What is Cherry Heering?

Cherry Heering (Peter Heering) is a cherry liqueur produced in Denmark: cherries are steeped with spices in a spirit base, then sweetened, yielding a dark red-brown, viscous liquid at 24% ABV. Older recipes sometimes call it cherry brandy, though it is a liqueur rather than an unsweetened eau-de-vie.

Maraschino is distilled, clear, and pit-forward. Heering is macerated, deep in color, and fruit-forward. Grenadine is pomegranate syrup. None of the three replace the others without changing the drink’s color, sugar, and cherry character.

Cooked cherry, baking spice, and more body than maraschino liqueur. It is red-brown and substantial, not clear and nutty.

Maraschino smells of pits and almond. Heering smells of preserved fruit. Grenadine smells of pomegranate and sugar. The three are not a flavor gradient of the same thing.

Peter F. Heering began producing the liqueur in Copenhagen in 1818. It became a staple of European and colonial hotel bars. The Blood and Sand (Scotch, Cherry Heering, sweet vermouth, orange juice) is named for the 1922 Rudolph Valentino film and appears in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book (1930).

The Singapore Sling’s cherry component is Heering in most reconstructed specifications. Early-twentieth-century hotel-bar recipes keep using it because the macerated, spiced cherry profile is difficult to approximate with other bottles.

A half-ounce is typical. Blood and Sand is equal parts of the four ingredients, shaken. Substituting maraschino produces a paler, drier, more almond-like drink. Substituting grenadine produces a sweeter, less cherry-specific sour.

Store upright. The liqueur is stable but can fade. Invert gently if it has been sitting, as sediment may collect. Refrigeration is optional.