LIQUEUR. [Fr.] Syn. Cordial. A stimulating beverage, formed of weak spirit, aromatised and sweetened. The manufacture of liqueurs constitutes the trade of the ‘compounder,’ ‘rectifier,’ or ‘liquoriste.’
The materials employed in the preparation of liqueurs or cordials are rain or distilled water, white sugar, clean flavourless spirit, and flavouring ingredients. To these may be added the substances employed as ‘finings,’ when artificial clarification is had recourse to.
The utensils and apparatus required in the business are those ordinarily found in the wine and spirit cellar; together with a copper still, furnished with a pewter head and a pewter worm or condenser, when the method ‘by distillation’ is pursued. A barrel, hogshead, or rum puncheon, sawn in two, or simply
‘unheaded,’ as the case may demand, forms an excellent vessel for the solution of the sugar; and 2 or 3 fluted funnels, with some good white flannel, will occasionally be found useful for filtering the aromatic essences used for flavouring. Great care is taken to ensure the whole of the utensils, &c., being perfectly clean and ‘sweet,’ and well ‘seasoned,’ in order that they may neither stain nor flavour the substances placed in contact with them.
In the preparation or compounding of liqueurs, one of the first objects which engages the operator’s attention is the production of an alcoholic solution of the aromatic principles which are to give them their peculiar aroma and flavour. This is done either by simple solution or maceration, as in the manufacture of tinctures and medicated spirits, or by maceration and subsequent distillation. The products, in this country, are called ESSENCES or SPIRITS, and by the French INFUSIONS, and are added to the solution of sugar (SYRUP or CAPILLAIRE) or to the dulcified spirit, in the proportions required. Grain or molasses spirit is the kind usually employed for this purpose in England. As before observed, it should be of the best quality; as, if this is not the case, the raw flavour of the spirit is perceptible in the liquor. Rectified spirit of wine is generally very free from flavour, and when reduced to a proper strength with clear soft water, forms a spirit admirably adapted for the preparation of cordial liquors. Spirit weaker than about 45 o. p., which has been freed from its own essential oil by careful rectification, is known in trade under the title of ‘pure,’ ‘flavourless,’ ‘plain,’ or ‘silent spirit.’ Before macerating the ingredients, if they possess the solid form, they are coarsely pounded, bruised, sliced, or ground, as the peculiar character of the substance may indicate. This is not done until shortly before submitting them to the action of the menstruum; as, after they are bruised they rapidly lose their aromatic properties by exposure to the air. When it is intended to keep them for any time in the divided state they should be preserved in well-corked bottles or jars. The practice of drying the ingredients before pounding them, frequently adopted by ignorant and lazy workmen for the sake of lessening the labour, is, of course, even more destructive to their most valuable qualities than mere exposure to the air. The length of time the ingredients should be digested in the spirit should never be less than 5 or 6 days, but a longer period is preferable when distillation is not employed. In either case the time may be advantageously extended to 10 days or a fortnight, and frequent agitation should be had recourse to during the whole period. When essential oils are employed to convey the flavour, they are first dissolved in a little of the strongest rectified spirit of wine, in the manner explained under Essence;
and when added to the spirit, they are mixed up with the whole mass as rapidly and as perfectly as possible. In managing the still, the fire is proportioned to the ponderosity of the oil or flavouring substance, and the receiver is changed before the faints come over; as these are unfitted to be mixed with the cordial. In many cases the addition of a few pounds of common salt to the liquor in the still facilitates the process and improves the product. Ingredients which are not volatile are, of course, always added after distillation. The stronger spirit is reduced to the desired strength by means of either clear soft water or the clarified syrup used for sweetening. The sugar employed should be of the finest quality, and is preferably made into capillaire or syrup before adding it to the aromatised spirit; and not until this last has been rendered perfectly ‘fine’ or transparent, by infiltration or clarification, as the case may demand. Some spirits or infusions, as those of aniseed, caraway, &c., more particularly require this treatment, which is best performed by running them through a clean wine bag, made of rather fine cloth, having previously mixed them with a spoonful or two of magnesia; but in all cases clarification by simple repose should be preferred. Under proper management, liqueurs or cordials prepared of good materials will be found perfectly ‘clear’ or ‘bright’ as soon as made, or will become so after being allowed a few days for defecation; but in the hands of the inexperienced operator, and when the spirit employed is insufficient in strength or quantity, it often happens that they turn out ‘foul’ or ‘milky.’ When this is the case, the liquid may be ‘fined down’ with the whites of 12 to 20 eggs per hogshead; or a little alum, either alone or followed by a little carbonate of sodium or potassium, both dissolved in water, may be added, in the manner described under Finings.
An excellent and easy way of manufacturing cordial liquors, especially when it is inconvenient to keep a large stock on hand, is by simply ‘aromatising’ and ‘colouring,’ as circumstances or business may demand, spirit 60 or 64 u. p., kept ready sweetened for the purpose. To do this to the best advantage, two descriptions of sweetened spirit should be provided, containing respectively 1 lb. and 3 lbs. of sugar to the gallon. From these, spirit of any intermediate sweetness may be made, which may be flavoured with any essential oil dissolved in alcohol, or any aromatised spirit or ‘infusion’ (see below), prepared either by digestion or distillation. As a general rule, the concentrated essences, made by dissolving 1 oz. of the essential oil in 1 pint of the strongest rectified spirit of wine, will be found admirably adapted for this purpose. These essences, which should be kept in well-corked bottles, are employed by dropping them cautiously into the sweetened spirit until the desired flavour is produced. During this operation
the liquor should be frequently and violently shaken to produce complete admixture. If by any accident the essence is added in too large a quantity, the resulting ‘milkiness’ or excess of flavour may be removed by the addition of a little more spirit, or by clarification. In this way the majority of the liqueurs in common use may be produced extemporaneously, of nearly equal quality to those prepared by distillation. For those which are coloured, simple digestion of the ingredients is almost universally adopted. The “process by distillation” should, however, be always employed to impart the flavour and aroma of volatile aromatics to the spirit, when expense, labour, and time are of less importance than the production of a superior article.
The French liqueuristes are famed for the preparation of cordials of superior quality, cream-like smoothness, and delicate flavour. Their success chiefly arises from the employment of very pure spirit and sugar (the former in a larger proportion than that adopted by the English compounder), and in the judicious application of the flavouring ingredients. They distinguish their cordials as ‘eaux’ and ‘extraits’ (waters, extracts), or liqueurs which, though sweetened, are entirely devoid of viscidity; and ‘baumes,’ ‘crêmes,’ and ‘huiles’ (balms, creams, oils), which contain sufficient sugar to impart to them a syrupy consistence. The greatest possible attention is given to the preparation of the aromatised or flavouring essences, in France called ‘infusions.’ These are generally made by macerating the aromatic ingredients in spirit at about 2 to 4 u. p. (sp. gr. ·922 to ·925), placed in well-corked glass carboys, or stoneware jars or bottles. The maceration is continued, with occasional agitation, for 3, 4, or even 5 weeks, when the aromatised spirit is either distilled or filtered; generally the former. The outer peel of cedrats, lemons, oranges, limettes, bergamottes, &c., is alone used by our Continental neighbours, and is obtained either by carefully peeling the fruit with a knife, or by ‘oleo-saccharum,’ by rubbing it off with a lump of hard white sugar. Aromatic seeds and woods are bruised by pounding before being submitted to infusion. The substances employed in France to colour liqueurs are, for—blue, soluble Prussian blue, sulphate of indigo (nearly neutralised with chalk), and the juice of blue flowers and berries;—amber, fawn, and brandy colour, burnt sugar or spirit colouring;—green, spinach or parsley leaves (digested in spirit), and mixtures of blue and yellow;—red, powdered cochineal or brazil wood, either alone or mixed with a little alum;—violet, blue violet petals, litmus, or extract of logwood;—purple, the same as violet, only deeper;—yellow, an aqueous infusion of safflower or French berries, and the tinctures of saffron and turmeric.
A frequent cause of failure in the manufacture of liqueurs and cordials is the addition