The Cherry on Top
I recently acquired two jars of cocktail cherries for my home bar. One had been on my shopping list for a while and had been out of stock for almost as long. The other I received as an add on promotion, bundled with another product. No complaints there. The first was Luxardo Original Maraschino cherries and the latter being The Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. Cocktail cherries made with J.P. Wiser’s Canadian Whisky.
The Luxardo Maraschino cherry or Marasca Luxardo is a small, dark purple, nearly black cherry that produces a rich juice and is grown in north eastern Italy. The Luxardo Distillery has been a complete family controlled operation since 1821. The Luxardo Original Maraschino Cherry is the grand-daddy of what we know as a maraschino cherry today.
The Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. (not to be confused with Jack Ruby*) is also a family run company stretching between Charleston South Carolina and Lexington Kentucky. The company is named after the co-founder’s great-grandfather. Jack Rudy sounded like a “man’s man”. A pilot, inventor and craftsman. A WWII aircraft mechanic, family man and lover of a good drink.
Upon opening both jars you are met with that candy-like cherry aroma. Both share a very similar claret colour. Putting them into white ramekins you see the colour really pop. The Luxardo cherries are smaller in size and the Jack Rudy’s are larger and most have stems intact.
For flavour both are very similar. The Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. certainly did their homework. As for the JP Wiser’s Canadian Whisky used in the batch, I did not taste or feel any notes of whisky. The biggest difference between the two are as follows. The Luxardo Original Maraschino cherries are candied and bottled in a rich syrup. What you would expect in a maraschino cherry. The Jack Rudy cherries have a crisp and fresher bite to them, they are bottled in a less viscous syrup, almost juice-like. The Luxardos with their viscosity allow the sweetness to linger much longer on the palate. The Luxardos come in a 400 gram jar at a Canadian retail price of $22. The Jack Rudy cherries come in a 383 gram jar. The Jack Rudy were a liquor store free promotion but the equivalent jar of their Bourbon cocktail cherries retails in Canada for $23. A cherry or two more for a dollar less with Luxardo if you’re pinching pennies.
If you are looking to step up your home bartending game and move away from the supermarket, nuclear, vibrant red cherries, either of these would be an excellent option. Being that the Jack Rudy cherries are advertised as being made with whisky in them you may want to reserve them for your favourite whisk(e)y based cocktails. I’d take either one on top of a sundae or in my old fashioned any day.
Are there any cocktail cherries on the market that you would recommend or would want me to try in a future blog? Please email below or DM on social media.
*Jack Ruby was the killer of Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected killer of US President John F. Kennedy