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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Galliano - Italian liqueur that needs a reset

Galliano has a lovely history and appealing flavor, but in some ways it's been trapped as an ingredient in the once popular 1950s/60s cocktail - the Harvey Wallbanger. While this simplistic cocktail (orange juice mixed with vodka with a little Galliano floated on top) was fine for that era, it's a cocktail that hasn't aged well and is seldom found on any drink list in today's creative cocktail milieu. Galliano is likewise seldom found as an ingredient in cocktail recipes, which is a shame.

Galliano was created in 1896 in Italy, though currently it's produced in France, and it's named after an Italian war hero. It's made up of about 30 herbs and spices, and it has a sweet mild anise flavor with spice in the finish. It's quite tasty as a sipper, but it's good that it comes in a 375 ml bottle since it could take a while to finish it. I've only found one good recipe that uses Galliano (from Food & Wine Cocktails, 2010) and my adaption of it is below.

Mistral
1 1/2 oz lemon vodka
1/2 oz Lillet (or Dubonnet blanc)
1/2 oz Galliano
1/2 oz limoncello
2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
1 orange twist

Muddle the orange twist, then shake everything with ice.

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