Add A Pop Of Pink To Your Cocktail With Crème De Noyaux Liqueur

Part of the fun of spending a night out drinking is in trying new and unconventional cocktails served at hip bars and restaurants. You don't have to go out to indulge, though. If you feel inspired to create your own fancy drinks and wish to use a liqueur that houses one-of-a-kind flavor and a lovely rose hue, your search stops at crème de noyaux liqueur. Neutral alcohol is flavored with stone pits from fruits like cherries and apricots and sweetened with sugar, resulting in this unique, almond-flavored spirit.

While simple cosmopolitans get their signature color from cranberry juice and red sangria is made with red wine, crème de noyaux liqueur has a pinkish hue thanks to cochineal dye. Before you crack open this amaretto-esque French liqueur, you may be curious to know which cocktails work best with its specific flavor profile. The iconic Pink Squirrel is made with it, plus heavy cream and crème de cacao. The addition of crème de noyaux gives the vintage beverage its classic cotton candy pink color. Though this is likely the most well-known drink featuring the liqueur, you can use crème de noyaux to make many more cocktails that are both unique and brightly colored.

Before slinging crème de noyaux into all your favorite drinks, it's important to consider the flavor of this sweet liquor. While there are many tasty drinks made with crème de noyaux, adding a splash to your usual vodka soda might not be the best idea, unless you want the taste of amaretto to take center stage in a serious way. To lean into crème de noyaux's specific flavor notes and bright red color, pairing this sugary spirit with the right ingredients is essential.

Gin serves as an ideal accompaniment, since its colorless appearance and strong botanical essence work to balance the slightly herbal taste of crème de noyaux. Many colorful cocktails combine these two evenly matched spirits. The Jockey Club, which typically has a deep rose hue, combines dry gin and crème de noyaux with sugar syrup, lemon juice, orange, and aromatic bitters. The Lily, which is a combination of dry gin, crème de noyaux, Lillet Blanc (or herb-infused French wine), and lemon juice, also touts a vibrant pink color. Both of these cocktails have an anchor of citrusy ingredients to match the herbal notes of gin and to balance the sweetness of crème de noyaux. While the Jockey Club and Lily are both bright pink, you can also use crème de noyaux to make delicious-tasting drinks with a more subtle hue.

If you'd rather have drinks with a more muted pink color, choose cocktails that call for less crème de noyaux. A Fairbanks No. 2 contains not only dry gin, dry vermouth, and orange bitters, but also a mere splash or two of crème de noyaux, to add a bit of almond flavor and a light touch of color. An Old Etonian contains the same ingredients but instead of dry vermouth, Lillet Blanc is used.

If you're looking for a cocktail that doesn't rely on gin, you can make a rhubarb whiskey sour, or combine bourbon, rye whiskey, crème de noyaux, and Madeira wine to make a Yes or Noyau?, one of the most delightfully named cocktails in existence. The various colors of these ingredients combine to make a gorgeously coral-colored drink. Vodka fans can make a specialized variation of the Red Rooster cocktail by combining vodka, crème de noyaux, guava juice, and grenadine or pomegranate syrup for a refreshingly bright and colorful cocktail. If you enjoy the taste of bourbon, you can substitute crème de noyaux for amaretto in your next sweetly satisfying amaretto sour. The sky truly is the limit when it comes to this liqueur.