Fall 2019 Issue

WHO KNEW BOUNCE HAD A PORTUGUESE COUSIN
 

You’ll get your share of beverages in this issue, so I am veering away from the title of this column to share an experience I had a few months ago when I visited Portugal with Leslie and my sister Julie.

I bring it up now because we are into cherry bounce season. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the beverage, it’s a liqueur (often home brewed) primarily made from the tart cherries grown here in Door County.

While many of us look at cherries as that wholesome all-American produce linked to George Washington and grandma’s cherry pies, there is a darker side to the fruit that when bathed in brandy is allowed to sit and ferment in your basement.

As much as many Wisconsinites (and especially those on the Door Peninsula) like to think the origin of cherry bounce rests right here, that’s a long way from the truth both geographically and chronologically.

On a website appropriately titled georgewashingtonwired.org, the story goes on about how our first president carried a brandy-based cherry drink blended with Madeira and port with him on an expedition across the Allegheny Mountains in 1784.

Apparently George liked his cherries stewed. Who knew?

But during our trip to Portugal, it became apparent that the drink’s possible origins reach farther back to a liqueur known as Ginjinha or simply Ginja. The drink takes its name from the ginja berries, apparently a distant relative to our Montmorency tart cherry. The Portuguese use their famous Madeira wine in tandem with the fruit to create a product somewhat similar to our own.

You can find it throughout Lisbon, even along some of the backstreets where ladies set up tables on corners and peddle the concoction.

You can find it throughout Lisbon, even along some of the backstreets where ladies set up tables on corners and peddle the concoction. To make it especially difficult to resist, the Licor de Ginja is served in a chocolate shot glass, and at one Euro a belt the narrow streets can gradually begin to further tighten. I kind of like their entrepreneurial spirit, but dispelling spirits outdoors on city street corners is generally discouraged in this country.

While ginja is extensively marketed in Portugal and is extremely popular with the tourists, cherry bounce remains more a home brew in this country, with each family providing a slightly different twist on the basic recipe.

One thing you learn about bounce is that there are as many ways to make it as there are people who drink it. Martha Washington had her own recipe that called for 20 pounds of cherries, 10 quarts of cognac, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pint of crushed cherry stones.

Here in Door County many people have already dumped their cherries in a variety of spirits with sugar and other spices to begin the aging process.

For many people the target date is the holidays, when most feel the beverage has had the appropriate amount of time to stew in the darkest recesses of the cellar and can be broken out in celebration of the season.

Some of those creations are held over until January, when bounce becomes more than a tasty cordial and actually a means of competition.

Early next year the 16th annual cherry bounce contest will be held at Birmingham’s Bar, located on Bay Shore Drive north of Sturgeon Bay. No, there isn’t a more elaborate title, and after talking to bar owner Brad Birmingham I wasn’t convinced that it should even be capitalized.

It was determined that the winner would have the distinction of having his or her name on a wooden toilet seat that owner Brad Birmingham agreed to exhibit at the bar.

Meanwhile, the bounce will ferment this fall until uncorked in January for a judging panel that Brad has divided into groups to keep each judge from having to taste each entry and have his or her judgment blurred.

Speaking for the judges, the chocolate cups would be a welcome addition.

Jon Gast 
Co-Owner/Editor of Edible Door