Liqueurs date back as early as the 13th century. Historically, they were used as herbal medicines created by healers to cure a variety of medical ailments. Today liqueurs are a popular after-dinner drink and can be enjoyed over ice, neat, with coffee, as a dessert, and even in cooking.
Liqueurs are sweetened and unaged beyond a resting period during production to allow the flavors to mingle.
Gervasi Vineyard (GV) has a fine line of spirit offerings for its guests and has just added two more unique and flavorful liqueurs that will appeal to everyone’s taste and manner.
GV’s newest liqueurs include Citro and Giava, both add just the right amount of that “something special” to mixed drinks or as an after-dinner treat for guests. These liqueurs are for anyone looking to shake up their post-dinner beverage.
“Citro and Giava are very approachable but can add that little extra something to spice up those mixed drinks” said head distiller at GV, Shae Pridemore. “Fancy up a dinner party with some after-dinner aperitifs or they can be enjoyed as a crafted cocktail at the end of a busy day. We put love into what we do and want everyone to enjoy.”
Pridemore added Gervasi takes pride in its Italian heritage, both citrus and coffee liqueurs are very popular drinks traditionally made in Italian homes.
“These are usually served as an after-dinner drink but can be served in mixed cocktails and more. We wanted to bring that tradition to Gervasi and make our guests feel at home. Both of these wonderful products will be available year-round.” Pridemore said.
Citro – Made from Fresh Citrus Fruits and Made the Italian Way
Sunshine in a bottle, Citro offers connoisseurs a zestfully delightful experience of tart citrus and velvety sweetness. Its base is GV’s small batch vodka. It has the flavors of 6,300 oranges, 3,332 lemons, and 420 limes that were peeled by hand. It took a team of workers close to five days to peel over 10,000 pieces of citrus fruit for Citro.
GV used the traditional Italian method where only the outer layer of the peel is used from the fruit. Then, Citro was soaked in the fruit for three to five days. When the peels are removed, cane sugar was added to reach just the desired sweetness.
Citro’s color is bright yellow and its aroma is bright lemon and lime with undertones of orange. Citro can be enjoyed chilled, in cocktails or drizzled over a decadent dessert.
Giava – Made with Fresh Roasted Ground Coffee
In Giava, GV used its small batch vodka as the base and added over 140 pounds of fresh roasted coffee from a local coffee roaster. The coffee was separated into 25 five-gallon bags for even extraction and then carefully lifted into the vodka tank.
Maceration takes around 16 hours for amazing aromatics and flavors of the coffee to be pulled out. Filtering is a timely action but once done, the product sits and rests for three weeks allowing the flavor to mature and come together before adding sugar and preparing it for the bottle.
Giava’s color is a dark, rich brown with an aroma of coffee, caramel, espresso and chocolate. It has an exquisite composition and aromas augmented by tantalizing sweetness.
Sipping or Mixing? You Decide
Citro and Giava both have a nice delicate sweetness to balance them and make them great for either sipping by themselves or mixing into countless creations!
Assistant distiller Michael Phillips said that the two new liqueurs have been under development for over a year.
“Production for Citro and Giava has been right around that one-year mark, we wanted them to be absolutely perfect,” Phillips said. “For Citro we brought in over 10,000 individual citrus fruits that took a week to peel by hand because we wanted to achieve just the right flavor needed.”
Gervasi Spirits are inspired by GV’s continued promise to develop new endeavors and products that people will enjoy as much as the vineyards, the winery and wines. Gervasi features unique spirits such as wine barrel-finished bourbon, rosé vodka, and blood orange gin. These flavor-infused spirits are carefully crafted to enjoy neat or as signature ingredients in GVs creative cocktails.
Citro and Giava are perfect additions to GV’s line of exquisite spirits and make for exciting components to GV’s cocktails.
