Cherry Limeade

It's easy to get your Cherry Lime and Cherry Limeade mixed. Apart from the "ade" suffix, their names are the same. There used to be one well-accepted difference: the Cherry Lime was carbonated, the Cherry Limeade was not. That distinction too is not always maintained by recent recipes of the drink, which makes the blurred boundary line even blurrier. But (and this there's no conflict over) both versions of the drink are a throwback to an America of soda fountains and drive-in theatres, and evoke nostalgia for that reason when consumed today.

Then there's the Cherryade, which can be carbonated or non-carbonated, but doesn't lean as heavily on the "lime" bit. Among the earliest to commercially bottle and retail the Cherryade was the London-based establishment R White's, best-known for its eponymous Lemonade in the late-19th century. 

A delightful 2005 essay by the writer Anne Dingus delves into the origins of the Cherry Lime in the US. Dingus writes:

"The cherry lime evolved from the gin rickey, an early highball supposedly named after Joe Rickey, a Washington lobbyist in the late 1890s who became the nation’s first major importer of limes. The drink was an instant hit, and various bottlers promptly came up with a soft version for teetotalers and tots, all under the generic label 'rickey'. By the twenties, when a gleaming chrome-and-tile soda fountain was as indispensable to a town as a post office, the cherry lime was as common as a Starbucks latte is today."

Dingus notes that the Cherry Lime was popular in her native state of Texas not only because of its pleasing appearance and taste, but also because it was a powerful thirst quencher (a boon in a hot, dry summer). It was also considered nutritional in the same way soldiers would drink lime juice on long ship voyages to keep away scurvy. (What actual health benefits the Cherry Lime has, we're not in a position to cite empirical studies and confirm.) It was also, exceedingly cheap: a nickel if you bought it at the local drugstore.

Those manning the soda fountain at concessionaires, drugstores, drive-ins etc could serve customers wanting a Cherry Lime pretty quickly: out came an ice-filled glass, into which went a dash of simple syrup, a dash of cherry syrup, followed by carbonated water and a generous twist of fresh lime. Today, Cherry Limeade recipes usually work as a variation of this, with three basic ingredients: Sprite or 7-UP, cherry juice, and lime juice (concentrate or fresh). Maraschino cherries add a hint of glamour. The end result should be cold, refreshing and non-alcoholic.

In a bid to differentiate the Cherry Limeade from "all the imitation lime slushies out there", 7-UP had released an official recipe, which commands the True Cherry Limeade Seeker to act thusly:

Procure - 60 ml of 7-UP, 2 maraschino cherries, 2 lime wedges with extra for garnish, 2 tbsp maraschino syrup and ice. 

To prepare - Put cherries into a glass. Squeeze the juice of one lime wedge into the glass. Drop the juiced wedge into the glass as well. Pour over ice. Top with 7-UP and maraschino syrup, and stir. Garnish with lime wedge.

And that will be all for this version of liquid Americana.