Name: Cherry Beer, or Red Barley Wine
Ingredients: 1 barrel of new table beer or small ale; 3 pounds of molasses; ½ pound of ground logwood; 2 ounces of almond cake

Why it works: Beer and almond work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 42 recipes. Both carry 3-methylbutanol, which smells malty, whiskey. The science ↓

Cherry Beer, or Red Barley Wine

Ingredients

1 barrel of new table beer or small ale
3 pounds of molasses
½ pound of ground logwood
2 ounces of almond cake

Directions

Make the beer

Add molasses, ground logwood, and almond cake to the barrel of beer.
Stir well with a long stick inserted through the bung-hole.
Agitate the cask for two to three days.

Settle and serve

Let it stand to settle, then draw or bottle it off for use.
Serve hot, sweetened with sugar and spices if desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Beer + almondtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
Molasses + almondtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together402 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Beer + molassestop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together55 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses: Adds dark color and a rich, sweet flavor to the beer.
Ground logwood: Contributes deep red color and a subtle astringent note to the beer.
Almond cake: Adds a nutty aroma and flavor to the beer.