Liqueurs

Liqueurs are defined as sweetened and flavoured spirits. They should not be confused with liqueur spirits which may be whiskies or brandies of great age and quality. For instance, a brandy liqueur is a liqueur with brandy as a basic ingredient, whilst a liqueur brandy may be defined as a brandy of great age and excellence.

Production

Liqueurs are made by two basic methods:

•    Heat or infusion method: best when herbs, peels, roots, etc are being used as heat can extract the oils, flavours and aromas

•    Cold or maceration method: best when soft fruits are used to provide the flavours and aromas

The heat method uses a pot still for distillation purposes whilst the cold method allows the soft fruit to soak in brandy in oak casks over a long period of time.

           

For all liqueurs a spirit base is necessary and this may be brandy, rum or leutral spirit. Many flavouring ingredients are used and the following list gives ome indication of these:

Types of liqueurs

Figure shows some of the more popular liqueurs that may be found on the liqueur trolley:

Aniseed Caraway seeds Kernels of almonds Clierries Blackcurrants pricots

rind of citrus fruit Wormwood Rose petals Cinnamon Coriander nutmeg

LIQUEUR	COLOUR	FLAVOUR/SPIRIT BASE	COUNTRY
Abricotine	Red	Apricot/brandy	France
Avocat	Yellow	Egg, sugar/brandy	Holland
Anisette	Clear	Aniseed	France, Spain, Italy, Holland
Aquivat	Clear	Spirit	Scandinavia
Arrack	Clear	Herbs, sap of palm	Java, India, Ceylon,
Benedictine Dom	Yellow/green 'Deo Optimo Maiximo'	Herbs/brandy	France
Calvados	Amber	Apple/brandy	France
Chartreuse	Green 96° proof	Herbs, Plants/brandy	France
Chartreuse	Yellow 78° proof	Herbs, Plants/brandy	France
Cherry Brandy	Deep red	Cherry/brandy	Denmark
Cointreau	Clear	Orange/brandy	France
Creme de cacao	Dark brown	Chocolate/vanilla beans/rum	France
Creme de menthe	Green	Mint/brandy	France
Creme de vanille	Clear	Vanilla	France/Holland
Drambuie	Golden	Heather, honey, herbs/whisky	Scotland
Grand Marnier	Amber	Orange/brandy	France
Glayva	Golden	Herbs, spice/whiskey	Scotland
Kirsch	Clear	Cherry	Alsace
Kahlua	Pale chocolate	Coffee/rum	Mexico
Kummel	Clear	Carraway seed/neutral spirit	East European countries
Maraschino	Clear	Maraschino cherry	Italy
Parfait amour	Violet	Violets, lemon peel, spices	France/Holland
Saki	Clear	Rice	Japan
Sambuca	Clear	Liquorice/neutral spirit	Italy
Strega (The witch)	Yellow	Herbs/bark	Italy
Tia Maria	Brown	Coffee/rum	Jamaica
Van der hum	Amber	Tangerine/brandy	South Africa
Slivovitz	Clear	Plum/brandy	East Europe