A few weeks ago I started a post to ask the best way to season cherry wood. I wasn't thinking outside the box and assumed I should threat cherrywood the same way as oak.
But OtisT who is a longer time on the subject suggested this:
"So I think a question about your fruit wood is, are there tannins in it? Or perhaps, are there other undesirable compound in fresh wood that would wash out over time in the weather? If I had both fresh cut and seasoned wood from the same type of tree I would love to run a comparison test."
"The best suggestion I have for you now is to try using a small amount of the fresh wood now in a few jars of spirits and to season the rest of the wood. Possibly try a tea test now too to help learn a bit more. In a few years you will have a better idea as to the impact of seasoning on cherry wood."
So I cut sticks out my (almost) fresh cherry wood and toasted them at 160°C/320°F and 180°C/356°F and 200°C/392°F for 1hour. Each stick have a surface of approximatively 8.5cm²/ 3.35"² and went in 100ml UJSSM (60%corn-30%oat @52% distilled with wash in the thumper. Great grain taste, conservatives cuts: no heads, a bit of tails), get nuked and vacuumed for 24h. I knew it was way too much wood to be balanced but I was interested in the cherry tastes.
This are my conclusions:
160°C
Wood: smell of nut, toasted bread, warm sand.
52%: smell gives a very small hint of cherry
Watered down: no real cherry taste, grain is still present but with a not very pleasant "woody" taste.
180°C
Wood: a "crumble" smell, buttery and sweet.
52%: hint of buttery smell, grain smell is attenuated.
Watered down: This gives a big difference! Smells and tastes like "cherry candy", all other tastes are almost gone. For my tastes, it is somewhat sickly. But my best friend tasted it and she finds it fantastic, all tastes are in the nature...
200°C
Wood: Buttery and fruity smell, a bit spicy.
52%: Cherry smell is less present, most like a cherry blossom, and very sweet.
Watered down: Very pleasant result, for my taste this is by far my favourite. It's like a sweet cherry butter cake, with a hint of spice. The somewhat sickly cherry taste that was overwhelming is now much more balanced, more "natural". Unlike the "chemical" cherry candy taste I found in the 180°C. It also smoothen, soften the UJSSM compared to my oaked version.
For both 180-200°C I can really understand why Otis tried cherry wood with rhum, as the sweet taste should marry better with rhum than with grain. I ordered 25kg of Reunion sugar cane and some molasses to try...
Conclusion:
First, keep in mind that:
Cherry wood may be very different (European, American, and different species/sorts).
My UJSSM was 52%, other ABV could give other results. I wanted stronger ABV but I made a mistake in my calcs... Damn!
But my tests results are not so much different than what Otis already described. Better to use a bit of cherry wood if you want a good balanced result. How much is a bit? I would stay between 4-8cm²/L.
For now I used 1 stick @200°C in 700ml, nuked and vacuumed (12h), and added the 3x100ml from my tests. It's more wood that I advise but I see this 1L only as a "ageing test" and see how it reacts with time. And want a strong cherry taste for an easier description.
I also ask myself what if you mix cherry with oak together for ageing?
- 160-180 are almost the same color-200°C looks toasted.
- Nice golden yellow for the 1:160°C-2:180°C. Yellow orange for the 3:200°C. The glass is filled with the same UJSSM oaked version, so one can see the difference in color.
