Portal:Liquor

The Liquor Portal

Introduction

Liquor (/ˈlɪkər/ LIK-ər, sometimes hard liquor), spirit, distilled spirit, or spirituous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. While the word liquor usually refers to distilled alcoholic spirits rather than drinks produced by fermentation alone, it can sometimes be used more broadly to refer to any alcoholic beverage (or even non-alcoholic ones produced by distillation or some other practices, such as the brewed liquor of a tea).

The distillation process concentrates the alcohol, so the resulting condensate has an increased 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 are vodka, rum, gin and tequila. Liquors are often aged in barrels, such as for the production of brandy, tequila, and whiskey, or are infused with flavorings to form flavored liquors, such as absinthe. (Full article...)

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The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks is a book about cocktails by David A. Embury, first published in 1948. The book is noteworthy for its witty, highly opinionated and conversational tone, as well as its categorization of cocktails into two main types: aromatic and sour; its categorization of ingredients into three categories: the base, modifying agents, and special flavorings and coloring agents; and its 1:2:8 ratio (1 part sweet, 2 parts sour, 8 parts base) for sour type cocktails. (Full article...)

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John Walker (born 1805, Kilmarnock – 1857) was a Scottish grocer, who originated what would become one of the world's most famous whisky brand names, Johnnie Walker, despite the fact he was himself a teetotaler. (Full article...)

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Image 1
Rectified spirit made in Poland by Polmos

Rectified spirit, also known as neutral spirits, rectified alcohol or ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, is highly concentrated ethanol that has been purified by means of repeated distillation in a process called rectification. In some countries, denatured alcohol or denatured rectified spirit may commonly be available as "rectified spirit", because in some countries (though not necessarily the same) the retail sale of rectified alcohol in its non-denatured form is prohibited.

The purity of rectified spirit has a practical limit of 97.2% ABV (95.6% by mass) when produced using conventional distillation processes, as a mixture of ethanol and water becomes a minimum-boiling azeotrope at this concentration. However, rectified spirit is typically distilled in continuous multi-column stills at 96–96.5% ABV and diluted as necessary. Ethanol is a commonly used medical alcohol — spiritus fortis is a medical term for ethanol solutions with 95% ABV. (Full article...)
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A black Russian cocktail

The Black Russian is a cocktail of vodka and coffee liqueur. It contains 50 ml vodka and 20 ml coffee liqueur, per IBA specified ingredients.

The drink is made by pouring the vodka and coffee liqueur over ice cubes or cracked ice in an old-fashioned glass and stirring. The Black Russian is often garnished with a lemon slice and a Luxardo maraschino cherry on a stick. (Full article...)
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The naked and famous is an IBA official cocktail, consisting of equal parts mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol, and fresh lime juice. (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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A martini with an olive garnish

The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and is garnished with an olive, a lemon twist, or both. Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages worldwide. A common variation, the vodka martini, uses vodka instead of gin for the cocktail's base spirit. (Full article...)
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The angel face is a cocktail made from gin, apricot brandy and Calvados in equal amounts.

The cocktail first appears in the Savoy Cocktail Book compiled by Harry Craddock in 1930. (Full article...)
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Spicy Fifty

A Spicy Fifty is a cocktail containing vanilla-flavored vodka with elderflower cordial, lime juice, honey syrup, and red chili pepper. To prepare, the ingredients are added to a cocktail shaker and shaken with ice. The chili optionally can be muddled in the base of the shaker. More chili can be added to make it spicier. The drink is then double-strained into a chilled cocktail glass. A whole pepper is used as garnish sitting at the rim of the glass. The drinker should be cautioned against eating the pepper.

The Spicy Fifty cocktail was added to the list of IBA official cocktails in 2020 in the new era drink category. (Full article...)
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Peruvian pisco sour

A pisco sour is an alcoholic cocktail of Peruvian origin that is traditional to Peruvian 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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Sea breeze

A sea breeze is a cocktail containing vodka with cranberry juice and grapefruit juice. The cocktail is usually consumed during summer months. The drink may be shaken in order to create a foamy surface. It is considered an IBA Official Cocktail.

The drink follows the classic cocktail principle of balancing strong (alcohol) with weak (fruit juice) and sweet and sour. (Full article...)
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The Penicillin is an IBA official cocktail made with Scotch whisky, ginger, honey syrup, and fresh lemon juice. (Full article...)
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The paper plane is a whiskey-based cocktail created in 2008. In 2020 it was added to the International Bartenders Association's (IBA) list of official cocktails as a new era drink. (Full article...)
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The Ve.n.to is an IBA official cocktail made of Grappa, honey syrup, fresh lemon juice, and chamomile liqueur. (Full article...)
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A rượu đế still

Rượu đế is a distilled liquor from Vietnam, made of either glutinous or non-glutinous rice. It was formerly made illegally and is thus similar to moonshine. It is popular in the Mekong Delta region of southwestern Vietnam (its equivalent in northern Vietnam is called rượu quốc lủi). Its strength varies, but is typically 40 percent alcohol by volume. It is usually clear, and a bit cloudy in appearance. (Full article...)
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A sherry cobbler is a classic American cocktail made with sherry, sugar and citrus. Its origins are not known in detail, but is believed to have originated sometime in the early 19th century. The earliest known mention is from an 1838 diary of a Canadian traveler to the United States, Katherine Jane Ellice, but it did not gain international name recognition until Charles Dickens included the drink in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit.

To make the drink, orange and lemon are muddled with simple syrup, sherry is added, and the mixture is shaken with ice in a cocktail shaker and strained into a highball glass filled with crushed ice. Garnishes include mint leaves, raspberry, and orange and lemon slices. It can also be garnished with pineapple wedges or any seasonal berries. Some recipes add pineapple juice. (Full article...)
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The old fashioned is an IBA official cocktail in the "Unforgettables" category.

The IBA official cocktails are cocktails recognised by the International Bartenders Association (IBA) to be the most requested recipes. The list was developed starting in 1960, and the first version was announced in 1961, comprising 50 cocktails. It has since undergone periodic revisions, and as of 2026 comprises 102 cocktails in 3 categories; see § History for more. (Full article...)
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The Old Cuban was created in 2001 by mixologist Audrey Saunders. It is also an IBA official cocktail. (Full article...)
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Bellini Cipriani

A Bellini is a cocktail made with Prosecco and peach purée or nectar. It originated in Venice, Italy. (Full article...)
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The Garibaldi is an Italian aperitivo cocktail made with Campari and freshly squeezed orange juice, typically served over ice. The drink is named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, the 19th-century Italian general associated with the movement toward Italian unification. (Full article...)
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A Moscow mule is a cocktail made with vodka, ginger beer, and lime juice; garnished with a slice or wedge of lime. The drink, being a type of buck, is sometimes called vodka buck. It is properly served in a copper mug, which takes on the cold temperature of the liquid.

Some public health advisories recommend copper mugs with a protective coating (such as stainless steel) on the inside and the lip, to reduce the risk of copper toxicity. (Full article...)
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The Jungle Bird is a tiki cocktail made with blackstrap rum, Campari, pineapple juice, lime juice, and demerara syrup. Invented by Malaysian beverage manager Jeffrey Ong in 1973, it has been recognized by the International Bartenders Association as an official cocktail since 2024. (Full article...)
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Sex on the beach

A sex on the beach is an alcoholic cocktail containing vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice and cranberry juice. It is an International Bartenders Association Official Cocktail. (Full article...)
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A glass of apricot pálinka

Pálinka (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈpaːliŋkɒ] ) is a traditional fruit spirit (or fruit brandy) with origins in medieval Hungary, known under several names. The earliest verifiable reference to pálinka dates back to 1332, when it was used as medicine in the Hungarian royal court. Protected as a geographical indication of the European Union, only fruit spirits mashed, distilled, matured and bottled in Hungary and similar apricot spirits from four provinces of Austria can be called "pálinka", while "Tótpálinka" refers to wheat-derived beverages. Törkölypálinka, a different product in the legal sense, is a similarly protected pomace spirit that is commonly included with pálinka. While pálinka may be made of any locally grown fruit, the most common ones are plums, apricots, apples, pears, and cherries.

A similar product exists in Romania (Transylvania) and Slovakia, regions that were once part of the Kingdom of Hungary. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia it is known as pálenka, in Italy and Greece under the name palincă. In Turkey it is known as boğma. (Full article...)
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A negroni

A negroni is an Italian cocktail, made of equal parts gin, vermouth rosso (red, semi-sweet), and Campari, generally served with ice, and commonly garnished with an orange slice or orange peel. It is considered an apéritif.

The drink has been documented in Italy since the late 1940s, and became popular in the 1950s, but the origin is uncertain, and early recipes differ somewhat from the modern standard; early recipes were either these three ingredients served straight up (in a cocktail glass or coupe, no ice), or were served long (over ice with soda). The modern recipe of equal parts served short (over ice, without soda) is not recorded until the 1950s or 1960s. (Full article...)
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Cachaça (/kəˈʃɑːsə/ kə-SHAH-sə; Brazilian 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, and the most popular cane spirit in the world (though almost entirely due to domestic consumption). 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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... that instead of drinking liquor with prospective clients, Arthur Harrison Motley sent them notes written in red pencil crayon, 10,000 times a year?
... that the birthplace of the Father of Mexico is now home to a tequila distillery?
... that a liquor-drinking celebrity goat named Ioiô won an election for city councilman in Fortaleza?
... that Governor of Svalbard Håkon Balstad was described as a "roaring bull of a man with a fabulous capacity for raw liquor"?
... that the author of an 1887 book on British whisky distilleries didn't know how to distill whisky?
... that the former Natick station building became the basement of a liquor store?

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

The Black Cat Bar or Black Cat Café was a bar in San Francisco, California. It originally opened in 1906 and closed in 1921. The Black Cat re-opened in 1933 and operated for another 30 years. During its second run of operation, it was a hangout for Beats and bohemians but over time began attracting more and more of a gay clientele, and becoming a flashpoint for what was then known as the homophile movement, a precursor to the gay liberation movement that gained momentum in the 1960s.

The Black Cat was at the center of a legal fight that was one of the earliest court cases to establish legal protections for gay people in the United States. Despite this victory, continued pressure from law enforcement agencies eventually forced the bar's closure in 1964. (Full article...)

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Manhattan (cocktail)

A Manhattan cocktail

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General images - show new batch

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

Image 1Viru Valge, an Estonian vodka (from Liquor)
Image 2A Caipirinha with lime (from List of cocktails)
Image 3These flaming cocktails illustrate that some liquors will readily catch fire and burn. (from Liquor)
Image 4An old whiskey still (from Liquor)
Image 5A display of various liquors in a supermarket (from Liquor)
Image 6A B-52 (from List of cocktails)
Image 7Aviation (from List of cocktails)
Image 8Bee's knees (from List of cocktails)
Image 9A piña colada (from List of cocktails)
Image 10A Ramos gin fizz (from List of cocktails)
Image 11A row of alcoholic beverages – in this case, spirits – in a bar (from Liquor)
Image 12A cosmopolitan (from List of cocktails)
Image 13An illustration of brewing and distilling industry methods in England, 1858 (from Liquor)
Image 14A martini is a classic gin-based cocktail. (from List of cocktails)
Image 15Map 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 16Some single-drink liquor bottles available in Germany (from Liquor)
Image 17Mulled wine steeping (Swedish glögg) (from List of cocktails)
Image 18Reservoir glass with naturally coloured verte absinthe and an absinthe spoon (from List of cocktails)
Image 19A grasshopper (from List of cocktails)
Image 20A Brandy Alexander being served (from List of cocktails)
Image 21Negroni (from List of cocktails)
Image 22Corpse reviver #2 (from List of cocktails)
Image 23A pisco sour (from List of cocktails)
Image 24Spirits consumption per person (from Liquor)
Image 25Abandoned 19th-century vodka distillery in Estonia (from Liquor)
Image 26A martini cocktail (from List of cocktails)
Image 27A Queen Mary beer cocktail: beer, grenadine and maraschino cherries (from List of cocktails)