Liqueurs are the sort of thing that tend to hang about in the back of the cupboard forever.
Anyone who has a drinks cabinet also has a bottle or two of odd, brightly coloured sticky things that seemed like a good idea at the time and that now lie forgotten and forlorn, somewhere behind the Baileys.
But change would appear to be on the horizon with a selection of really good quality fruit liqueurs on the market these days.
All liqueurs share a common ancestry as medicinal drinks, usually a blend of herbs, spices, fruits or roots, sweetened with sugar to help it go down. Eventually the fruit based ones seemed to evolve into incredibly cloying, tooth-rotting concoctions in eye-watering colours.
Luckily, the versions available now are infinitely better, offering a purer fruit expression, more balance between alcohol, sweetness and acidity and genuine flavour, rather than the sort of flavouring usually associated with ice blocks.
And they are useful. A slurp of cassis in a glass of bubbly adds some character and colour, while mixing with soda or tonic offers a refreshing drink with some of the overt sweetness cut back.
Cocktail parties are also a good idea, but it’s good to remember that mixing together three spirits and a couple of liqueurs is usually a recipe for regret, recriminations and occasionally a remand in custody, and none of us want that. Stick to the classics and you’ll be fine.
Chambord
Available at Glengarry and all good liquor stores.
This supercharged black raspberry liqueur is packed with elegant, natural raspberry aromas and flavours balanced by a natural fruit sharpness. An elegant, sexy liqueur, seductive in its smoothness and sheer class.
Boudier Cremede Mures Sauvages
Spectacularly good blackberry liqueur that leaps out of the glass at you. Heady fruit aromas, redolent of home-made jam, but the sweetness is reined in by the bite of the fruit acid. Brilliant in bubbly or simply with soda for a long drink.