Alcohol Category

This Scottish liqueur is whisky-based and flavored with herbs, fruit, and honey.

This is a brand of chocolate liqueur.

This is a cinnamon schnapps with gold flakes floating in it. Imagine filling your mouth with red hots and washing them down with vodka.

This is a liqueur flavored with citrus peel, herbs, and spices. It has gold flakes floating in it.

This is pure alcohol--odorless, tasteless, and very potent at 190 proof. Cooks use it to make liqueurs, but since it can also be used to purify crack cocaine, eyebrows may be raised if you buy a large bottle. Well-known brands include Everclear and Sunset. Grain alcohol should always be diluted before consumption, since it's so harsh and potent. Don't substitute methyl alcohol or rubbing alcohol for grain alcohol--both of these are toxic.

This is a Spanish orange liqueur.

This is a fairly sweet brandy-based orange liqueur. There are two kinds: the well-regarded red, or Cordon Rouge, and the sweeter and less potent yellow, or Cordon Jaune.

This potent and somewhat harsh drink is made from the grape residue, called pomace, that's left over from making brandy. It's traditionally been thought of as a second-rate eau de vie, but some producers have developed premium grappas that are quite smooth and very pricey. Grappa is the Italian version, marc the French, aguardiente the Spanish, testerbranntwein the German, and bagaceira the Portuguese.

A specialty of the Caribbean island of St. Martin, guavaberry liqueur is based on rum and flavored with the island's indigenous guavaberries.

This is low-alcohol wine that's made from apples. It's fairly sweet, and especially popular in Normandy.

This is great in coffee, on ice cream, or in cakes that use a liqueur as an ingredient. Frangelico is a well-regarded brand.

Herbal liqueurs include Chartreuse, Strega, Suze, Kümmel, Izarra, Jägermeister, Fernet Branca, and anise-flavored liqueurs.

Made in New Orleans, this anise-flavored liqueur was developed as a substitute for absinthe, which contains a narcotic and is outlawed in the United States. It's used in mixed drinks and Oysters Rockefeller.

This is a bitter, full-bodied ale that's relatively high in alcohol. It can be identified by the letters IPA on the label. Don't confuse this with American pale ale, which is much tamer.

This is made with Irish whiskey flavored with chocolate and cream. Bailey's Irish Cream is a well-known brand.

This liqueur is based on Irish whiskey, and is flavored with herbs and honey.

Irish whiskey resembles Scotch, only without the smoky flavor. Jameson 1780 and Black Bush are highly regarded brands. Whiskey should be served at room temperature.

This is a Basque version of Chartreuse. Like its prototype, it comes in a green and a milder yellow version

This is a potent, bittersweet herbal liqueur. You can sometimes see Jägermeister bumper stickers on cars, often the kind that also sport surf shop decals.

This is a grape variety that produces a fragrant, fresh-tasting white wine that's great with ham, sausages, smoked fish, shellfish, or spicy Asian food. It's the grape that's used to make excellent Rhine wines in Germany. Don't confuse these excellent wines with domestic Riesling wines, which are usually made with inferior cousins of the Johanissberg Riesling grape. Late harvest Johannisberg Rieslings are very sweet, and make excellent dessert wines.

This colorless cherry brandy is made primarily in Germany. French kirsch isn't quite as dry.

This is wine that's been made in accordance with Rabbinical law. Most people think of them as syrupy-sweet screw-top wines made with Concord grapes, but some kosher wines are now being produced that are indistinguishable from quality non-kosher wines. Unless pasteurized, a wine can only remain kosher if it's poured by an observant Jew. Bottles of pasteurized wine sport the label "mevushal."

This is a sweet liqueur based on grain alcohol and flavored with caraway seeds and cumin. Gilka Kümmel and Allasch Kümmel are well-regarded brands.

This is a liqueur flavored with kumquats.

These are the light-bodied, effervescent beers that are so popular in America. They're brewed from malted barley, hops, and water, and then stored (or "lagered") until the sediment settles. The beer is then clarified and carbonated. Dark lager beers are brown in color and sweeter than the more popular pale lagers. Pilsner Urquell beer is a famous lager that's made in the Czech Republic. Producers elsewhere sometimes call their better brews Pilsner beer = Pilsener beer, but they're not as good as their namesake. Light beer = lite beer has fewer calories and less alcohol than conventional beer.

These pricey wines are produced from grapes that are picked late in the season, after they've shriveled a bit on the vine. This concentrates the sugar and allows producers to turn the grapes into sweet, rich dessert wines. Some of the best late harvest wines are made from grapes that have become moldy with the Botrytis cinerea fungus (also known as "noble rot"). The fungus pokes holes in the grape skins, allowing more water to evaporate. Ice wine = icewine = eiswein is an especially sweet and expensive kind of late harvest wine in which the dehydrated grapes are allowed to freeze on the vine, resulting in a very sweet wine. These and other late harvest wines are often sold in half-bottles, and are best drunk by themselves or with fruit or light desserts. Don't serve them with chocolate or very sweet desserts.

These liqueurs are made with lemon peels and best served very cold.

This Spanish liqueur is made up of 43 ingredients, with vanilla and citrus predominant.

This is an expensive and light French apéritif made with wine and brandy. There are two versions: Lillet Blonde (white) and Lillet Rouge (red).

This excellent lemon-flavored Italian liqueur is often stored in freezers so that it can be served ice cold. It's hard to find in stores, but easy to make at home.

Liqueurs are mixtures of spirits, sweeteners, and flavorings like herbs, fruits, nuts, and flowers. They're sometimes served as after-dinner drinks, but they're more often poured on desserts or mixed into cocktails, milk, or coffee. Some cooks buy miniature bottles of liqueurs to conserve on money and cabinet space.

Liquor refers to distilled alcoholic beverages like whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, tequila, and brandy. These are almost always more potent than fermented alcoholic beverages like beer and wine. It's best to store liquor in a cool, dark place, and to drink it within a year after opening the bottle. Unlike wine, liquor stops aging once it's bottled. Don't confuse liquors with liqueurs, which are made with liquor but sweetened and flavored with herbs, fruit, spices, flowers, nuts, or roots.

This liqueur is made with Scotch and flavored with honey and herbs.

This fortified wine is named for its birthplace, an island off the coast of Africa. Madeira wines first became popular back in the days of cross-Atlantic sailing ships, because they were able to survive long, hot trips in rolling ships. And they didn't just survive, they actually improved, so much so that sending them off on long round-trip sea voyages eventually became an integral part of their production, though the practice has since been abandoned. Madeiras are used both for cooking, and as after-dinner drinks. Varieties of Madeira (in order from driest to sweetest) include the Sercial Madeira, Rainwater Madeira, Verdelho Madeira, Bual Madeira = Boal Madeira, and Malvasia Madeira = Malmsey Madeira. "Reserve" Madeiras are aged at least five years, "special reserve" for at least ten, and "extra reserve" for at least fifteen. Madeiras from Portugal are considered to be far superior to domestic brands. Once opened, Madeira should be consumed within a week or so and stored in the refrigerator.

This red wine is similar to Merlot. It's a good choice if you want a decent but inexpensive red wine to serve with red meat and pasta.

This is similar to lager beer, only it's higher in alcohol.

This cognac-based liquor is flavored with the peels of mandarin oranges. Mandarine Napoléon is a well-regarded brand.

This is an excellent semi-dry clear liqueur that's made with sour cherries. It's made from marasca cherries, which are native to Croatia. Unrest there has made good Maraschino liqueurs hard to find in recent years. Luxardo Maraschino and Stock Maraschino are well-respected brands.