Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

Rating: 17/23 What a weird stopper. It's threaded, but screwing is more of a suggestion than a requirement. Yet screwing is easier. It's novel and won't rust and I like it. I expected this to be red. Because I expect dye and can't see through the green glass to tell that this is clear, I guess. So it's clear. Big whoop. I thought that this would just have a sickly cherry sweetness with richness and decadence, but I don't really get that. It's more like those fruity candy canes. I get some herbal flavors at first, with a generic floral sweetness. Cherry comes out, but it's not that maraschino flavor that I expected. I really don't taste how this is supposed to be maraschino cherry. I like this flavor, in a way, but with its clear menthol note that skirts tasting like cough syrup, it strikes me as a risky ingredient to use. I think that tiki drinks make sense for this, but not much else does. And I wouldn't drink this on its own. What do I do with this though? Coming back to this days later, I get those cherry and menthol syrupy notes, but I'm also getting strawberry and other sweet fruit flavors. I think that the cherry might be more of a suggestion from the company than an actual flavor. This is still decadent and enjoyable, but it's not great on its own and it really needs to be a sweet filler to make a fruity drink more decadent. I'm thinking it's intended for tropical drinks. I threw this in with some Rebel bourbon in a 6:1 ratio (I think you can figure out which was the 6) and it burned and didn't really taste good. So I'm thinking tiki drinks for this. This is just really hard to rate. It can add a nice dimension to a tiki drink, but otherwise it's hard to fit in. And it still isn't a defining dimension. It's good, but nothing amazing. Coming back to this and trying it in a lot of cocktails, this ranges from dominating to being almost forgotten. There's nothing that really makes me think that this is a great liqueur. How this got so many awards, I may never know. This is kind of an artificial cherry flavor that only balances with the most precise amounts of other ingredients. A bit too much of them and this just vanishes. But this never shines as a terrific ingredient either. It's just flawed and hard to find a home for. Even going through (mild riffs on) recipes like the last word and the aviation, this isn't impressing me all that much. What is even the point of this? I guess it's good in some drinks, but it's constantly struggling to show its worth, and it's frequently failing. OK, I thought about giving this some credit for the aviation (not at all for the last word though - that's a way too austere drink for this - this needs significant fun to mask its austerity), but then this Hemmingway daiquiri really stole the show. Sure, I tried this in a Martinez, but that was kind of boring. The Hemingway really showed off some sweetness that this could work with when I made it with Plantation Three Stars and light brown sugar syrup. Honestly, the Hemingway version of this is the best. I'm not sure that there's much relation to Hemingway here, but I like the flavors, boldness, sweetness, and complexity involved. Maybe this shines in the Hemingway version, but maybe it just hides behind the curtains. Hard to be sure, but I'm still kind of liking this. The most positive experience I had with this was in the Hemingway version, but even there it was lost in the various mixed ingredients. Honestly, that brown sugar sweetness makes the Hemingway version clearly the best. It's decadent and complex without being flat. Uh, and that seems like a bit of a... bullshit... Oh wow, this was a big failure. OK, it's been weeks, but I've finally found the use case for this. Mix some bitters into bourbon for added complexity, then add this for sweetness with a bit of cherry that blends in nicely, aside from the flat nature of the alcohol with it. It's still not an amazing liqueur, but it's OK. In contrast, Grand Marnier produces a less sweet and full cocktail, with more spiciness. Combined with bitters, this is the clear winner, especially combined with orange bitters. It's tough to give this a rating. I'm thinking a 16 or 17 and leaning toward a 17. I think it has its niche, but it's hard to use. I'm going for a 17, but it's definitely not an 18.

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.

Appearance: Water-clear transparency. Aroma: A woody, almost herbal, aroma that is unmistakably cherry but not cloying or particularly fruity. As the official description on this site says, it’s more like a fruit eau-de vie than a liqueur. Flavour and Texture: Thick, sweet and glycerous in texture. The flavour is unmistakably of cherry but like the aroma it is not fruity or candyish, but instead has a woody, nutty quality. You definitely taste cherry pips. This is like a combination of cherry fruit, cherry pips and cherrywood (which is precisely what it is) plus cotton candy. It's very sweet, concentrated and intended for use as an ingredient. Not to the same degree as Angostura bitters is an ingredient rather than a drink, but it’s a bit like that. You can take it neat, preferably chilled, as a digestif but while it is enjoyable that's clearly not its primary purpose (then again, Mrs Cascode just tried a sip from my tasting glass and pronounced it delicious, so why not?). It is an absolutely indispensable part of any cocktail cabinet and you simply cannot make some classic drinks without it, and there is no equivalent substitute. Without it the Last Word, Hemingway Daiquiri or Aviation just don't work. Liqueurs such as this are very hard to rate, as they are virtually unique, but what is unquestioned is the quality. “Excellent” : 88/100 (4.5 stars)

Absolutely amazing spirit! Huge aromas of marzipan, cinnamon and musty-funk with sour cherries, anise and bright floral notes rounding out the bouquet. Could spend a long while analyzing the nose as it progressively opens in the glass. Wow. The flavor profile is huge and unashamed. It holds nothing back but is so refined and 100% Artisanal-Italian. Sweet, almondy-sour cherry pits with fruit bits still attached, buckwheat honey...almost Jamaican rum style funk and earth, pepper and marzipan... SO MUCH MARZIPAN!! Slight sour/bitterness with fruity,floral and herbal touches-rotating and deepening the complexity of the finish...while the lingering sweetness on the lips, keeps the wallop of flavors extending and extending and extending... INTENSE, UNIQUE & REFINED. Will need to revisit this review as I sip this more over the coming months. $28/750 ml and worth every penny. 95-96 score for me. The Luxardo family history is an amazing story of resilience as well.

While the nose is nothing but a hardcore ch-ch-cherry bomb, both sweet hard candy and tart juice, the palate is almost too complex for what it should be. The entry starts with flowers: violet, honeysuckle, and even a little mint. Then after that, a *very* subtle hint of alcohol introduces what can only be described as sugar water, with a level of sweetness that even the most discerning hummingbird would scoff at. However, the midpalate continues to develop with a hint of rose, and then finishes with saccharine cherry candy, and finally, of course, maraschino cherry. This stuff is WAY too sweet for a normal drink on a normal day, and despite its subtle floral complexities, should only really be paired with copious amounts of gin (at minimum). I also greatly enjoy a dash of this in bourbon, and paired with dark chocolate.

I held off buying this for a months despite seeing it listed as an ingredient in endless cocktails because, based off some comments online, I was worried it would overpower my drinks and I'd hate the flavor. I was expecting a somewhat medicinal, cough syrup flavor, but that was totally off-base. This is sweet, in a similar way to Chartreuse Green, bright and has an hints of something like cinnamon. In a cocktail (The Symphony) it added a roundness that was really nice. The recipe called for a decent amount of Luxardo, and I didn't find it overpowering at all. Definitely recommend having a bottle on hand.