What to do with chestnut liqueur?

[Penwu]

I was given a bottle good chestnut liqueur - and ideas for mixing with it? I tried a chestnut sour as a variant of an amaretto sour (just chestnut liqueur and lemon juice), and it was good, if a bit sweet for my taste. That's been the extent of my creativity, though - any ideas?

[EvergreenDan]

I think a classic sour with the chestnut liqueur as the sweet component would work. I'd try something like 2 parts rum, 1 part liqueur, 1 part lemon or lime, 1 to 3 dashes spicy bitters, such as Angostura.

I'd then try something more interesting like 1 part bourbon, 1 part chestnut liqueur, 1 part amaro (Ramazzotti, Averna, Meletti, or even Cynar or Campari), 1 to 2 parts lemon (depending upon how sweet things are).

Or try a Manhattan-type drink, perhaps in the "perfect" format with rye to keep it from getting too sweet with 2 parts rye, 1/2 part liqueur, 1/2 part dry vermouth, 1+ dashes bitters (maybe something with a strong bitter edge, like Fee Whiskey Barrel Aged).

If nothing works, you could pour it on ice cream or pound cake, serve it neat after dinner to those with a sweet tooth.

Edited July 22, 2010 by EvergreenDan (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

What is the brand, if I may ask? When Veritas opened the management was deep into a chestnut liqueur called Marrone, which was pretty nice stuff but despite my own desire to do something fun with it as well as considerable pressure from bosses to feature it in a cocktail I never came up with anything better than "ok" with it. It eventually became unavailable, supposedly due to the importer dropping it. I'd be interested to know if the one you have is the same or if a replacement is at hand.

Can't help much with cocktail ideas though, the one we had was just too subtle. Stuff is pretty nice alongside a coffee, however.

Edited July 22, 2010 by thirtyoneknots (log)

[Penwu]

This is "Petite liqueur de chataigne" imported from France and produced by Elie-Arnaud Denoix.

[nickrey]

I'm not a cocktail person but this caught my eye.

Doesn't a smoky flavour go with chestnuts (roasting on open fire and all that)? Is there some way of giving a smoky aspect to the cocktail (a peaty scotch perhaps) to capture this classical mix? Scotch, chestnut liqueur and cream perhaps. Or use scotch instead of the rum in the chestnut sour recipe given above.

Just throwing it out there...

[KD1191]

I recall a French dessert consisting of chestnut ice cream with armagnac poured over the top...I imagine brandy might be a good place to start.

[Kohai]

I did a drink for Imbibe with Nocello walnut liqueur (.5 oz.) Cynar (1 oz.) Rittenhouse BIB (3 oz.) and sea salt water (~1/8 tsp, 1:3 salt:water). The sea salt brought out the bitter and complemented the nutty tones nicely. I love this drink.

If you're in a Scotch state of mind, an adaptation of this might work using chestnut instead of walnut. Might work well with something like Laphroaig, where I already perceive hints of saltiness.