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The Best Liqueur in Canada
Don't know which liqueur brand to buy? Use our guide to buy from the best liqueur brands available in Canada.
About Orange Liqueurs
Orange liqueurs are the staple sweetener in many classic and modern cocktails. There’s an incredible difference in quality between your standard Triple-Sec and more distinguished spirits like Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao and Cointreau.
The secret to making delicious cocktails is to use fresh citrus, balance appropriately, and never skimp on cheap substitutions.
Try a margarita with one of the quality tequilas we recommend and Cointreau next to one with Jose Cuervo and Triple Sec and taste the difference for yourself.
Cointreau
- Owned Remi-Cointreau
- 750ml at $40.99 CAD
- Country of Origin: France
What Makes Cointreau Special?
Cointreau was one of the first orange liqueurs to circulate, which was featured in many classic cocktails like the Margarita, Cosmopolitan, Sidecar, and Lemon Drop. To this day, the orange liqueur continues to produce one of the highest quality orange liqueurs on the market. Triple-Sec may be cheaper, but the taste and quality difference will have a noticeable impact on your cocktails.
Maceration
Maceration is the best method for making liqueurs. Maceration is the process of extracting natural flavors from steeping ingredients, like oranges. In contrast, many cheaper orange liqueurs use a quicker method called compounding, which uses artificial extracts and more sugar.
Notes:
- A quality orange liqueur produced through maceration with natural ingredients and flavours
- 40% ABV
Dry Curacao
- Owned by Remi-Cointreau
- 750ml at $58.99 CAD
- Country of Origin: France
What Makes Pierre Ferrand Special?
Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao was crafted to resemble the original style of curacao used in classic cocktails, with a few modern improvements. The neutral spirit is steeped with bitter laraha orange peel and toasted cane sugar, then aged for several months to develop its final flavour.
Maceration
Just like Cointreau, Dry Curacao is made using the process of maceration.
Notes:
- A quality orange liqueur produced through maceration with natural ingredients and flavours
- 40% ABV
About Vermouth
Vermouth is an aromatized wine, meaning it’s flavored with botanicals, herbs, and roots.
It’s also fortified, which means additional alcohol is added, raising its alcohol content to 16-23%, making it almost shelf stable. It can last longer with without spoiling but not indefinitely.
Despite the fortification, vermouth is still wine, so it should be refrigerated once opened and used within two months, regardless of how it’s stored.
Martini Dry Vermouth
- Owned by Martini & Rossi
- 750ml at $14.99 CAD
- Country of Origin: Italy
What Makes Martini Dry Special?
Honestly, not much. Martini dry is a very standard dry vermouth that won’t disappoint or add anything significant to your cocktails. But it’s one of the only dry vermouths commercially available in BC. Outside of the classic Martini, dry vermouth hasn’t found its way into many cocktails.
Should my Martini be shaken or stirred?
Technically, that’s up to you. We recommend to stir them as it’s how they were originally made, and not only do none of the ingredients benefit from the aeration of shaking, but rather, both vermouth and gin are slightly agitated by the shaking process. But if you really want to be like Bond, then who are we to stop you.
Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
- Owned by Branca International
- 375ml at $23.99 CAD
- Country of Origin: Italy
What Makes Carpano Antica Special?
Carpano Antica was the very first vermouth produced in 1786 and continues to be made the historic way. Certain aspects of the process take several months for the herbs and madagascar vanilla beans to steep. After all the ingredients come together, a final refining process that also lasts several months ensues to ensure proper quality.
There’s No Substitute For Quality.
Lower quality vermouths are produced in hours or days. The difference is night and day.
Vermouth Di Torino
- Owned by the Campari Spirits
- 750ml at $13.99 CAD
- Country of origin: Italy
What Makes Cocchi Special?
Cocchi has been the staple sweet vermouth used globally in cocktail bars for use in Manhattans and Negronis. This vermouth has a long history and was originally served to counts and countesses in Piedmont, which came to be called the Kingdom of Vermouth.
Produced With Respect For Traditions.
To this day, Cocchi is held to the highest standards and continues to produce a liqueur that honors its founding traditions. A quality vermouth is the key to creating a world class Negroni or Manhatta.
Notes:
- A full bodied wine fortified with sugars, roots, cacao, fruits, and vanilla
- 16-22% ABV
Dolin Dry Vermouth
- Owned by House Dolin Artisanal Distillery
- 750ml at $13.99 CAD
- Country of Origin: France
- 16-20% ABV
- An aromatized wine fortified with roots and minimal sugars
- Herbaceous and dry
About Amaro - Bitter Italian Liqueurs
Amaro, or Amari, plural, are bitter italian liqueurs made by infusing grape brandy with herbs, flowers, barks, citrus peels, and spices.
Amaro means bitter in Italian, and most amari are quite bitter and are often consumed as an after dinner drink in Italy.
These unique spirits have always found their way onto the shelves of cocktail bars across the globe, as in small quantities, the bitter elements add remarkably unique flavours to craft cocktails.
Aperol
- Owned by the Campari Group
- 750ml at $25.99 CAD
- Country of Origin: Italy
What Makes Aperol Special?
Aperol is a botanical liqueur that surfaced in 1919, and was first described as a sunset in a glass. It’s a bittersweet liqueur that’s more sweet than it is bitter, and has found its way into one of the world’s most popular cocktails, the Aperol Spritz.
How is it made?
Aperol is made similarly to Campari, by steeping a liqueur in herbs and various tree barks, but in contrast to Campari, Aperol uses orange peels instead of bitter oranges, resulting in a softer, sweeter taste.
Notes:
- Citrusy aroma with an herbal backbone.
- 11% ABV
Campari
- Owned by the Campari Group
- 750ml at $28.99 CAD
- Country of Origin: Italy
What Makes Campari Special?
First created in 1860 in Novara, Italy, Campari came to be a staple in Italy’s national cocktail, the Negroni, which is to this day, one of the most ordered drinks globally. Campari is a very bitter spirit that comes as an acquired taste to most, and is often best used in small quantities.
How is it made?
Originally, the colour was achieved by carmine dye which was derived from crushed cochineal beetles, giving the drink it’s distinctive colour. Now, the colour is achieved artificially, but otherwise, the liqueur continues to be made the traditional way, by steeping a liqueur in a blend of bitter herbs and citrus peels.
Notes:
- A complex bitter with citrus and spice notes
- 25% ABV
About Aromatic French Liqueurs
Aromatic liqueurs have been produced all across France dating as far back as as the 1500s.
These tonics were originally created medicinally due to the various herbs, roots, flowers, and spices used.
Suze, Salers, Bonal, and Pernod are other interesting options if you’re in the market for unique mixing ingredients for your home bar.
St-Germain
- 750ml at $54.99 CAD
- Country of Origin: France
What Makes St. Germaine Special?
St. Germaine is a French liqueur made from fresh elderflowers picked once a year in late spring. Each bottle contains 1,000 elderflower blossoms, producing an aromatic sweet liqueur that many people find insatiable in cocktails.
How Should I Use It?
The liqueur is sweet enough that it should always be used in place of simple syrup, not in addition to, which can be used to add a more complex sweetness to cocktails instead of a standard cane syrup. Smaller amounts, such as a barspoon, can also be used to balance slightly bitter cocktails.
Notes:
- A french liqueur, flavored with fresh elderflowers, hand-picked once a year in late spring
- Adds complex sweetness to cocktails
- 20% ABV
Green Chartreuse
- An herbal liqueur made in the french alps by Carthusian monks
- 750ml at $93.99 CAD
- Country of Origin: France
What Makes Chartreuse Special?
Chartreuse is made in green and yellow, each constituting of a blend of up to 130 herbs and roots. Other than this number, everything else about how Chartreuse is produced remains a mystery. It’s been made the same way by a small group of carthusian monks in the french alps. At any time, only three people alive know the recipe, and the three are never allowed in the same room.
How Should I drink it?
Chartreuse is a bitter, medicinal liqueur that comes in at 55% ABV. Some are brave enough to shoot it. Others mix it into famous cocktails, such as the Last Word. It’s an aggressive ingredient, and learning how to utilize it as a mixing spirit showcases a true understanding of balance.
Notes:
- Found in cocktails bars across the world. As it’s produced in a small facility by monks, there’s often a global shortage
- 130+ botanicals, herbs, roots, and spices
- A complex and bitter liqueur
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