Underrated Spanish liqueur plays well alone, in cocktails

Over dessert at Fig + Olive in Chicago, we enjoyed a glass of Licor 43, a light yellow liqueur that conveys flavors of vanilla, toasted marshmallows, powdered sugar and very mild citrus. Our server said that guests hardly ever order it.

Made in Spain, Licor 43 might be mistaken for subtly spiced rum, kind of a sophisticated, more complex Captain Morgan. The liqueur contains 43 ingredients. It’s sometimes used as a cocktail ingredient, perhaps most often in Tikitype drinks, though bartenders seem to just be uncovering its potential.

Robb Jones, who trained with Toby Maloney of Chicago’s Violet Hour and Manhattan’s Milk & Honey, is head bartender at Spoon & Stable in Minneapolis. At Violet Hour, Jones remembers “one of the first cocktails I made was a margarita, substituting Licor 43 for curacao.” Mixing Licor 43 into otherwise classic cocktails is something Jones continues to do at Spoon & Stable, where he shakes up a pisco sour with Licor 43. “(It) grabs vanilla notes of the pisco and plays off citrusy flavors of the lemon juice,” he says. In this way, Licor 43 “amplifies” and adds new dimensions of flavor to a cocktail’s basic ingredients. Eric Brooks, bar manager at CBD Provisions in Dallas, uses Licor 43 in his Manhattans.

Beyond using it to enhance classic cocktails, many bartenders are creating new cocktails that leverage Licor 43’s singular flavor profile.

In St. Louis, at Latin-influenced Publico, bar manager/lead barman Nick Digiovanni has developed a drink called Wee Willy’s Whiskers, which contains Licor 43, mezcal, Genepy des Alpes (an herbal liqueur), lime and amaro. This last ingredient points to one of Licor 43’s unique characteristics — its latent bitterness — which enables it to function as a digestif.

Brandon Wise, corporate beverage director at Sage Restaurant Group believes Licor 43 is, indeed, “one of the most underrated liqueurs in the industry.”

With the sweetness of dessert wine and the stomach-settling herbs of an amaro, Licor 43 is proving its value as an ingredient or a stand-alone sip, before or after dinner.