Maraschino liqueur
Also called Luxardo Maraschino, maraschino, marasca liqueur
A clear, dry Dalmatian cherry liqueur distilled from marasca cherries steeped with their leaves and branches, then sweetened and rested; Luxardo's is 32% ABV in its straw wrapped bottle. Not the red cocktail cherry syrup. Funky, floral and faintly almond, it brightens a Hemingway Daiquiri, an Aviation and a Last Word.
- marasca cherry
- bitter almond
- funky floral
- honey
- light smoke
- sweet spice
Origin
Girolamo Luxardo, consul of the Kingdom of Sardinia in Zara (now Zadar), founded a distillery there in 1821 to scale up the marasca cherry liqueur his wife Maria Canevari made at home from a local convent style rosolio. The firm became the region's largest and exported worldwide until Allied bombing in 1943 to 1944 destroyed the plant and postwar upheaval drove the family out. Giorgio Luxardo re-founded the company at Torreglia near Padua and planted marasca orchards in the Euganean Hills in 1947. The cherries are steeped with leaves and branches in larch vats, distilled in copper pot stills, aged two years in ash vats (Finnish ash, Difford's says), brought to 32% with sugar syrup and bottled in hand plaited straw.
Common uses
- Hemingway Daiquiri
- Aviation
- Last Word
- Martinez
- a barspoon in a Brooklyn or Red Hook
Sources
- Girolamo Luxardo: story, Difford's Guide · secondary source, retrieved 2026-10-11
- Maraschino Originale, Luxardo · primary source, retrieved 2026-10-11