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FRENCH-STYLE LIQUEURS
"French-style liqueurs are spirits distilled from selected ingredients, sweetened, and sometimes additionally flavored to heighten the flavor of the distilled ingredients." —Elemental Mixology
French-style liqueurs are made by distilling a noble spirit from selected ingredients, from which the liqueur is typically named. Most French-style liqueurs are made of a principal ingredient, either alone, or with other ingredients to accentuate or flavor and character of the principal ingredient.
If the principal ingredient can be fermented, it will be fermented, and then distilled to create a noble spirit in which both the ethanol and the flavor come from the ingredient. If the ingredient cannot be naturally fermented, or if doing so fails to develop flavor and aroma, the ingredient will be macerated in alcohol. This allows the ethanol to extract the same sort of alcohol-soluble compounds from the ingredient as would be present in a fermentation. After maceration, it is distilled, creating a noble spirit from the ingredient. Though German tradition distinguishes wässer (fermented and distilled) and geister(macerated and distilled) from each other, the French do not. Whether a French liqueur is made by fermentation-distillation, or maceration-distillation, from the ingredient of focus, the spirit obtained is considered true and noble.
Once the noble spirit is created, it may be further aromatized with oil, or hydrosol - commonly of the same ingredient as was distilled. Either way, it will be sweetened to the point that its flavor is appropriately balanced by sweetness. Historically, the grades for French liqueurs were generally as follows:
- Liqueur - 200-250 grams of sugar per liter - mild ingredient flavor - mild to strong ingredient aroma - commonly 30%-40% alcohol-by-volume
- Huile - 300-400 grams of sugar per liter - strong ingredient flavor - strong ingredient aroma - commonly 25%-29% alcohol-by-volume
- Crème - 450-550 grams of sugar per liter - rich ingrdient flavor - mild to strong ingredient aroma - commonly 18%-25% alcohol-by-volume
- Liqueur - 100-249 grams of sugar per liter - mild ingredient flavor - mild to strong ingredient aroma - commonly 30%-40% alcohol-by-volume
- Crème - 250-400 grams of sugar per liter - rich ingrdient flavor - mild to strong ingredient aroma - commonly 18%-25% alcohol-by-volume
With its focus on distillation of ingredients, it is not surprising that just the use of compounding, instead of distilling, casuses a French liqueur to be labeled as imitation. I formerly used a tasty crème de bananei from France that was labeled as imitation. It was made of real bananas that had been made into a rather natural syrup that was aromatized with natural oil of banana, and then blended with a neutral spirit. It is amusing that the same product made in the U.S.A. or Britain could legitimately be called "natural banana liqueur." This contrast shows how important distillation of the named ingredient is to the production of French-style liqueurs.
Note that in liqueurs, increasing sweetness is the price of admission to increasing flavor. This important fact is lost upon sugar-panicked modernity. If one's health is too marginal for sugar consumption, one's health is too marginal for alcohol consumption, and worries about sugar in the liquor are secondary to the mistake of drinking any, at all.
Returning to the grade comparison, a liqueur de Curaçao, for example, will have mild, or delicate, flavor from bitter orange peel contained in mild sweetness. A huile de Curaçao will have strong flavor from bitter orange peel, contained by strong sweetness. Finally, a crème de Curaçao will have rich, or iintense, flavor from bitter orange peel contained by rich sweetness.
Even when the same ingredient of focus is present, a liqueur of that ingredient cannot possibly make the same drink originally beloved when made with a crème of that ingredient in the nineteenth century.
Principal-ingredient French-style Liqueurs: crèmes, huiles, and liqueurs made of a single, or leading, ingredient.
PRINCIPAL FRENCH-STYLE LIQUEURS
Formulaic French-style Liqueurs: crèmes, huiles, and liqueurs made of multiple ingredients for their combined character.
FORMULAIC FRENCH-STYLE LIQUEURS
Proprietary French-style Liqueurs: crèmes, huiles, and liqueurs made of proprietary combinations of ingredients for their unique character.
PROPRIETARY FRENCH-STYLE LIQUEURS