Post #143690 by dot hog on Mon, Feb 28, 2005 9:50 AM

Ahh, I get it. For a Sling, you definitely want to use the cordial/liqueur. Need the sweetness!

In the future, looking up variants on your favorite cocktails will help you in figuring out whether to use kirschwasser or so-called cherry brandy. For instance, with the Sling, a lot of bartenders on the cheap (or in a pinch) just throw some gin, sour, and sloe gin together. (Yuck.) That sloe gin is your tip-off that the more cordial-like of the two would probably work best.

However, I'm sure you're looking to make an original Sling, in which case the "cherry brandy" you want is definitely something like a dark, sweet liqueur along the lines of Heering.

If you're looking to experiment around with cocktails and learn about them, you can always do what I do when I'm not sure what to use: I make as many variants as needed to figure out which works for me. So you could make a 1/4 Sling with the "cherry brandy" and a 1/4 Sling with the kirschwasser and decide which you like best. (I have a feeling it'd be the sweeter version.)

In any case, good luck with your mixology.

EDIT: The direct answer to your last question is answered, kinda, in my first post. I'll restate it here: When most folks refer to "cherry brandy," they're probably looking for some sweet, cherry-flavored liqueur, like Heering, which is typically dark, sweet, and not so strong in terms of proof. They're not looking for an actual brandy made from the distilled juice of cherries, which is clear, dry, and high proof, and called "kirschwasser" when it's made by German speakers. Remember that this isn't a certainty, it's just a hunch based on the common misuse of "cherry brandy" to denote a cherry liqueur.

[ Edited by: dot hog on 2005-02-28 09:56 ]