Southern Comfort: What it is and how it is made
Southern Comfort is a whiskey-based liqueur aromatized with cinnamon and orange produced industrially by the Brown-Forman Corporation, but once upon a time, back in 1874, the legendary Martin Wilkes Heron used to produce it home-made in his New Orleans saloon, and it was a popular mixed drink.
Perhaps it is one of the only liqueurs that has gotten worse with time, becoming increasingly artificial, cloying, and stylized as a result of the widespread use of cheap whiskey and chemical flavorings. If you take a random whiskey and flavor it yourself with 1 vanilla stick, 1 orange stick, and 1 cinnamon stick, and let it to infuse for seven days, you will be able to make a fantastic handmade liqueur, at least when compared to Southern Comfort.
Do you know Drambuie? Ecco has nothing to do with it; in fact, it’s the very spicy and triple-drying Yankee version, but don’t anticipate a masterpiece; it lacks herbs, depth, and variation. It’s OK to use it to flavor certain drinks, such as the Alabama Slammer, but don’t expect it to be the star.
Southern Comfort Bouquet
The scent is not awful; it begins with a surge of spices that leave little room for escape: cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, then caramel, the warm and marmalade fruit of the whisky, additional buttery tones, popcorn, and custard. There is some variation, but it is fairly limited aromatically due to artistic considerations that castrate it.
The flavor
On the palate, it’s warm, not sharp, but spicy, with a gustatory trio of perpetual orange-vanilla-cinnamon contrast. The flavor is fruity, a little mellifluous, but not sugary. Whiskey is an excuse; it leaves a faraway remembrance, not that it’s that acute now that the fragrance make-up has been stretched so far. The body is fairly light; it has heat, but we’re talking about 35 degrees alcohol here, so don’t expect a structured liqueur or one with a thousand faces.
How Southern Comfort is Made
Simply put, it is a liqueur made from an infusion of cinnamon, vanilla, and orange in a solution of whiskey, sugar, and water. Yes, exactly; they use alcohol that is already at 40 degrees and then add it to make it not too heavy, eh? The base liqueur, Southern Comfort original, has an alcohol concentration of 35 degrees, making it less alcoholic than a simple whiskey.
What Cocktails Can You Make With Southern Comfort?
How to Serve Southern Comfort Liqueur
Never with ice, and at most with a splash of soda, 1 cl of lemon juice, and 4 drops of angostura or absinthe. Its sickening repetition is smoothed off in this way.
Price of Southern Comfort
The 1-liter bottle costs €20. The one saving grace is that it is inexpensive, but this liqueur is not worth purchasing. If you buy a Four Roses for 11 euros, a vanilla pod for 4, an orange for 50 cents, and a cinnamon stick for 0.20, you will pay less and be able to brew a far better liqueur.
