbooks such as Directions for Cookery by Eliza Leslie (Philadelphia, 1847) and The White House Cook Book by Fanny Gillette (Chicago, 1887). Gillette also gives instructions for making a common type of bounce without sugar; all that was needed was “to put wild cherries and whiskey together in a jug and use the liquor as wanted.”

This Maryland recipe using rum is found in the c.1824 manuscript journal of Baltimorean, Ann Maria Morris (H. Furlong Baldwin Library at the Maryland Center for History and Culture, Baltimore):

Receipt for Cherry Bounce
Take the wild cherries before they are very ripe & dry them then fill a cask with the cherries & add rum to them until the vessel containing them is filled. Sweeten with best loaf sugar. Judge Bensons

Cherry Bounce, A Maryland’s Way Recipe
The recipe for Cherry Bounce in Maryland’s Way, the Hammond-Harwood House Cook Book (Annapolis, 1963) was submitted by Sarah Perry Rodgers, daughter of Commodore Perry, from her home at Sion Hill in Harford County. The first part of the recipe was evidently copied from another source and does not specify the type of spirit to use; instead, it non-committedly includes just best alcohol in the ingredients’ list. A note was added at the bottom of the recipe with a suggestion to add whiskey and rum; Sarah Perry Rodgers attributed this suggestion to a Miss Ridgely, a member of the prominent Ridgley family that lived at Hampton plantation north of Towson, a place allegedly famous for its cherry bounce.

Cherry Bounce
7 pounds of wild cherries (or morellos). Best alcohol, 2 quarts. Put in a gallon jug and shake thoroughly every day for a month. At the end of 3 months make a syrup of 4 pounds white sugar and 4 quarts water. Boil these together and strain into the jug. Let stand 4 months, strain and bottle. This should make 6 quarts of bounce.

[Note]: I make mine with morello cherries and I also put in a little whiskey and Jamaica rum. The latter idea was told me by Miss Ridgely of Baltimore and they were famous for their Bounce.

Modern Recipe Adaptation #1: Cherry Bounce

Ingredients Per 1 Quart Jar:

1 pound cherries (any variety you can find but sour are best)
1 cup simple syrup
1 cup brandy, whiskey or rum

Directions:

Wash the cherries and remove the stems. Pierce each cherry several times with a paring knife or skewer.
Place the cherries in the quart jar.
Pour the simple syrup and spirit of choice into the jar. Use a mashing fork or a spoon and mash the cherries enough to allow some of the cherry juices to seep out. Cover the jar and shake to mix up the sugar.
Place the covered jar(s) in a sunny spot in a place where you will see them every day. Shake the jars every few hours during the first 24 hours to distribute the sugar; you may even invert the jars during the first 24 hours to make sure the sugar gets evenly distributed. Shake every day for one whole week.
After one week in the sun, place the jar(s) in a dark place and allow them to age for at least another three months. I let mine age for five months.
After the aging process is complete, drain the cherries from the liquor. You can drink the bounce straight or cut it with water, or you can add it to your favorite cocktail. You can use the cherries as a topping for ice cream, whipped cream, jelly, cake, etc. But be aware that the cherries still contain their pits.

Modern Recipe Adaptation #2: Cherry Bounce
A quick and easy way to make cherry bounce is to mix together 1 cup simple syrup, 1½
cups tart cherry juice, and 1 cup brandy. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Riversdale Revels Cherry Bounce Punch
This punch was made using cherry bounce for the 2017 Annual Twelfth Night Ball at Riversdale House Museum in Riverdale Park, Maryland.

Ingredients: