Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

Rich sweetness.

Playing with liqueurs a bit, trying to devine a barrel-aged Manhattan variation and my studies brought me to a recipe where the author mentioned he thought that Luxardo maraschino has a "powerful flavor." Since in the past I haven't had that impression I decided to do a neat tasting. This from a small snifter... The nose reminds me of dried cherry pits - there's very little actually cherry fruit aroma but instead a strong, bitter woody thing in a sweet, ephemeral envelope. It's not at all strong and I wouldn't expect a huge impact in a cocktail from the nose. Taste is sweet, some cherry but more fresh, bitter seed and wood. There's a touch of nuttiness and a lovely lingering sweetness, but it's not a "powerful" flavor per se. That said, I can see how this ingrains itself into the fabric of a mixed drink to add some mid-octave richness and a bit of lower-midrange resonance. More cherry comes out on the finish, but its never forward or artificial and there's no "brightness" to this. It's silky, sweet, complex and tasty. I'm even getting just the slightest ghost of menthol or even camphor, but its fleeting. This expression is a maybe on its own when served in a pony or on ice as a digestivo or dessert pairing. It works with soda and gin or vodka as a long drink. For my purposes I find it to be a nice addition to a Manhattan, technically turning that drink into a Red Hook. Recommended as an addition to any well rounded bar collection and a good partner for many whisky and gin experiments.

Intense and fully flavored maraschino Cherry liqueur. When buying do not picture a Cherry only liqueur but a Cherry grappa that uses the whole tree. It is earthy, vegetal, spicy, aromatic and truly one of a kind liqueur that is a standard in making classic cocktails suck as the Aviation, Casino, Martinez, and improved whiskey cocktails