Essential Liqueurs For Cocktails?

[The Knize]

Wow. Again that seems sad. I take it she cannot drink coffee. Sad because she is missing out on some wonderful beverages, but nothing worse than trying keep from throwing up!

 

[Maximumsmoke]

I usually make two of whatever I’m having

Drink both of them, then! Remember, anything worth doing in moderation is worth doing in excess.

Cheers!
Tony

 

[Whisky]

Wow. Again that seems sad. I take it she cannot drink coffee. Sad because she is missing out on some wonderful beverages, but nothing worse than trying keep from throwing up!

She drinks lattes with lots of sugar in them. She won’t touch my Costa Rican Coffee without some kind of flavored creamer mixed about 1/2 and 1/2. Since I don’t keep flavored creamer in the house she doesn’t drink it.

 

[Maximumsmoke]

I guess amaros are bitter, but in a different way than, say, Campari is.

The amaros and most other fortified, intensified wine aperitifs are mixtures of sweet, bitter and spicy. The balance can be a bit varied, but most balance the bitter spicyness with sweet quite well. Cloying sweetness does not make a good aperitif. Campari is at the extreme end of the bitterness scale. There is nothing quite like it, despite all the ones that copy its "look". Campari on its own is an acquired taste, but no more so than a lot of spirits, such as scotch -- and no I'm not equating the two in the least, and i do like single malts, for sure; I 'm just saying the consumer has to "get used to it" a bit with Campari. I rather like Campari, but I especially like it in a Negroni.

Cheers!
Tony

P.S. -- Ever mess around with Suze? Damnedest stuff. I really like it with a little lemon juice, and maybe a touch of club soda -- not too much, though.

 

[Tirvine]

My bar has its regulars that get replenished often and a bunch that disappear more slowly. The regulars are Tanq and Dolin Dry, EW BIB, Angostura, and things for cooking like Cognac (Ferrand), Sherry, and Marsala. In the summer both Campari and Aperol get a lot of love. I am the only Scotch lover in the house and have my Ardbeg and Lagavulin as well as some Aberlour for those who can't enjoy a lot of peat. There is always either Punt e Mess or Cocchi Torino (prefer either to Carpano) in the fridge, along with limoncello. The back shelf includes Dripping Springs Vodka, Flor de Cana rum, Jameson's Irish, Hornitos tequila, Drillaud orange liqueur, Pernod, Kaluha, and Peychaud's. My wife and I have a general dislike for sweet cocktails. So other than cooking, liqueurs are low priority.

 

[TexLaw]

Easiest cocktail you'll ever make. Build it in the glass over ice, preferably large, clear cubes. 1 oz Carpano Antica vermouth (accept no substitute), 1 oz. Campari (again, no substitute exists), and 1 oz. gin, preferably an "old tom" gin, of which the defining example is Hayman's Old Tom Gin. Ransom Old Tom (most expensive!) works great, or possibly any sweeter gin -- maybe even a Genever. The gin you choose should, however be real gin -- i.e. have very noticeable juniper scent and flavor, not like a lot of the designer stuff out now which hardly meets the criteria of a gin. Officially, the oil of a thin slice of lemon rind should be squeezed out on the top - it really makes the "nose" of the drink. Frankly, though, I find orange flavor goes so well with sweet vermouth I use the zest/oil of an orange instead of a lemon. If you want a super presentation, use a single large ice cube (tennis ball or a big inch and a half cube, or a chunk knocked off a glacier - more on that later) in a nice Old Fashinoned glass, mix and chill the Negroni in another glass, and strain it into the glass with the big ice chunk and then put on the citrus zest/oil.

The Negroni is the best pre-dinner cocktail ever. Second to that as a pre-dinner sip (aperitif defined!) is an ounce or two of ice cold straight Carpano Antica straight up in a small snifter or any other glass you like that has been kept cold in the freezer. There's just something about a nice cold sweet vermouth. Second best sweet vermouth for me is also a Carpano product (better be, they invented vermouth), Punt e Mez (Point and a Half in Italian). Martini & Rossi? . . . what a weak excuse for a sweet vermouth . . . only in a pinch. One could just as well use Gallo's vermouth, and I would prefer it to Martini & Rossi if I had the choice and/or was close to broke. Life's too short to scrimp on vermouth.

Always keep your vermouths and other aperitif wines (fortified, intensified wines in general, such as amaros, chartreuse, etc, etc) in the fridge; they last a lot longer that way. Always buy your sweet vermouth from an Italian source, or one with an Italian background -- try to avoid a French source, even a good one like Dolin or Noilly-Prat. Always buy your dry vermouths from a French source -- I prefer Noilly-Prat. Dry vermouth was invented much later than the red/sweet one, and it was a French invention -- you can trust them to do it right. Of course, dry vermouth certainly has it's place, and should be used liberally, in or out of a Martini. I guess I digress . . .

Cheers!
Tony

P.S. -- Chunk of a Glacier! -- If you ever go to Iceland as a tourist, and I don't know of any reason to go there otherwise, by all mean take a tour of a glacier that is "calving" ice. You can go out in an amphibious craft and they'll sidle up to a bit of a new ice berg and chop off an armful in one chunk and then chip it off so you can do whatever you want with some optically clear ice. If you plan to do this, I strongly advise carrying a bottle of your favorite booze and a glass in your coat, so you can put that ice to work. You will have an excellent dringk, and also be the star of the boat. The tour guides on those boats are top notch fellows.

You replied to a post of mine that is nearly 5 years old. I assure you I've made a good number of Negronis since then.

 

[LuckyR]

Essential? An orangey one: triple sec, Grand Marnier or Cointreau. A bitter/herbal one a lá Campari. Lemony ones are rarely used. Raspberry, nutty and coffee flavors are seldom used. Bitters, grenadine, vermouth and mixers are not liqueurs.