Notes: Warwick Valley winery is New York State’s first fruit distillery (since prohibition) located in the Hudson Valley area. Using New York State produce they produce a wide range of quality products. They also have a winery,cidery and bistro. While we haven’t been there yet the products we have sampled are wonderful and it sounds like a great place to visit.

They also produce a pear brandy, apple brandy, a bourbon barrel aged apple liqueur, bartlett pear liqueur, and a black currant cordial as part of their American Fruits series. In this instance they use New York State Montmorency Cherries and their own distilled spirit to produce this cordial.

First Impression: More an eau de vie style than some others, many have a lot of other distracting flavorings and/or too much sugar added to them. Crisp well defined cherry notes with alcohol. Slight sweet and tangy with slight cinnamon spice notes with slight, savory and mineral notes around the edges. Cherries, fruit and dark fruit notes with a nice tartness to them.

Appearance: Nice natural looking red cherry color, pristine in appearance. On swirling, leaves a oily even coat on the glass with long legs developing.

Taste: Smooth oily entry with touch of sweetness, then a little tartness and a pleasant warm of the sides of the tongue. Finish is long, aromatic and spicy.

Drinks: Could be used as an aperitif or digestif. Also could be used in a number of drinks calling for Cheery Heering or Maraschino Liqueur with adjustments in the recipes. Lighter in style than some but that could be an advantage depending on the drink you are making – and of course wonderful for pastries or vanilla ice cream.

Bottle: Standard clear class 1/2 cylinder 1/2 neck glass brandy bottle with simple but attractive graphics and paper labels. Red neckwrap and cork closure finish the package.

Final Thoughts: A nicely done cherry cordial, nice tartness and a good balance between the sour and sweet. A positive is the 375 ml size bottle – you can use it up and not worry about it going south before you reach the end.

Website: http://www.wvwinery.com/index.php?p=american_fruits

Nice website but not a lot of information on the spirits.