drinksint.com JANUARY 2016 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL 29


It’s all about the bitters in what is generally thought of as a sugary-sweet category


LIQUEURS C


BEST-SELLING BRANDS


1 CAMPARI


2 CHARTREUSE


3 APEROL


4 COINTREAU S5T GERMAIN L6UXARDOMARASCHINO 7


CURAÇAO PIERRE FERRAND


8 GIFFARD


9 MERLET


10 BENEDICTINE


TRENDING BRANDS


TOP 1 CHARTREUSE


2 CAMPARI


3 ANCHO REYES


4 APEROL S5T GERMAIN


6 MERLET 7


BOLS 8


FERNET BRANCA


9 GIFFARD S10


TREGA


ampari is one of the bitterest liqueurs on the market and not for the faint hearted.


But bartenders love it – it puts the groan into their Negronis. No longer groaning are the cochineal insects that until 2006 were killed in large numbers to provide the dye that gave the liqueur its deep red character. Now they use something that can be explained by words that don’t include, dried, crushed and insects, which is a shame for entomophiles but not cochineals, who must be in good spirits. Just not Campari. The Italian aperitif’s sales have received a boon of late with the comeback of the Negroni, always beloved of bartenders and now their customers too. The Campari-gin-sweet- vermouth threesome is the second best-selling classic in the world’s best bars this year (see page 42), while the Americano (be gone gin), was the 39th most popular classic. It shows – in two-thirds of the 100 bars we polled, Campari was among the top-three best-selling liqueurs. And it’s hard to imagine any of them not having a bottle kicking about somewhere. Second in the liqueur zoo is Chartreuse, which is made to a secret recipe stewarded by no more than


two Carthusian monks at a time. One would have thought monks could be overpowered and made to talk by a rabble of excitable bartenders, but so far the secret remains under their robes. But not literally. Supposedly the liqueur is made from 130 herbs, plants and flowers, so frankly, only monks have the time to make the stuff anyway. Let’s hope they keep going because Chartreuse is also the trending liqueur in the world’s best bars. Aperol,


meanwhile, is the stablemate of Campari with the natty advantage of having its own cocktail named after it. The Aperol Spritz isn’t likely to get the trade too excited, other than on busy nights. But the public like it so much it finished 19th in our poll of best- selling classics. Bartenders aren’t afraid to make use of the liqueur in house creations too, and in about a third of venues it’s among their three best-selling liqueurs.


Other big-brand liqueurs complete the list, not least the old-recipe-book- favourite Cointreau and the modern-recipe-book- favourite St Germain.


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