Kirsch
Fruit brandy made of morello cherries
Kirschwasser (, UK also , German: [ˈkɪɐʃvasɐ] ; German for 'cherry water'), or just Kirsch (German: [kɪʁʃ] ; the term used in Switzerland and France, less so in Germany), is a clear, colourless brandy from Germany, Switzerland, and France, traditionally made from double distillation of morello cherries. It is now also made from other kinds of cherries. The cherry stones are included in the fermentation process, not removed beforehand. Unlike cherry liqueurs and cherry brandies, Kirschwasser is not sweet. It is sometimes distilled from fermented cherry juice.
Serving
Kirschwasser is usually drunk neat. It is traditionally served cold in a very small glass and is taken as an apéritif. It is an important ingredient in fondue. People in the German-speaking region where it originated usually serve it after dinner, as a digestif.
Kirschwasser is used in some cocktails, such as the Ladyfinger, the Florida, and the Rose.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Kirsch” as fruit brandy made of morello cherries. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kirsch” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.