Arak

Arak is an anise-flavoured drink popular in the Middle East. It is unsweetened, so it is an eau de vie, rather than a liqueur. As in the manufacture of brandy, a spirit is first made by distilling wine. Then an anise-flavoured oil, derived from crushed aniseeds from the anise plant, is added to the spirit to provide the flavouring.

As with other anise-flavoured drinks like Sambuca, Arak becomes cloudy when mixed with water.

I tried two brands of arak while travelling in the Middle East: Al-Zumot from Zumot Winery & Vineyards of Jordan, and R.T. Touma & Frères from Lebanon. When trying the Touma, my hosts mixed the arak half and half with water. I see why, given that it is 100 proof!

They are both good, but I prefer Al-Zumot.

Arak Al-Zumot

Arak R.T. Touma & Frères

I was surprised to find distinct differences in the way they are made.


Al-Zumot (from their website):

The Arak is distilled from purified grape alcohol with the addition of these anise seeds in a small alambic pot still (Cognac type).

The first distillation of the seeds is limited to 12 hours maximum so that the undesired heavier oils are not extracted. For this reason, only small batches can be distilled. A second and third distillation extracts the heart of distillate.

The heart of distillate is obtained in the final third distillation process; this distillate has a sharp flavour, which is blunted by maturation in clay jars.

Finally comes the secret of our baked clay jars: the triple distilled Arak has a sharp flavour that is blunted by maturation in clay jars. These jars have been hand crafted in the small town of Beit Shabab for more than 2000 years. They are fired for months to get the required porosity, which allows the Arak to “breath”, slowly incorporating the distillate molecules, micro oxidation and let the undesired oils evaporate.

After at least a year of aging, we are left with only 70% of the original quantity through evaporation satisfying the “thirst of the Angels”, and resulting in the nectar Arak Zumot.

R.T. Touma & Frères (from a retailer's site):

This one is made exclusively with whole aniseed and never with star anise, anise oils or extracts.

The winery ferments grape distillate and then distills it four times with various amounts of water and aniseed added at each stated. It's bottled at a hefty 100 proof.

Galliano

Galliano is a smooth, yet spicy liqueur with bold vanilla and anise flavours.

From Wikipedia:
Liquore Galliano L'Autentico, known more commonly as Galliano, is a sweet herbal liqueur, created in 1896 by Italian distiller and brandy producer Arturo Vaccari of Livorno, Tuscany and named after Giuseppe Galliano....

Galliano has numerous natural ingredients including star anise, Mediterranean anise, juniper berry, musk yarrow, lavender, peppermint, cinnamon, and Galliano's hallmark vanilla flavour. Galliano uses vanillin for flavouring and sugar and glucose syrup for sweetening. Caramel and tartrazine are used to achieve Galliano's bright yellow colour.

The original blend is formulated at 84.6 proof (42.3% by volume), while a blend with a more prominent taste of vanilla is produced at 60 proof (30% by volume).

Galliano is sweet with vanilla-anise flavour and subtle citrus and woodsy herbal undernotes. The vanilla top note differentiates Galliano from other anise-flavoured liqueurs such as sambuca, Pernod, or anisette. It is used both as a digestivo (meant for drinking after heavy meals), and as an ingredient for cocktails, most notably the Harvey Wallbanger, Yellow Bird, Golden Cadillac, and Golden Dream.

Chartreuse

Chartreuse is a very old liqueur created by monks. It comes in both green and yellow and is a staple in many cocktails.

From Wikipedia:
Chartreuse is a French liqueur available in green and yellow versions that differ in taste and alcohol content. The liqueur has been made by the Carthusian Monks since 1737 according to the instructions set out in a manuscript given to them by François Annibal d'Estrées in 1605. It was named after the monks' Grande Chartreuse monastery, located in the Chartreuse Mountains in the general region of Grenoble in France. The liqueur is produced in their distillery in the nearby town of Voiron (Isère). It is composed of distilled alcohol aged with 130 herbs, plants and flowers. It is one of the handful of liqueurs that continue to age and improve in the bottle.

Curaçao

Curaçao is a traditionally orange flavoured liqueur. It comes in a range of colours including white, blue and green.

From Wikipedia:
Curaçao is a liqueur flavored with the dried peel of the Laraha citrus fruit, grown on the Dutch island of Curaçao.

Spanish explorers brought the bitter Seville orange to the island in 1527, the progenitor of the Laraha. Although the bitter flesh of the Laraha is unpalatable, the peels are pleasantly aromatic.

Senior & Co, a company started in Curaçao, is the only company that has always produced its liqueur from the peels of the Laraha. The Jewish family, Senior and Chumacairo, started selling their liqueur in 1896 in their pharmacy in small quantities. In 1947 they bought the Landhuis... Chobolobo in Willemstad, where the distillery has since been housed. As this company is the only one that uses Laraha fruit from Curaçao, it affects the word "genuine" on its labels.

Absinthe

This potent, anise flavoured spirit is not really a true liqueur. It was, for years, banned in most countries because of the toxic quality of one of its essential ingredients: wormwood, considered to have hallucinogenic properties. Today, while it is commercially available in many parts of the world, it is difficult to find “true” absinthe.

From Wikipedia:
Absinthe... is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from botanicals, including the flowers and leaves of Artemisia absinthium ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs.

Absinthe traditionally has a natural green colour, but may also be colourless. It is commonly referred to in historical literature as "la fée verte" (the green fairy). It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a liqueur, but it is not traditionally bottled with added sugar and is, therefore, classified as a spirit. Absinthe is traditionally bottled at a high level of alcohol by volume, is normally diluted with water before being consumed.

Absinthe originated in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland in the late 18th century. It rose to great popularity as an alcoholic drink in late 19th- and early 20th-century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers.

Absinthe has often been portrayed as a dangerously addictive psychoactive drug and hallucinogen. The chemical compound thujone, which is present in the spirit in trace amounts, was blamed for its alleged harmful effects. By 1915, absinthe had been banned in the United States and in much of Europe, including France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria–Hungary, yet it has not been demonstrated to be any more dangerous than ordinary spirits. Recent studies have shown that absinthe's psychoactive properties have been exaggerated, apart from that of the alcohol.

The classic way to serve absinthe, drizzled over a cube of sugar. 

Sambuca

I had never thought of Sambuca as a liqueur, but is considered to be one.

From Wikipedia:
Sambuca is an Italian anise-flavoured, usually colourless, liqueur. Its most common variety is often referred to as white sambuca to differentiate it from other varieties that are deep blue in colour (black sambuca) or bright red (red sambuca).

Sambuca is flavoured with essential oils obtained from star anise, or less commonly, green anise.... It is bottled at a minimum of 38% alcohol by volume. The oils are added to pure alcohol, a concentrated solution of sugar, and other flavouring.

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the term comes from the Latin word sambucus, meaning "elderberry".

Sambuca may be served neat. It may also be served on the rocks or with water, resulting in the ouzo effect from the anethole in the anise. 

Clear Sambuca becomes cloudy when water is added.

Like other anise liqueurs, it may be consumed after coffee as a ammazzacaffè or added directly to coffee in place of sugar to produce a caffè corretto.

A serving of sambuca can be a shot with seven coffee beans, representing the seven hills of Rome. Likewise, a shot with one coffee bean, called con la mosca, which means "with the fly", is as common. The traditional serving is with three coffee beans, each representing health, happiness and prosperity. The shot may be ignited to toast the coffee beans with the flame extinguished immediately before drinking.

Campari

Campari is among the most popular liqueurs in the world, especially popular in Europe.

From Wikipedia:
Campari is an alcoholic liqueur, considered an apéritif..., obtained from the infusion of herbs and fruit (including chinotto and cascarilla) in alcohol and water. It is a bitters, characterised by its dark red colour.

Campari is often used in cocktails and is commonly served with soda water or citrus juice, or with prosecco as a spritz. It is produced by the Davide Campari Group, a multi-national company based in Italy.

Campari was invented in 1860 by Gaspare Campari in Novara, Italy. It was originally coloured with carmine dye, derived from crushed cochineal insects, which gave the drink its distinctive red colour.

In 1904, Campari's first production plant was opened in Sesto San Giovanni, near Milan, Italy.... The Campari brand is now distributed in over 190 countries.

Campari is an essential ingredient in the classic Negroni cocktail, the Garibaldi, the Americano..., and the spritz (an aperitif popular in northern Italy).

Amarula

Amarula is one of the most popular liqueurs in the the world.

From Wikipedia:

Amarula is a cream liqueur from South Africa. It is made with sugar, cream and the fruit of the African marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea) which is also locally called the Elephant tree or the Marriage Tree. It has an alcohol content of 17% by volume.

Amarula was first marketed by Southern Liqueur Company of South Africa... as a liqueur in September 1989, the Amarula spirit having been launched in 1983. It has the taste of slightly fruity caramel.

Elephants enjoy eating the fruit of the marula tree. Because of the marula tree's association with elephants, the distiller has made them its symbol and supports elephant conservation efforts, co-funding the Amarula Elephant Research Programme at the University of Natal, Durban.

Lejay Creme de Cassis

Maison Lejay makes one of the most widely available blackcurrent liqueurs. From their website:

It all started in 1841 with Auguste-Denis Lagoute. The first liqueur-maker of Dijon, in the heart of Burgundy, was keen to invent an innovative recipe. This led him to develop the first ever Crème de Cassis, with a smooth texture and powerful aromas.

And if you ever wondered were the very popular cocktail "Kir Royale" got its name, it is named for a former mayor of Lyon, Canon Felix Kir, who liked to mix a little cassis with his white wine.

Amaretto

Amaretto is the name for the various almond flavoured liqueurs, but the most popular brand is Disaronno from Italy. It makes a nice aperitif.

From Wikipedia:

Amaretto (Italian for "a little bitter") is a sweet Italian liqueur that originated in Saronno, Italy. While originally flavoured from bitter almonds, various modern commercial brands are prepared from a base of apricot stones, peach stones, or almonds, all of which are natural sources of the benzaldehyde that provides the principal almond-like flavour of the liqueur.

When served as a beverage, amaretto can be drunk by itself, used as an ingredient to create several popular mixed drinks, or added to coffee. Amaretto is also commonly used in culinary applications.

Also from Wikipedia:

Disaronno Originale (28% abv) is an amaretto-tasting liqueur with a characteristic almond taste made in Italy. Its maker, Disaronno, maintains its original "secret formula" is unchanged since 1525....

Drambuie

Drambuie is unusual, given that it is a liqueur made from whisky rather than the fruits or herbs that most liqueurs are made from. It is good by itself or as a mix, as in the classic cocktail - the Rusty Nail, made from Drambuie and whisky. One of the great cocktails!

From Wikipedia:

Drambuie is a golden-coloured, 40% ABV liqueur made from Scotch whisky, honey, herbs and spices.

The name "Drambuie" possibly derives from the Scottish Gaelic phrase an dram buidheach, "the drink that satisfies", a claim made by the original manufacturers of the drink.

After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, Prince Charles Edward Stuart fled to the isle of Skye. There, he was given sanctuary by Captain John MacKinnon of Clan MacKinnon. According to family legend, after staying with the captain, the prince rewarded him with this prized drink recipe.

The legend holds that the recipe, which at that time had no known name, was given by Clan MacKinnon to John Ross in the late 19th century. James Ross, his son and a local business man, ran the Broadford Hotel in Broadford on Skye and it was he who, after the death of John in 1879, began to experiment with the recipe at the Hotel.

In the 1880s, Ross developed and improved the recipe, changing the original brandy base to one of scotch whisky, initially for his friends and then later for hotel patrons. Ross named the concoction 'Drambuie' and sold it further afield, eventually reaching markets in France and the United States.

Drambuie was first commercially produced in Union Street in Edinburgh in 1910. The brand was owned by the MacKinnon family for a hundred years but was bought by William Grant & Sons in 2014.

Frangelico

Frangelico is a hazelnut flavoured liqueur. Makes a nice aperitif and a good mixer for coffee.

From Wikipedia:

Frangelico is a brand of noisette (flavored with hazelnuts) and herb-flavored liqueur coloured with caramel coloring, which is produced in Canale, Italy. It is 20% alcohol by volume (ABV) or 40 proof.... The brand was created in 1978. It is known for its unusual packaging; its bottle was designed to look like a friar, complete with a knotted white cord around the waist....

According to the manufacturer, the name of the liqueur is based on a legend of a hermit monk named Fra Angelico who "created unique recipes for liqueurs". The bottle itself most closely resembles the habit of a Franciscan friar.

Frangelico is made in a similar manner to some other nut liqueurs: nuts are crumbled up and combined with cocoa, vanilla berries, and other natural flavors, and then left to soak in the base spirit. After the spirit has absorbed the flavor of the ingredients, the liqueur is filtered, sweetened, and bottled.

Limoncello

I became interested in limoncellos after seeing Rick Steves videos on travel in Italy, and particularly the Amafli Coast were the growing of lemons and the manufacture of limoncello is ubiquitous. There are dozens but I've tried only a couple: Rossi d'Asiago and Luxardo.

Rossi d'Asiago

Luxardo

Giffard Pamplemousse

Giffard Pamplemousse is a great grapefruit flavoured liqueur from France. It has an intense pink grapefruit flavour with just the right amount of sweetness. Serve chilled for a pleasurable aperitif. 9/10

Here is the lineup of Giffard liqueurs: triples sec, blue curaçao, amaretto (almond), melon, coffee, chocolate, banana, "perfect" triple sec, pineapple, & elderflower.

Berentzen Apfelkorn

Berentzen Apfelkorn is a nice, light apple flavour liqueur from Germany. It is not too sweet and, chilled, makes a great aperitif. It is also lighter in alcohol level than most liqueurs at 19%, which makes it more like schnapps than liqueur.

They also make a pear version that I have tried which is just okay. The pear flavour is very subtle, but not nearly up to the quality of a Poire Williams, such as that made by G.E. Massenez—one of the best. 

This is also a brand of liqueur/schnapps that looks like it has been around for long time but was only created in the 1970s.

"Apfelkorn, invented by Hans Berentzen and Friedrich Berentzen, is technically considered a Schnapps, but is very naturally sweet, and has about half the alcohol."¹

Here is a lineup of Berentzen schnapps - wild fruit, peach, cherry, apple, pear, plum & mint.

How cool is this! A belt (called a "party belt") that holds 24 Berentzen mini bottles.

1. Northampton Wine & Dine

Mathilde Framboise

Mathilde Framboise is a very good raspberry flavoured liqueur produced by Maison Ferrand from France. It is a nice balance of strong raspberry flavour with just the right amount of sweetness.

They also make a pear liqueur that I have tried which is just okay. It is not as good as a Poire Williams, such as one made by G.E. Massenez.

Mathilde Framboise

Mathilde Poire

They also make a peach and an orange liqueur and a cassis (blackcurrant liqueur). Their website has information on the various liqueurs and some cocktail recipes. Here is their lineup (they have changed their bottle design since I purchased the bottles above):

Chambord

Chambord is a black raspberry liqueur from France, and, to me, one of the best. It seems like it should be an old brand like Cointreau or Cherry Heering, but it is less than 40 years old.

From Wikipedia:
The Chambord brand was founded in 1982. The drink was inspired by raspberry liqueur made in the Loire Valley in the late 1600s, said to have been introduced to Louis XIV during one of his visits to the Château de Chambord. It was common during that time for liqueurs and cognac to be consumed with elegant meals.

It is a 16.5% abv raspberry liqueur.... Chambord is made from red and black raspberries, Madagascar vanilla, Moroccan citrus peel, honey and cognac.

Cherry Heering

Cherry Heering is a cherry flavoured liqueur that most people either love or hate. To those who love it, it has a rich, luscious cherry flavour; for those who hate it, it tastes like cough medicine.

From Wikipedia:

Peter Heering is a Danish manufacturer of liqueurs, most famous for Heering Cherry Liqueur, a liqueur flavored with cherries which is often referred to simply as Peter Heering or Cherry Heering in cocktail recipes. Heering Cherry Liqueur has been produced since 1818, and the company is purveyor to the Royal Danish Court and to Queen Elizabeth II. It is sold in more than 100 countries.

Heering Cherry Liqueur is an ingredient of cocktails including the Singapore Sling, and Blood & Sand. Cherry Heering is used in baking; some of the alcohol evaporates.

It makes a great flavour enhancer for Black Forest cake. I have used it when making a "trifle" version of Black Forest cake, soaking the cherries in the liqueur and sprinkling a little over the baked cake rounds before assembling the trifle. Yum!

Poire Williams

Poire Williams is a French pear eau de vie made from the Williams pear (known as the Bartlett pear in North America). I've had Poire Williams in the past, notably on an Air France flight. It is often, but not always, produced in an elaborate process that result is a whole pear inside a narrow-necked bottle—the pear having been grown inside the the bottle!

It is very good, and I'm looking to locate another bottle of a high quality French variety.

Laurent Cazottes Goutte de Poire Williams
Review from a Good Food Revolution review: "Cazottes manually remove the peduncles, chalices, all the seeds and eschars in order to preserve the pure pear flavor. Quality of fruit from the orchard, masterful distillation techniques, and purity of aromas make this simply one of the best small-production eaux de vie available now. Medium viscosity with loads of fresh Bartlett pear on the palate that persists indefinitely." 45% abv; 350ml

G.E. Massenez L'Authentique et l'Originale Poire Prisonnière Poire Williams
The original pear-in-a-bottle pear liqueur. (Available from SAQ in Quebec.)

Cointreau

The first liqueur I ever tried was Cointreau, and I immediately loved it. It is still my favourite liqueur, and is one of the most popular liqueurs in the world.


From Wikipedia:

Cointreau Distillery was set up in 1849 by Adolphe Cointreau, a confectioner, and his brother Edouard-Jean Cointreau. Their first success was with the cherry liqueur guignolet, but they found success when they blended sweet and bitter orange peels and pure alcohol from sugar beets. The first bottles of Cointreau were sold in 1875. An estimated 13 million bottles are sold each year, in more than 150 countries

The production methods and recipe are a family secret, but tours of the facility are open to the public, located in Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou, Angers, in the Loire valley.

How sweet it is!

I like liqueurs and the lighter eaux de vie or schnapps. This is a catalogue of some of the notable ones I have found — or would like to try.

Some of my favorites are Cointreau, Chambord, Cherry Heering, Giffard Pamplemousse (grapefruit), Mathilde Framboise (red raspberry), and Lemoncellos. I also like the lighter liqueurs that are closer to an eau de vie like Berentzen Apfelkorn.

According to various websites that I looked at, the world's most popular liqueurs are Amaretto, Amarula, Baileys Irish Cream, Campari, Cointreau, Disaronno, Drambuie, Frangelico, Kahlúa, St. Germain, and Sambuca.

The top selling liqueur in the world, not too surprisingly, is Baileys Irish Cream.

The difference between liqueur and schnapps isn't exactly clear because there are so set rules and one company may call their product liqueur when we might think of it as a schnapps or an eau de vie.

A good general rule is that liqueur is made by steeping fruit in pure alcohol spirits to extract the flavour, and they tend to be sweet from the addition of sugar. Schapps is made my distilling fruit juice (and, being distilled, explains why schapps are clear), and it tends to be less sweet than liqueurs. This makes it closer to a fruit brandy. Eau de vie seems to be just the French term for schnapps.

Kirsch, the German distilled cherry liquor, would be a clear example of a schnapps. The renowned Calvados from France is a distilled drink made from apples but is called an apple brandy in France. So the classifications are not consistent or clear.

Check out this Wikipedia list of liqueurs.