If you look at the classic cocktails on the scene at the turn of the 20th century it is somewhat surprising that few liqueurs feature in these different mixes – but that was much more to do with availability than a simple case of not using them.  

The classic cocktails that came into being just prior to Prohibition in the US, which ran from 1920 to 1933,  and after are noticeably devoid of these sweeter alcoholic confections – but there are some significant exceptions, among them Cointreau, Luxardo Maraschino, Benedictine and Drambuie.

For Luxardo Maraschino think of the Martinez, the Last Word and the Aviation; for Cointreau think of the Sidecar, the White Lady, the Margarita, and, latterly, the Cosmopolitan; for Bénédictine (and Cointreau for that matter) think the Singapore Sling and for Drambuie think the Rusty Nail.

“The Rusty Nail was born during the British Industries Fair of 1937 and called a BIF, which appeared just over 20 years after the commercial introduction of Drambuie. Liqueurs were also used in classic cocktails as a sweetener prior to the popularity of vermouth and drier cocktails,” says Drambuie brand ambassador Herman Van Broekhuizen.

With its “marriage of concentrated elixir of essential oils, its honey, sugar and aged grain and malt whiskies”, one could argue that Drambuie is a cocktail in its own right, and certainly its flavour profile demands a professional touch.  

“There are no limits to creativity, but a certain degree of expertise is required; an understanding of what’s inside the bottle and how the liquid is made is key to mixing a well-balanced drink with Drambuie,” says Van Broekhuizen. 

“Indeed, a key requirement with any branded cocktail, and certainly for Drambuie, is that its essence can still shine through the other ingredients.  Fortunately for us, Drambuie’s big, complex flavour profile means it can easily mix with a variety of other spirits or liqueurs and still manage to demonstrate its character, its taste of the extraordinary.”

Clearly liqueurs bring more than bright colours and sweetness to a cocktail. “A liqueur will make overpowering alcohol more palatable, complement and enhance the base spirit, bring character and added complexity and act as a flavouring agent adding fruits or aromatics and give texture to the drink,” says Van Broekhuizen. 

This is very much the case with Maraschino in the Prohibition-era cocktail the Last Word, where Maraschino is the seasoning.

“If you consider the gin as a steak, Chartreuse is the herbal element, and Maraschino brings the fresh flavour and floral notes which tie everything together,” says brand ambassador Gareth Franklin at UK agents Cellar Trends.

Prior to the advent of vermouth Maraschino was a key element in the Martinez, which is widely thought of as the forerunner to the much drier Martini of today, and has a starring role in the Aviation – a cocktail which is making a return to fame and fortune.  

Franklin has a variation which he has christened the Howard Hughes. This involves muddling sugar snap peas in a shaker with 40ml gin, “preferably Beefeater as it works well with citrus”, 20ml Maraschino and lemon juice, plus 10ml elderflower cordial. “It is shaken and served straight up and here Maraschino really enhances the vegetal notes of the cocktail,” says Franklin.

However, when it comes to classic cocktails no other liqueur can boast the claim to fame that the world’s number one triple sec, Cointreau, can. Arguably the Sidecar, with its judicious mix of cognac, Cointreau and lemon juice which was starting to get popular in the early 1920s, got the brand’s ball really rolling.

“Cointreau has a fascinating and rich history when it comes to cocktails,” says Panos Sarantopoulos the recently appointed CEO – liqueurs and spirits division at Rémy Cointreau. “It started with the Singapore Sling in the early 20th Century, then the Sidecar came along followed by the Margarita in the late 40s, and then the Cosmo in the mid-90s – it seems that Cointreau is always at the heart the action.”

The history of the Cosmopolitan says it all. It was first made back in 1987 by Cheryl Cook, a bartender working at the Strand in Miami. It combines two leading stateside brands – Cointreau and Absolut vodka – and was intended as a simple girly variant of the Kamikaze cocktail (made with tequila, Cointreau and lime juice).  It was almost an instant success as, according to the US subsidiary company, Cointreau sales were rocketing in Miami during this period.  

Later Toby Cecchini, a barman from the trendy Odeon in NYC, discovered the recipe and decided to modify it a little bit to improve the taste: he used vodka Absolut Citron instead of plain vodka, fresh lime juice, added Cointreau and replaced grenadine with cranberry in order to keep the pink colour with a lemon peel as garnish.  

Twist on a theme 

Over in New York in 1996, Dale DeGroff gave a new impetus to the Cosmopolitan – by twisting the recipe with an orange flambée peel (instead of lime peel). This twist became really famous in London where this cocktail was introduced by Madonna in private clubs she attended.

However, it wasn’t until 1999 – more than 10 years since the first Cosmo was mixed – that the television series Sex and the City was broadcast, aiding and abetting its national and international recognition and finally establishing the mix as a modern-day classic.   

The ongoing success of the Cosmopolitan underlines the US as the cocktail mecca. “The US is still very big on the Margarita,” says Rémy Cointreau’s Sarantopoulos. “It is the flagship there and much stronger than in the UK – so too the Sidecar. In the UK Cointreau is more of a signature drink – neat or over ice – while in Spain it’s the gin-based White Lady.”

It was in 1919 that one Harry MacElhone, while working at Ciro’s Club, London, England, created his first White Lady with two shots of Cointreau, one shot of white crème de menthe and one shot lemon juice. And four years at his own Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, he added the egg white to the recipe and the rest, as we say, is history.

In its distinctive, squat brown bottle Cointreau is not the ideal bottle for the odd flair or even for the speed rail but, as Sarantopoulos points out, “there is always a price to pay for being distinctive and different”.  

He adds: “We have noted that while there are no acrobatics with Cointreau it is nonetheless handled with great ease and skill by bartenders.”

While currently much work is underway to popularise the Cointreau Fizz, which, with its blend of lime and soda water, is an easy drink to make at home, the triple sec was also part of arguably the most liqueur-centric cocktail of all time, the Singapore Sling.   

Developed by head bartender of the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, one Ngiam Tong Boon back in 1915, the original recipe has been lost, which is a crying shame because, as a result, variations on its original theme abound.  

But the original Sling certainly combined gin with Cherry Heering, Benedictine, Cointreau, pineapple and lime juice, along with Angostura bitters. Some recipes even call for a goodly splash of grenadine.

Pre-mixes

Even more of a shame is the fact that the version now ‘concocted’ at Raffles is a pre-mix form that relies heavily on pineapple juice – but then if you are serving more than 1,000 Singapore Slings a day, needs must!

Benedictine above all is associated with the Singapore Sling – but also with the B&B – Benedictine and brandy. This mix became so popular Stateside that the company decided to get in on the act with its own pre-mix version, which to this day is still big business. 

The brand has recently been repackaged into a green bottle with a red seal, while the B&B is in the brown bottle with the gold seal.

“Back in 1937 Benedictine and brandy was an overnight success,” says UK distributor First Drinks brand manager Paul Curry. “But it’s the Singapore Sling that everyone talks about.” 

With its blend of 27 herbs and spices, which are sourced from all corners of the globe, Benedictine lends itself to the cocktail circuit. And, as with most of the traditional liqueurs, easy mixes have been developed for consumers to make at home: there is the Big Ben (Benedictine and tonic), Be Pamplemousse (Benedictine and grapefruit juice) and the Benediction (Benedictine and champagne).

“We do a lot of work with bartenders as it stands to reason the more you know about a brand the more likely you are to feature it on the cocktail menu,” says Curry. 

“Every four or five-star hotel will stock Benedictine but we don’t want it on the top shelf gathering dust – just waiting for someone to order a Singapore Sling. We need to get it in the repertoire.”

Liqueurs often get a bad press because of their sweetness and often bright colours – but the traditional liqueurs make excellent partners to mainstream spirits and it is worth considering how many folk dislike tequila but love a Margarita, or indeed do not like cognac but love a Sidecar. 

The liqueur does bring out the best, and that’s why these classics have endured the test of time.