Dusty Liquers

[michaelturtle1]

In my dusty hunts I have come across all varieties of liqueurs I generally leave them on the shelves as I am unsure if they are drinkable like older straight higher proof alcohols. Does anyone on here buy them and use them? Is there a general guideline for what proofs to look for which would likely have survived better? A few bottle have peaked my curiosity and I have wanted to grab a couple but I keep hesitating given that I dont' want to kill myself sipping on something that may have spoiled..

Edited March 6, 2013 by michaelturtle1

[squire]

I buy them if the proof is high enough, say 54-86 for the really old ones. When I was a young man the proofs were substantially higher than what are on the shelves today. Oh I don't think the lower proofs will kill 'ya, the sugar in them is also a preservative, but less alcohol also means cheaper ingredients so it's not something that has improved with age.

[michaelturtle1]

I will pay a bit more attention to them next time I am out making my rounds, a few of the stores I have been in have a bunch of liqueurs in the closeout bins for $1-$5 so even if it is terrible I will not have wasted a ton of $$

[Wryguy]

I do buy the occasional dusty liqueur, following the guidelines that Squire mentioned, as the higher the proof, the better if keeps. In particular, I look for two out of production liqueurs: Macallan Amber and Johnnie Walker Liqueur. Both are really tasty and very fun for use in cocktails. The JWL was only produced for a short time for the NY market, and apparently fetches a crazy price across the pond. I cracked mine and it is so good that I scour all shops I go to for it. The Macallan Amber is also tasty, though lower proof, but a recent enough dusty that it should be in good shape. I did see a few that a liquor store owner had pulled behind the counter to "research." I'm guessing he got tipped off on how good/collectible it was and they went home with him.

[White Dog]

Stick with 70 proof and up. The only liqueur that I hunt is green Chartreuse, but that's over 100proof.

[squire]

I stay on the lookout for Lochan Ora but haven't seen any in quite some time.

[devillighter]

I'd be very happy to find some dusty Chartreuse at dusty prices. It supposedly gets better the longer it is in the bottle, but I don't know how much I believe it.

I picked up some Unicum (not Zwack liqueur) from a dusty shop you've been in, Mike, that is interesting. You'd have to really like bitter amaros. A good thread on Zwack is on the egullet cocktail forum: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/131973-unicum-vs-zwack/ . Apparently they are reintroducing it to the American market, where previously only the liqueur was available.

Another dusty amaro that would be awesome to find would be Amer Picon, used in classic Brooklyn cocktails. It is currently unavailable in the US and was reformulated sometime in the 70s to be lower proof. If you find some, let me know.

I have picked up some Trimbach Grappas at the same store as the Zwack for good prices, but haven't been terribly impressed, but I have little experience with that spirit category. They are high ABV so I doubt that they have been damaged by age. For the most part, however, I'd stay away from lower proof liqueurs.

[bmajazz]

I'd be very happy to find some dusty Chartreuse at dusty prices. It supposedly gets better the longer it is in the bottle, but I don't know how much I believe it.

Believe it. At least, I think so. I love, **LOVE** Chartreuse. I have a number of vintage bottles, a mix of green and yellow. Also, I have a particularly old bottle, i.e. no UPC code, tax strip, etc. The color of the liqueur inside is markedly different from the more recent bottles I have, which themselves are dusties from the early 80's. The old, old bottle is a brilliant, beautiful green.

The bottle on the left is the old non-UPC bottle. The bottle on the right is the dusty from the early 80's.

On another note, anyone heard of the 86 proof yellow? I have two mini bottles of it, but everything else I have is 80 proof.

Edited March 18, 2013 by bmajazz

[squire]

Yes, I remember the Yellow as being 86 proof, maybe 86.8, but that was some years back. I also remember when single malt scotches were 94 proof.

[devillighter]

Believe it. At least, I think so. I love, **LOVE** Chartreuse. I have a number of vintage bottles, a mix of green and yellow. Also, I have a particularly old bottle, i.e. no UPC code, tax strip, etc. The color of the liqueur inside is markedly different from the more recent bottles I have, which themselves are dusties from the early 80's. The old, old bottle is a brilliant, beautiful green.

The bottle on the left is the old non-UPC bottle. The bottle on the right is the dusty from the early 80's.

On another note, anyone heard of the 86 proof yellow? I have two mini bottles of it, but everything else I have is 80 proof.

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Thanks for posting your thoughts - it is very interesting. I love Chartreuse as well and would love to compare with older bottlings.

What do you think of the VEP and Elixir Vegetal? I've considered ordering a bottle of VEP from my local liquor store, but I think I want to try it first before ponying up the $150. I found a bottle in a dusty liquor store a month or so ago, but the guy behind the counter wouldn't sell it to me because he didn't know the price. I am planning on going back to check on it, so maybe I can make a deal.

Edited March 19, 2013 by devillighter

[White Dog]

Thanks for posting your thoughts - it is very interesting. I love Chartreuse as well and would love to compare with older bottlings.

What do you think of the VEP and Elixir Vegetal? I've considered ordering a bottle of VEP from my local liquor store, but I think I want to try it first before ponying up the $150. I found a bottle in a dusty liquor store a month or so ago, but the guy behind the counter wouldn't sell it to me because he didn't know the price. I am planning on going back to check on it, so maybe I can make a deal.

[devillighter]

I came across some dusty tax-stamped Strega the other day, which made me curious whether it may be desirable to pick up, a la chartreuse. I didn't have the money on me at the time. Googled a bit and came across a brief discussion on the chanticleer cocktail forum:

http://chanticleersociety.org/forums/t/524.aspx

If I am in the area I may pick it up and give it a shot.

[TheNovaMan]

I'd love to come across some dusty Grand Marnier someday.

[bearmark]

I found a bottle of Sangster's Old Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Liqueur for $20. The base is Jamaican rum and its quite flavorful. The blue ceramic bottle has a gold seal on the label indicating gold awards at London in 1976 and Bristol in 1978. I'm guessing that this bottle is 30+ years old. Anybody out there know anything about this stuff?

[RVTsteve]

I found some fairly dusty liqueurs, some more tempting than others. A Cordial Compari with a tax stamp caught my attention along with a Liquore Strega and a La Grande Passion. Also an old bottle of Demi-Tasse Coffee Cream Liqueur, this can't still be drinkable can it?

And a couple bottles of Manto Mataxa. They weren't totally on my radar at the time, but I'll probably go back for a few of them. There was also an interesting tiny bottle of a sparkling liqueur in what seemed to be a a 200ml champagne bottle with no UPC or anything, but it had a $30 price tag on it. I'll check it out again when I go back.

[RVTsteve]

Found a couple old bottles.

An old Schladerer Black Forest Raspberry Liqueur from around the mid-late 70's that has a really cool bottle with lots of embossing.

Also a bottle of Oran Mor Malt Whisky Liqueur which is discontinued as far as I can tell. I haven't been able to find much about it, but what I have said it could be tasty stuff.

[dohidied]

All of this talk of dusty Chartreuse made me go back for a bottle I left behind. Tax stamp, metric and ounces, no UPC, so I guess late 70s or early 80s. I couldn't pass it up for $12.99. It's my first time trying Chartreuse, so I have nothing to compare it to, but it is quite tasty.

[Kpiz]

Picked up a bottle of dusty, tax-stamped Liquore Strega yesterday. It has no UPC and there's a "78" on the bottom of the bottle, so this is probably from the late 70s or early 80s. We cracked it open last night and were pleasantly surprised! It doesn't smell particularly good but the taste is sweet and minty with just a hint of anise in the finish. I've never had current Strega, however, so I can't compare it to the current stuff.

We used it in a couple different cocktails, both of which turned out pretty well (and which we adapted slightly from the recipes we found):

Enchanted Field

• 2oz rye
• 1oz Strega
• 1/2oz fresh OJ
• 1 dash Peychaud's bitters
• Orange rind twist

Stir liquid ingredients with ice, strain, add twist and serve straight up

Sir Knight

• 2oz Armagnac
• 1/2oz Cointreau
• 1/2oz Strega
• 1 dash Peychaud's bitter

Stir ingredients with ice, strain, serve straight up

[tanstaafl2]

Interesting find. Are you going to seek out a current bottle for comparison? I probably couldn't resist the urge to do so!

Glad the drink with the OJ was a success. I find it hard to find the right balance using OJ in a cocktail as it can tend to overwhelm a drink pretty quickly.

[Kpiz]

I probably should! I can't remember ever seeing Strega before but I'll be on the lookout now that I'm aware of it.

Interesting point about the OJ. Perhaps because we squeezed it fresh right there, it still had that light acidity of fresh OJ that allowed it to integrate rather than overwhelm the drink. We also originally tried that one without the bitters and it wasn't as good. Just the one dash really helped tie it all together.

[tanstaafl2]

1 hour ago, Kpiz said:

I probably should! I can't remember ever seeing Strega before but I'll be on the lookout now that I'm aware of it.

Interesting point about the OJ. Perhaps because we squeezed it fresh right there, it still had that light acidity of fresh OJ that allowed it to integrate rather than overwhelm the drink. We also originally tried that one without the bitters and it wasn't as good. Just the one dash really helped tie it all together.

Yes, fresh juice always seems to give the best results, especially with OJ. No matter what it says on the bottle it is never quite the same as fresh squeezed in a cocktail to me.

[Kpiz]

5 hours ago, tanstaafl2 said:

Yes, fresh juice always seems to give the best results, especially with OJ. No matter what it says on the bottle it is never quite the same as fresh squeezed in a cocktail to me.

If more bars adhered to your standards, I'd be much more inclined to order a cocktail when I'm out

[tanstaafl2]

As would I!

[Kpiz]

My girlfriend found this bottle of Kuo Kung Chiew in her parents' cabinet, and they have no idea how old it is or where it came from. A quick Google search shows that it's a Chinese liqueur of some sort. Is anyone familiar with this? There's very little information on the label

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[tanstaafl2]

Not a clue but shouldn't be too hard to find somebody in the bay area who can read the label and perhaps give you some additional clues.

 

This place might help but it sounds a bit daunting! "Repellent Chinese liqueur" doesn't sound exactly encouraging but you never know!