A Roundup of Liqueur Drink Recipes

Cordials and liqueurs are key components of most cocktails, whether they’re the star of the show or a supporting player. These drink modifiers come in a range of flavors, from fruity, floral and herbal to spicy, bitter and savory. Here are a few cordials-based cocktails we like for this year.

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Italian Sunshine

Course Drinks

Keyword beer, bergamot liqueur, fig

Ingredients

• 1 oz. Bergamot-flavored liqueur
• 3 dashes Orange bitters sprayed on top
• 1 bar spoon Fig jam
• ½ oz. Lemon juice
• 5 oz. Peroni beer

Instructions

• Add all ingredients except beer to a cocktail shaker.
• Shake then strain over ice into glass.
• Top with beer and garnish with fresh fig or rosemary and lemon peel

Notes

The mixologists at Peroni created this recipe.

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Good Intentions

Course Drinks

Keyword aloe liqueur, Crop Meyer lemon vodka, elderflower liqueur, fino sherry, strawberry, vodka

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Ketel One Botanicals vodka any flavor
• ½ oz. Strawberry sherbet
• ½ oz. St. Germain elderflower liqueur
• ½ oz. Basil-infused aloe liqueur
• ½ oz. Fino sherry
• ½ oz. Lemon

Instructions

• Combine ingredients in a mixing tin and shake.
• Strain into a Collins glass with ice.
• Garnish with house-made fruit leather (made from food scraps generated in production of cocktail).

Notes

Nate Satterfield, bartender at Vaso rooftop restaurant in Dublin, OH, created this recipe.

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Piña Verde

Course Drinks

Keyword coconut milk, Green Chartreuse, lime, pineapple, rum

Ingredients

• 1 ½ oz. Green Chartreuse
• ½ oz. Wray & Nephew Jamaican overproof rum
• 2 oz. Coconut milk
• 1½ oz. Pineapple
• ½ oz. Lime

Instructions

• Flash blend (pulse-mix the ingredients together in a blender) until all the ingredients are blended smoothly.
• Pour into a glass.
• Garnish with a mint sprig and nutmeg.

Notes

Dustin Rodriguez, master bartender at The Bamboo Club in Long Beach, CA, created this recipe.

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Sun Clap

Course Drinks

Keyword honey, lemon, passion fruit liqueur, pineapple, tequila, tumeric

Ingredients

• 1 oz. Chinola passion fruit liqueur
• 1¾ oz. El Tesoro Tequila Blanco
• 1 oz. Fresh pineapple sage juice*
• ¾ oz. Turmeric honey syrup**
• ¾ oz. Fresh lemon juice

Instructions

• Pour liqueur, tequila, pineapple sage juice, turmeric honey and lime into an ice-filled cocktail shaker.
• Shake and strain into a wine glass and fill with ice.
• Garnish with fresh pineapple wedge.

Notes

*Infuse fresh pineapple juice with fresh sage for three hours; refrigerate and strain before serving.
** Add a dash of turmeric powder to honey and stir until well blended.
The mixologists at Aura Cocina, Brooklyn, NY, created this recipe.

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Fly as a Kite

Course Drinks

Keyword Batavia Arrak, cinnamon, grapefruit, grapefruit liqueur, lemon, rosewater, tequila

Ingredients

• 1 oz. Blanco tequila
• ½ oz. Giffard Pamplemousse liqueur
• ½ oz. Batavia Arrack
• ¾ oz. Fresh lemon juice
• ¾ oz. Fresh grapefruit juice
• ¾ oz. Mexican cinnamon rose water syrup*
• Mint and cinnamon for garnish

Instructions

• Add all ingredients and shake with ice.
• Serve into a Collins glass.
• Garnish with mint and a smoking cinnamon stick.

Notes

*For Mexican cinnamon rose water syrup:
3 Cinnamon sticks
32 oz. Water
48 oz. Granulated sugar
1 oz. Rose water

Toast up 3 cinnamon sticks in a saucepan on medium heat for 5 minutes (make sure to occasionally shake so it doesn’t burn). Add water and bring to a boil. Add the granulated sugar and stir till completely dissolved. Drop to a simmer for 20 minutes. Let rest for 30 minutes. Strain and add rose water.

Brandon Verkaik, bar manager at Maya in Charleston, SC, created this recipe.

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Smoke & Whisper

Course Drinks

Keyword Ginger liqueur, honey, lemon, limoncello, Scotch

Ingredients

• 1 ½ oz. Benriach The Original Ten Scotch
• ¼ oz. Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
• ¼ oz. Limoncello
• ¼ oz. Honey syrup 1:1
• ½ oz. Meyer lemon juice
• Mist of Benriach The Smoky Ten Ten Scotch

Instructions

• Shake liquid ingredients up.
• Strain over a big ice cube in a rocks glass.
• Garnish with a dehydrated lemon disk.
• Mist The Smoky Ten over the top with an atomizer.

Notes

Mixologist Daniel Burns of Foreign Cinema in San Francisco created this recipe.

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Alpine Holiday

Course Drinks

Keyword Braulio amaro, cranberry, lemon, stone pine liqueur, tequila

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ oz. El Bandido reposado tequila
• ¾ oz. Zirbenz Stone Pine liqueur
• ¼ oz. Braulio amaro
• ½ oz. Lemon juice
• ½ oz. Root 23 cranberry apple spice syrup
• Egg white

Instructions

• Combine ingredients in a mixing tin and shake.
• Strain into a coupe glass.
• Garnish with fresh pine sprig.

Notes

The mixologists at El Bandido created this recipe.

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Good Vibrations

Course Drinks

Keyword Blood orange juice, Cinnamon syrup, passion fruit liqueur, vodka

Ingredients

• 1 ½ oz. Smoke Lab vodka
• 1 oz Giffard passion fruit liqueur
• 2 oz Blood orange juice
• ½ oz. Cinnamon syrup

Instructions

• Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice.
• Shake and strain over fresh ice into a large rocks glass.
• Garnish with a slice of blood orange and sprig of mint.

Notes

The mixologists at Smoke Lab created this recipe.

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Autumn Sweater

Course Drinks

Keyword chile liqueur, herbal liqueur, oloroso sherry, rosemary, rum

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Zacapa No.23 rum
• 1 oz. Oloroso sherry
• ½ oz. Ancho chili liqueur
• ½ oz. French herbal liqueur
• Garnish with rosemary sprig

Instructions

• Add all ingredients to mixing glass with ice.
• Site and double strain over a large ice cube into a Negroni glass.
• Garnish and smoke with a flavor blaster.

Notes

he mixologists at Zacapa created this recipe.