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CORDIALITY COUNTS
THE REVOLVING LIQUEUR RENAISSANCE COURTS A NEw GENERATION
By DaviD LincoLn Ross
L uscious fruits, savory herbs and earthy nuts served as ingredients in some of man’s earliest attempts to ferment beverages. A few thousand years has not changed that, but what has changed is the complexity and intensity captured in modern versions.
Indeed, the secret power of liqueurs of all ilks is their pure power—their ability to focus and amplify attributes of their core ingredient(s). It is this power that mixologists have honored and tapped as long as they have wielded swizzle sticks.
While it’s true that overall sales of cordials (as liqueurs are also known) in the United States have been in gentle decline from about 21 million case sales in 2012 to about 18 million cases in 2016, standout growth in recent years by brands such as Aperol from Campari USA or St. Germain Elder ower from Bacardi USA, among others, illustrate there is still plenty of opportunity for the right avor or cocktail to capture consumer trial and repeat business.
At today’s trendsetting watering holes and at retailers across the country, patrons can see back bars—and shop shelves— chock full of tempting cordials and liqueurs. “We’re in a renaissance right now where we have so many wonderful fruit cordials and liqueurs to work with,” says Matais Tasley, Beverage Director, at San Francisco’s Sir Francis Drake Hotel. Consider the eponymous $14 house cocktail served at the Bar Drake; Darnley’s View Gin and Rittenhouse Rye meet Cointreau and Green Chartreuse, with the powerful liqueurs— one bittersweet orange, the other a kitchen sink of exotic botanicals—more than up to the avor-intensity challenge.
Left: a colorful cordial display at Wainscott Main Wine & Spirits, Wainscott, NY.
Top: Galliano L’Autentico, the herbal golden liqueur, was recently joined by a red expres- sion, L’Aperitivo. Pallini Limoncello is made from prized Sfusato lemons, exclusive to the Amal coast.