mixology monday - fruit liqueurs

Mixology Monday is two years old this month! Congrats to everyone who was there from the outset and to those who have made it every month since its inception. Extra kudos to Paul from The Cocktail Chronicles, for the great idea in the first place.

On this two year anniversary I have the pleasure of hosting a “fruit liqueur” theme.

I must admit I may have confused some people by stating “sweet” as a perquisite and then listing dry alcohols such as Kirsch and Calvados as potential ingredients. Mea culpa.

We had 28 entries and a good assortment of fruit liqueurs covering 16 different fruits, with a heavy emphasis on citrus and berries. There were dry drinks, sour sips, and creamy coolers of all kinds.

And here they are:

Purple Orchid
Crème de Cassis (blackcurrant)
Shawn from Rijiggered (Virgina, USA)
This pretty cocktail is a simplistic but rich (and probably not too sweet) combination of mandarin vodka, crème de cassis and lemon juice. Apparently it’s very easy to drink, so have enough ingredients for seconds, or thirds!


Lemon Frappé
Limoncello (lemon)
Marleigh from Sloshed (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Using Danny DeVito’s own limoncello, this cocktail brings on all the fresh flavours of citrus, lemons and limes, with gin. No, you didn’t misread, that’s Danny DeVitos’s limoncello, and Marleigh assures us it’s good!


Asian Orange
Rhum Clément Creole Shrubb (orange)
Cameron & Anita from Married With Dinner (San Francisco, CA, USA)
The Married with Dinner duo got their paws on an orange liqueur from the Caribbean island of Martinique and were blown away by its “dusky mysteriousness”. Paired with gin, bitters and the gingery flavours of Domaine de Canton, Anita declared this blind date a roaring success.


Banana Split Martini
Banana Liqueur
Felicia from Felicia's Atomic Lounge (Ithaca, NY, USA)
In defiance of dessert cocktail snobs, this speakeasy hostess has opted for a liquefied banana split with vanilla vodka, strawberry liqueur, banana liqueur, chocolate sauce and a little cream to sweeten the deal.


Polish Orchid
Cherry Vodka
Neil from At My Table (Melbourne, Australia)
Using his homemade sour cherry vodka, Neil whipped up a cocktail he described as “not overly sweet or overpowering in flavour, just wonderfully sophisticated”. The composites of this potent beauty are cherry vodka, regular vodka and a little elderflower syrup for frangrance.


Flying High
Peter Heering (cherry)
Doug from Cocktail Capers (Ohio, USA)
Now here is a man who seeks perfection, trialling three before deciding which one he’d recommend. His final combination of Peter Heering (cherry brandy), gin, egg white, bitters and fresh orange and lemon juices is sweet with the “frou frou” but looks a little scary. That shouldn’t be a problem for a man running his own business for murder mystery parties.


Star-Eyed Daisy
Calvados (apple)
Blair from Trader Tiki's Booze Blog (Portland, OR, USA)
Reintroduce old school style with this take on the Daisy from the 1900s. Combine Calvados, grenadine and limoncello with ginger beer and you’ve got what Trader Tiki’s wife describes as “spicy apple-juice”.


A Georgia Thunderstorm
Crème de Peche (peach)
Marshall from Scofflaw's Den (Arlington, VA, USA)
This post proves all you need for inspiration is a night of rollicking thunder. Try this storm to wet your lips: dark rum, crème de peche, allspice (pimento) dram, bitters and ginger beer. Warm, spicy flavours with the sweetness of peaches.


Summer Crash
Crème de Mure (blackberry)
SeanMike from Scofflaw's Den (Arlington, VA, USA)
Now I must state I’m biased towards this post since it uses one of my favourite fruit liqueurs of all time, a certain brand of crème de mure. But ask you how anyone could go wrong with this fruitastic concoction of fresh blackberries, apple brandy, Cointreau, crème de mure and lemon juice.


Massa Mojito
Limoncello (lemon)
Jacob from Jacok Grier (Arlington, VA, USA)
Using his own homemade limoncello, this cocktail fiend delved up a twist on the mojito using fresh lemon, mint, limoncello and club soda. Refreshing, effervescent with a citric tang.


Midori Margarita
Midori (melon)
Christian from Cocktailwelten (Germany)
German cocktail enthusiast Christian tells the tale of Midori from humble origins in Japan, to 70s it-drink in the US to present-day manufacturing in sunny Mexico. Accompanying the history of the green drink are two cocktail recipes, the Midori Daiquiri and then the Midori Margarita which a surprised Christian has put on his “best of” list.



Ewok Exilir
44 Cordial (orange)
Orlando from El Machete's Rum Reviews (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
This drink would certainly win any naming competition. I’m a sucker for Ewoks. But better still El Machete has gone to the trouble to brew his very own white rum infused with orange and coffee. This then went into the tropical myriad of unfiltered apple juice, coconut rum, apple brandy, mango nectar, dark rum, lemon, orgeat and grenadine.


China Blue
Lychee Liqueur
Seamus from Bunny Hugs (Auckland, New Zealand)
If you need to woo girls with exotic blue drinks, why not try this combination of grapefruit juice, lychee liqueur and hues of blue curacao. The tart grapefruit is balanced by the sweet lychee and the curacao makes everything perfectly blue.


Caribbean Dreaming
Crème de Banana
Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once (Melbourne, Australia)
This is one adult milkshake. Creamy milk blended with fresh banana, crème de banana and the coconut aromas of Malibu. Another great liquid dessert with fruity themes.


Spring Break
Banana Schnapps & Pineapple Rum
Amanda from Mrs. W's Kitchen (New York, USA)
Recalling her former life in the Florida Keys, Amanda brings back some of the tropical flavours she enjoyed in her very own Spring Break. Coconut cream, banana schnapps, pineapple rum and frozen berries make this daydream complete.


Normandy Bates Cocktail
Calvados (apple) & Mathilde Orange X.O
Jeff from Rants of a Hedgehog (Portland, OR, USA)
After navigating through various cocktail combinations, and recruiting underage tasters with palates sophisticated enough to recognise “murky molasses”, this very determined hedgehog went for a very citrus theme of Calvados, Mathilde Orange X.O., valencia orange juice and orange bitters


The Catherine
Framboise Liqueur (raspberry)
Vidiot from Cocktailians.com (New York, NY, USA)
Vidiot is no idiot. He basically wrote this synopsis for me. Yes his cocktail is named after Catherine Deneuve. Yes is an amalgamation of the Corpse Reviver No. 2 and the Pegu Club, but there a twist: he used raspberry instead of orange. Try gin, framboise liqueur and Lillet Blanc with lime juice and peach bitters!


East of Eden
Elderflower Liqueur
Jeffrey from Jeffrey Morgenthaler (Eugene, OR, USA)
Here’s a case of stretching the theme a little, but seeing as it looks so good we’re just going to move right along to the punchline: fragrant elderflower liqueur is tempered with lemon juice, jazzed up with homemade pinot gris syrup and given a kick with gin. Pure elegance.


Tom Morello
Cherry Marnier
Darcy from The Art of Drink (London, Ontario, Canada)
With the express purpose of making us all green with envy, Darcy is flaunting his bottle of Cherry Mariner, which he describes as “moderately sweet”, “hints of almond”, “extremely smooth” and “some spiciness in the finish”. What do with such a prize? Why, mix it with Canadian whisky and Punt e Mes of course!


Midori Margarita
Midori (melon)
Cynthia from My Brilliant Mistakes (Butler, PA, USA)
Here is another very satisfied customer of the margarita made with Midori. Perhaps everyone has a never-used bottle of Midori in their cupboard, but this drink seems to be the answer. Midori, tequila, triple sec and lime then shake, shake, shake.


Brambleberry Roffignac
Blackberry Brandy
Craig from Tiki Drinks & Indigo Firmaments (Portland, OR, USA)
This cocktail has a beautiful rich colour and a nice little history, originating from fortuitous discovery of a jar of homemade blackberry brandy. Add a little rye whisky, a few drops of Herbsaint, a splash of soda and serve over ice.


Canton Cocktail
Maraschino Liqueur (cherry)
Stevi from Ana Bolena perdió su cabeza (Redmond, WA, USA)
Not keen on overly sweet drinks, Stevi decided to finally trial a recipe a recipe she’d book marked ions ago. The flavours build on rum and Maraschino, but also includes orange curaçao, grenadine and aromas from an orange twist.


Kirsch & Cassis
Kirsch (cherry) & Crème de Cassis (blackcurrant)
scomorokh from Science of Drink (Ukraine)
Read this blog in English or Russian, but be prepared to wet your lips for the double berry hit of Кирш энд Кассис. Soda water, crème de Cassis and kirsch are mixed over crushed ice to create a deep, vibrant drink.


The Comet
Van Der Hum (tangerine)
Paul from The Cocktail Chronicles (Seattle, OR, USA)
On this event’s two year anniversary, its founder delves into a South African liqueur flavoured with tangerine peel and herbs, mixing up a fast paced cocktail including cognac, yellow grapefruit juice, Van der Hum and bitters.


The Black Forest Epistle
Kirsch (cherry)
gilrain from Lunar Policy (USA)
After confusing the heck out of Gilrain but saying liqueurs must be “sweet” and then listing dry kirsch as a possibility, I’m lucky I got him to join at all. Lucky that wine over dinner made him cocky enough to try. This cocktail required “intense mixological experimentation” using gin, Kirsch, Frangelico and Absinthe to deliver a “roguishly dry cocktail”.


El Diablo
Crème de Cassis (blackcurrant)
Robert from Drink Dogma (Houston, TX, USA)
This post not only reviews the dangers of ordering a margarita in Mexico, but advises on alternative such as the feature drink using lime, tequila, crème de cassis and ginger ale. But our author doesn’t stop here. Look out for more advice on which crème de cassis you should use and links to ginger beer taste tests too. Now that’s service.


Golden Compass
Grand Marnier (orange)
Jimmy from Jimmy's Cocktail Hour (Los Gatos, CA, USA)
Crispy, dry Pinot Grigio is the key to this cocktail, which was not named after the now famous film from Philip Pullman’s book The Northern Lights. Other ingredients include gin and the orange notes of Grand Marnier. Bitters and orange peel finish it off.


Strawberry Schnapps Spiders
Strawberry Schnapps
Anna from Morsels & Musings (Sydney, Australia)
Here’s my own contribution to MxMo. Taking inspiration from an Indonesian soft drink I came up with an adult version of ice cream spiders. Strawberry schnapps is mixed with strawberry syrup, strawberry ice cream and strawberry soda. It was berry, berry nice.

And don’t forget the crew at eGullet who always seem to come up with a wide variety of contributions to any MxMo theme. This week they’ve got instructions on how to make The Bellamy and The Cassiopaea (Dan), some infused liqueur, a cocktail using mirto de sardegna which is from myrtle berries (bostanapothecary) and even pineapple flavoured rum that turns into a Brazilian Daiquiri (Anon).

Well, that's it folks. If I left anyone out, please do email and I’ll fix that. Things got kind of confusing between some people emailing their posts and others leaving links in comments. I hope I tracked you all down!

Thanks and enjoy this bountiful bevy of beverages!

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes drinks cocktails cocktail recipes drink recipes mixology monday mxmo