How Well Do You Know Liqueurs/Spirits? Quiz

Answer: Drambuie

Drambuie, pronounced /dræmˈbuːi/ is a golden-coloured liqueur, made from Scotch whisky, heather honey, herbs and spices. It is 40% ABV or 80 proof.

Drambuie was registered as a trademark in 1893 by a Scottish man named John Ross and by 1910 the drink was being commercially produced in Edinburgh. In 1914, Malcom MacKinnon, at the urging of his fiancee, Gina Russell Davidson, bought the business. It remained in the MacKinnon family until it was bought out by William Grant & Sons in 2014 for an estimated 100 million pounds.

The most popular Drambuie-based cocktail is the Rusty Nail - an American classic which dates back to the Prohibition era.

Answer: Kahlúa

Kahlúa, pronounced /kaˈlu.a'/ is a brand of coffee liqueur produced in Veracruz, Mexico. The drink, which is sold all over the world, contains rum, sugar, and arabica coffee.

Kahlúa was first invented in 1936 when two men, who were lifelong friends, wondered what would happen if they enriched alcohol with coffee. Since one was able to obtain rich arabica beans, and the other was a chemist, they were able to turn the question into an answer, and Kahlúa was born. It is thought that the word Kahlúa is actually ancient Arabic slang for 'coffee.'

According to the Kahlúa website, from start to finish, it can take up to seven years to produce a bottle of Kahlúa, primarily because of the time it takes to grow and harvest the unique coffee beans needed for this liqueur. It is 20% ABV or 40 proof.

Answer: Midori

Traditionally Midori is made with yubari melons and musk melons. Originally called 'Hermes Melon Liqueur,' the liqueur was released in 1964 by a company called Suntory in Japan and contained the extremely rare musk melon, which can only be found in one province of Japan.

The liqueur was later released under the name 'Midori' in the U.S. market in 1978. (Fun fact: it was released at an event at Studio 54 where the cast, crew, and producers of Saturday Night Fever were in attendance, including John Travolta.) Midori, by the way, is Japanese for the concept of green, it is used to express shoots, young leaves or whole plants.

Made exclusively in Japan until 1978, Midori is now manufactured in other countries, including the U.S, Mexico and France. It is typically around 20% ABV, or 40 proof. Many people think it contains honeydew melon as it does taste like sweetened honeydew melons.

Answer: Absinthe

Absinthe, once banned in the U.S., Switzerland, Belgium, Brazil and France, is an anise-flavoured liqueur derived from a number of plants including the leaves of grand wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) sweet-fennel and green anise. It has a very high alcohol level, being 45%-74% ABV or 90-148 proof.

Absinthe apparently first originated in Neuchâtel in Switzerland in the late 1700's and rose in popularity as an alcoholic drink in France a century later. Because it was considered a drink favoured by those of a bohemian culture, its consumption at this time was opposed by both prohibitionists and social conservatives. People who enjoyed an absinthe included Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, Pablo Picasso and Edgar Allen Poe amongst many others.

By the early 1900s, people regarded Absinthe as a 'dangerously addictive psychoactive drug and hallucinogen' partly because of the presence of a compound called 'thujone'. It was subsequently banned in several countries: Belgium and Brazil in 1906, The Netherlands in 1909, Switzerland in 1910, the U.S. in 1912, and France in 1914.

However, recent studies have shown that its psychoactive properties have been exaggerated (other than it is, indeed, a very potent alcohol!) Certainly - as with any alcoholic beverage - it should be enjoyed in moderation. In the 1990s absinthe saw a revival and today over a dozen countries are producing nearly 200 brands of absinthe.

Interesting fact: absinthe was used in the 1840s by French troops as a malaria preventative.

Answer: Cointreau

Cointreau is made from blended sweet and bitter orange peels and a pure alcohol made from sugar beets. It was developed by two French brothers - Edouard-Jean Cointreau and Adolphe Cointreau, a confectioner. The very first bottles of Cointreau were made in Angers, France and were sold in 1875.

Today Cointreau is enjoyed in more than 150 countries and an estimated 13 million bottles of it are sold worldwide. Despite the fact that the beverage smells like oranges and is in an orange-coloured bottle, the liquid itself is colourless. Falling under the category of a triple-sec liqueur, the ABV of Cointreau is 40%. (80 proof in the U.S.)

If you are wondering what the difference is between Cointreau and Grand Marnier, while they both originated in France within 5 years of each other and both have orange flavours, Cointreau is made with from sugar beet alcohol, while Grand Marnier is made with cognac.

Answer: Limoncello

The precise origins of Limoncello, a liqueur made from the zest of lemons, rectified spirit and sugar, are disputed. Some say it originated in Sicily while others cite the Amalfi Coast, Capri or the island of Azzurra.

One scenario put forward is that a woman named Maria Antonia Farace, who was known for having a magnificent garden of lemons and oranges in Capri, first made the liqueur in the early 1900s. The story goes that Farace's grandson opened a restaurant after the first world war and that he specialized in his selling his famous nonna's lemon liqueur. Since it was also Farace's great grandson, Massimo Canale, who registered the trademark of Limoncello and began producing the drink, this does seem a quite viable origin.

Traditionally, limoncello is made from a very specific type of lemon - the Femminello St. Teresa lemon - which is a lemon found only on the Sorrento Peninsula of Italy. The way Limoncello is made is to steep the lemon zest or peel from these lemons in either vodka or ethanol until an oil is released. After this the resultant liquid is mixed with a syrup.

Limoncello is hugely popular in Italy, consistently coming in as the second best-selling liqueur in the country (after Campari). An estimated 16 million litres of it are sold annually. It is 25-30% ABV, or 50-60 proof.

Answer: Advocaat

Advocaat is a traditional Dutch liqueur made primarily from egg yolks, sugar, and brandy. This alcoholic beverage is rich and creamy and generally has somewhere between 14% and 20% ABV or 28-40 proof.

Along with the eggs, sugar and brandy, vanilla is usually a key ingredient. Some manufacturers of the beverage, in order to add complexity, will add spices and/or cream to the recipe. Similar to egg-nog (except generally less 'custardy' in consistency) advocaat is the base for cocktails such as Fluffy Ducks and Snowballs. The origins of advocaat are unclear, though it is known to have been around since the early 1800s. Some people believe the drink was once made by Dutch colonists from avocados rather than eggs, and that it therefore got its name from avocados. Others, however, say that the drink was originally imbibed mainly by lawyers and that the word derives from the word 'advocate.'

Answer: Bailey's Irish Cream

With a name like Bailey's Irish Cream, you would think this liqueur is made in Ireland... and you would be correct. However it was a team in London who were professionally hired to create Ireland's 'next big spirit export'. They created Bailey's - a concoction of Irish whisky, cream and cocoa - in the early 70's but it took a few years to perfect the recipe to the product we know and love today. It was therefore introduced to the market in 1974 in Ireland.

If you are wondering how the cream doesn't go off, its not - according to the manufacturer, Diageo - because of preservatives, but rather because the alcohol preserves the cream. Bailey's Irish Cream is now one of the top selling liqueurs worldwide, with approximately 82 million bottles sold annually. It comes in a number of different flavours, and according to the official website, there is a Vegan version also available.

Bailey's is 17% ABV, or 34 proof.

Answer: Frangelico

Frangelico is an Italian liqueur which is made with crumbled up Tonda Gentile nuts which are combined with cocoa, vanilla berries, and other natural flavors. They are then left to soak in a base spirit for six to eight weeks to allow the blend to marry and mellow. After the flavor of the ingredients has been absorbed, the resultant liquid is filtered, sweetened, and bottled.

Frangelico is a fairly recent brand in comparison to other liqueurs - it was first commercially produced in 1978 in Canale, Italy. However, it is believed the drink originated about 300 years earlier when it was made by Christian monks who lived in the Piedmont area of Italy. Indeed, the drink is named after one of those monks - a hermit named Friar Angelico, which was abbreviated to Fra. Angelico.

While people may not be familiar with the taste of Frangelico, they may recall the bottle which is quite distinctive. Designed to look like a Franciscan friar in his habit, it even has a white rope hanging around the waist of the bottle, acting as a cincture.

The liqueur is 20% ABV or 40 proof and is sold in an estimated 50 countries.

Answer: Malibu

Malibu, which is made of rum flavoured with coconut, had its beginnings in South Africa. Peter Fleck and James Espey launched the brand in South Africa under the name of Coco Rico while they were working at a company called International Distillers & Vintners. This company would later become Diageo, which, if you remember is the company behind Bailey's Irish Cream. The story goes that in 1973, the pair introduced this light, coconut-flavoured rum to a spirits entrepreneur named Tom Jago. He, like them, was amazed by the unique taste of Coco Rico.

Tom Jago in turn, started producing this concoction, initially as a product which would making blending Pina Coladas easier for bartenders. At this time it was made in in Curaçao. In 1982, when the drink started to take off, the recipe was changed to improve the quality of the ingredients used and production was moved to Barbados. The West Indies Distilling company became the producer and supplier of the rum, and the brand Malibu was launched. It was called Malibu because it tasted like summer in a bottle. The brand was sold by Diageo in 2002 to British company Allied Domecq. In 2005 Pernod Ricard bought Allied Domecq for $14 billion.

Malibu is sold worldwide and recorded sales of 4.9 million x 9 litre cases in 2021. For those wondering, Malibu is classified as a liqueur rather than a rum, because rum must be bottled at a proof of not less than 80 (ABV of 40%). Malibu has approximately half of this, having a proof of 42.