Cocktails with Licor 43 Original liqueur
Licor 43 is a Spanish liqueur made in Cartagena to a secret family recipe of 43 ingredients, among them Mediterranean citrus and botanicals.
ABV31%
Taste profile
Vanilla is the star, over bright Mediterranean citrus and a warm thread of spice. Sweet, aromatic and medium-bodied, with little acidity or bitterness.
How it's used
Reach for it when a drink wants sweet, layered vanilla and citrus. It works as a featured measure or a small accent, and needs no special handling — its high sugar also brings sweetness and body. Its signature serve is the Carajillo: Licor 43 shaken with espresso over ice.
Substitutes for Licor 43 Original liqueur
Nothing quite copies its blend. Tuaca or Galliano — both vanilla-forward Italian liqueurs — come closest; vanilla vodka covers the vanilla note alone. Whatever you use should bring vanilla plus citrus plus warm spice, not vanilla by itself, and keep the sweetness.
Description
The Zamora family has made it in Cartagena since 1946, to a closely guarded blend of 43 ingredients — only a few are named publicly, usually orange, lemon, vanilla and coriander. The result is a deep-golden, layered citrus-vanilla-spice liqueur, not a simple single-note vanilla one.
