"cordials" news and stories

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.

A liquor order made by George Washington in August, 1776, was recently put on display at a whiskey trade show in Chicago. The list, which belongs to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, includes orders for cases of claret, muscat wine and cordials as well as a keg of brandy and a request for "2 cheeses—old—58 lb.," according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The Sun-Times quotes a spokesman at Mount Vernon Estates and Gardens who says that the supply was not likely to be Washington's private stash, but rather for entertaining officers and guests.