Homemade Cinnamon Liqueur

Cinnamon. In ancient times it was a luxurious gift for kings and gods. Today it makes an appearance on our cinnamon rolls, apple cobbler and even french toast. 

Me, I just want to devour anything that tastes like it. Mix it with alcohol? Even BETTER. 

With no exaggeration, I LOVE cinnamon. It seems that the more I eat cinnamon my love for it just grows like a cinnamon tumour inside me. As I began making liqueurs I knew that cinnamon liqueur would be a key step in my quest for excellent homemade liqueur. 

Before I talk about the four cinnamon liqueur variants I made, let me rant a little on the things I learned about Cinnamon. 

You think that is Cinnamon on your Cinnamon roll. WRONG.

Cinnamon or Cinnamomum zeylanicum, also called Ceylon cinnamon is a small evergreen tree native to Sri Lanka. It is popular for it's inner bark which is used as spice called cinnamon. However, the big surprise is that if you are in the USA and various other countries, most of what you think is cinnamon is actually Cinnamomum aromaticum or Cassia. Cassia is in the same family as C. zeylanicum, but if you're talking about "true" cinnamon then C. zeylanicum is what you mean. 

Ceylon Cinnamon(left) and Cassia(right). Photo from wikipedia

Turns out, not only is there flavor differences between Cassia and Cinnamon, but in some countries various health agencies warn against a heavy consumption of Cassia due to the toxic component coumarin. Though it seems the consensus is that it may not be toxic enough to worry about unless you are consuming teaspoons and teaspoons of cassia every day. Ceylon cinnamon has coumarin as well, but a negligible amount. 

As far as the flavor differences go, both Cassia and Ceylon Cinnamon share similar essential oils except the Ceylon has less of the cinnamic aldehyde. From what I read, this ends up giving true cinnamon a lighter, sweeter flavor and cassia a stronger, harsh bittersweet flavor. 

So yes, after all of my excitement about creating a delicious cinnamon liqueur I discover that in fact I have created a Cassia liqueur. The more I thought about this I decided it might be okay since it appears that what I've known and loved as "cinnamon" was most likely cassia anyway. I mean a bakery here and there may use true cinnamon, but from a little googling it appears that cassia is the most popular "cinnamon" here in the states. If you go to the grocery store and buy "cinnamon sticks" it is probably cassia. To get your true cinnamon or Ceylon cinnamon, order it online from a reputable spice dealer. I noticed this one shop at www.druera.com, that appears to be in Sri Lanka, and it prides itself on selling real Ceylon cinnamon. 

Anyway, note to self...make a ceylon cinnamon liqueur ASAP. For now, enjoy the Cassia. 

A taste of Cassia... err Cey.. Cinna.. whatev

Shut up and tell me if it taste good, right? Toxic? We are drinking alcohol here, that is toxic too. Yeah yeah, I'll get on with it. 

The Internet contains myriads upon myriads of recipes for everything under the sun, unless you are looking for Cinnamon Liqueur, then there is only one recipe you will find. 

Cinnamon Liqueur 

Yield:1 pint 

1 Cinnamon stick
2 Cloves
1 ts Ground coriander seed
1 cup Vodka
1/2 cup Brandy
1/2 cup Sugar Syrup 

Steep everything but sugar in alcohol for 2 weeks. Strain and filter and then add sugar syrup or sweetener to taste. Age for 1 week and serve. 

Hundreds of websites have this recipe with no attribution. I figured it was a good place to start even though I don't know the origin. 

I decided to make four separate batches and vary them to some extremes (why not?) I obtained my so called cinnamon from a local Indian spice store. This of course was Cassia as I found out after I made the liqueurs. 

Here is a list of the variations. For number 1 the only change I made was substituting clover honey for the sugar syrup. I did this for all of the variants. In my liqueur making experience so far, white sugar syrup just yields too simple of a taste. With honey, the taste becomes much more complex and better for sipping or drinking straight. 

Cinnamon(cassia) Liqueur #1 

Stuck with the recipe but substituted clover honey for the sugar syrup. (and in all below variants) 

Cinnamon(cassia) Liqueur #2 

Added 7 Key limes, just the meat quartered and some pith. Added 1tsp zest of a key lime. 

Cinnamon(cassia) Liqueur #3 

Added meat of one very large navel orange. Meat was cut approximately into eighths. Added zest from orange, about 1/4 of the orange peel. (went wild) 

Cinnamon(cassia) Liqueur #4 

Increased cinnamon by about %50. (1/2 cinnamon stick). Decreased sweetener (honey) by about %25. 

I tried all of these right after the 1 week of aging time and at least 1 - 2 months after that. 

In regards to visual aspect, the color is an orangish brownish on all of these. It tends to be a bit darker on #4 due to the extra cinnamon and have slightly green and more orangey with #2 and #3 respectively. The viscosity is not too syrupy and typical to most liqueur. If you saw the picture up at the top of the article, that is the ol' #4.

If you love cinnamon with all your heart, then #1 and #4 will love you back. #4 has a very strong cinnamon taste and obviously less on the sweet side. Less honey decreased the sweetness and allowed more of the cinnamon profile to come through. #1 is fairly balanced yet is a touch too sweet for my taste. 

#2 and #3 I nearly threw out before deciding to let them sit another month or two. I'm glad I did so, because after aging a bit the overly intense lime and orange tastes have become less focused and have broken down into a broader spectrum of flavor. 

The key-lime in #2 comes through and maybe overpowers the cinnamon. It's ends up being an interesting key-lime liqueur with the cinnamon accompanying. I felt it more lime-sweet than lime-tart. 

#3 ended up with maybe too much juice from the orange as the alcohol bite is just not there. However the orange and cinnamon marry nicely after a few months. The orange is more bitter than I expected, yet it is quite delicious the way it is. If I do this again I'll likely use less orange or up the alcohol to get the bite back. 

I'm not used to the flavor of coriander, so it is hard to tell where it shows up in the liqueur. Coriander supposedly has a smokey, nutty and citrus notes

Summing it up

Overall I like each one in different ways. I would say the most drinkable as is, would be the #4 if you like strong cinnamon taste or #1 if you don't want the cinnamon to take over. I'm a big enough cinnamon fan that I can sip #4 straight and really enjoy it. I think after some tweaking, the recipe for #2 and #3 could work. Perhaps less of the fruits.

If there are any cocktails you love that include cinnamon liqueur please comment. I don't know of any popular ones off hand, but I imagine some coffee based cocktails would find cinnamon liqueur attractive.

Chambord Liqueur Royale de France

When I think of unique liquor or liqueur bottles; the first one coming to mind is almost always Chambord. For many years Chambord's easily identifiable bottle has stood out on the shelf. The gold belt over the deep purple liqueur and interesting globe shape make it very easy to recognize.

Before this liqueur review I had never tried it outside of a cocktail, so let's take a deeper look.

Background:

Chambord liqueur is said to be inspired by a raspberry liqueur once produced in the Loire Valley of France in the late 17th Century. To this day many delicious  liquors are produced in that valley, such as Cointreau, Triple Sec and Royal Combier.

The original liqueur inspiring Chambord was supposedly introduced to King Louis XIV during one of his visits to the Chateau de Chambord. Royalty in those times always had the best of the best and it was common for many fine spirits to be had with lavish meals.

Chambord's website says they craft this liqueur from the world's finest raspberries and blackberries, Madagascar vanilla, Moroccan citrus peel, honey and cognac. This is all done on the premises of a traditional Loire Valley Chateau south of Paris.

Their creation process includes steeping of blackberry and raspberry blends in French spirits for four weeks. Then they perform an extraction of the current infusion and a second layer of spirits is added to the fruit to capture essences of the whole fruit blend. The second infusion sits for two weeks before it is drawn off and they press the fruit to get the natural sugars and juices. Finally all of the infusions and juices are married with proprietary blends of cognac, all-natural extracts of the ingredients mentioned previously as well as un-specified spices and herbs.

The result is of course a complex set of fruit and herb flavors blended with elegant cognac.

Due to the recently ever incresing trend of organics I want to mention that they do specify the ingredients in Chambord are all-natural, but not whether they are organic. This means they are likely not organic. As organic is becoming a huge trend lately and if they were using organic they would probably want to push that. Maybe if I get bored I'll send them an E-mail and ask just in case.

The Royal Test:

As you pour it into a tasting glass you will think dark, very dark red wine, but with the viscosity of maple syrup. With a swirl the deep purple-red adheres to the sides of the glass so you can get a good aroma. The color looks royal in a fancy glass and someone might even think your classy, but we know your not.

The bottle itself is about as Royal as you can get. A gold lettered belt wraps an orb glass and climaxes with a royal crown on top. Research reveals that the style is meant to resemble a Globus Cruciger.

As you lift the Chambord to your nose the raspberry aroma comes on strong and brings up a mix of nearly grapey intense raspberry goodness with lingering hints of citrus and vanilla.

What will your tongue feel? It feels a bit like drinking raspberry honey. Honey, vanilla, maybe some orange, apple and grape. This stuff conjures up visions of a fruit basket. Whereas it is easy for most liqueurs to end up overly sweet, the flavors are so intense that it balances and moderates the sweet.

Final:

Many who have not acquired a love for liquor, liqueurs and wine will claim "cough syrup" or "medicine". Several of my non-alcoholic friends brought this up when I offered them a taste. However for me it smells, feels and tastes much more complex. I think when you are not used to a variety of alcohol based flavors that pretty much any cherry or raspberry type flavors will make a non-drinker think of cough medicine.

Personally I would drink this after or with a very savory meal, or just over a single ice cube. For my taste it is delicious and the honey texture with raspberry bitter-tart is amazing. I look forward to trying a round of cocktails with Chambord as a primary component.

Homemade Lime Liqueur

Anyone who has a drink with me will soon learn that I love lime. I love lime anything really, limes, lime juice, key lime pie, lime candy and any drinks that go well with lime in them. When I was looking through some various recipes for Liqueur, I saw the word lime and knew exactly what I was making next.

I proceeded to browse through the various recipes Gunther Anderson has collected and I found a nice one. I reformatted the recipe so it is a bit easier to read and added in my own directions below.

Homemade Lime Liqueur (Andrew Gnoza) recipe

• 6, Limes (i used persian limes)
• 2, Whole Cloves
• 1/8 tsp, Ground Cinnamon
• 7 oz, Clover Honey
• 12 oz, 100 proof vodka

1. Clean and scrub limes then cut them into quarters and place into a glass container for steeping.

2. Add in the rest of the ingredients, pouring the vodka in last.

3. Shake well to mix.

4. Keep in refrigerator for about 2 weeks, stirring or shaking every 3 days.

5. Strain and Filter. Age for 1 to 2 weeks. The tartness will die down a little.

*note: after straining and filtering I added in 3/4 Cup sugar syrup because it was a little too bitter for my taste.

She put the lime in the coconut..

After a week or so I got this song out of my head and then went in for a close examination.

Visual:

At first the Lime Liqueur is very cloudy, seemingly due to the cinnamon which adds a brownish  hue and the honey which adds a golden color. After aging for about two weeks the cloudiness settles and color is much better. It is definitely a dark lime green (the picture above is before aging), though with a hint of gold\brown due to the other ingredients. The color is more pleasing than the food color ultra-lime greens you would see at the store.

Presenting this liqueur on the rocks only makes it look better.

Nose:

You get a primary honey with a secondary citrus tart that is distinctly lime. There is a bit of spice aroma but it is not a standout.

Home made Lime Liqueur

Taste:

Honestly this is the first homemade Liqueur coming out of my kitchen that I could deem worthy of sipping on after dinner. The mouth feel is just right, not too viscous, not too runny. Honey is surprisingly dominant in this Liqueur, Tart and acid hits you before the bitter rolls in. Normally bitter would give me a sad face but it is somehow welcome in this party of flavors. The cinnamon and clove add a nice spice at the end to round things out.

Final:

I really like this one, but I can still be picky. The lime flavor itself could stand to be more intense, maybe a tad less bitter and more spice. Overall I like it how it is! (it probably would have been great even without the 3/4 cup sugar syrup I added in) The recipe came out pretty good if just a bit bitter. In doing more research on fruit extracts I discovered the bitterness might be due to leaving on the peels and not removing the pith. Next time I will include the only the zest, meat and juice, leaving out the pith.