4/2009 L'ORIGINAL COMBIER LIQUEUR D'ORANGE
Bartenders and cocktail lovers rejoice --- a triple distilled orange liqueur has arrived from Saumur, in the Loire. L'ORIGINAL COMBIER (40 proof) is high-end stuff --- it retails at about $40 a fifth. It's a simple combination --- grain alcohol, orange peels, sugar beets, and some "secret ingredients", all cooked in copper stills and distilled into a clear spirit. (If the Combier distillery seems familiar, it is entirely possible that you heard of it as a source for some of the fine absinthes that have come to market.)

L'ORIGINIAL COMBIER has a lovely almost floral-orange nose --- nothing saccharine or sharp about it. It is very smooth in the mouth --- unlike many fruity spirits, one does not get a plume of fruit then a poof of hot spirit. L'ORIGINAL COMBIER is impressive, the sort of liqueur one could take straight after a meal or sip chilled while sitting at a table under an umbrella.... Mmmm. And that is to say nothing of the fun that cocktail-makers will have with it. (Rating ****1/2)

For information on L'ORIGINAL COMBIER, see http://www.combierusa.com/, a website, we must add, that is fabulously easy to use. To see if our retailer can get you a bottle, click here.

Labels: Combier, France, Liqueur, Triple Sec