Ask any Italian-American from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, to Pittsburgh about his grandpop’s homemade liqueurs, and you’ll likely get a wide grin. Despite their fancy name, these libations are surprisingly easy to make, and remain a culinary staple for many European immigrants with backyard gardens. But lately, across the country liqueurs are moving beyond ethnic enclaves and into the mainstream.
Unlike the big strokes of craft spirits distilled from limited ingredients, liqueurs are incredibly nuanced, expressing the vast diversity of the plant world: fruits, flowers, barks, herbs, spices, seeds, roots, and nuts. Syrupy and intense, they are designed for sipping, not shooting. With vivid colors and heady aromas, liqueurs can be throwbacks to medieval magical potions made from elaborate secret recipes: Chartreuse, an 18thcentury French liqueur called the elixir of long life,…
