Liqueur

Liqueur. This name is given to the very numerous alcoholic preparations which are flavoured or perfumed and sweetened to be more agreeable to the taste. Aniseed Cordial is prepared by flavouring weak spirit with aniseed, coriander, and sweet fennel seed, and sweetening with finely-clarified syrup of refined sugar. Clove Cordial is flavoured with cloves, bruised, and coloured with burnt sugar. Kümmel (a Russian and German liqueur, named from the German name of the herb cumin) is made with sweetened spirit, flavoured with cumin and caraway seeds, the latter usually so strong as to conceal any other flavour. It is chiefly made at Riga. Maraschino is distilled from cherries bruised, but, instead of the wild kind, a fine delicately-flavoured variety called Marazques are used in Dalmatia. Noyau, or Crème de Noyau, is a sweet cordial flavoured with bruised bitter-almonds. Peppermint is usually sweetened gin, flavoured with essential oil of peppermint. Chartreuse, Curacao, and Kirschwasser have separate articles. Benedictine is made at Fécamp. Absinthe (q. v.) is not a liqueur; Vermouth is alcoholised white wine, aromatised with wormwood, gentian, angelica, germander, and oranges. Cherry Brandy and Sloe Gin are sweetened spirits flavoured with cherries and sloes.