Thinking about making some special cocktails for New Years Eve?
Your liquor cabinet may already be stocked with cocktail staples like red and white Vermouth; orange liqueurs like Cointreau or Gran Marnier or a lesser substitute Triple Sec; maybe you also have other popular mixing liquors like the raspberry Chambord.
But if you want to do something different you will need exotic ingredients like these.
Say you want to make a "Date with David Bowie." You will need great mixers like Aperol and Luxardo. Here is where you can find these exotic mixers along with other essentials like Tuaca.
www.shoppersvineyard.com in Clifton or www.liquoroutletwinecellars.comin Boonton both have an excellent selection of cordials and liquors.
Venturing into these mixers is like stepping beyond basil and oregano in cooking to more exotic spices like cumin and cardamon. They add a whole new dimension of flavor to cocktails.
Aperol and Luxardoare both from Italy. Aperol was born in 1919, and is made from a blend of spirit, rhubarb, chinchona, genziana and a secret combination of herbs.
Luxardo Maraschino is a classic. It is one of the very few liqueurs in the world produced by distillation. It is obtained from the marasca, a sour cherry variety exclusively cultivated by Luxardo. The distillate is allowed to mature for two years in Finnish ash vats (this wood does not lend its colour even after many years of maturing), and is then diluted and sugared. Wow.
"Date With David Bowie" by Alberta Straub.
