Since I started working with Melissa, I have been hearing about her father’s Cherry Bounce. Cherry Bounce is an old drink, a cordial if you will. Evidently Martha Washington even makes mention of the recipe. The recipe worked its way down the Eastern Seaboard and was embraced by the Southern States and then worked its way west. This is Andrew John Cebollas’ recipe for the drink, and his daughter telling stories about her dad.

Aine: So describe your dad to people who don’t know him.

Melissa: He is a BIG personality and a social butterfly. If you put him in a room, he’ll make friends with anyone. He is extremely kind and generous. If you go to his house, he’ll make you feel very welcome. That’s where the Bounce comes in. He will pour you a cup right away at his house.

Aine: Stories please.

Melissa:  My dad’s father had apple orchards. So when my dad was young he was a favorite of my Grandpa Luis. They would pick apples and take them to the farmer’s market to see. Dad would sing and dance to bring in customers, so that made him a favorite. He has always been a salesman of sorts, since an early age.

My dad is really proud of being Boy Scout. He got to travel all over and even go to Canada, that he has these stories from that. He’s really proud of his merit badges.

My dad was also a lifeguard at the swimming pool in Espanola. Once he saved a lady from drowning, and I think it really affected him. He talks about it, and how scary it was. So now he wants to make sure my kids can swim. He wants to make sure I have them in swimming lessons because he remembers that.

Oh here’s a great one. My dad loves to have a good time, and he has a mischievous streak. Once when I was in 8th grade he took my friends and I trick or treating. He had this huge truck and there were 7 of us girls in the back. We snuck eggs on the truck to egg people, and he knew we had them but did not say a thing. So here we are driving around, and my dad was waving at people and saying hi while he was driving. We were in the back egging people, and he acted like he didn’t know what we were doing but secretly he knew and thought it was funny. It’s like the mischievous kid in him loved that we were egging, but the dad in him had to pretend like he didn’t know. I laugh now thinking about him waving and us egging. You know I really love my dad. He is such a great person and such a good listener. He is always listening to other people instead of talking about himself. He’s just that way.

Aine: Tell me about the Cherry Bounce.

Melissa:  He has always made it as long as I remember. Since the ditch has always grown cherries, he has always made the Bounce. (Note: by ditch, New Mexicans are referring to their communal water system of irrigation ditches known as an acequia. Acequias were introduced to Spain by the Moors and subsequently Spanish colonizers brought them to the New World. This community water system still exists today, and wild sour cherries grow along most of them.) I don’t know where he got the recipe from, but everyone loves it. I love it when he pours a cup and you get a cherry in it. WOW. It’s pretty strong.  But you have to let it sit from the time you make it until Christmas. I have made the mistake of opening it early and NO NO NO…it was no good. So you have to be patient. (At this point other co-workers contribute that locals advise the ditch cherries are to be picked around San Juan Day and before 4th of July. San Juan day is June 24 and is a religious day to honor John the Baptist.) You have to wait until the sour cherries are dark dark in color. You cannot pick them when they are red. That is too early. But my dad says the most important part of the Cherry Bounce is being patient.

Andrew John Cebollas’ Cherry Bounce

1. Fill a bottle half-full of cherries

2. Put 1 cup sugar (or a little less) into the bottle over the cherries.

3. Cap the bottle and then let the cherries and sugar get happy happy together for 3 weeks,

4. Then get the cheapest vodka you can find and fill to the brim.

5.  Don’t open til Christmas. DO NOT OPEN EARLY!

6. ENJOY Cherry Bounce!

(humorous side note: in “researching” a friend of mine, who asked not to be quoted as a Cherry Bounce contributor because “girl Church of Christ girls don’t know a thing about making alcohol” added that “people I know use the best bourbon they have to make Cherry Bounce instead of vodka. But I am no expert of course.”)