Southern Comfort: American Liquor Review + 5 Cocktail Recipes

Briefly about Southern Comfort

Southern Comfort is a legendary South American liqueur with an incredible peach flavor and 140 years of history. It is made from American whiskey and fruit, and is often referred to as SoCo (an abbreviation of the full name).

At first glance, it may seem that there is nothing special about a liquor where only a few components are mixed. But few people know that the original recipe of the drink includes more than 100 components, and it is they who make the taste of Southern Comfort liqueur unique and unrepeatable.

The history of Southern comfort liqueur

The young bartender Martin Vilkis Heron was the son of a simple boatman, and he always dreamed of creating a unique drink that would become a legend in alcohol history. The guy worked at McCauley’s Tavern in New Orleans, Louisiana and it was located near Bourbon Street. In these parts, whiskey was considered a popular drink among the population, but its taste was very rough and Martin decided to supplement it with fruit components that would make the taste softer and no less aromatic.

And in 1874, a young bartender introduced a liquor to tavern visitors and called it “Cuffs and Buttons” (Cuffs and Buttons), and after a while renamed it Southern Comfort.

Heron moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1889, patented her creation, and began selling the liquor in sealed bottles bearing the slogans “None Genuine But Mine” and “Two per customer. No Gentleman would ask for more.

Southern Comfort Liquor won the gold medal at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.

In 1974, the brand was bought by Brown-Forman and sold for $2016 to Sazerac in 543.

In 2017, Sazerac representatives announced that the recipe would change, and they would use whiskey, which they produce themselves, as the alcohol base.

Many competitors have tried to unravel the true recipe, but no one has been able to do so until today. All the subtleties of cooking and technical processes are known to no more than 10 people of the manufacturer’s company.

Southern comfort liqueur label

From 1933, the Southern Comfort label featured Alfred Vaud’s painting “A Home on the Mississippi”.

In 2010, SoCo rebranded and removed the image of the house from the label, and the bottle itself became more sophisticated.

The liqueur line is presented in several positions.

  1. Southern Comfort Original – 35%

  2. Southern Comfort Black – 40%

  3. Southern Comfort 100 Proof – 50%

Sazerac also produces ready-made cocktail drinks based on the liquor in question.

Drinking Southern comfort liqueur

Southern comfort liqueur is served neat. Before use, it must be cooled and drunk in small sips, it also goes well with fruit juices.

Americans love to use fruity bourbon to make holiday meals around Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Bartenders add liquor to various cocktails that taste incredible.

Interesting fact: Southern Comfort in 1939 created a cocktail dedicated to the film adaptation of the novel “Gone with the Wind” and named it after the main character “Scarlett O’Hara”.

Cocktail Scarlett O’Hara

Ingredients

  1. Southern Comfort Liquor – 40 ml

  2. Cranberry Juice – 20 ml

  3. Lemon juice – 15 ml

  4. Ice

  5. Lemon slice

Method of preparation

  1. Mix all ingredients in a shaker.

  2. Cool the martini glass and pour the contents of the shaker into it.

  3. Garnish with a slice of lemon when serving.

Southern Peach Cocktail

Ingredients

  1. Southern Comfort Liquor – 25 ml

  2. Peach brandy – 25 ml

  3. Heavy cream – 25 ml

  4. Bitter Angostura – 5 drops

  5. Ice

  6. Slice of fresh peach

Method of preparation

  1. Mix all ingredients in a shaker and pour into a glass.

  2. Garnish with a fresh peach when serving.

Alabama Slammer cocktail

Ingredients

  1. Southern Comfort Liquor – 15 ml

  2. Vodka – 45 ml

  3. Grenadine – 15 ml

  4. Orange juice – 45 ml

  5. Sour mix (lemon + lime) – 45 ml

  6. Ice

Method of preparation

  1. Mix all ingredients in a shaker.

  2. Add ice to a Collins glass and pour over the contents of the shaker.

  3. When serving, insert the tube.

Cocktail Lime Hurricane

Ingredients

  1. Southern Comfort Liquor – 15 ml

  2. Sweet and sour syrup – 30 ml

  3. Blue curacao – 10 мл

  4. Lime syrup – 10 ml

  5. Ice

  6. Wedge of lime

Method of preparation

  1. Mix all ingredients in a shaker.

  2. Pre-cool the glass and pour the contents of the shaker into it.

  3. Garnish with a lime wedge when serving.

Comfort Manhattan Cocktail

Ingredients

  1. Southern Comfort Liquor – 60 ml

  2. Sweet vermouth – 15 ml

  3. Bitter Angostura – 2-3 drops

  4. Cocktail cherry

  5. Ice

Method of preparation

  1. Mix all ingredients in a shaker and pour into a glass.

  2. Garnish with a cocktail cherry when serving.

Relevance: 19.10.2017

Tags: Liqueurs, Pourings, Liqueurs, Brands of liqueurs

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