18 Liqueur Cocktail Recipes
Liqueurs are spirits that have been sweetened and flavoured, and they are where a bar gets its personality. Most cocktails use them as modifiers, a quarter-ounce of maraschino here, a bar spoon of absinthe there. The drinks collected here instead put the liqueur at the centre, either because there is no base spirit underneath it or because the liqueur is unmistakably the point. The category is enormous. Amaretto and hazelnut liqueurs are nutty and dessert-leaning. Triple sec, Cointreau and curacao are orange-forward and turn up in more classics than any other modifier. Herbal bottles such as Chartreuse, Benedictine and Jagermeister are complex and assertive. Cassis, peach schnapps and the fruit liqueurs are sweeter and softer. Coffee and cream liqueurs make short, rich drinks and layered shots. Because liqueurs bring their own sugar, these recipes usually need acid rather than syrup to balance. Taste as you build: brands vary in sweetness far more than spirits do.
