Cherry Whiskey meets Saison?

Northern Brewer General
1

Hi Gents, below is my 4 month old blended cherries and whiskey. I make a batch once we get fresh cherries down here and typically enjoy it during the holidays. I was wondering what you think of adding it to a Saison that I just racked to 2nd last night. Reason is the Saison, while it tasted good yesterday, it just tasted good. No pizaaz, no sparkle… So I figure since it will be ready to drink around Christmas, I might give it a little daring boost. I’d love your input! Also, if I were to add it to the beer, would I do this now in secondary or at bottling? HOW MUCH per 5gal? And is there need to modify the amount of sugar I would typically use at bottling? Thanks for the input. BTW: the whiskey is so infused with the cherries, it can be likened to a very ruby Port and is quite smooooth. A delightful concoction :slight_smile:

2

I know exactly what you’re talking about with a Saison that needs a little “zip” added - I have one carbing now that was nothing special out of the fermenter and unless the CO2 works magic on it, I’m going to do something to freshen it up. Probably add a quart of tart juice to it.

But cherry whiskey sounds interesting! Have you tried adding any to a glass of Saison? If you’re careful about measuring, you can just pour a 2-oz glass of Saison and start adding whiskey with a medicine dropper (the kind with 1mL lines) until you find the amount that tastes right. Then do it again with a fresh 2-oz glass to make sure (as you sample the first, the volume is dropping so any whiskey you add will be less diluted). Knowing that 30mL = 1 oz and the volume of your Saison, you can just scale the whiskey up for the whole batch. Or, you can add the whiskey directly to bottles if you don’t want to make it all the same.

3

Thanks Shadetree! Oddly enough I added about 1/2 oz of the whiskey above to about 5 oz of Widmer Pitch Black last night on a whim. I know this is apples to oranges as far as Saison goes but it sweetened the black and added a nice character. I am going to set up some taste tests and then pitch some of the whiskey to the bottling bucket as I see fit. I will record my measures. One item though; will this affect how much sugar I add for conditioning?
As always thank you for the advice :cheers: Mike

4

Hard to know how much fermentable sugar is in the whiskey - maybe just cut the priming amount by 20% to be on the safe side?

5

Man! That looks tasty! :shock:

6

It is really smooth. A pound of cherries and a 1.75 of CC. I think I put it together in July. It might add some real character to a spicy Saison.

7

I think you should pour off the whisky and then put the cherries into the saison secondary and leave for another month or two.

8

+1 That’s a great idea! You could save a little of the whiskey in case the final product needs more flavor at bottling time.

9

Great idea. In respect to the science of this experiment, I’d better taste a few of the little boogers to ensure all the flavor hasn’t been lost to the hooch :mrgreen:

Typically they’re not as enjoyable as the whiskey…