Luxardo

Most people meet Luxardo through a cocktail garnish and don’t realise there’s an entire Italian spirits house quietly sitting behind that tiny black cherry. Which is slightly unfair considering Luxardo have been making liqueurs since the early 1800s.

Founded originally in Zara, now modern-day Croatia, before relocating to the Veneto region after the Second World War, Luxardo remains family-owned and deeply tied to traditional Italian liqueur production. Maraschino remains their signature product, distilled from Marasca cherries including the pits, stems and leaves, which explains why it tastes far more complex than people expect from “cherry liqueur”.

The flavour profile sits somewhere between dry cherry, almond, citrus peel and herbal spice, with a slightly nutty edge underneath. Proper Maraschino is subtle stuff. Cocktail bars love it because a tiny amount suddenly makes everything taste more complete without obviously announcing itself. Aviation cocktails, Martinez, Last Word, all deeply improved by its presence.

Then there are the cherries themselves. Luxardo Maraschino cherries have become almost absurdly popular because they actually taste of fruit rather than fluorescent syrup. Dark, rich, slightly bitter and boozy enough to justify eating directly from the jar while pretending you’re “making cocktails”.

There’s something reassuring about producers like Luxardo surviving modern drinks culture mostly unchanged. No endless reinvention, no celebrity branding exercise, just old-school Italian spirits made properly because the recipes already worked.