Homesteading gets serious

My partner grew up on a farm.  A working farm.  He's grown, harvested, processed, butchered, milked pretty much any farm food you could think of, and then maybe some you won't be able to think of.  He thinks it is pretty amusing that his childhood is essentially en vogue these days.  People growing their own food, pickling and preserving the garden's bounty, etc.  Of course I grew up in suburbia and it wasn't until I was an adult that I even gave much thought to where food comes from (I don't mean the grocery store).  A few lectures into vet school I was so turned off by food animal husbandry I stopped eating most meat.  I got over it for better or worse, but now that I know, I try.  I am not always able to buy grass fed beef or pastured pork, but I try.
Anyways, with the artisan cocktail interest, it only naturally follows to try one's hand at artisan cocktail garnishes and down the road, artisan home made bitters.  We haven't gotten to the bitters, but I attempted cocktail garnish today.  Of course, the cherries are store bought since we don't have a cherry tree.  But HEB is a semi local, south central TX grocery store so it is kind of locally sourced.  Only they are CA cherries, so not really.  *Sigh*

So many of the drinks I like come garnished with a cherry.  The really high end places do it with these dark, crinkled cherries that bear no resemblance to the neon red balloons called maraschino cherries.  So, I delved into research mode and found a multitude of recipes, none of which I exactly followed!  Basically, you put cherries, booze and some sugar in a jar and refrigerate, and wait 2-4 weeks for the cherries to get soused before using.

So, I did one jar of cherries with bourbon, and one with a mixture of kirschwasser and luxardo maraschino liqueur, because I had both in the liquor cabinet and both are cherry based spirits.

So, who is coming over in 4 weeks for a Manhattan or Old Fashioned with one of these cherries for garnish?