Portal:Liquor

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The Liquor Portal

Introduction

Liquor (/ˈlɪkər/ LIK-ər) or distilled beverages are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include spirit, spirituous liquor or hard liquor. While the word liquor ordinarily refers to distilled alcoholic spirits rather than beverages produced by fermentation alone, it can sometimes be used more broadly to refer to any alcoholic beverage (or even non-alcoholic products of distillation or various other liquids).

The distillation process concentrates the liquid to increase its alcohol by volume. As liquors contain significantly more alcohol (ethanol) than other alcoholic drinks, they are considered "harder". In North America, the term hard liquor is sometimes used to distinguish distilled alcoholic drinks from non-distilled ones, whereas the term spirits is more commonly used in the United Kingdom. Some examples of liquors include vodka, rum, gin and tequila. Liquors are often aged in barrels, such as for the production of brandy and whiskey, or are infused with flavorings to form flavored liquors, such as absinthe. (Full article...)

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A Bloody Mary garnished with celery served with ice cubes

A Bloody Mary is a cocktail containing vodka, tomato juice, and other spices and flavorings including Worcestershire sauce, hot sauces, garlic, herbs, horseradish, celery, olives, pickled vegetables, salt, black pepper, lemon juice, lime juice and celery salt. Some versions of the drink, such as the "surf 'n turf" Bloody Mary, include shrimp and bacon as garnishes. In the United States, it is usually consumed in the morning or early afternoon, and is popular as a hangover cure.

The Bloody Mary was invented in the 1920s or 1930s. There are various theories as to the origin of the drink and its name. It has many variants, most notably the red snapper, Bloody Maria (made with tequila blanco), and the Virgin Mary. (Full article...)

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Lewis Solon Rosenstiel (21 July 1891 – 21 January 1976) was the founder of Schenley Industries, an American liquor company, and a philanthropist.

The Rosenstiel Award, issued by Brandeis University and the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science at the University of Miami, is named after him and his wife. (Full article...)

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Eva Ekeblad Jack Daniel James C. Crow Isaac Wolfe Bernheim Elijah Craig Bronfman family Roustam Tariko Hiram Walker Harry C. Hatch William Gooderham Sr. John Philip Wiser John Walker (grocer) Samuel Bronfman Popcorn Sutton Dale DeGroff

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The Kir is a French cocktail made with a measure of crème de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) topped up with white wine.

In France it is usually drunk as an apéritif before a meal or snack. It was originally made with Bourgogne Aligoté, a white wine of Burgundy, but today various white wines are used throughout France, according to the region and the barkeeper. Many prefer a white Chardonnay-based Burgundy, such as Chablis. (Full article...)
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An Aperol spritz

A spritz is an Italian wine-based cocktail, commonly served as an apéritif across Italy. It consists of Prosecco, digestive bitters, and soda water. The original spritz veneziano (Italian: [ˈsprits venetˈtsjaːno]) uses Select as bitters and was created in Venice in 1920. Popular variants are spritz al Campari, which uses Campari, and Aperol spritz, which uses Aperol as bitters.

Since 2011, spritz is an IBA official cocktail, initially listed as "spritz veneziano" then simply as "spritz". The spritz became widely popular outside of Italy in the 2010s and Aperol spritz was ranked as the world's ninth bestselling cocktail in 2019 by the website Drinks International. (Full article...)
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The hanky panky is a cocktail made from gin, sweet vermouth, and Fernet-Branca. It is a variation on the sweet martini, or Martinez, made distinctive by the Fernet-Branca, a bitter Italian digestivo. It was created by Ada "Coley" Coleman, head bartender at the Savoy Hotel, London. (Full article...)
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Smirnoff Red Label vodka

Vodka (Polish: wódka [ˈvutka]; Russian: водка [ˈvotkə]; Swedish: vodka [vɔdkɑː]) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is made by distilling liquid from fermented cereal grains and potatoes since the latter was introduced in Europe in the 18th century. Some modern brands use maize, sugar cane, fruit, honey, and maple sap as the base.

Since the 1890s, standard vodkas have been 40% alcohol by volume (ABV) (80 U.S. proof). The European Union has established a minimum alcohol content of 37.5% for vodka. Vodka in the United States must have a minimum alcohol content of 40%. (Full article...)
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The aviation is a cocktail made with gin, maraschino liqueur, crème de violette and lemon juice. Some recipes omit the crème de violette. It is served straight up, in a cocktail glass. (Full article...)
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A liquor store in Breckinridge, Colorado, United States (2009)

A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors (typically in bottles), wine or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence (in the UK and Ireland), off-sale (in parts of Canada and the US), bottle shop, bottle store (South Africa) or, colloquially, bottle-o (in Australia, New Zealand and parts of Canada), liquor store (in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand) or other similar terms. A very limited number of jurisdictions have an alcohol monopoly. In US states that are alcoholic beverage control (ABC) states, the term ABC store may be used. (Full article...)
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Artisanal cachaça from Minas Gerais, Brazil

Cachaça (Portuguese pronunciation: [kaˈʃasɐ]) is a distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. Also known as pinga, caninha, and other names, it is the most popular spirit in Brazil. Outside Brazil, cachaça is used almost exclusively as an ingredient in tropical drinks, with the caipirinha being the most famous and popular cocktail. In Brazil, caipirinha is often paired with the dish feijoada. (Full article...)
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Canchanchara

The Canchanchara is an IBA official cocktail made with Cuban aguardiente, honey, and fresh lime juice. (Full article...)
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This is a list of notable cocktails, arranged alphabetically. (Full article...)
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A South Side or Southside is an alcoholic beverage made with gin, lime juice, simple syrup and mint. A variant, the Southside Fizz, adds soda water. (Full article...)
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The Vesper is a cocktail that was originally made of gin, vodka, and Kina Lillet. Since that form of Lillet is no longer produced, modern bartenders need to modify the recipe to mimic the original taste, with Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano as a typical substitute.

The drink was popularised by author Ian Fleming (1908–1964) in his 1953 novel Casino Royale, in which the character James Bond invents the recipe and names the cocktail. Fleming's Bond calls it a "special martini", and though it lacks the vermouth that defined a martini in Fleming's day, it is sometimes called a Vesper martini. (Full article...)
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A Vieux Carré

The Vieux Carré is an IBA official cocktail made with rye whiskey, cognac, sweet vermouth, Bénédictine, and Peychaud's bitters. It originated with Walter Bergeron, a bartender at the Carousel Bar in Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans. The name is French for "old square”, in reference to the city's French Quarter neighborhood. The drink is classified as one of the Unforgettables by the IBA. (Full article...)
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Caipirinha

Caipirinha (Portuguese pronunciation: [kajpiˈɾĩɲɐ]) is a Brazilian cocktail, of São Paulo origin, with cachaça (sugarcane hard liquor), sugar, lime, and ice. The drink is prepared by mixing the fruit and the sugar together, then adding the liquor.

Known and consumed nationally and internationally, caipirinha is one of the most famous components of Brazilian cuisine, being the most popular national recipe worldwide and often considered the best drink in the country and one of the best cocktails/drinks in the world, having reached third place in 2024, according to the specialized website TasteAtlas. (Full article...)
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Ramos gin fizz at a bar in New Orleans

A Ramos gin fizz (also known as a "Ramos fizz" or "New Orleans fizz") contains gin, lemon juice, lime juice, egg white, sugar, cream, orange flower water, and soda water. It is served in a large non-tapered 12-to-14-US-fluid-ounce (350 to 410 ml) Collins glass.

The orange flower water and egg significantly affect the flavor and texture of a Ramos, compared to a regular gin fizz. The key to making this egg cocktail is dissolving the sugar before adding ice; the sugar acts as an emulsifier, and it and the alcohol "cook" the egg white. (Full article...)
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Planter's punch

Planter's punch is an IBA Official Cocktail made of Jamaican rum, fresh lime juice, and sugar cane juice. The cocktail originated in Jamaica.

The September 1878 issue of the London magazine Fun listed the recipe as follows: (Full article...)
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The between the sheets is a cocktail consisting of white rum (or other light rum), cognac, triple sec, and lemon juice. When made with gin, instead of rum and cognac, it's called a "maiden's prayer". (Full article...)
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Bottles at a factory in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca

Mezcal (/mɛˈskæl/ , Latin American Spanish: [mesˈkal] ), sometimes spelled mescal, is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave.

Agaves or magueys are endemic to the Americas and found globally as ornamental plants. Native fermented drinks from maguey plant, such as pulque, existed before the arrival of the Spanish, but the origin of mezcal is tied to the introduction of Filipino-type stills to New Spain by Filipino migrants via the Manila galleons in the late 1500s and early 1600s. These stills were initially used to make vino de coco, but they were quickly adopted by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific coastal regions of Mexico and applied to the distillation of agave to make mezcal. (Full article...)
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Traditional distillation of tsikoudia

Tsikoudia (Greek: τσικουδιά, romanized: tsikoudiá, literally "terebinth") is a traditional alcoholic beverage and pomace brandy from the Greek island of Crete. It contains 40% to 65% alcohol by volume (ABV). (Full article...)
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A martini with an olive garnish

The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive, a lemon twist, or both. Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages. A common variation, the vodka martini, uses vodka instead of gin for the cocktail's base spirit. (Full article...)
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The Bramble is a cocktail created by Dick Bradsell in 1980s London, England. Best described as a spring cocktail, the Bramble brings together dry gin, lemon juice, sugar syrup, crème de mûre, and crushed ice. Bradsell also suggests finishing off the cocktail with some fresh red fruits (such as blackberries, cranberries) and a slice of lemon.

If crème de mûre is unavailable, many bartenders will substitute creme de cassis for it. (Full article...)
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A gin fizz is the best-known cocktail in the fizz family. A gin fizz contains gin, lemon juice, and sugar, which are shaken with ice, poured into a tumbler and topped with carbonated water. The drink is similar to a Tom Collins, with a possible distinction being a Tom Collins historically used "Old Tom gin" (a slightly sweeter precursor to London Dry Gin), whereas the kind of gin historically used in a gin fizz is unknown.

Simple variations on the gin fizz are
- Silver fizz – addition of egg white
- Golden fizz – addition of egg yolk
- Royal fizz – addition of whole egg
- Diamond fizz – sparkling wine instead of carbonated water, more commonly known as a "French 75".
- Green fizz – addition of a dash of green crème de menthe
(Full article...)
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Mojito (/moʊˈhiːtoʊ/; Spanish: [moˈxito]) is a traditional Cuban punch. The cocktail often consists of five ingredients: white rum, sugar (traditionally sugar cane juice), lime juice, soda water, and mint. Its combination of sweetness, citrus, and herbaceous mint flavors is intended to complement the rum, and has made the mojito a popular summer drink.

When preparing a mojito, fresh lime juice is added to sugar (or to simple syrup) and mint leaves. The mixture is then gently mashed with a muddler. The mint leaves should only be bruised to release the essential oils and should not be shredded. Then rum is added and the mixture is briefly stirred to dissolve the sugar and to lift the mint leaves up from the bottom for better presentation. Finally, the drink is topped with crushed ice and sparkling soda water. Mint sprigs or lime wedges are used to garnish the glass. (Full article...)
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Peruvian pisco sour

A pisco sour is an alcoholic cocktail of Peruvian origin that is traditional to both Peruvian and Chilean cuisine. The drink's name comes from pisco, a brandy which is its base liquor, and the cocktail term sour, implying sour citrus juice and sweetener components. The Peruvian pisco sour uses Peruvian pisco and adds freshly squeezed lime juice, simple syrup, ice, egg white, and Angostura bitters. The Chilean version is similar, but uses Chilean pisco and Pica lime, and excludes the bitters and egg white. Other variants of the cocktail include those created with fruits like pineapple or plants such as coca leaves.

Although the preparation of pisco-based mixed beverages possibly dates back to the 1700s, historians and drink experts agree that the cocktail as it is known today was invented in the early 1920s in Lima, the capital of Peru, by the American bartender Victor Vaughen Morris. Morris left the United States in 1903 to work in Cerro de Pasco, a city in central Peru. In 1916, he opened Morris' Bar in Lima, and his saloon quickly became a popular spot for the Peruvian upper class and English-speaking foreigners. The oldest known mentions of the pisco sour are found in newspaper and magazine advertisements, dating to the early 1920s, for Morris and his bar published in Peru and Chile. The pisco sour underwent several changes until Mario Bruiget, a Peruvian bartender working at Morris' Bar, created the modern Peruvian recipe for the cocktail in the latter part of the 1920s by adding Angostura bitters and egg whites to the mix. (Full article...)
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The sidecar is a cocktail traditionally made with brandy (usually cognac), orange liqueur (Cointreau, Grand Marnier, dry curaçao, or a triple sec), and lemon juice. It became popular in Paris and London in the early 1920s. Common modifications of the original recipe are a sugar rim, added sugar syrup, and an orange twist or lemon twist. (Full article...)

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... that to comply with a law that restricted liquor sales near churches, the Peninsula New York placed its cocktail lounge up a flight of stairs and down a long hallway?
... that Governor of Svalbard Håkon Balstad was described as a "roaring bull of a man with a fabulous capacity for raw liquor"?

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This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

The restaurant's exterior in 2014, shortly after closing

The Gypsy Restaurant and Velvet Lounge was a restaurant and nightclub established in 1947 and located along Northwest 21st Avenue in the Northwest District neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, in the United States. Popular with young adults, the restaurant was known for serving fishbowl alcoholic beverages, for its 1950s furnishings, and for hosting karaoke, trivia competitions, and goldfish racing tournaments. The restaurant is said to have influenced local alcohol policies; noise complaints and signs of drunken behavior by patrons made the business a target for curfews and closure. Concept Entertainment owned the restaurant from 1992 until 2014 when it was closed unexpectedly. (Full article...)

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Lemon drop (cocktail) The Glenlivet distillery Alcoholic beverages in Oregon Rum and Coke Black Cat Bar Stork Club 5-8 Club Caesar (cocktail) Sip 'n Dip Lounge Lutz Tavern Christian views on alcohol Whiskey Rebellion

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Vodka

The Lemon Drop cocktail is typically prepared with vodka, lemon juice, triple sec and simple syrup. The glass may also have a sugared rim.

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The following are images from various liquor-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1An illustration of brewing and distilling industry methods in England, 1858 (from Liquor)
Image 2An old whiskey still (from Liquor)
Image 3A pisco sour (from List of cocktails)
Image 4A cosmopolitan (from List of cocktails)
Image 5Some single-drink liquor bottles available in Germany (from Liquor)
Image 6A B-52 (from List of cocktails)
Image 7Viru Valge, an Estonian vodka (from Liquor)
Image 8A row of alcoholic beverages – in this case, spirits – in a bar (from Liquor)
Image 9A Brandy Alexander being served (from List of cocktails)
Image 10Corpse reviver #2 (from List of cocktails)
Image 11Mulled wine steeping (Swedish glögg) (from List of cocktails)
Image 12These flaming cocktails illustrate that some liquors will readily catch fire and burn. (from Liquor)
Image 13Reservoir glass with naturally coloured verte absinthe and an absinthe spoon (from List of cocktails)
Image 14Abandoned 19th-century vodka distillery in Estonia (from Liquor)
Image 15A grasshopper (from List of cocktails)
Image 16Distillation equipment used by the 3rd century alchemist Zosimos of Panopolis, from the Byzantine Greek manuscript Parisinus graecus 2327. (from Liquor)
Image 17A display of various liquors in a supermarket (from Liquor)
Image 18A Caipirinha with lime (from List of cocktails)
Image 19A martini cocktail (from List of cocktails)
Image 20Map of Europe with individual countries grouped by preferred type of alcoholic drink, based on recorded alcohol consumption per capita (age 15+) (in liters of pure alcohol) in 2016.
  Wine
  Beer
  Spirits
(from Liquor)
Image 21A Ramos gin fizz (from List of cocktails)
Image 22A piña colada (from List of cocktails)
Image 23A Queen Mary beer cocktail: beer, grenadine and maraschino cherries (from List of cocktails)