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 Absinthe Akvavit Amaretto Amarula Arak Bailey's B & B Carolans Cassis Campari
Chartreuses Cointreau Curacao Damiana Drambuie Galliano Glayva Goldschlager
Grand Marnier Hiram Walker Irish Mist Jagermeister Kahlua Kamasutra Kirsch
Malibu Midori Ouzo Pastis 51 Pernod Pimm's #1 Cup Ricard Sambuca Schnapps
Southern Comfort Tia Maria Triple Sec Other Liqueur
Liqueurs, or cordials, as they are also known, are flavored and often sweetened distilled alcoholic beverages. Although these liqueurs are of more recent origin than that of the other liqueurs which we have so far examined they are still well within our proper period of study. Among the earliest writings on the subject of liqueurs are those of the Catalan Arnold de Vila Nova, an alchemist in Spain and France who was born in 1240. He wrote, in The Book of Wine, of the distillation of wine into aqua vitae and the subsequent flavoring of these liqueur spirits with various herbs and spices. He especially wrote of the restorative and life giving properties of these waters. It was the firm belief of Raymond Lully, a student of de Vila Nova's that so vital and life restoring were these waters, their production was a divinely inspired gift from Heaven. It was primarily among the alchemists of this early date, however, that these waters became known. It remained for a later period for these liqueur beverages to be much used as pleasurable drinks and not as alchemical potions. By the fourteenth century, however, the drinking of these liqueurs had become popular in Italy and spread into France. This popularity is often attributed to Catherine de Medici, who, along with her Court, brought the use of these liqueurs with her to France from her native Tuscany. There is, however, some evidence of an earlier diffusion of liqueurs, or an independent outgrowth of these drinks prior to their introduc- tion by Catherine. There can be little doubt, however, that the Court of Catherine certainly increased the popularity and acceptance of these liqueurs among the nobility of France.
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