Liqueur Archives - Page 2 of 2 - First Pour Cocktails

St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram

Posted on April 6, 2021April 6, 2021 by Nick

Allspice or Pimento is a dried unripe berry that is the fruit of the Pimenta Dioica plant in many warm Caribbean climates. Upon arriving to the new world, and discovering this berry, the explorers concluded it was basically every spice rolled into one. As a result, the name Allspice kind of stuck. Given the area’s thriving rum industry, its unsurprising that eventually it was turned into a rum liqueur. While it was initially a viable product commercially and used in many classic cocktails, it eventually died off in the 80s before being revived by those exploring classic cocktails. Among the renditions available is St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram.

St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram

Sight: A deeply caramelized woody brown with a lighter orange hue around the edges. Moderate opacity.

Smell: For lack of a better descriptor, the nose starts with complex heady notes of allspice. There is a certain amount of caramelized sugar and rum ester, but these are dominated by the smell of allspice. Complete with the gamut of clove, cinnamon, pepper, and nutmeg notes.

Sip: The sip is sweet and thick to start, the flavors of all-spice begin to creep in quickly, leading with the more clove like notes before breaking into cinnamon and nutmeg. These add a very mild component of bitterness. Touches of peppercorns and caramelized sugar join in, as well as a general anesthetizing sensation.

Savor: The ending maintains the clove, cinnamon, allspice character, but adds a subtle numbing and fruity character.

St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram is delightfully laced with spice and character plus some gentle rum notes. What it nails in spades is the flavor of Allspice, which is loaded into the bottle. While the overall final liqueur is too powerful to enjoy straight, but perfectly balanced for cocktails.

In Cocktails:

Thanks to the strong flavor of baking spices, St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram is a very versatile ingredient when used in small quantities. It finds a home in a number of Tiki classics (including some of the classics like Montego Bay, Rum Barrel, and Three Dots & a Dash) as well as their contemporary inspirations. We’ve also found it works fantastically adding fall flavors to darker liquors include bourbon and applejack cocktails. Bear in mind, even a bar spoon of St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram is extremely pungent, so don’t expect to go through a bottle quickly.

St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram Overall

St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram is one of a few choices on the market for Pimento Dram / Allspice Liqueur. However, they cut no corners in making a solid product that really emphasizes the allspice berry. The fact that it blends so seamlessly into cocktails is an added bonus. While a bottle is in the mid $20 range, you can expect to use it slowly. For anyone expanding into Tiki Cocktails, this is a soon rather than later add to your bar.

Marie Brizard Cassis de Dijon

Posted on January 19, 2021January 19, 2021 by Nick

There are a lot of liqueurs that have very few uses. For better or worse, Creme de Cassis is amongst these bottles. Being primarily used in a Kir Royale, you might question if you should spend more for a better bottle of something with so few uses. If you happen to like the Kir Royale, than one sip Marie Brizard Cassis de Dijon will answer your question instantly.

Marie Brizard Cassis de Dijon

Claimed to be made from the finest blackcurrant, Marie Brizard will set you back somewhere around $20 for a 750ml.

Sight: An inky, purplish black at it’s core. The edges give way like an old wine through shades of garnet and brick with a watery orange edge.

Smell: The smell of blackcurrents and ripe berries is abundant with hints of earthiness, almost like grape stems or stony soil.

Sip: The palate starts sweet and quickly works into a more lively territory as notes of bright, fresh berries well up. There’s a subtle bitterness like berry skin, that gives way to a mix of both fresh and jammed blackcurrants. That subtle bitterness gives it bit of extra snap texturally, helping with a syrup like consistency.

Savor: The ending a long affair of blackcurrants brambling slowly away leaving a saccharine sweetness and touch of stem.

Marie Brizard Cassis de Dijon highlights blackcurrants naturally, giving them their space to show off. The slightly jammy notes that run throughout make for a lovely bookend to the fresh fruit like bite the liqueur displays. It is definitively more complex and well rounded than a bottom shelf bottle. A comparison of Marie Brizard to DeKuyper Creme de Cassis left no doubt as to the reason for the price difference, with the later being artificially powdery in it’s sweetness and muddled with flavors approaching chocolate and concord grapes.

In Cocktails

To say Creme de Cassis is limited is a bit of an understatement. There is exactly one classic cocktail I’m aware of that class for Creme de Cassis, the Kir Royale. A built drink, the Kir Royale is merely a half ounce of Creme de Cassis, and around 5 oz of champagne. In essence, you’re building a highball with champagne. For this application, Marie Brizard Creme de Cassis has enough complexity and acidity to complement the wine, and elevate the experience, while adding its fruity twist.

Marie Brizard Cassis de Dijon Overall

Marie Brizard is a gorgeous example of blackcurrant liqueur. The complexity and natural character make this a shoe in for lovers of Kir Royale. Others might think twices if they really need a bottle of blackcurrent liqueur on their bar. However, if you do, then Marie Brizard Cassis de Dijon is our recommended bottle.

Rothman & Winter Creme De Violette

Posted on November 5, 2020 by Nick

When I first got into craft cocktails, there was something amazing about the Aviation. Truthfully, it was probably related to the wonderful Sinatra song Blue Moon, which fit right in with classic prohibition era cocktails. Either way, when I final managed to find a bottle of cvreme de iolette, it was off to the races to make an Aviation. I was in love, which lead me to buy 3 different brands, one of which was Rothman & Winter Creme De Violette.

Rothman & Winter Creme De Violette

There are two main problems with any bottle of creme de violette:

Creme de violette tastes like violet candies
There are small handful of cocktails that use tiny amounts of this floral liqueur.

As a result a bottle of creme de violette lasts for what seems like ever. As a result, one should be choose when picking a Creme De Violette. So is Rothman & Winter Creme De Violette the one for your bar?

Sight: A deep royal purple with light blue edges.

Smell: The smell of violets is unmistakable, but so are the smells of preserved dark fruit jam and violet candies. It’s a little bright as well – like its slightly acidic.

Sip: The sip starts unmistakably syrupy, but is delightfully floral and definitively violet. It’s not completely overpowering though. There are still all those touches of super dark ripe fruits that hide around the edges. Just a hint of floral bitterness hides.

Savor: The finish keeps rolling through the violet, like a sugar candy. The violet is definitely floral, but lingers pleasantly.

Rothman & Winter Creme De Violette is powerfully floral, but also elegant in it’s grace. In addition to the violet, the other flavors it hints at are helpful in adding another layer. While you would presumably never drink it on its own, for the classic Aviation it demonstrates enough body to be part of the cocktail without being overwhelmed by it.

In Cocktails

Rothman & Winter Creme De Violette balances well in an aviation, providing a perfumed hint of violets against the herbal and spicy notes of the gin and maraschino. The lemon brings it all out keeping the drink bright with just the hint of sweetness. Beyond the aviation, a blue moon is probably the next most common (an Aviation with no Maraschino Liqueur) and perhaps a Violette Royale next (sparkling wine and creme de violette). Neither are particularly common, but are both options for what to do with a nice bottle of creme de violette.

Final Thoughts

On it’s own this is a hard bottle to justify, and even for someone that loves craft cocktails, creme de violette is a challenging ingredient to craft new drinks with. With a limited number of classic cocktails that call for it, it can also take a while to go through a bottle. For these reasons, this creme de violette remains an enthusiast’s ingredient. That said, if you need to pick a creme de violette, Rothman & Winter is a great choice.

Looking for more information – check out Haus Alpenz description of their creme de violette.

Giffard Pêche De Vigne

Posted on August 9, 2020August 9, 2020 by Nick

For some liqueurs one is spoilt for choice. Look no further than the plethora of orange liqueurs in the market, and you’ll see a near saturation of similar products. Yet, for some liqueurs, there are relative few ways to go. Among them are most stone fruit liqueurs, like peach. Fortunately, Giffard is once again helping plug gaps in our bar with Giffard Pêche de Vigne

Giffard Pêche de Vigne

Translating to Peach of the Vineyard, Giffard infuses the peaches of France into their liqueur. While it sounds absolutely lovely, it’s always a question of if the liquid inside the bottle measures up to the story told. So does Giffard Pêche de Vigne impress?

Sight: Lightly golden, boarding on a chardonnay. Just plain peachy.

Smell: A beautiful mix of fresh macerated peaches and candied peach rings. There are some tangy notes of fresh, slightly under ripe peaches.

Sip: The start is viscous but bright. The flavor builds into a mix of candied peaches and fresh mashed peaches with their skins.

Savor: The ending sticks for a while and moves toward the candied side with those linger hints of fresh peach skin and a subtle, floral nuttiness.

Pêche de Vigne isn’t the most complicated liqueur, but what it tries to do, it does well. The balance of fresh peach and candied peach is easy going but enjoyable. The brightness also helps it to play well with cocktails, and the sweetness hides any edges. The relatively low alcohol also helps to keep the balance of the cocktail.

In Cocktails

Pêche de Vigne plays well various rums, making it a nice addition to Tiki drinks. It also has a nice a synergy with floral spirits and gins. As a result, we’ve found it to be a solid modifier for crafting with, and have used it in a number of our original cocktails.

Pêche de Vigne Overall

Giffard Pêche de Vigne is a great addition for those looking for a peach flavored liquor. The price is reasonable, and those who enjoy making tiki drinks will find places to slot this to add a twist to their drinks. While it’s by no means a must have, it certainly is one of our favorite bottles to play with, and we encourage others to try it.

Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao

Posted on March 3, 2020June 9, 2020 by Nick

One of the most flummoxing things about starting to make certain cocktails was that ingredients have a way of sounding like one another. After all, whiskey is also whisky, bourbon is whiskey, and scotch is whisky. Much like Scotch isn’t Bourbon though, not all curaçao are equivalent – well not exactly anyway. So when you think about orange liqueurs, where does Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao fit?

What is Curaçao?

To start – let’s just establish what curaçao is. Historically speaking, curacao was a liqueur made from the Laraha orange’s extract. This bitter orange wasn’t much for eating, but the peels were aromatic. Figuring out this could be made into liqueur with neutral spirits or brandy, curaçao was born. Supposedly seeking to help give some mystique, Bols is said to have added the blue coloring to the concoction.

In addition to Bols adding blue coloring, there’s some debate as to who exactly started the name Triple Sec (which in this case, you can use synonymously with curacao). Some claim it came from Cointreau, who went through multiple iterations of branding – and ultimately removed it once a flood of cheap triple sec hit the market. Others claim it was a label for the distillation process. Regardless of where it started, Triple Sec supplanted Curaçao in some name conventions, and you can now swap the names interchangeably.

But what about the ingredients? While you’ve probably experienced blue curacao at one point or another it would be a mistake to think that it was identical to other curaçaos – like Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao. The magic in this starts with the base, and develops from there through the addition of spices and the orange used. Some ingredients, like your Mr. Boston Triple Sec are low level, orange flavored neutral spirits gussied up with sugar. Others, like Grand Marnier, are brandy based and intrinsically have underlying notes of oakiness and grape brandy.

Depending on the other flavors in your drink, sometimes you can get away with this. A bold or aged tequila might play well with brandy based curacao like Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao in a Margarita. While something more subtle though, might require the use of a neutral spirit like Cointreau – which is our go to recommendation as it will work regardless.

As a note: While some will probably fight me on this, not all Blue Curaçao are bad, notably Giffard makes a lovely one.

On It’s Own: Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao

Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao is modeled after classic early 20th century French orange. It features Laraha oranges infused in grape brandy, combined with a distillate of walnut skins and prunes aged in brandy and cognac, and toasted sugar aged in barrels.

Sight: A beautiful golden color with hints of orange

Smell: Macerated orange peels float out on the nose and mix with various orange notes. Candied characteristics layer with touches of pith and notes of nuttiness and grapes build around the edges.

Sip: The body starts out round and quickly shows it sweetness. A good amount of brightness keeps things level. The orange is front and center, bringing a mix of orange flavors out. There’s a bit of the pith and a strong backbone of woodsy, nutty, sweet caramelized sugar.

Savor: The ending rounds out sweet – but slowly turns pithy. The flavor of candied oranges and slightly nutty cognac lingers.

I’d be remiss to tell you that Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao was anything other than luscious and delectable. The subtle complexity wafting up on the nose, and the well rounded palate make it a pleasure to sip. Thanks to its sizable character, it also plays great in cocktails, and is an ingredient that shows up in the world of Tiki cocktails. On of the most notable of which is the classic El Presidente highlighted in Smuggler’s Cove*, featuring a solid mix of grenadine, dry vermouth, Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao, and Lightly Aged Rum.

Final Thoughts:

Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao is a wonderful orange liqueur that’s well worth the price. Check it out if you’re into Tiki or want a new orange liqueur experience with an extra French historical flare.

If Pierre Ferrand seems familiar, or you want to try something else by them, check out our past reviews of Plantation 20th Anniversary and O.F.T.D for some of their excellent rums. For even more info, check out Pierre Ferrand’s Site.

* – Contains an affiliate link that may result in First Pour Cocktails receiving a portion of the sale.

Cardamaro

Posted on January 27, 2020August 10, 2020 by Nick

You’d be forgiven for seeing Cardamaro and assuming it was a cardamom flavored liqueur. In fact, this wine based amaro is based off relatives of the artichoke (cardoon and blessed thistle). This gives it an herbal background and plenty of spicing rounds it out. As it’s wine based, it’s more acidity forward, making it a great option for cocktails that traditionally use amaro or vermouth. Be aware, as Cardamaro is a wine based Amaro, it will last 4-6 weeks in your fridge after you open it.

Cardamaro

Sight: A walnut like brown, a solid core and lighter cherry wood notes around the edges.

Smell: Dates and cardamom lead the way with touches of brown sugar, caramel, and herbal components come through. The nose is sweet and soft, with a vermouth like quality.

Sip: Spicy notes bursts forth with plenty of cinnamon and herbal notes with hints of cardamom. Brown sugar notes fill in the gaps and touches of dates, orange pith, golden raisins, and tea.

Savor: The finish disappears quite quickly, but the hints of spice and tannin linger.

Cardamaro is a beautiful, sweet, herbal, subtly earthy and well balanced amaro. The flavors here aren’t as bold as a Cynar or Ramazzotti, making it more accessible to those with more bitter sensitive palates. The subtle sweetness make it a decent sipper, and a the wine based acidity makes it good for cocktails that might be stirred and don’t benefit from lemon or lime.

In Cocktails

Making a Midnight Mass from Death & Co’s wonderful cocktail book, I was able to see how Cardamaro played with rum and Benedictine. The fruitiness of the rum was toned down as the brown sugar and spice notes of the Cardamaro came forward. A touch of heat but the herbal flavors and spice from the benedictine allowed the Cardamaro to play a solid background role. Overall it was pleasant, and the orange helped accentuate it.

Cardamaro Cocktails:

The Card Trick

*Please note – this is an affiliate link that helps us keep running First Pour Cocktails! We hope you enjoy the book, we know we have, and appreciate your support!

Passoa Passion Fruit Liqueur

Posted on July 26, 2019April 28, 2021 by Nick

Every now and then you just have to give into your impulses. On our trip to Florida, we greatly enjoyed indulging in a great variety of cocktails and liquors, including various rums that we can’t get in the Northeast Ohio. Packing up the bottle luggage* for the flight home, we had a little extra room, and stowed away a bottle of Passoa Passion Fruit Liqueur.

On Its Own: Passoa Passion Fruit Liqueur

A pure impulse buy based on seeking out new flavors, Passoa Passion Fruit Liqueur comes in a black bottle, hiding a bright pink liqueur inside. Made in France, Passoa was originated by the Remy-Cointreau group and uses passion fruit as a main ingredient. After getting it home, we generally agreed that the nose certainly implies passion fruit, but that hints of candied watermelon and citrus are present as well. These same flavors carry over on the palate – with a healthy dose of sweetness and just a touch of alcohol on the finish.

In Cocktails

If you’d asked me what cocktails Passoa Passion Fruit Liqueur goes in, I’d have looked at you like a deer in the headlights. To be honest, after having the bottle for a couple of months, I’m still rather at a loss. The most famous drink – or so Passoa claims – is the Porn Star Martini. This mix of vanilla vodka and passion fruit is served with a sidecar of champagne – which Absolut was apparently happy to derive an entire marketing document from.

I actually find the entire thing is worth a read, and quite charming. That aside – we’ve yet to find a perfect use for Passoa as of writing this. We certainly believe it has potential, but the market featuring Passoa is still quite small. In the mean time – make yourself a Porn Star Martini as listed on Passoa’s website.

The Porn Star Martini

1.6 oz

Vodka

1.6 oz

Passoa Passion Fruit Liqueur

0.4 oz

Vanilla Simple Syrup

0.4 oz

Lime Juice

1.5 oz

Sparkling Wine (Garnish – Optional)

Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice. Shake and double strain into a coupe. Serve with a shot glass of prosecco or champagne on the side.

This drink – in fair warning – is quite sweet. The play between the martini itself and the wine is really good – and you wouldn’t be faulted if you combine them.

The Final Word: Passoa Passion Fruit Liqueur

Passoa Passion Fruit Liqueur is a cool option to add to a full bar. Do you need it? Probably not. But for someone looking for something different, Passoa is a great choice to mix it up.

Other Takes on Passoa Passion Fruit Liqueur

Normally I’d put an outbound link here. However, I went back 9 pages on google and didn’t find one. You’ll just have to trust us – or send in your own take!

Cocktails Featuring Passoa:

Yeah Baby! - A Porn Star Martini Inspired Cocktail — Yeah Baby!

Raw Tasting Notes:

Nick: A charming watermelon pink hue. The nose is loaded with sweet passion fruit and hints of candy watermelon with hints of citrus. The palate is light and bright, with plenty of passion fruit and sweetness coming through. There are floral hints and other touches of tropical elements / citrus. The finish has a touch of liquor too – simpler to vodka.

Ann Marie: Smells like passion fruit. As though it’s juice – there’s a sweetness coming from the nose. Passion Fruit comes through on the palate but with orange. Slight note of alcohol on the finish.

Cynar

Posted on May 24, 2019May 24, 2019 by Nick

Many years ago – when I was still wrestling with the basics of cocktails, and craft cocktails were still up and coming, I read Boozehound by Jason Wilson*. The book was mesmerizing to me and opened my mind to a broad range of ideas that included Liquor Store Archeology and that Bitter is Bella.

Now before we jump into the idea that ‘Bitter is Bella’, let’s talk about Liquor Store Archeology. If you happen to be obsessive when it comes to unusual liqueurs and liquors then this is an amusing way to spend time in a liquor store or on a trip to a far off locale. The principle is simple – take a look around an older liquor store and see if there are any dusty, long forgotten, obscure bottles of liquor of a type you might not otherwise pick up. Then – pick them up and buy them.

This game works best, if like Jason, you have a partner to play with and try to one up. It’s simply mad lad genius. It bears noting that this isn’t the only intriguing concept and the book is still worth reading, even some years on.

If, however, you are not the type of individual that simply enjoys picking up old and unusual liquor bottles – the second concept may be more your speed. After all, if you’ve arrived on this site looking for Cynar – you might believe that bitter – is in fact – bella.

So what is an Amaro? Quite literally, amaro means ‘bitter’ in Italian, and amari [the plural of amaro] tend to be bitter. These complex liqueurs are unique concoctions – typically decades, if not centuries, old – that are intended to be consumed after dinner to aid in digestion. They are sometimes known as digestifs. They also include a healthy amount of sugar, leading to a bittersweet character. This complex mix of sugar, herbs, citrus, floral elements, spices, and many unlisted ingredients create complex, intriguing sets of flavors that tantalize the palate and expand the horizons of what can be expressed by a drink. They are in fact – ‘Bella’.

About Cynar – On Its Own

Cynar is a notably bitter Amaro made by the Campari Group. While there are some who believe Cynar tastes like artichokes, this isn’t strictly speaking true. Artichoke is an ingredient, but the flavor is more herbal, vegetal, and earthy – and is also thanks to the other 12 ingredients that are not explicitly listed.

Supertasters – and those that don’t like bitter things – will find this experience similar to placing bitters directly on their tongue. To those that find bitter bella – there’s a sweetness that comes off the nose giving it an herbal – cola like character. There are notes of spice, but the herbal – vegetal – brown sugar sweetness note is most prevalent. The body is moderately thick and has a burnt caramel flavor. The finish is bitter, but with a lingering rich sweetness that carries.

Cynar – In Cocktails

While you could always enjoy Cynar on its own (or with ice), there are other ways to use it in cocktails. Generally speaking – for Amari – there are a few ways to apply them – in order of your ability to tolerate bitterness:

Seasoning – similar to bitters in a small dash or rinse of a glass
Substitute for Vermouth And / Or Bitters
As A Base / Split Base – With an ABV of 30+ Amari can work as an underlying flavor to play with modifiers and other additions.

As Cynar can be perceived as more bitter than other Amari, I find it works better as vermouth compliment or replacement. To sample Cynar, I tried a Cynartown from Death & Co’s book*. The Cynartown contains Beefeater Gin, Sweet Vermouth, and Cynar. It’s garnished with a brandied cherry – I used Luxardo.

The gin is fragrant on the nose, and the juniper gets a supple sweetness from the Cynar and sweet vermouth. On the palate, it’s richer than it seems like it would be, and the similarity to the Manhattan is notable (as the structure of the cocktail mirrors it). The gin powers through, and the Cynar plays a definite back up. That said, if you want a gin Manhattan, this is heading in the right direction. As a recommendation, this may also be a good application of the Aviation Gin to downplay the juniper.

I also used the Cynar as a modifier in a Manhattan. It adds a delightful richness and a different herbal note that plays well with the spice of the rye. I also sampled it in a flip, and enjoy the herbal notes it adds to the foam. In all of these applications, you don’t need a lot. A quarter to a half ounce will easily suffice.

The Final Word: Cynar

Cynar

Rating

Coming Soon!

Other’s Share Their Thoughts On Cynar

Cynar – Tasting Notes:

Ann Marie: Appearance is dark. Nose: Concentrated cardamom – clove. Bitter molasses – slight sweetness on the palate. The finish is just bitter.

Nick: Appearance is dark – mahogany color. There’s a sweetness that comes off the nose giving it an herbal – cola like character. There are notes of spice, but the herbal – green – brown sugar sweetness note is most prevalent. The body is rich and like burnt caramel in flavor. Lacing through the sweetness is an undercurrent of herbs, cola, and sasparilla. The finish is bitter, but with a lingering rich sweetness.

* – please note – this post contains Amazon Affiliate Links

Giffard Abricot Du Roussillon

Posted on May 15, 2019April 19, 2021 by Nick

Perhaps the first reason someone picks up a book on cocktails is to look at the amazing recipes contained within. When I first picked up a copy of Death & Co’s cocktail book, I turned right to the whiskey section. Then immediately realized that I couldn’t make anything in that section, or most of the other ones. It wasn’t for a lack of skill (although that would come), it was more for lack of ingredients.

Fortunately, a fair number of cocktail books contain sections with recommendations for different brands and liquors that they use in their cocktails. These offer a great starting point if you’re unfamiliar, and a great chance to compare if you happen to own multiple books. Over time, and with the purchase of a number of books, I began to realize that some brands are better than others. Among them is Giffard’s.

While we’ve tried a number of spirits, we generally gravitate toward Giffard as we’ve found everything from the Blue Curacao to the Vigne de Peché to be well-balanced, nuanced, and true to their names.

Giffard describes their Abricot du Roussillon as a premium liqueur, made from Rouges du Roussillon apricots macerated in neutral spirits and then sweetened with fresh apricot juice. True to form in the tasting notes, the flavors are balanced and fresh, and there’s a premium feel here we didn’t see in lower end Apricot Liqueur.

On Its Own

Giffard Abricot Du Roussillon has a delightful fresh apricot start to the nose. The smell is nuanced, picking up notes of dried and baked apricots, orange zest, and candied fruit notes. The palate is sweet, although not cloyingly so. The flavor is predominantly fresh apricot, but still picks up some of the dried and baked elements, along with touches of tangerine, allspice, and certain nuttiness. A mild astringency lingers with the sweetness of the finish.

It’s worth noting this flavor is distinctly apricot – you’d be unlikely to open this and think – wow, that’s peaches [or other miscellaneous stone fruit].

Giffard Abricot Du Roussillon – In Cocktails

I would be remiss to tell you that Apricot Liqueur is widely used in cocktails. In our perusal of several cocktail books in our collection, we yielded possibly a dozen recipes out of several hundred. That number trims down even further if you’re trying to find a cocktail that truly showcases apricot liqueur. That’s a shame too; at its best it adds a delightful fruitiness while giving a cocktail characteristics that surprise and often amazing people. Several of our guests after trying it, have been surprised at how much apricot flavor it imparts.

So what can you do with it?

Thanks to its pungent nature, Giffard Abricot Du Roussillon can be employed easily as a modifier. Adding a hint (read barspoon to quarter oz) to a Gin and Tonic, Manhattan, or Daiquiri can add a different dimension to a favorite drink. If you want to be more tailored, The Bitter Truth (who makes a competing product) offers a list of Apricot cocktails.

Their Apricot Lady really helps to show off the depth of flavor Giffard’s Abricot Du Roussillon has. The apricot comes through against the creaminess of the egg, and the orange amplifies with the rum. Simultaneously rich and refreshing, it’s a great choice to show off the liqueur.

Abricot Du Roussillon also plays well in Tiki Cocktails. One of the recipes we found is the Golden Gun from Smuggler’s Cove by Martin Cate [disclosure – this is an Amazon Affiliate link, First Pour Cocktails may receive a portion of any sale]. The play between the rums, apricot, and the citrus creates a beautifully balanced mix of tiki flavors. The apricot really shines through – playing off the brown sugar and molasses notes of the rums. The result is a simply sippable cocktail that’s perfect for spring or early fall.

The Final Word – Giffard Abricot Du Roussillon

There aren’t a ton of apricot liqueurs on the market, so most of the time your options will be limited. If you do have a choice, Giffard Abricot Du Roussillon is among the top we’ve tasted, being well balanced, nuanced, and true to the flavor of apricots.

Giffard Abricot Du Roussillon

Rating

Coming Soon!

Other’s Share Their Thoughts on Giffard Abricot Du Roussillon:

Tasting Notes:

Ann Marie: On the nose fresh apricot with a touch of fresh fruit tarts, hints of baked apricot, and orange. Taste was similar to fresh apricot – with a hint of nuttiness like the pit. A hint of allspice and orange with a pleasant sweetness.

Nick: The smell is of fresh cut apricots with a subtle bitterness and candy like notes. There are touches of dried apricot as well. On the palate there’s a mild astringent characteristic and a pleasant sweetness. Fresh apricot and a mild nuttiness come together with a hint of tangerine on the finish. The dried /cooked apricot characteristics come through well.