Notes: All right I admit it- my first thought was frankly – Why ? What is the point of a Lime Liqueur? I didn’t really see it. It took a bit of imagination to understand the point of it.This is a liqueur made from the maceration (basically soaking in alcohol) of Florida limes, in a grain alcohol base that is made in a pot still on premises. It does not use bulk ethanol and chemical flavors like some (O.K. most) of its competitors

Appearance: Clear yellow /green like some sort of yellow chartreuse (from the lime oil), on swirling it leaves a thick clear coat on the inside of the glass and shows some legs. However, it is well blended in that the essential oils do not separate from the alcohol base a difficult trick to accomplish. Almost oily in body, it has so much lime oil in it.

First Impression: Intense heavy bouquet of limes and intense aromatic oils with hints of alcohol. Most distillers would have thinned this out and not made such a intense product – to their detriment.

Taste: Coats the tongue with the flavor of limes with a slight burnt tang to it (the result of charcoal filtering of the base alcohol?) which adds a nice touch of flavor and contrasts the sweetness.The body is almost syrup like as it slides down the throat, and a slight alkali aftertaste on the tongue that lets you know this was made from the real thing.

Drinks:  It could replace Roses for the lime component of a cocktail, while it lacks some of the complexity of this could be an advantage depending on what drink you are making. The much heavier body could yeild some interesting results and the sweetness removes the need for simple syrup in cocktails that call for both lime juice and simple syrup in their ingredients. Makes a great Gimlet, and with experimentation as to ratios a interesting addition to a Gin and Tonic.

Final Thoughts: Very well made. A wonderful if idiosyncratic liqueur (not much call for lime liqueurs in drinks books). However, as noted above I think it could go far as the new lime component for a number of old drinks and for the creation of new ones.

Bottle: Currently the bottle looks like a piece of lab ware,or a old pharmacy bottle, cylindrical with rounded shoulders with an orange real cork with wood cap arched style label with gold border labels front and back.

Web site:: http://www.empirewineryanddistillery.com

Fast loading with a fair amount of  information. Easy-to-read. Goodcontent and descriptions of production.