R and S Popular Spirits and Liquors
Popular drinks starting with R and S have some fantastic spirits and liquors for you to stock in your home bar.
Popular Drinks Starting With R’s
Raspberry
Is a liqueur made from macerating raspberries in spirit. If the spirit is grape brandy and the mixture is distilled twice, the result is raspberry brandy.
Ratafia
Is a mixture of fresh grape juice and brandy from the Champagne area.
Ricard
(BN) aniseed-flavoured spirit; see Pastris
Rock and Rye
(BN) an American liqueur based on rye whisky and lemon or orange flavouring. It is sold with a lump of candy rock in the bottle.
Royal Mint Chocolate and Royal Orange Chocolate
see Chocolate.
Rum
Spirit distilled from sugarcane juice or from molasses (40d) and imported mainly from the Caribbean. There are many different styles of rum ranging from light bodies white through golden to dark heavily flavoured.
BN Appleton Special, Barcadi, Carta Blanca, Carta Oro, Lambs Navy, Lemon Hart, Mount Gay, Myer’s Planters Punch, Old Oak, Rhum Negrita.
Rye
American whisky made in Pennsylvania and Maryland from Rye (minimum 51%) and other grains. Canada also makes rye on the same principles. Straight rye comes from a single distillery and blended rye is a blend of several straight rye.
Popular Drinks Starting With S’s
Sabra
(BN) Israeli liqueur flavoured with orange and chocolate.
Sambuca
An Italian liqueur strongly flavoured with aniseed.
Schnapps
Is a brandy made from grain or potato with a strong taste and a little flavour. It resembles Aquavit and Korn.
Scotch whisky
Is a grain spirit made only in Scotland and distilled from a mash of fermented cereals in patent stills, to be distinguished from malt whisky which is made exclusively from fermented malted barley distilled twice in a pot still. Two types of Scotch are sold.
Blended Scotch whiskies which are 50 to 80 per cent grain whisky, the balance being made up of malt whisky. BN Ballantine’s, Bells, Black and White Buchannan’s, Chivas Regal. * Pure malt whisky BN Aberlour Glenlivet. Bladnoch, Cardhu, Glenfiddich.
Sherry
Is a blended wine made from white grapes grown in the Jerz district of Spain and fortified with brandy/
The principal types are fino, pale, delicate and dry; oloroso and amoroso rich and sweet. Manzanilla is a special very dry sherry with a salty character due to its being made and stored by the sea. BN Domecq, Garvey, Gonzalez Byass, Harveys of Bristol, Sanderman.
Single Malt
sees Malt whisky.
Sloe Gin
gin flavoured with sloe berries.
Southern Comfort
(BN) An American liqueur based on bourbon and peaches and produced in St Louis, Missouri.
St Raphael
(BN) an aperitif flavoured with quinine. It comes in a red and white variety.
Steinhager
A type of German gin (generic name wacholder). BN Schichte, Konig, Tashe.
Stock
(BN) brand of Italian brandy.
Straight
Is used to describe American whiskies coming from a single distillery; synonymous with single when applied to Scotch whisky.
Strawberry liqueur
Made from macerating strawberries in spirit. BN Cartron, Dolfi, Monin, Pages.
Strega
A yellow Italian liqueur made from herbs and flowers.
Suze
(BN) a gentian-flavoured liqueur (16d).
Syrup
a mixture made from sugar and water or sugar and fruit extracts or juice. In cocktails, the most commonly used are sugar syrup, grenadine and orgeat. Gomme Sirop is made of sugar and water and gum Arabic gives smoothness to cocktails without making them oversweet, it can be bought commercially.
