143 replies to this topic

[little ms foodie]

We tried the lillet blond with some leftover rose last night as an aperitif and it was soooo good!!! Great idea!

I have a half of bottle of the red in my fridge, so far I haven't liked it but I'm still looking for other good ideas. I hate to toss it!

[slkinsey]

I think Lillet Rouge is great just on the rocks with a twist.

[SushiCat]

Before spring or summer arrive, just getting to the bottom of a classic Lillet cocktail. This is on the menu somewhere that makes delicious cocktails and has as ingredients Lillet brandy Cointreau & lemon ... anyone have experience with this/anyone willing to offer up tried/true proportions? Seems like a good combo and I hate to let my Lillet 'age' from now until warm weather!

[slkinsey]

The Lillet Cocktail recipe in cocktailDB calls for three parts Lillet Blanc to two parts gin, so your ingredient list sounds like a more modern invention with the same name. I'm guessing the place that makes your cocktail is Parkside in Vancouver?

What you describe sounds to me almost like a "Reverse Sidecar" with Lillet serving as the reversing ingredient (a Sidecar is brandy, Cointreau and lemon juice). As chance would have it, reverse cocktails is something we're discussing right now in another thread.

[SushiCat]

The Lillet Cocktail recipe in cocktailDB calls for three parts Lillet Blanc to two parts gin, so your ingredient list sounds like a more modern invention with the same name.  I'm guessing the place that makes your cocktail is Parkside in Vancouver?

What you describe sounds to me almost like a "Reverse Sidecar" with Lillet serving as the reversing ingredient (a Sidecar is brandy, Cointreau and lemon juice).  As chance would have it, reverse cocktails is something we're discussing right now in another thread.

Thanks, this version seems very gin-y, but I still might try it out. Yes Parkside, are you psychic? Did you notice I was recently at Parkside and enamored with the cocktail I had, a blood orange negroni ? It was oh so fine ... but the Lillet in my fridge is calling out to me.

cam-pai

[eje]

With all this talk recently of White Negronis and Lillet, I went through the rather informative Lillet Website to get a handle on the product's history.

1872 Company founded
1887 Lillet formula created
1895 Lillet launched in Bordeaux
1895 In the US and West Indies "Lillet Export Double Quinine" marketed as a tonic wine
1909 Two products available in Europe, Kina Lillet and Sauternes Lillet
1920 "Lillet Dry" created and introduced in England, "to suit English tastes, especially when mixed with gin."
1962 Lillet Rouge created
1985-86 Lillet modernized its manufacturing facilities and Lillet Blanc reformulated, "...fresher, fruitier, less syrupy, less bitter..."

edit - add link to website.

Edited by eje, 20 August 2007 - 03:29 PM.

[slkinsey]

Sigh. If only Lillet would come out with an "antica formula" kind of deal.

[Chris Amirault]

What with Lillet getting beaten up hereabouts, I thought I'd share tonight's drink, taken from Patrick Gavin Duffy, the Odd McIntyre:

3/4 oz brandy
3/4 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz Lillet
3/4 oz lemon
Angostura bitters

It's not the most complicated concoction in the land, but it's a pleasant, summer's-almost-over drink.

[jgm]

moosnsqrl introduced me to Lillet about a year and a half ago while I was visiting Kansas City. We had it straight up, on the rocks. Lovely stuff. I will always have a special place in my heart for her, just for this! I had forgotten that I had a little bit left in the bottle.

[Mayur]

Sigh.  If only Lillet would come out with an "antica formula" kind of deal.

The Cocchi Aperitivo Americano comes close to the "bitter" (kina) Lillet (I've done a side-by-side with a very well-preserved bottle), and I'd suggest that Noilly Prat Ambre is probably close to the Sauternes Lillet, although who knows? Vermouth herbals are tricky to judge. Anyone in the perfume industry who could lend a hand?

[slkinsey]

I've been thinking of making a quinine tincture I could keep in an eyedropper bottle and use to bump Lillet back up to pre-reformulation levels.

[thirtyoneknots]

Sigh.  If only Lillet would come out with an "antica formula" kind of deal.

The Cocchi Aperitivo Americano comes close to the "bitter" (kina) Lillet (I've done a side-by-side with a very well-preserved bottle), and I'd suggest that Noilly Prat Ambre is probably close to the Sauternes Lillet, although who knows? Vermouth herbals are tricky to judge. Anyone in the perfume industry who could lend a hand?

Old Lillet is based on Sauternes?!

[bostonapothecary]

Sigh.  If only Lillet would come out with an "antica formula" kind of deal.

The Cocchi Aperitivo Americano comes close to the "bitter" (kina) Lillet (I've done a side-by-side with a very well-preserved bottle), and I'd suggest that Noilly Prat Ambre is probably close to the Sauternes Lillet, although who knows? Vermouth herbals are tricky to judge. Anyone in the perfume industry who could lend a hand?

Old Lillet is based on Sauternes?!

maybe it was like barolo chinato? as far as quality wine contributing to the nuance... chateau haut charmes is affordable enough to try it with... just need some good seville oranges and quinine... simple inputs and complex outputs or is there any other ingredients?

[thirtyoneknots]

My impression is that Lillet is based on a dry white Brodeaux table wine (ie a Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc blend). Aside from Sauternes being generally cost prohibitive for something like this, Lillet lacks the distinctive botrytis flavor of Sauternes and other wines made in that fashion.

[Mayur]

Old Lillet is based on Sauternes?! 

I was referring to the fact that old Lillet has two formulas (three once they came up with Lillet Dry). As eje notes above, Continental Lillet had two varieties: "Kina Lillet" and "Sauternes Lillet." I was merely suggesting that something like Noilly Ambre (which appears to use a botrytised wine stock, from the taste) might be similar to this old "Sauternes Lillet."

This line has a picture of an old label FYI:

http://cgi.ebay.fr/B...2QQcmdZViewItem

However, I've never tasted this stuff nor met anyone who has, so I'm just presupposing out of whole cloth. Still, if one were dividing old-school Lillet into two categories, spicy-dry (kina) and botrytis-sweet (Sauternes), then I'd imagine the substitutions might work that way, though as I said, I've only been able to do a comparative taste test of Kina Lillet to Aperitivo Americano.

[thirtyoneknots]

Old Lillet is based on Sauternes?! 

I was referring to the fact that old Lillet has two formulas (three once they came up with Lillet Dry). As eje notes above, Continental Lillet had two varieties: "Kina Lillet" and "Sauternes Lillet." I was merely suggesting that something like Noilly Ambre (which appears to use a botrytised wine stock, from the taste) might be similar to this old "Sauternes Lillet."

That is very interesting, I'd never heard of such. Was Sauternes Lillet meant to be a digestif/dessert or was it dry enough to be an aperitif? Some Sauternes are not that sweet, not too much more than current Lillet, so I guess it's concievable.

Edit: Spelling

Edited by thirtyoneknots, 29 September 2007 - 07:23 AM.

[Danne]

If I can't find any Lillet. What can I use as an substitute?

[Mayur]

For Lillet Blanc? Dry vermouth (Noilly works best) plus orange bitters (50% Regans/50% Fees, or better still all Angostura) does a reasonable facsimile IMO.

[Katie Meadow]

I never imagined there were so many ways to pronounce one simple word; where else but eGullet? But thanks for this thread. Now I know we weren't making some hideous mess out of the word when we were in Provence recently, since several posters have confirmed that indeed it isn't a common aperitif in bars or cafes in France. My husband speaks pretty good French, but all the waiters were confounded when he ordered it. We gave up and instead got into drinking Porto, chilled, and then into Martini Rosso over ice with a slice of orange; both drinks have now become my new favorite warm-weather starters.

I was introduced to Lillet by a friend who likes to add a splash of lemon juice and a twist of same. My husband likes to make a drink called a Corpse Reviver, which uses equal parts of gin, triple sec, Lillet Blonde and lemon juice. The recipe (from Gary Regan's Mixology) also calls for a drop of absinthe. We subbed Pastis; he likes more anise flavor, I like less. It's a very fun drink, altho the revival potential is lost on me---but then, I'm still alive. Absinthe, however, according to today's NYT, has been revived.

[Alchemist]

I know I've shared this on other threads but I have to put in the 20th Century. The Violet Hour version, on the upcoming winter menu. I know that lilet is a summer thing but the unexpected twist gives it a rich feeling.

1.5 oz Plymouth
.75 oz Lillet Blond
.75 oz lemon juice
.75 oz creme de cacoa white

Shake serve up. No garnish.

Like art deco in a glass...

Toby

spelin perly

Edited by Alchemist, 12 November 2007 - 06:53 PM.

[mkayahara]

If I can't find any Lillet. What can I use as an substitute?

I'd guess that the Dubonnet Gold might make a good substitute, though I don't know this from experience. Maybe some other members have some thoughts on it?

[eje]

No, Dubonnet Blanc, at least what we get in the US, isn't very close to Lillet Blanc.

Lillet is sweeter and has the whole orange thing going on.

Dubonnet Blanc, to my taste, is more like a less herbaceous Noilly Prat Dry.

It might make a better "blanc" canvas to start with than Dry Vermouth, however.

Add a little more sugar and a touch of bitter orange tincture and you could probably get close to Lillet.

[jsmeeker]

Because of a topic about meyer lemons, I was inspired to pick up a bottle of Lillet (blanc). From that topic, I have one cocktail to make. I'll scan through this one for others.

But I have a question.. How long will this last, and how should I store it?? (room temp or the fridge??)

[JAZ]

Refrigerate it. I didn't for quite a while, and when I started, I definitely noticed a difference in the flavor. I use a lot of it, so I don't worry about its shelf life. A couple of months is fine.

As for recipes, try the Corpse Reviver #2.

[jsmeeker]

Refrigerate it. I didn't for quite a while, and when I started, I definitely noticed a difference in the flavor. I use a lot of it, so I don't worry about its shelf life. A couple of months is fine.

As for recipes, try the Corpse Reviver #2.

Thanks, Janet.

I'm going to whip up an "After School Special" right now since I now posses all the ingredients. (gonna make it with Plymouth gin, as that's what I have)

[Mike S.]

I try to keep all my vermouths and aromatized wines (red and white) in the fridge. I also HIGHLY recommend the use of an inert gas wine preserver like Private Preserve. It works extremely well. Between that and the fridge, you'll find your vermouths and such will keep very nearly indefinitely with little decline in quality.

Cheers,

Mike

[DCP]

I try to keep all my vermouths and aromatized wines (red and white) in the fridge.  I also HIGHLY recommend the use of an inert gas wine preserver like Private Preserve.  It works extremely well.  Between that and the fridge, you'll find your vermouths and such will keep very nearly indefinitely with little decline in quality.

Indeed. I'd read an opinion piece somewhere (don't recall the source) that vermouth is so widely reviled among the uninitiated because it's stored improperly, seriously compromising flavor. cf. one-liners and other historical anecdotes involving some form of avoiding vermouth's presence in, say, a martini while still alluding to its presence in the formula.

[jsmeeker]

Lately I've been on a Lillet (Blond) kick. I've been using it for quite some time in a martini-like drink with mandarin-flavored vodka (Absolut Mandarin is good; Hangar One Madarin Blossom is sublime). Having run out of the Hangar One, I cast around for other ideas and stumbled across the Vesper from Paul Harrington's book (half gin/half vodka plus a splash of the Lillet). Very nice drink.

I've since done a bit of experimentation, and my latest drink is this one: After School Special -- an original so far as I know.

Anyone else have any ideas for Lillet? And how about the Lillet Rouge? I've never tried it.

Janet,

Tell me a little more about this cocktail with the mandarin vodka and the Liellet Blanc. What ratios are you using? You say it's like a martini. Does that mean mandarin vodka instead of gin and the Lillet (a small amount) instead of the white/dry vermouth? Or is there a different ratio? (maybe more Lilltet). Is there anything else??

[brinza]

This thread has inspired me to buy another bottle of Lillet. It is great stuff. I originally bought it when I wanted to make a Corpse Reviver #2 which immediately became a favorite cocktail. I've made some other great cocktails with it and have enjoyed it straight, but oddly, I have yet to try a Vesper, but I have feeling there is one in this weekend's cocktail agenda.

One curious note: My old bottle had a cork stopper top and a plastic badge or seal glued onto the front of the bottle at the base of the neck. The new bottle has a screw cap and only embossed glass where the plastic badge used to be. I hope nothing else has been changed!

[thirtyoneknots]

This thread has inspired me to buy another bottle of Lillet.  It is great stuff.  I originally bought it when I wanted to make a Corpse Reviver #2 which immediately became a favorite cocktail.  I've made some other great cocktails with it and have enjoyed it straight, but oddly, I have yet to try a Vesper, but I have feeling there is one in this weekend's cocktail agenda.

One curious note:  My old bottle had a cork stopper top and a plastic badge or seal glued onto the front of the bottle at the base of the neck.  The new bottle has a screw cap and only embossed glass where the plastic badge used to be.  I hope nothing else has been changed! 

So far as I could ever tell, it didn't, just cheaper packaging.