Knowing and Understanding Cordials And Liqueurs

The cordial and liqueur category is the largest and most diverse in terms of the number of brands, flavors and alcohol content. It is also one of the largest as far as total case sales. Products in the category encompass virtually every flavor imaginable and are used as traditional after-dinner drinks, as ingredients in many popular shooters as well as for aperitifs, digestifs, components of classic cocktails or even as a flavorful enhancement to foods.

A cordial or liqueur, the terms are used interchangeably in this country and always appear together in governmental regulations, is made by combining distilled spirits with a variety of flavorings and adding sweeteners.

The original cordial recipes are shrouded in mystery, which is not surprising since their creators were medieval alchemists looking for the secret of eternal life. In those days these highly-flavored spirits were used to stimulate the appetite or digestion, as love potions and aphrodisiacs and as cure-alls for various ailments, making them forerunners of patent medicines.

In fact the term cordial reflects these origins. It is derived from the Latin word cor meaning "heart", because the earliest cordials were administered to the sick to stimulate the heart and lighten the spirit. And certainly many of the seeds, herbs, roots and oils used in these recipes, such as caraway seed, coriander, angelica root, oil of orange, oil of lemon and various herbs rich in iodine are but a few.

The term liqueur also has its root in Latin, in this case liquefacere, which means to dissolve or melt, and reflects the method by which a liqueur is created.

Cordials and liqueurs are usually thought of as sweet and in fact by definition they must contain at least 2.5% sugar by weight although most cordials are considerably higher in their sugar content and many contain up to 35% of a sweetening agent. The sugar may be beet, maple, cane, honey, corn or a combination of these. If the sweetening accounts for less than 10% by weight of the finished product, the resultant cordial may be labeled "dry". Most cordials and liqueurs contain between 17% and 30% alcohol by volume.

Production Methods

One of three methods is usually used to extract the flavors needed to produce a cordial. They are infusion or maceration; percolation; and distillation.

Fruit flavors are extracted either by infusion, where crushed fruits are steeped in water, or maceration, in which they are steeped in alcohol. Either process can take up to a year for the water or alcohol to absorb almost all of the aroma, flavor and color of the fruit. Once the liquid is drawn off, it's stored in a tank for several days and then filtered. The fruit then undergoes distillation to extract whatever flavor remains. This distillate may then be added to the original liquid to give it more character. The final step before bottling calls for the addition of syrup made from sugar or another sweetening agent to reach the desired sweetness level.

Percolation, which is sometimes referred to as brewing and is similar to the process for making coffee, is used to draw flavor from leaves and herbs while distillation is used to extract flavor from seeds and flowers. In this process, the flavoring agent is placed in the upper part of an apparatus which contains brandy or another spirit in the lower part. The spirit is then pumped up over the flavoring agent and is allowed to percolate through it over and over again for several weeks or months. The flavor and aroma are thus extracted from the flavoring agent, which then undergoes distillation to extract any remaining flavor. The distillate may then be mixed with the percolate, which is next filtered, sweetened and bottled.

Distillation uses heat to extract the flavor from such agents as anise, caraway, orange peel and mint. After the flavoring agent has been steeped in alcohol for several hours, it is placed in a copper pot still with additional spirits and distilled. The colorless distillate is then sweetened with syrup and usually colored with vegetable coloring or food dye before bottling.

Generic vs. Proprietary

Generic liqueurs are those produced and marketed by several suppliers under the same universally used name. Some of the more common varieties are amaretto, sambuca, triple sec and peppermint schnapps. But even among generic liqueurs brand names are prominent. Proprietary liqueurs are those brands usually produced from a closely guarded formula and sold under a trademarked name by only one producer.

Edited from:
Knowing and Understanding Distilled Spirits
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