Cocktails with Maraschino liqueur
Maraschino liqueur is a clear cherry liqueur distilled from Marasca cherries and their crushed pits, rather than macerated in spirit like most cherry liqueurs.
ABV32%Both Luxardo and Maraska, the two producers that matter, bottle at exactly that.
Substitutes for Maraschino liqueur
Nothing else is clear, bitter-almond and low on obvious sweetness at once, so in a classic built on it treat the bottle as the recipe. Anything nearby is sweeter, weaker and red, which means cutting the syrup and accepting the color.
Often confused with
Maraschino cherries (the jar)
Not this bottle, and the name is the only thing they share. The jar holds cherries steeped in sugar syrup — in 86 of the recipes here the liqueur is in the build and the cherry is in the garnish line. Spooning the jar syrup into the drink adds sugar and color where the liqueur adds neither, so a Last Word or a Brooklyn made that way comes out sweet, pink and short of the almond.
Cherry brandy / macerated cherry liqueur
Maraschino is distilled from marasca cherries with their pits, which is where the almond bitterness comes from; cherry brandy is macerated from the flesh. About 25% against 32%, sweeter and red — so it colors a drink the maraschino leaves clear, and its sugar has to be counted out of the build.
Kirschwasser
Also distilled from cherries with the pits, so the almond note is there — but bone dry and a good deal stronger — 40–45% against 32%. It keeps a drink clear and takes all the sugar out of it: put back about a barspoon of syrup per measure.
