Liqueurs

[Wilfrid]

Re-reading Christopher Russell's campari and grapefruit recipe in the campari thread, I realised that not only do I have no yellow chartreuse, but I've never knowingly drunk it.  Have I drunk green chartreuse?  I cannot remember; possibly in a cocktail with other ingredients.

But it got me thinking about liqueurs in general (and how hard "liqueur" is to type correctly).  For many years, I avoided them as sticky sweet confections, but I have now grown fond of a number of them - and I am thinking of them primarily in their own right, rather than in cocktails.

Favorites:  Amaretto.  Benedictine.  Cointreau is just a staple - essential stuff.  My Beloved regularly brings home Licor de Coco from the Dominican republic - coconut liqueur in a bottle made from a real shell.  I drink Grand Marnier in airplanes, and at no other time; why?  I also have a guilty passion for the ginger liqueur, Canton.

I usually drink them at the end of the day, over just a little ice.  They are all fine poured over ice cream (or just about any dessert) too.

Anyone else got a sweet tooth?

[Steve Klc]

I have a weakness for two liqueurs Wilfrid:  La Grande Passion by Marnier-Lapostolle, which I use alot for depth of flavor in tropical fruit macerations, infusions and sauces and an obscure orange rum liqueur made by Ron Santa Teresa C.A. in Venezuela.  Here's the label:

http://www.rum.cz/ascii/galery/sam/ve/teresa/img/ve32.jpg

There's an interesting interview with the President of Santa Teresa rum and contact information here:

http://www.winne.com/Venezuela2/SynchFNP01.cgi?pp=RST.htm

The only reason I got a few bottles of this incredibly delicious stuff was because I consulted for a Venezuelan chocolate company one year.  I don't think this product is exported yet; at the time it was teamed with Chocolates El Rey on a few cultural and diplomatic junkets.  It might make you forget all about Cointreau.

[Fat Guy]

I don't particularly like any such beverages flavorwise, but I do enjoy Amarula for its sheer bizarreness:

http://www.amarula.co.za/

[yvonne johnson]

Before this weekend, I don’t think I’d tasted Chartreuse. I bought a little bottle of the yellow (quite pricey, $28 for half a bottle). Quite nice on its own—reminds me a bit of Kummel which was my mother’s favorite liqueur. Also tried some with ice and soda—again, nice, herb flavor. My local liquor store didn’t have the green or VEP. I'm wondering if these are harder to get.

[Wilfrid]

Yvonne, can you tell me where you found the yellow stuff?  I struck out.  The liquor stores I tried had heard of the green version, but didn't have that either.  And considering I was paying around $30 a bottle for disgusting things like Bailey's (I was re-stocking the bar; I'd run out of gin for the negroni too), $28 sounds like the going rate.

Steve KLC, your orange/rum gear sounds delicious.  Prompts me to ask if anyone knows what's in Alize - which seems to come in orange as well as other flavours.  Is it cognac-based?  Because I see they make a cognac too.  Not that I like the stuff:  just curious.

[yvonne johnson]

I got the jaune in a little liquor store on 6th Ave b/w 10th and 11 St in Deluth, Wisconsin.

Got ya. That's my April fools! New York, of course. Next door to Jefferson Market

[Wilfrid]

You got me!!!    :)

[Steve Klc]

Wilfrid--Alize is passionfruit infused cognac.  See the current Gourmet for a plug--and beautiful photo--of Jacques Torres's milk chocolate hearts with Alize.

[Wilfrid]

Thank you.  Now I know what my partner is drinking!

[Steve Klc]

Wilfrid--if you come down for the DC eGullet dinner, if there is indeed a dinner, remind me to bring some of the Venezuelan orange rum liqueur for you to try.

[Wilfrid]

I am scheming to come to DC some time this summer to see 'Sunday In the Park with George'.  I think a matinee would combine nicely with a DC eGullet dinner and a spot of your liqueur, and I shall watch the DC board with renewed interest! :)

[jordan]

I love to finish a meal with some sort of Cordial.  One of my favorite parts of a dinner party is after clearing the table breaking out a bottle of something and sharing it with friends.  I love dessert wine, but the problem (maybe not for everyone is that you have to finish the bottle) and some wines can be very expensive.  So I will usually opt for a cordial.  My favorites are:

Lemoncello-this is a sweet Italian lemon liqueur and served right out of the freezer (syrupie) it is fantastic.

Belle de Brillat - is cognac mixed with a sweet pear brandy (a+)

Canton - ginger flavored liqueur

Mandarine Napoleon- Mandarine flavored liqueur

[Darwinfish]

Is Campari a liqueur?  I'm a big fan of Campari and soda on hot days.  My favorite cocktail to accompany Italian food is a Negroni: equal parts campari, red vermouth and gin, shaken and served up in a chilled glass.

It's true what they say about Campari: you have to try it three times before you like it.  It still tastes like cough medicine, but in a good, refreshing sort of way.  

What does Poire William taste like?  Is it sweet like a cordial, or strong like an Eau-de-Vie?

[jordan]

Darwinfish - Campari is an apertif.

Cordials are not all sweet.  Eau de Vies are cordials.  Poire William is a brandy that is flavored with pear.  It tends to taste like a grappa with a hint of pear.

[Wilfrid]

I confess I have no idea what defines a liqueur, or indeed a cordial.  Or an aperitif come to that.  Anyone have the distinctions at their fingertips?

But I am glad someone shares my taste for Canton.  I was a bit embarrassed about that one.

[John Whiting]

Charteuse V.E.P. [Vieillissement exceptionnellement prolongé] is a refinement of green, with longer aging. It comes in a 50cl bottle packed inside a strong wooden box with a sliding lid which is vaguely suggestive of a diminutive Dracula.

I first encountered it at the Auberge de l'Atre Fleuri in St-Pierre-de-Chartreuse, the inn made famous by Roy Andries de Groot in _Recipes from the Auberge of the Flowering Hearth_. I was able to get a bottle in a gift shop as I was leaving the area.

It is not particularly sweet and has a very herbal oleaginous smoothness which masks its 104 proof wallop. I am drinking it at this very moment. I've had the bottle for a couple of years and it's still half full. If I were a rich man I could become addicted to it.

[Damian]

I used to drink green Chartreuse in college while hanging out with my Jesuit mentor.  The taste always reminds me of evenings at his residence with other students and priests discussing philosophy, religion, and culture.  He has since passed away, but whenever I drink it - often while reading, I think of those times.  The taste is hard to describe, and I can't do better than Whiting's description  - not too sweet and herbal. It does have quite a bite.

If I'm not mistaken, it is made by French monks - is that correct?  That might be an interesting thread in itself, liqueurs made by clerical orders.

[Steve Klc]

Damian--were you and I at Georgetown at the same time?

[yvonne johnson]

Damian, I think a thread on drinks made by monks (do nuns do same?)--liqueurs and beers, any others?--would be very interesting.

According to my bottle of Chartreuse, it's made by Carthusian monks, neat Grenoble, France.

It's also interesting what you say about the associative power of the drink. I was thinking yesterday about the memories attached to simple things like cooking equipment in our kitchen.

John, if you don't mind me asking, what price does the VEP go for?

[bluewine]

Anyone tried absinthe?

[yvonne johnson]

Bluewine, there was a little discussion of absinthe here

http://209.197.225.1/~egulle....bsinthe

It looks like a couple of egulletarians have tried it. And we lived to tell the story.

I was greatly disappointed. I was expecting to see the unknown. Chiz.

[Damian]

Steve,

I was at Boston College for undergraduate (class of '92) and that's where I encountered the late great Fr. Denis Moran.  Come to think of it, he also taught at Georgetown for several years.  I ended up at Georgetown for law school to complete my 19 years of Catholic education (including 2 years with the wonderful Benedictines and 11 years with those amazing Jesuits).  Glad to hear that you are a fellow G'towner.  Hoya Saxa.  

Yvonne,

Not to get too Proust on you, but all of us probably experience sense memories of tastes and smells that can help instantly recall different moments / periods in our lives.  The unique taste of chartreuse instantly brings me back to those college salons, very pleasant memories indeed.

[John Whiting]

According to my bottle of Chartreuse, it's made by Carthusian monks, neat Grenoble, France.

The label is slightly misleading. When the Carthusians returned to their ruined monastary in 1940, they decided that the manufacture of the liqueur should be industrialized, and so they built a distillery in near-by Voiron. They still own it, but it is under secular management.

I have a vague memory that a 50cl bottle of the VEP cost, when I bought it, around 300ff.

Anyone tried absinthe?

I prefer prethenthe.

[Adam_Balic]

Interesting. I have a French friend who comes from Grenoble. On of my favorite liqueuers is a home made one of hers, which is called "Alpine tea". It is basically Eau de vie flavoured with various, very localised, Alpine herbs. It does taste similar to Green Chartreuse, I wonder if there is a connection other then location?

[Adam_Balic]

Is Campari a liqueur?  I'm a big fan of Campari and soda on hot days.  My favorite cocktail to accompany Italian food is a Negroni: equal parts campari, red vermouth and gin, shaken and served up in a chilled glass.

It's true what they say about Campari: you have to try it three times before you like it.  It still tastes like cough medicine, but in a good, refreshing sort of way.  

What does Poire William taste like?  Is it sweet like a cordial, or strong like an Eau-de-Vie?

Darwinfish - "Poire William" is made by putting crushed up William's pears into a neutral grape spirit, then after a bit, removing all the pear (oh, sometimes you can get those tacky bottles with an intact pear in side though). All the pear goodness goes into the alcohol, all the alcohol evil goes into the pear. It tastes mildly of William's pear (the smell is stronger). Depending on the base alcohol, it can taste of grappa/marc.

For a much better, but similar alcohol try Eau de vie de poire william. It is a true fruit brandy (eg. distilled, not just soaked in fruit as above) and is like drinking the soul of the pear. Yum. There are a lot of good brands from Alsace, you may be able to find a brand called Trimbach. Also, look out for other fruit Eau de vie, such as Mirabelle (yellow plum). Avoid the Eau de vie made from pine needles at all costs, blarrgh!