Category Archives: liqueur

Coffee Liquors

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coffee ums and liqueurs

A few new coffee liqueurs are hitting the market, and I got to try them. Below Deck Coffee Rum retails for $18, Kahlua Midnight for $22, and Hoodoo Chicory is $24 for a half-sized bottle  (375 ml). Other than the coffee connection, these are all pretty different products.

Below Deck Coffee Rum is from Eastside Distilling in Portland, and it shows. Marketed as coffee rum rather than coffee liqueur,  Below Deck smells like your favorite corner coffee shop. This is a strong drink (70 proof), and while I tried mixing it in traditional coffee liqueur cocktails like a White Russian, I found Below Deck tasted the best on the rocks with a splash of cream.

Kahlua Midnight. The replacement for Kahlua Especial, Midnight is very much a Kahlua product. It has the iconic Kahlua flavor, but with less of the syrupy characteristics you find in standard Kahlua. It’s a stronger drink, too (70 proof), and much like Below Deck, it’s less mixable as a result. White Russians were too strong and unbalanced with Midnight, and I realized that Midnight and cream was the best fit here, too.

Hoodoo Chicory Liqueur. Made by the same folks that make Cathead Vodka, Hoodoo is closer to a traditional coffee liqueur. It’s lower proof  (40), so it’s a better fit for coffee cocktails. Chicory is a root that’s often used as a coffee additive or coffee substitute, particularly in the South, and as a result, Hoodoo is more herbal-tasting than the other here. Anyone familiar with New Orleans-style coffee will recognize the rich flavor. I took Hoodoo’s recipe for a Café au Lait, converted it up, and made a thermos full of it for a party:

cafe au lait thermos

Thermos of Café Au Lait

  • 10 oz Hoodoo Chicory Liqueur
  • 12 1/2 oz warmed milk
  • 25 oz of strong brewed coffee
  • while brewing the coffee, warm the Hoodoo and the milk on the stove over low heat, stirring constantly
  • once hot, pour it all into a big thermos like this one (Amazon link)

What’s an Amaro?

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aperol cynar campari

Amaros are already very popular in the craft bartending scene, so it’s a good idea to get you home bartenders on board as well. An “amaro” is an Italian bitter liqueur, usually meant as a aperitif (before-dinner drink) or digestif (after-dinner drink). I realize that I talk about bitters all the time, but remember there are 2 types of bitters: drinkable and non-drinkable. Angostura bitters are meant as a cocktail flavoring, you’d never pour a bunch on ice and drink it straight. Amaros are drinkable bitters, though.

There are a long list of Amaros, but 3 of the most popular are Campari, Aperol, and Cynar (pronounced CHEE-nar). The bitterness of these helps to offset the sweetness that liqueurs have, and all three of these are good served over ice, mixed with club soda, or in a cocktail.

Campari you’ll recognize as an essential ingredient for the Negroni. It’s electric red, slightly bitter (think orange rind bitter), but also quite sweet and low in alcohol (about 20%).

Aperol is similar to Campari, though it’s lower in alcohol (11%) and more orangey, both in color and flavor. It’s very refreshing and easy to drink, and I use it as a substitute for Campari in a Negroni, or just serve it over ice after dinner.

Cynar is a dark, herbal liqueur that’s 13% alcohol. It’s primary flavor is artichoke – note the glorious artichoke logo on the bottle above. The flavor of Cynar reminded me a little bit of Fernet Branca, minus the mintiness, or maybe like a less sweet Jagermeister. It’s an herbal, slightly syrupy, drink with a dry, clean finish. Drink Spirits recommends it as a top 10 liquor to carry in a flask.

Here’s a Cynar recipe, a take on a Manhattan, originally published in Imbibe Magazine:

Little Italy

  • 2 oz rye whiskey
  • 1/2 oz Cynar
  • 3/4 oz sweet vermouth
  • stir on ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
  • garnish with 2 cherries

KGB Naranjo, Bourbon, and Absinthe

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KGB Naranjo, Bourbon, and Absinthe

KGB Spirits in northern New Mexico has some new releases in their spirits catalog: Naranjo Orange Liqueur, Taos Lightning Bourbon, and Brimstone Absinthe.

Naranjo is a high proof orange liqueur, 45% ABV where most other triple secs are only about 20%. This means it’s not too sweet and Naranjo works well straight up, as a digestif. Naranjo’s orange flavor is very subtle, though, and you should think twice if you’re considering dumping this into a pitcher of margaritas. The color is pale orange, and the scent of citrus is very muted, but it’s all there on your taste buds.

Taos Lightning Bourbon shares it’s name with KGB’s Ryes-a historical throwback to 1800’s western whiskeys-and it’s sweet, spicy, and smooth. I found myself thinking about it all day after tasting it. Taos Lightning Bourbon is very balanced in it’s flavor, and the expected toasted-wood spice finishes it off.

Finally, Brimstone Absinthe has two unique qualities: first, KGB uses a potato base in their distilling process – just like their vodka and gin, which adds a minty, earthy flavor. Second, Brimstone is bottled at a pretty low proof, the lowest proof I’ve ever seen for an absinthe. Absinthe is typically known for it’s high (60-70%) proof, but Brimstone is a mellow 45%. Because of this, you can actually drink Brimstone on the rocks with no water or sugar added. The lower proof makes it a more viable cocktail ingredient, too.

KGB Spirits are available at retail shops around New Mexico.

RumChata

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RumChata

Out here in the southwest United States, we have a tasty beverage called Horchata (OR-cha-tah). It’s a sweet, creamy drink that’s a combination of rice, almonds, cinnamon, and other flavors. You might see it served out of a big glass jar by ladle or out of a waterfall juice machine.

RumChata takes this Mexican restaurant staple and bottles it with rum for the grownups. It’s a cream liqueur, similar to Baileys, and it is low in alcohol (13%). It’s got a great flavor and will only put you out $20 a bottle.  Add a shot of RumChata to a cup of coffee, or in this rum take on a White Russian:

Chata Café Cream (by Greg Mays)

  • 1 oz RumChata
  • 1 oz Kahlua
  • 1 oz rum
  • 1 oz milk
  • combine and stir in a old fashioned glass filled with ice
  • garnish with a cherry

Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine

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Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine

Though I’ve grown up in the southwest U.S., I was born in east Tennessee. Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine is distilled in Gatlinburg just down the road from where I was born, and it’s bottled in a true southern relic: a sealed mason jar. Their products include jarred Moonshine Cherries, White Lightnin’, and other moonshine flavors, some of which are only available from their distillery store in Tennessee.

I got the chance to try some of Ole Smoky’s newest flavored moonshines: Blackberry and Peach. These are technically liqueurs because they’re a low 20% ABV and are sweet. They taste very natural and sweet sipped after dinner as cordials, and they’re pretty great in these simple cocktails:

ole smoky cocktails

Back Porch (by Greg Mays)

  • 1 1/2 oz bourbon (a sweeter one, like Maker’s Mark)
  • 1 1/2 oz Ole Smoky Blackberry
  • 3 dashes of Black Walnut bitters (Amazon link)
  • Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass with a lemon twist

Gourd Bird (by Greg Mays)
My great grandma and great grandpa used to sit out on the porch in Tennessee watching birds build nests in hollowed out gourds they’d make for them. I named this cocktail after that.

  • 1 1/2 oz vodka
  • 1 1/2 oz Ole Smoky Peach
  • 2 dashes of Whiskey Barrel Aged bitters (Amazon link)
  • Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass with an orange twist

Southern Comfort Bold Black Cherry

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Southern Comfort Bold Black Cherry Coke

If you’ve never tried it, Southern Comfort is a low priced ($15) whiskey-flavored liqueur that’s easy to mix with simple ingredients like sodas or juices. In may ways, Southern Comfort is a ready-to-drink cocktail, so it totally qualifies for this site. Outside of the original SoCo, there is also SoCo Lime and Firey Pepper, and for 2012, they’ve introduced the Bold Black Cherry flavor.

I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by Bold Black Cherry, but I found it to be surprisingly tasty and not overly sweet. I really enjoy it on the rocks after dinner, or mixed with soda in this simple cocktail:

Southern Comfort Cherry Coke

  • 1 1/2 oz Southern Comfort Bold Black Cherry
  • 4-5 oz Coke of choice. I prefer Mexican Coke (with sugar instead of HFCS) or Coke Zero.

Fernet Branca

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Fernet Branca

Fernet Branca is an Italian liqueur that is nothing short of legendary. People either love it or hate it, but most of what I see is unbridled love. One tweet I saw just said “Fernet Branca…My Religion!!!!#AMEN”  Its ingredient list is mysterious, though legend holds that Fernet Branca might contain codeine, echinacea, coca leaves, saffron, ginseng, or my favorite: ground-up fly wings.

Fernet is herbal, minty, syrupy, and finishes pretty dry for a liqueur. It’s 80 proof, which is as strong as a vodka or gin, and mint is by far the most prevalent smell and taste. I’ve been enjoying Fernet and the flavor is unique enough that I want to make sure I keep the home bar stocked with it. Fernet’s legend adds to the fun of the drink, but you should try a glass before you commit to a full bottle, because it’s a very intense herbal experience.

Because of its distinctive flavor, Fernet Branca is typically accompanied by a soda. In Argentina, Fernet and Coke is the rage. In San Francisco, who consumes 25% of all US Fernet Branca, it’s taken as a shot with a ginger ale chaser. I found that Fernet tastes like Fernet regardless of it’s mixture, and I have been enjoying it over ice after dinner or late at night. Fernet Branca will run you about $20-30 a bottle.

Drambuie and the Rusty Nail

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Drambuie Famous Grouse Rusty Nail

Because scotch is one of the finest beverages in the world, there are very few cocktails that contain it. The general opinion is that you should use lower quality booze for mixing drinks and higher-quality, more expensive liquors should be drunk straight.

Drambuie (dram-byoo-ee) is a liqueur that contains scotch, heather honey, herbs, and spices. It has a bit of an anise flavor and the spices taste great, but it’s too sweet to sip it straight. The signature Drambuie drink is the Rusty Nail, which is one of the few scotch cocktails:

Rusty Nail

  • 1 oz Drambuie
  • 2 oz scotch (I used The Famous Grouse)
  • Serve neat or on the rocks

The nice thing about cocktails like this is that the ingredient ratio can be adjusted easily for the drinker’s preferences. Want a sweeter Rusty Nail? Use less scotch and more Drambuie. Drier? Have just a splash of Drambuie in your scotch. Drambuie will run you about $30-40 a bottle.

Kinky Liqueur

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Kinky Liqueur

Kinky Liqueur comes in a curvy bottle filled with a bright pink liquid that promises a bit of vodka with “passion fruit, blood orange, and mango.” It’s a 34 proof liqueur (gins or vodkas are 80+ proof), and will run you under $20 a bottle. I imagine it appeals most to those who are going to buy this to make Kinky-tinis or Kinky Margaritas. Wink, wink.

Here’s the thing, though: Kinky actually tastes pretty great.

The fruit flavor is natural and sweet. I imagine Kinky could become a staple at brunches, maybe bridal showers, and it would taste great splashed in champagne or mixed in tiki drinks. This liqueur is really simple to mix, too, because all you need to do is adjust the vodka-to-Kinky ratio up or down in the recipe below, depending on the person’s taste. Here are some simple cocktails you can make with Kinky:

Simple Kinky Pinky Drinky

  • 2 oz vodka
  • 1 1/2 oz Kinky Liqueur
  • shake with ice and serve in a chilled cocktail glass
  • garnish with an orange twist

Kinky Margarita

  • 2 oz Kinky
  • 1 oz silver tequila
  • 1/4 oz fresh lime juice
  • shake with ice and serve either in a chilled cocktail glass or on the rocks
  • garnish with a lime wedge

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ROOT and SNAP

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Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction is likely the most unique name for a distillery I’ve ever encountered. Art in the Age for short, they believe in “empowering artists producing high quality work marked by fine craft and intellectual rigor.” On a practial level, this means they design and manufacture everything from belts to booze. This is not a belt blog, however, so I’ll focus on the booze.

There are currently 4 Art in the Age spirits: ROOT, SNAP, RHUBARB, and SAGE. I believe the first three (not SAGE) are considered liqueurs as they contain sugar, but they are not sticky-sweet, are totally organic, and are 40% AVB (most liqueurs are around 20%). I tried ROOT and SAGE.

root liqueur

Art in the Age says they made ROOT because they “thought it would be interesting and fun to turn back the clock and recreate a true pre-temperance alcoholic Root Tea.” The initial scent is root-beer-like, but the finish is surprisingly not sweet. In fact, it’s very much like an unsweetened black tea, quite herbal, and a flavor almost like a lit cigar. I mixed a “ROOT and Tonic“: 1 part ROOT to 2 parts tonic with a splash of maple syrup. I’ve yet to find a way to drink ROOT that I enjoyed.

Then I opened a bottle of SNAP, a ginger snap liqueur. I liked the ginger flavor right away and found it sweeter than ROOT. I then mixed SNAP with bourbon, equal parts of each, and fell in love. It’s Fall in a glass. Whether at room temperature or stirred to freezing cold, it’s an outstanding flavor combination that finishes very clean and tasty. For the lack of decent Fall cocktails out there, this one has already made it to the top of my list. I loved it and you’ll find that pairing this with bourbon makes an outstanding simple cocktail. I only hope my bottle of SNAP stays around until the Fall.

snap happy knob creek bourbon and snap liqueur

SNAP Happy

  • 1 1/2 oz SNAP liqueur
  • 1 1/2 oz Knob Creek Bourbon
  • serve room temperature, on the rocks, or stirred and strained into a cocktail glass