Parfait Amour Confusion

So, I'm working my way through Remixed and have arrived at a cocktail calling for Parfait Amour (the name of the cocktail escapes me).

and - Yes, I've searched the forums on this site, and yes - I still am confused.

First, the more I research the topic, the more discrepancies I uncover. Most sites tend to point to a curacao-type liqueur flavored with floral (violet or rose) and vanilla components. I was all ready to go and pick up the Marie Brizard version (the only one available in the US) when Mr. Beachbum Berry himself advised against it. He suggested that the Bols version (which is unavailable in the US) is far superior.

At this point, I thought perhaps I would try to make it myself.

I found this recipe that sounded somewhat promising - http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/jun/15/how-to-make-parfait-amour
but then - Mr. Berry himself advised that I find the Art of Drink recipe - https://www.artofdrink.com/ingredients/liqueur/parfait-damour/

The differences between the two recipes are stark. One calls for floral influences and the other coriander.

Of course, I would immediately go with the one Mr. Beachbum suggested, but at the same time he suggested the Bols variety - that is also floral; while the one posted on the Art of Drink site is the coriander type.

What to do? What to do?

Coriander, aka cilantro, is an evil herb that for a substantial part of the population—myself included—tastes like drain cleaner. It seems like an unlikely candidate for a drink mixer, being related to parsley.

Ah, I see the recipe calls for the seeds, which would likely be different. Wikipedia says "The seeds have a lemony citrus flavour when crushed, due to terpenes linalool and pinene. It is described as warm, nutty, spicy, and orange-flavoured."

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-01-27 12:58 ]

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-01-27 13:00 ]

I have a vintage bottle that I have used and if is not a coriander/spicy taste, but is a sweet, floral, almost berry flavor.

On 2014-01-27 12:47, Destro100 wrote:
What to do? What to do?

I have a suggestion.....

First, Get a bottle of Marie Brizard (its good!**).

Then, Order/beg/steal/barter a bottle of the Bols (this site has international readers).

And then make a batch of your own.

Compare all three and let us know what you find.

** The Marie brizard may not be what the 'original' cocktail called for, but you aren't going to hate the drink either. The MB brand is good, the Bols is better. And you can use either in a margarita for something truly tasty!

I have only had Brizard but D'Arcy's recipe looks straightforward enough, I'll probably give that a go sometime.

I was floored a couple of years ago when I learned coriander seeds and the cilantro herb came from the same plant. I love them both but their flavors are worlds apart. TickyTacky, coriander seeds are one of the key flavorings in Belgian witbier, so if you like the spiciness in Hoegarden or Manneken Pis you may like Coriander seeds after all.

I've found Parfait Amour to be a perfect waste.

On 2014-01-27 14:43, thePorpoise wrote:
I've found Parfait Amour to be a perfect waste.

Uh, so, we're all sitting on the edge of a cliff here. Can you also tell us why? :)

It's so hard to contribute to these sorts of discussions when we have different brands here and/or those mentioned are not available here.

Marie Brizard can be found here if you look for it but not all the various flavours are available. Same goes for BOLS which tends to be even harder to find. We have a brand here called VOK which without doing a direct comparison of their particular liqueurs to brands mentioned above i cant say how they rate against one another.

What i can say is that i used to drink the VOK version with vodka and Sprite/7UP with my girlfriend at the time when i first started drinking cocktails, and that tasted to me like musk sticks (a candy we have here, not sure if you guys do). But it also definitely has an orange/vanilla/violet flavour to it tasted neat.

[ Edited by: swizzle 2014-01-27 18:46 ]

I think maybe what Porpoise is getting at is that it's not called for in many tiki cocktails, and the ones that do call for it are fairly unexciting. I know I've had a bottle for several years that I've scarcely made a dent in..

Sure is a groovy shade of purple tho..

Similar to how I feel about Creme de Violet and Creme de Noyeux. I have bottles of each of those with barely a dent in them. "Needed" the Rothman and Winter Creme de Violet to make authentic Avation Cocktails. The cocktail itself is quite good, but the recipe only calls for 1/2 tsp., so this bottle will be around a long time.

The Creme de Noyeux is worse still, because the Rothman and Winter product actually tastes good. The Hiram and Walker Creme de Noyeux (only brand I could find) is nasty stuff and it turns any drink it goes into an unbearable candy apple red. Again, it was a bottle I "needed" so I could make all of the various Gary Reagan "Squirrel Sour" cocktails. I'm sure they would be better with a better product than the Hiram's, which hasn't benefited anything I've used it in.

same here, sunny, re the noyaux.

i've gone thru more of the violette however, as i crank it up to .5 oz in the aviation (1.5 oz gin, .5 each of lemon, maraschino, and violette-- wife loves em that way).

On 2014-01-27 14:43, thePorpoise wrote:
I've found Parfait Amour to be a perfect waste.

Agreed. You can put it with Stroh and a few other ingredients you will use once or twice and hate the drink and never make it again and have wasted your money...

That is why I have a vintage bottle of this stuff. I bought it off Ebay, still sealed, back when shipping was cheaper and got it for a song. That airline bottle was all I needed and I still have some left!

So here is another trick for the Grog Log recipes et al: Scour the pint and airline bottles at liquor stores for the stuff you will need only an ounce of. Barenjager is one, though I have used it here and there.

As usual - a thousand good but very different answers. I may take the easy route and settle on the Marie Brizard.

My real goal is to work my way through Remixed and I can't get sidetracked by one or two difficult to acquire ingredients. I've been staying 90% loyal to the book in terms of quality spirits, fresh ingredients, and preparation, and therefore I need to imbibe ahead.

I will let you know how it goes.