Alcohol Category

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.

Marc is a French brandy made from the leftovers of wine making.

This popular Sicilian fortified wine is Italy's answer to sherry and Madeira. It's mostly used as a cooking wine and is a key ingredient in many Italian dishes, including zabaglione, tiramisu, and veal scaloppini. Marsalas are graded according to their sweetness and age. The sweetest Marsalas are called "dolce," followed by "demisecco," and then "secco," which are the driest. Ranked from youngest to oldest, the age grades are "fine," "superiore," "superiore riserva," "vergine," and "stravecchio."

This brandy-based Greek liqueur is flavored with gum mastic.

Made from fermented honey, mead is one of mankind's oldest alcoholic beverages.

This is a hearty red wine that's similar to a Cabernet Sauvignon, but softer and less tannic. It goes especially well with pork, turkey, and pasta dishes.

This is a sweet Greek brandy with a strong resin flavor.

This somewhat harsh Mexican liquor is similar to tequila, except that the agave plant is fire-roasted before the sap is extracted, fermented, and distilled. This gives mezcal a distinctive smoky flavor. Some brands have an agave worm (actually a caterpillar) in the bottle, which you're supposed to eat.

This green Japanese liqueur has a very sweet, melon flavor.

This category includes crème de menthe and peppermint schnapps.

This is a very sweet Japanese rice wine that's used to flavor rice and sauces. It's not usually consumed as a beverage. Aji mirin is salted, so adjust the recipe accordingly.

This is a district in Brittany, France, that produces a crisp, light white wine that's especially good with seafood. Always serve it chilled. Don't confuse this with Muscatel or Muscat, which are both dessert wines.

This is a sweet and fruity dessert wine made from Muscat grapes. Don't confuse it with Muscadet, which is a dry white wine.

This American liqueur is an inexpensive Galliano wannabe.

Orange bitters is made from sour orange peels. Popular brands include Angostura and Fee. A dash or two will perk up your martini, barbecue sauce, chocolate dessert, and seafood.

The best (and driest) is Grand Marnier, followed by Cointreau, curaçao, and--the sweetest of them all--triple sec.

This potent, anise-flavored Greek liqueur is usually mixed into water, turning it cloudy.

These golden brown ales are somewhat bitter and fruity.

The name means "perfect love" in French, and this sweet purple liqueur is flavored with citrus and spices.

La Grande Passion is a well-regarded brand.

This is a licorice-flavored liqueur that the French like to serve with water. It's higher in alcohol than anis or anisette. Popular brands include Pernod and Ricard.

Brandy made from Williams pears (like Poire Williams and Williamine) are especially good. Some bottles have an entire pear in the bottle.

Like crème de menthe, this is flavored with peppermint.

This is a popular brand of pastis, or licorice-flavored liqueur. It tastes like a mouthful of Good 'N Plenty candies.

This is wine that's made from pears. It's usually somewhat sweet, and with a low alcohol content.

This is a grape variety which produces an excellent red wine that's very dark and often described as "peppery." Don't confuse Petite Syrah with Syrah, another red varietal wine.

This is a brand of bitters that's a bit hard to find outside of New Orleans. It's sweeter than Angostura bitters, and has more of an anise flavor.

This is the liqueur that the upper crust of British society drinks at polo matches. It's bittersweet and very potent. There used to be several varieties of Pimm's, based on gin, whiskey, rum, brandy, and vodka, but only the one based on gin, called Pimm's No. 1, is still being produced. Serve it with club soda and a bit of lemon juice and garnish with cucumber and celery.

This is a good, but unexceptional, dry white wine that's good with seafood and poultry.

This is a dry white wine that goes especially well with seafood. Pinot Grigio is the Italian name, Pinot Gris the French.

This earthy red varietal wine goes best with beef, ham, poultry, salmon, or tuna. Unfortunately, making it is tricky business, so the quality varies tremendously. A good one will be expensive and sublime.

This Peruvian brandy is based on Muscat wine.

Distilled from plums, plum brandy is usually colorless and quite potent. Slivovitz = slivovic = slivowitz ( SHLIV-uh-vits) is made in Serbia and Bosnia from blue plums, and is very highly regarded. Other varieties include mirabelle (made with yellow plums), quetsch (Alsatian plums), pflümli, and light green prunelle.

These are wines that are made from plums. Some producers leave the stones in while the plums are fermenting, giving the wine a bit of almond flavoring as well.

This orange-flavored bitters is made in the Netherlands and Germany. It comes in red and green versions.

This is a sweet Portuguese fortified wine that's sipped as an after-dinner drink, or used as a cooking ingredient. Vintage ports are the best, but they are very expensive. The sediment at the bottom of the bottle is a sign of quality. Crusted or late-bottled vintage ports are both less expensive and less elegant. Cheaper yet are the lighter and fruitier wood ports, which include the tawny ports and the lowly ruby ports. Wood ports don't age well in the bottle, so try to drink them within a year or two of purchase. Once opened, port should be consumed within a week or so and stored in the refrigerator.