I first encountered maraschino liqueur while perusing through Paul Harrington’s cocktail website that was being published by HotWired back when the web was young. He presented a couple different cocktails which used this product, but warned that it was nearly impossible to find. Today, Paul’s site is gone, but fortunately maraschino liqueur has seen a modern resurgence. It’s not so much “if” you can find maraschino liqueur, but “which” maraschino liqueur you can find. The three brands I often come across as Luxardo, Maraska, and Stock. And while I haven’t seen it for sale in the states yet, Bols also makes a maraschino liqueur.
Maraschino liqueur, is of course closely associated with maraschino cherries. Time once was, when real maraschino cherries were Marasca cherries which had been soaking in maraschino liqueur. It is important of course not to confuse real maraschino cherries with the modern day equivalent. Today’s sad little nearly-faux cherries are simply soaking in an artificially colored and artificially flavored sugar syrup, which is nowhere near the same thing as maraschino liqueur. Maraschino liqueur is made from the fruit, seeds, and even stems of the Marasca cherry, it is distilled clear, and sweetened, and presents a very unique flavor that is both fruity and slightly nutty as the same time.
While maraschino liqueur used to be a somewhat common ingredient in cocktails prior to prohibition, those years the formed our cocktail lobotomy pushed this ingredient out of our minds and it really never quite was able to get a strong foothold again, until just recently. Things probably started when folks wanted to make the Aviation cocktail which is what I had first read about on Paul Harrington’s site, but once this elusive ingredient had been acquired, it was of course important to try to find more drinks which would make use of it as well.
One drink which I’ve really enjoyed, is the “Opera” cocktail:
Opera
- 2 ounces gin
- 1/2 ounce Dubonnet
- 1/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
- 1 dash orange bitters
Stir with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a Lemon Twist.
