With the holidays upon us I want to focus on some libations that can be used to celebrate, to give as gifts, or just something to quietly enjoy as a way to de-stress in the evening. Liqueurs are great for sitting and sipping, wallowing in unique tastes and aromas, as we try to enjoy this sometimes frantic time of year.

Liqueurs and Cordials are concoctions have been around for hundreds, no, thousands of years with a long and extensive history. Originally they were created as medicines made from herbs, and to lessen the harsh taste they were sweetened with dates, figs, or honey. Then liqueurs started to evolve away from medicines and became ways to have fruit and other treats in liquid form. When cane sugar was introduced and became commercially inexpensive enough to use, it became the predominant sweetener, although many fine liqueurs still use honey and other ingredients for sweetening and character. The minimum amount of sugar or sweetener for a spirit to be called a liqueur is 20%, with some reaching 35% sugar, and most ranging somewhere in between.

Liqueurs are made all over the world, in many styles, from vastly differing ingredients, and in many levels of quality. Today there are hundreds of so-called liqueurs, sometimes called schnapps in the US. Many are inexpensive and sometimes artificially flavored stuff that are either pounded back as shots, or combined with other ingredients in a mixed drink. Some are the sickly neon gunk you find either under the bar where you can't see them being used in your drink; or hidden on the bottom shelves of liquor stores and bars, covered in dust. Real Schnapps are not sweet, have a high alcohol level, and are more like a flavored eau de vie; which is an unsweetened, fruit brandy. My focus here is on the fine quality liqueurs that can be sipped and enjoyed on their own merits.

Liqueurs and cordials are the sweetest of the spirit based drinks and are meant to be sipped, usually after dinner, as an accompaniment to desert, or even as a sweet to replace it. They tend to be made at lower alcoholic proof than most spirits usually less than 70 proof, except in a few rare cases. In the US the term cordial was more widely used in the past, but that has changed and now the term liqueur is the term accepted the most widely around the world, so that is the one I will use here. This category of spirits is among the most diverse and creative of any, with hundreds upon hundreds of varieties available. They can be made from herbs, spices, fruit, vegetables, twigs, roots, berries, nuts, beans, seeds, and just about any botanical product you can imagine. The focus can be a single ingredient, a few separate ingredients revolving around a single theme, or dozens of widely differing ingredients that contrast or complement each other.

Liqueurs can be based on many types of spirits such as pure grain neutral spirits, rum, brandy, cognac, whiskey, Scotch, and even gin. Each gives a different base flavor which is then expanded upon to create the final product.

Some examples of liqueurs are Sambuca and Anisette (anise or licorice liqueur), Chambord raspberry liqueur, Kahlua coffee liqueur, Amaretto almond liqueur, Frangelico hazelnut liqueur, Limóncello lemon liqueur; the fantastic Rhum Clemente Creole Shrubb Liqueur D'Orange, Grand Marnier, and other Curacao orange liqueurs, and my favorite Drambuie- a Scotch based heather honey and herb liqueur, as well as Benedictine, Galliano, and other herb based liqueurs.

Liqueurs can also have added dairy, such as milk or cream, for what is called a Cream Liqueur. The most well known in the cream liqueur category being Bailey's Irish Cream. Although if you see Crème in the name of a liqueur, that does not mean it is a cream liqueur. It means a style of liqueur that is very sweet (usually double the amount of sugar as normal liqueurs) with an almost syrupy thickness to it, and the flavor is usually based on a single ingredient. To be called a Crème liqueur the sugar content must be 40%. The crème refers to the smooth and syrupy consistency, and some examples are Crème de cassis (black currant) and Crème de menthe (mint.)

Liqueurs can be made in several ways. Through maceration which is when you take the botanical ingredients and soak them in pure grain neutral spirits. Then after several weeks or months as sufficient to obtain the maximum flavor, you remove the solids and filter until clear. This method works well with delicate fruits whose flavor and aroma could be destroyed or harshened through other methods. In this category you also have infusion which is basically like steeping a tea of dried botanicals in spirits to get the flavors out and then filter. I make my own homemade liqueurs through maceration and infusion and I serve them to great enjoyment among my friends and family. My father has a standing order to always have a few of my liqueurs in his liquor cabinet for an after dinner dram.

Percolation is when you drip heated spirits through the ingredients over and over until you have removed the desired flavors, and then filter clear. This is used a lot with botanicals like coffee, cocoa nibs, and vanilla beans.

Distillation is when you use a pot still and take the dried botanicals and add them to spirits to soak for awhile. Then you distill the whole mess, leaving you with clean spirits which have picked up the aromas and the essence of the flavor of the botanicals. This is similar to how gin is made.

After going through one or more of these processes the results are mixed according to secret recipes, cut to a milder alcoholic strength, and sweetened. Then they are aged to bring together and smooth out the taste and aromas. Aging may be in stainless steel or glass so that you get no additional flavors, or in wooden casks and charred casks to pick up additional tastes and aromas.

There are various ways to serve liqueurs. You can mix it in a quality cocktail or enjoy it on its own. I prefer the liqueur as my primary focus, either having it in a small stemmed glass, slightly chilled or on the rocks; or room temperature in a brandy snifter to enjoy the aroma as much as the flavor. Which way I serve it depends upon the type of liqueur and my whim of the moment. Chilling can tone down the sweetness and any alcohol burn, as well as bring out the fruitier flavors. Serving warm brings out the aromas and different qualities. I think the best way to first taste any liqueur is to first try it straight and warm, then chilled, and finally on the rocks. This way you can see the flavor and aroma progression and decide which way works best for you.

Other ways to serve liqueurs are as a Frappé; this is when you serve the liqueur in a saucer or cocktail glass full of crushed or shaved ice and drink it through a short straw. In a Flambé, where the liqueur is served on fire, a sometimes dangerous experience as I can look back to when I was in my late teens and had the sad experience of losing my first straggly mustache to a flaming drink. Pousse-café, or a layered drink. This is where a variety of liqueurs are carefully poured one by one into a tall, thin glass. Each is layered on top of the other and when you sip gently you get a taste progression, layer by layer, as you make your way to the bottom of the glass. Finally, there really isn't a wrong way to serve Liqueurs and Cordials; as long as serve them you do. Enjoy!