Red Skies

Cherry Juice Cubes

• 1/2 pound sweet cherries
• 2 large lemons
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• water

1. Pit your cherries and place them into a blender. Juice your lemons, straining out any seeds, into the blender. Add sugar. Blend until cherries have been thoroughly liquified. If your blender has trouble add up to 1/4 cup water.
2. Stain cherry juice into a glass measure, through a fine mesh strainer to remove most of the solids. Press out as much liquid as possible. Add water to a total volume of 1 & 1/2 cups of cherry juice. Stir.
3. Pour into an ice cube tray (or more if needed.) Freeze until solid (at least several hours.)
4. Note: this will make enough cherry juice cubes for 2 batches of the cocktail. Alternately use additional cubes in limeade, to keep your Red Skies icy cold for longer, or eat them like mini-popsicles.

Red Skies

• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) freezer cold gin (Aviation preferred)
• 3/4 ounce (1 1/2 T) crème de violette
• 1/2 batch Cherry Juice Cubes
• lemon juice (optional)

1. Combine gin, crème de violette, and cherry juice cubes in a blender. Blend until smooth. Taste, and stir in lemon juice if desired.
2. Divide between 2 cocktail glasses. Kick back and enjoy!
3. Note: If need be you can omit the crème de violette. It adds a nice floral note, but the cocktail is still tasty without it.