It’s fun to prepare, easy to make, matures quickly, is delicious to imbibe and looks beautiful as a gift for any occasion.  It’s massively moreish and has a deceptively high ABV for how yummy it is. It’s hard to get wrong and so it can provide a rock solid base to get all your friends who are still unsure, into the joys of homemade booze.

I first made cherry brandy whilst living in a Toyota Estima in New Zealand. We’d just finished a two month stint picking cherries in Blenheim, wine-country capital of the South Island. I worked in the packhouse for most of this time, listening to chinese pop music and playing ‘good cherry, bad cherry, bad cherry, good cherry, too-fat-and-juicy-to-waste cherry’ and generally going a bit insane.

Of course, there were benefits, and every day I was allowed to take home a crate of fruit for my own personal use. As I’m sure you can imagine, cherry pie, pickle, jam, beer, wine etc is particularly hard to make over a camping stove. So I began to dream of something sweeter.

The day dawned as I awoke with a plan. I felt as though the proverbial lightbulb had pinged on above my head and I basked in the warming glow. Which was lucky because at this point we had just arrived in Greymouth with our juicy final haul – for those of you fortunate enough to have never been to Greymouth, all you need to know is that it certainly lives up to its name.

The birth of my first cherry brandy, a romantic and delicate procedure, was performed in a tiny carpark full of sparse grasses dirtied by grit flung about by capricious winds and with the persistent gloomy drizzle forcing its way into the van no matter which direction we parked in to avoid it.

It would have to do. And on the plus side, I did learn some handy tricks.

Firstly, when sterilising a kilner jar on your rolled up bed in a tiny van, please don’t fill it full of hot water and shake it. It’s hot.

Secondly, don’t repeat that process with the vague idea that it exploded in your face because you forgot to put on the rubber seal for the first attempt. Again, it’s hot.

Thirdly, make sure you have running water to wash your hands – after picking the stones out of 2 kilos of cherries (approximately half the bunch) you will look like you’ve murdered your partner and all the baby wipes in the world won’t be able to help you.

We used 4 kilos of cherries and about a litre of brandy per kilo. Each jar called for 500g of plain sugar. I have read recipes calling for a cup of vodka but I don’t believe that’s necessary. I left half the stones in and added a couple of drops of vanilla essence to each jar.

After one month we drank a jar for New Years Eve and it was absolutely shockingly delicious. Just to note, we drank it in another car park – except this one had fireworks and lake views and wasn’t in Greymouth.

After two months we swapped a jar with a wonderful carver in return for his incredible hand-carved jewellery.

After two years, I’m still making cherry brandy to the same recipe and it’s been taken to weddings, birthdays, christmas’s and even just enjoyed at home.

It’s so simple and so delicious, give it a try. What’s more, my mum always said that if ever you have a headache, simply eat 5 cherries and you’ll be cured. I’m sure my homebrew does the same trick.

Bottoms up!