Maraschino Liqueur: A Secret Ingredient For Your Liquor Cabinet

Even though many people haven't heard of Maraschino liqueur, a home bar just isn't complete without it. And trust us, you don't want your bar to be missing out on this bittersweet liqueur any longer. Maraschino liqueur is not made from the bright-red cherries we often times (regrettably) get served alongside our cocktails -- it contains none of the puckering-ly sweet, formaldehyde-soaked qualities.

Maraschino is a clear, relatively dry liqueur made from sour Marasca cherries; these cherries are found almost exclusively on the coast of Croatia. The liqueur is made with the sour fruit and the crushed cherry pits, which give it a subtle bitter almond flavor. The cherries are processed and distilled much like brandy, and later combined with a pure cane syrup before it's aged and filtered. It's one of the very few liqueurs in the world produced by distillation. And it can completely transform a mediocre cocktail.

Maraschino liqueur appears in many classic cocktails (though many of these cocktails are so classic, they're no longer ordered very often). You can find it in the Martinez, the Hemingway Daquiri, the Beachcomber and the Aviation. But it can work in -- and some would say improve upon -- so many other cocktails; it provides a complexity of flavor and a welcome pause from overly-sweet cocktails.

If you're interested in completing your bar, take a look at the sources below:
Maraska Maraschino Liqueur
Luxardo Maraschino 64 Liqueur
Luxardo Gourmet Maraschino Cherries

Now that your bar is well on its way to being properly stocked, you're ready for a drink. Click through the slideshow below for cocktail recipes using maraschino liqueur.

What's your favorite home-bar ingredient? Leave a comment.

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Comments

[trexlex]

12:36 PM on 04/13/2012

Watched two videos on how to make the Martinez. Two completely different recipes. One used 1:2 gin and sweet vermouth. The other 2:1 gin to dry vermouth. Plus, orange bitters and a little Luxardo iqueur and a twist of lemon. I suspect the former recipe is more authentic because the original Martini called for sweet rather than dry vermouth and the Martinez pre-dated the Martini.

[Marvin Bellows]

08:14 AM on 04/13/2012

Absolutely no formaldehyde is used i make maraschino cherries. Carl Payne, who heads the research and development department of Oregon cherry Growers, suspects that myth got started when a writer for a national news magazine doing a story on maraschino cherries confused formaldehyde with benzaldehyd, a flavoring oil extracted from cherry, walnut, or almond pits, which is used in maraschinos. NOTE: It's the same flavor you taste in Dr. Pepper. The two aren't even close, but the errors stuck, and the industry has been trying debunk it every since. More than anything else, this makes people in the maraschino industry want to scream.

Sources: http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/MaraschinoCherry.htm

[Wake Up Call]

06:53 AM on 04/13/2012

Maraschino liqueur is an essential ingredient of any bar - but two notes here. First, it is extremely powerful and even 1/4 ounce is enough to overpower almost any drink so that all you can taste is the maraschino. It has to be used in drop-by-drop quantities, which is counter intuitive for a liqueur that is often sold in 1 liter bottles. Second, if you have the means, go to Croatia and buy this liqueur there. The product sold locally is 1000% better than the stuff they export.

[oldwolf49]

06:06 PM on 04/12/2012

nasty

[Aaron Cogan]

12:50 PM on 04/11/2012

If you're in So Cal, get yourself to "The Cat and the Custard Cup" in La Habra. The bartender, Smitty, makes the best Hemingway! Happy Hour is 4:30 to 6:30. (Order the Red Braised Pork Belly, too.)