Hunter

Both are in circulation and neither is wrong. Cherry brings almond, stone fruit and a rounder finish. Raspberry is brighter and reads jammier against rye pepper. If you use a genuine cherry brandy rather than a sweet cherry liqueur, drop to 12 ml, because it lands heavier in the glass.

It is a fifth of the glass, and a liqueur that sweet does not need more. What it changes is the ending: rye on its own finishes dry and peppery, and the fruit rounds that off without softening the front. At 22 ml you are drinking a liqueur with whiskey in it.

Over one big cube is how the recipe reads, and the dilution does real work on 75 ml of near neat spirit. Served up it comes at you sweeter and hotter at the same time, because the water that was smoothing things over has gone. Try it that way if you want the fruit forward.

More than usual, because nothing is covering for it. A high-rye bottling at 45 to 50 percent gives the pepper something for the fruit to push against, while a soft 40 percent rye disappears underneath. Anything you would happily drink neat works here. Anything you would not, will not.

A classic Hunter calls for 60 ml (2 oz) Rye whiskey, 15 ml (0.5 oz) Raspberry liqueur. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

A standard Hunter is roughly 39% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.

A Hunter is stirred, not shaken. It contains no citrus juice, so stirring keeps it crystal clear and silky instead of cloudy and aerated.