LIQUEUR. This name is given to any alcoholic preparation which is flavored or per fumed and sweetened to be more agreeable to the taste; there is consequently a large class of liqueurs, of which the following are the principal: aniseed cordial, _prepared by flavoring weak spirit with aniseed, coriander, and sweet fennel seed, and sweetening with finely clarified syrup of refined sugar. Absinthe is sweetened spirit flavored with the young tops of certain species of artemisia (q.v.). Clam cordial, much sold in the London gin-shops, is flavored with cloves, bruised, and colored with burned sugar.
Kimmel, or doppel-kftmmel, is the principal liqueur of Russia; it is made in the ordi nary way with sweetened spirit, flavored with cumin and caraway seeds, the latter usually so strong as to conceal any other flavor. It is chiefly made at Riga, and there are two qualities: that made in Riga is the sort in common use, and is not the finest; the better sort is only manufactured in smaller quantities at Weissenstein, in Estlionia; the chief difference is in the greater purity of the spirit used. Maraschino is distilled from
cherries bruised, but instead of the wild kind, a fine, delicately flavored variety, called marazques, grown only in Dalmatia, is used. This cherry is largely cultivated around Zara, the capital, where the liqueur is chiefly made. Great care is taken in the distilla tion to avoid injury to the delicate flavor, and the finest sugar is used to sweeten it.
Noyau, or creme de noyau, is a sweet cordial flavored with bruised bitter-almond& In Turkey, the fine-flavored kernels of the Mahaleb cherry are used, and in some places the kernels of the peach or the apricot. Peppermint, a common liqueur, especially amongst the lower classes of London, where very large quantities are sold; it usually consists of the ordinary sweetened gin, flavored with the essential oil of peppermint, which is previously rubbed up with refined sugar, and formed into an oleosaccharum, which enables it to mix with the very weak spirit.
Curacoa and kirschicasser are described under their own names.