The Liqueur Masters 2013 Results

Liqueurs aren’t getting the credit they deserve, but this year’s Masters medal haul proves why they should. Becky Paskin reports.

The Liqueur Masters 2013 results are in

Perhaps it’s the sheer variety of flavours available, or maybe they aren’t marketed with as much spend as the vodka, whisky and rum big guns, but liqueurs are, sadly, at the bottom of the spirits pecking order.

Often considered sickly, artificial and calorie-rich, liqueurs aren’t usually consumers’ or bartenders’ favourite spirit category. The “black sheep” of the spirits industry are usually confined to back bars, dusty liquor cabinets full of half-finished bottles from the previous Christmas, or the on the fringes of the UV-lit shelves of student bars around the world.

But this much-maligned category has so much diversity, depth and quality from brands that have worked hard to redefine the category’s image and strived to prove their place within the spirits industry is a vital one. For it is.

That, of course, was demonstrated at The Liqueur Masters 2013, where a wide variety of products from bitters to bottle-matured and cream liqueurs were given a fair, unbiased and blind taste test by The Spirits Masters judges.

This year’s panel, although on the thin side, comprised of the talented palate of bar and spirit consultant Jim Wrigley, and myself, deputy editor of The Spirits Business. Between us our experience of the bar and spirits industry amounts to over 20 years.

Taking place this year at Drake & Morgan’s Parlour Bar at London’s Canary Wharf, The Liqueur Masters 2013 pushed off with a line of Traditional liqueurs, which ranged from amaretto to schnapps and coconut liqueur.

“This round was a really nice way to start the day,” enthused Wrigley. “There were some real stars across a wide range of styles and flavours with a good use of alcohol and sugar balances that were the deciding factor between the good and the awful.”

The Traditional round impressed so much that we awarded four Masters, three Golds and two Silver medals, with two products from UK bargain supermarkets Aldi and Lidl picking up the top gongs for the respective Oscar’s Peach Schnapps and Tropica Coconut and White Rum Liqueur.

There was however a small minority that unfortunately overdid their sugar content, with others demonstrating obviously unnatural flavours, but they did not detract from an impressive round that was a pleasure to judge.

We moved on into the Fruit category, which bursting with a spectrum of colours, was the most fruitful (sorry) category of the day with four Masters and a Gold awarded.

The Liqueur Masters 2013 threw up an array of colours and flavours

We were informed of what flavour to expect from each liqueur according to their labelling, and were suitably impressed by the correlation between the anticipated and actual flavour.

“Most flavours lived up to the promise suggested by the colour and the nose, delivering robust flavours right through the line,” said Wrigley. “Vibrant colours don’t necessarily equal good palates, although some pleased both the eye and nose, and carried through to the palate and finish.”

Breaking down the category into flavours, we moved through into Cassis, Coffee, Ginger, Coconut, Chocolate and Amaretto, most of which featured liqueurs demonstrating a good balance between sugar and alcohol content to deliver full flavours. In all, one Master, two Golds and a Silver were awarded in these categories.

Next up was the Herbal & Bitters category, which despite the more distinguishing title, threw up a diverse set of liqueurs from real German herbal products to delicate tea infusions, all of which demonstrated that all-important balance of flavours. Wrigley described the round as “fantastically interesting”, having produced “delicate and balanced examples of herbal liqueurs”. “Each was a perfect example of a liqueur using sugar to carry the nuances of delicate flavours,” he explained.

New this year was the Bottle-Aged Liqueur round, which reflects a growing interest from the on-trade for aged products. Four entries from Hughes Craft Distillery all walked away with a medal, with the company’s RubyBlue Wild Blackcurrant Liqueur, which contains real, whole fruit macerating in the bottle, taking a Master.

Wrigley said: “With the real fruit inclusion and a lean toward natural and quality ingredients, this range has incredible potential. However the intense nose and palate were on more than one occasion over-powered by the sugar. Perhaps a higher abv would remedy the issue.”

Staying with the bottle-conditioned theme, and again new to the competition, was the Bottle-Aged Cocktail round, which although technically not liqueurs, demonstrates the direction the category is moving.

Two fantastic entries from Bamboo London, described by Wrigley as “adult cocktails” perfectly encapsulated the need from the industry for easy-to-pour and quality cocktails. Both entries gained a medal for being well-balanced and layered.

The day was drawing to a close and we had just two categories left. With Wrigley suffering from a mild allergic reaction to dairy products, we left the Cream Liqueurs category to the end, focusing on the tongue-numbing Sambuca first.

Of the round, a liquorice flavoured Sambuca impressed the most, executing the blend of woody liquorice sweetness with spicy anise notes beautifully. Three entries from Antica Sambuca all drew medals.

The Liqueur Masters judges: Jim Wrigley, bar and spirit consultant, and Becky Paskin, deputy editor of The Spirits Business

If it weren’t for the phenomenal Fruit entries, it would have been a case of “save the best ‘til last” for our Cream Liqueurs, which were mightily impressive. There were some delicious examples of why this guilty pleasure performs so well. A lot of our impression came down to the texture of the liquid, as well as the Irish whiskey flavour in the drink. Some were pure indulgence but others relatively weak.

Most impressive of all was a chocolate orange stunner, which tasted like liquid Christmas in a glass. “Overall I was pleasantly surprised by the flavour range which did exactly what they said on the can,” summated Wrigley.

By the end of the day, 17 Masters, 14 Gold and nine Silver medals were awarded to some of the most outstanding liqueurs we had tasted not only in The Liqueur Masters 2013 but for the year.

“Liqueurs are often much maligned as a necessary evil, however the tasting reflected not just the sheer variety of flavours and styles, but also artisan use of good quality ingredients with some great balancing of sugars, alcohol and maceration/ infusion techniques,” Wrigley concluded.

The interesting thing here is that while there is a certain element of snobbery attached to quality in most spirit categories, it simply cannot apply to liqueurs. These are spirits designed to be drunk in all manner of ways – in cocktails, neat over ice or as a shot, each with a defined and starkly different target audience.

Our task as judges was to simply identify the purpose of each spirit and reward those fulfilling their goal, regardless of whether you believe sour apple shots should be confined to student unions.

By definition their super-sweet nature prevents liqueurs from becoming an everyday go-to drink; these are spirits confined to the realms of cocktails and drinking occasions. But that doesn’t mean they should sit at the bottom of the spirits pecking order, as the level of quality and number of medals awarded in the Liqueur Masters 2013 attests.

The full list of The Liqueur Masters 2013 results are on the following pages.

CREAM
Company	Product Name	Medal
Ladoga Group	Fruko Schulz Cream	Master
First Ireland Spirits	Brogan’s Orange Chocolate	Master
First Ireland Spirits	Brogan’s Cappuccino	Gold
Waldemar Behn	Dooley’s Original Toffee Cream Liqueur	Gold
Aldi UK	Specially Selected Irish Cream	Silver

 

TRADITIONAL
Company	Product Name	Medal
Wenneker Distilleries	Wenneker Amaretto	Master
Lidl UK	Tropica Coconut & White Rum Liqueur	Master
The Drambuie Liqueur Co	Drambuie 15	Master
Aldi UK	Oscar’s Peach Schnapps	Master
Berry Bros & Rudd Spirits	The King’s Ginger Liqueur	Gold
The Drambuie Liqueur Co	Drambuie Liqueur	Gold
Marnier-Lapostolle	Grand Marnier Cuvée du Centenaire	Gold
Zamora International	Licor 43	Silver
Lidl UK	Armilar Amaretto Venezia	Silver

 

TRADITIONAL SUPER PREMIUM
Company	Product Name	Medal
Marnier-Lapostolle	Grand Marnier Quintessence	Master

 

FRUIT
Company	Product Name	Medal
Ladoga Group	Fruko Schulz Green Apple	Master
Wenneker Distilleries	Wenneker Cherry Brandy	Master
Mikelj Spirits	Bilberry Liqueur	Master
Aldi UK	Oscar’s Peach Schnapps	Master
Zamora International	Licor 43	Gold

 

CASSIS
Company	Product Name	Medal
Joseph Cartron	Double Crème de Cassis	Gold

 

COFFEE
Company	Product Name	Medal
Pernod Ricard Mexico	Olmeca Coffee	Silver

AMARETTO
Company	Product Name	Medal
Wenneker Distilleries	Wenneker Amaretto	Master
Lidl UK	Armilar Amaretto Venezia	Gold

 

SAMBUCA
Company	Product Name	Medal
Antiche Distillerie Riunite	Antica Sambuca with Liquorice	Master
Antiche Distillerie Riunite	Antica Sambuca Classic	Silver
Antiche Distillerie Riunite	Antica Sambuca with Raspberry	Silver

 

BOTTLE-AGED LIQUEURS
Company	Product Name	Medal
Hughes Craft Distillery	RubyBlue Wild Blackcurrant	Master
Hughes Craft Distillery	RubyBlue Wild Cranberry	Gold
Hughes Craft Distillery	RubyBlue Chilli Pepper	Gold
Hughes Craft Distillery	RubyBlue Wild Blueberry	Silver

 

BOTTLE-AGED LIQUEURS
Company	Product Name	Medal
Bamboo London	Erskine – Pontoon Cocktail	Gold
Bamboo London	Angelica – Pontoon Cocktail	Silver

 

GINGER
Company	Product Name	Medal
Berry Bros & Rudd Spirits	The King’s Ginger Liqueur	Silver

 

COCONUT
Company	Product Name	Medal
Lidl UK	Tropica Coconut & White Rum Liqueur	Gold
Aldi UK	Cocobay White Rum	Gold

 

HERBS & BITTERS
Company	Product Name	Medal
Ladoga Group	Fruko Schulz Bitter	Master
Joseph Cartron	Thé Rooibos	Master
Joseph Cartron	Thé Vert Maté	Master
Joseph Cartron	Thé Noir Fumé	Gold