Licor 43 (aka Cuarenta y Tres)
Licor 43, a product of Spain, is one of those products that I feel isn’t being properly marketed, or to put it more precisely, it’s not being marketed by people that actually understand how to use this product. For me, it is often my little “secret weapon,” when trying to present somebody with a drink that has a flavor profile that is both familiar as well as different at the same time. Unfortunately it has rather little exposure or awareness as a cocktail ingredient, which circles us back to my comment about the poor job of marketing that is done for it.
The overall flavor profile of Licor 43 is one that is fairly vanilla forward. The “43” in the name refers to the fact that 43 different flavoring go into the product, so there is a lot more there than just vanilla. Orange, cinnamon, and various other flavors appear to be playing around in the background, in a way which I find to be very well balanced.
The marketing material makes claims of its recipe being over a thousand years old, and had been passed down from one generation until the next until it was finally produced commercially as the product we see today. Beyond that, I’ve been able to find precious little about the history or manufacture of this product, which further illustrates some of the failings of the folks trying to market the product.
Licor 43 is a great product to help you start to look at what the processes are in trying to create a slightly new drink. I often caution people against trying to jump too quickly into experimenting with creating new drinks, telling them that first they need to have a strong grasp of the overall structure of the classics.
Some of you, perhaps, are ready to take that step.
Consider some of the classic drinks which include a sweet liqueur of some sort as an ingredient: Sidecar, Margarita, Aviation, as well as those that simply use sugar (or simple syrup) as a sweetening ingredient: Daiquiri, Pisco Sour, Old Fashioned, etc. Licor 43 has enough sweetness, along with a slightly complex flavor, in order to possibly be a substitute for the liqueur or sugar in all of those drinks. Try using Licor 43 in some of these drinks and see what you think. Pay attention to the overall flavor profile, and most importantly the balance, and see what adjustments you might need to make in order to get the flavors to settle into a pattern which can best make use of this new ingredient. Perhaps you try it in a Sidecar, and determine that perhaps lime juice works better than lemon, or that you need to adjust the citrus slightly up or down.
Becoming familiar with, and understanding the usage of, different spirits and liqueurs is a core part of what it means to fully grasp the concepts of mixology.
I like licor 43 in a rum style sour I useit with an aged rum such as Bacardi 8 or Angostura 1919 since they have a nice vanillic quality. In general I use the 3.2.1. ratio rum, licor 43, lime juice. this can always be balanced based on sweet sour preference.