Cocktails with Maraschino cherries syrup
Maraschino cherries syrup is the sweet, red, cherry-and-almond-flavoured sugar syrup that maraschino cherries are packed in — the liquid drained from the jar.
Taste profile
Thick and clinging on the palate, finishing sweet and slightly synthetic, with a candied cherry note lifted by a distinct bitter-almond aroma.
How it's used
Bartenders spoon or splash it in as an accent for colour, sweetness and a cherry-almond note rather than as a base. Being a viscous sugar syrup, it dissolves slowly in cold drinks and should be stirred through rather than expected to mix like a spirit.
Substitutes for Maraschino cherries syrup
No single swap covers everything: any simple or fruit syrup replaces the sweetness, and grenadine or another red syrup supplies the colour, but the cherry-plus-bitter-almond note needs a genuine cherry syrup with an almond flavour element to reproduce.
Often confused with
Maraschino liqueur is a distilled alcoholic spirit made from marasca cherries; maraschino cherries syrup is a non-alcoholic sugar packing syrup that shares only a historical name link.
