Sorel Liqueur - Popular in the Caribbean?

Has anyone heard of, or worked with, Sorel Liqueur in any tropical drinks? According to the article here...

http://whiskedfoodie.com/mixology/sorel-liqueur/

...Sorel "is basically a hibiscus-infused liqueur that is popular in the Caribbean."

I ran into it researching various recipes for a Manhattan cocktail. It occurs to me that this is something someone else may have run across. I'm thinking of getting a bottle, and I'm fishing for comments and input here before I jump in with both feet, although the non-tiki "Manhattan" recipe on their site has really piqued my curiosity.

Cheers!

I bought a bottle about 8 months ago, honestly, not impressed with the product. Now don't get me wrong, it's not horrible, in fact it is flavorful, but in a pimento dram sort of way, not in a hibiscus sort of way. So, I was disappointed only because I was looking for something that would have the delicate notes of hibiscus. If you are looking for something "hibiscusy" I suggest making a syrup from dried flowers. Hope this helps.

Thanks, that helps. I'm tossing around recipes for the classic "Manhattan," but as is often the case, it's hard to pin down a truly "authentic" recipe due to changes in tastes at various times in history, and changes in the drink ingredients at various times. So Sorel was a liqueur suggested as a tweak in the aforementioned article, and I found it intriguing. I'm not sure it's worth the effort to obtain based on your review, I was really interested in the hibiscus flavoring it might impart. Sorel also appears to have limited distribution, possibly limited to the immediate Brooklyn surroundings.

I'm fine with that - there are plenty of options in and around the various Manhattan recipes for me to play with. So my final decision is to just skip it and move on. At least we have a small thread on the Sorel topic in case someone else runs into it and does a search here. It could happen once over the next 20 years or so, heh...

Besides one particular independent liquor store here that has a huge range of spirits (they do their own importing) and a couple of others that carry some brands you just won't find anywhere else, the place to shop here is a chain called Dan Murphy's. Not only do they have a good selection, that are the cheapest place around.

Now it wasn't that long ago that i was browsing their store online and found that there about 3-4 times the amount of rums available online compared to the store. Basically they can order anything that pretty much all the different distributors here in Australia have, you just have to buy it online and pay for postage (most of the time-with this product i bought it was free fortunately), there is no store pick up because it comes straight from the distributor.

Now to get back onto the topic posted here, i found that they had this.

Unfortunately i'm still waiting for it to arrive, as i ordered it over the Christmas break, so i can't tell you what it tastes like, but it says it is an American product so you should be able to track it down.

Here's the link to where i bought it from. Hopefully it opens for everyone.
https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_ER_1000002949_WAHIBISCUSCOCONUT40750/whistling-andy-hibiscus-coconut-rum-750ml?orgSearchTerm=hibiscus

Thanks, Swizzle. A quick Google search show that product comes from Big Fork, Montana. Another search on the free version of Wine Searcher shows three stores in New Jersey that sell it in the US, however a paid Wine Searcher membership is likely to find more places carrying it.

When your bottle arrives, let us know how you like it.

Back to the topic of Sorel... Sorel liqueur recently became an additional sponsor of Gaz Regan's blog, so I clicked on the logo to check out their web site. First, their home page has an incredible photo of a vintage (non-tiki) bar.

Then they describe their Sorel product:
*Sorel

The natives of the Caribbean islands have long known the hibiscus plant to be a potent spice. Renown for its curative properties–and as a powerful aphrodisiac–they would ferment its flowers, and serve on festive occasions. Each island enjoyed slight differences in their recipes, relative to their indigenous horticulture.

It is with great respect for its traditional heritage we present a modern twist on an exotic classic:

The brightness of Brazilian clove. The warmth of Indonesian cassia. The heat of Nigerian ginger. The woody bottom of Indonesian nutmeg. The full, aromatic body of Moroccan hibiscus. Pure cane sugar. The finest organic grain alcohol.

This is Sorel. Delicious ice cold or piping hot, drink it straight or recreate your favorite classic cocktails.

Sorel. The 65th Crayon.*

It's still intriguing. But it's also not available in my area, or from a number of the mail-order sources I have used. If it's this much of a pain to get, then I'm not going to pursue it because there are so many other things competing for my cocktail time. I wanted to add these notes to this thread for the benefit of others who run across Sorel and do a web search.

Sorel may gain popularity over the next few years. Let's see if it starts to show up in any cocktails at our tiki events around the globe. Any mixologist looking to experiment with something fresh and new to the tiki scene may do well to play around with this stuff.

I had a chance to try that rum Ace, and i have to say it's quite good. My friend and i sampled some neat and we both enjoyed it, however neither one of us could taste any coconut in it. I have no idea what hibiscus smells or tastes like but it is floral (and pleasant) on the nose and has a strong floral taste, which lingers in the mouth. It has a bit of heat to it but is definitely smooth enough to drink as a sipper. I'm going to try it in a few cocktails tonight which i think it will work well in.
The only thing that stops me from buying it again is the cost. I like experimenting and trying different things and would rather put that $70 towards something i haven't had before, but if it was closer to $40-45 (the average price of a lot of rums available to me) i wouldn't hesitate keeping a bottle of on hand to use as a mixer.