This past September, premium liqueur brand Grand Marnier released the 2nd edition of their signature collection series. If you missed it, last year they released Grand Marnier Cherry, A blend of Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge with wild tropical Haitian oranges and European Griotte cherries. To be honest we weren’t huge fans. As a lover of cherry both as a fruit and as a flavor, its become the norm for brands to try and infuse it in their spirits and end up with something mostly cough syrupy. But I digress… This year, the fruit infusion continues with the release of Grand Marnier Raspberry Peach.
“The Signature Collection Series is a unique annual flavor offering of our all-natural fusion of fresh fruit ingredients and exotic orange essence, blended with premium Cognac. The House of Marnier Lapostolle is proud to present our latest expression, Signature Collection No. 2 Raspberry peach. The natural flavors of succulent European raspberries and rare red peaches from Ardèche, in the South of France, are combined with world-renowned Grand Marnier, made from our exceptionally smooth Cognac and wild tropical Haitian oranges. The result, an alluring and mixable spirit that is enjoyable on the rocks and in delicious cocktails.”
First Impression: If first impression is any indication of how this one tastes, it’s off to a great start. It’s got a beautiful rose colored tint to the liqueur and comes packaged in its usual iconic bottle, replacing the usual label with a gold one featuring both peaches and raspberries on it. We popped the cork and got an amazing aroma off sweet peaches with a tart undertone from the orange and subtle raspberry.
Review: What makes Grand Marnier the champion of its category is an amazing blend of cognac and orange flavor. The perfect amount of sweet and flavor from juicy oranges, the perfect amount of bite from the cognac, all married into one bottle. I felt they missed the boat on this formula with Grand Marnier Cherry. The cherry was strong, and medicinal, and seemed as if it were fighting with the cognac to be noticed as the dominant flavor. Grand Marnier Raspberry Peach returns to form with what I love about the brand. Its got a fruity taste, but comes off very natural, unlike a lot of spirits where you can taste the artificial flavor lingering in the after taste. The first taste you get is of the raspberry, but the peach flavor is most dominant in the back end as it lingers, very rich, reminding me of a high end premium peach schnapps. So now you’re asking, why would I spend $40 on a high end peach schnapps. Well, probably the same reason you spend $40 on Grand Marniers original blend and put it in your margarita instead of a $8 bottle of orange curaçoa. Quality stuff changes the entire cocktail.
Price: $34 (750/ML)
Final Word: Nothing much to say here except grab a bottle while its still available and make some awesome cocktails this holiday season. As with Grand Marnier classic, we would recommend trying this one neat, on the rocks, or as an awesome addition to a cocktail. Spike your morning coffee, pour it over a bowl of ice cream for dessert, or even top off a glass of champagne for New Years, its pretty versatile. We’ve got a bunch of recipes we received from the brand, and we’ll be sharing those later this week, so be sure to check back for those a bit later on.
Cheers!
