Skip to Content

This article contains affiliate links. We may receive compensation if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

6 Maraschino Liqueur Cocktails You Will Love

Discover six maraschino liqueur cocktails that you’ll love sipping at home. Each recipe includes maraschino liqueur in its ingredient list and all six cocktails taste divine.

Diplomat Cocktail with Maraschino Cherry Garnish

Anybody who loves cocktails and cherries will be delighted to discover maraschino liqueur. We say this from personal experience.

We became fans when we concocted our first maraschino liqueur cocktail, a Hemingway Daiquiri, and our appreciation grows with each and every cocktail we craft.

What Is Maraschino Liqueur?

Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur Bottle
Luxardo produces maraschino liqueur in Italy and sells it in tall green bottles with red caps.

Maraschino liqueur is a clear liqueur produced from maraschino cherries.

Far from a passing fancy, maraschino cherry liqueur has century long roots in Zadar, a Croatian city that was formerly an Italian city called Zara. These roots involve Marasca trees, botanists who cultivated the trees and royalty who fancied the fruit grown on those trees.

Luxardo, the world’s most famous maraschino liqueur producer, moved from Zadar to Padua, Italy in 1947. But Luxardo isn’t the only company producing maraschino liqueur today. One, Leopold Bros., is located in the US but imports Marasca cherries from Croatia. The cherries are that special.

Spoon in Luxardo Cherry Jar
You’re probably familiar with Luxardo’s maraschino cherries even if you never bought a jar. They’re the deep red cherries that garnish many classic cocktails.

If you’re wondering if there’s a relationship between maraschino cherries and maraschino liqueur, the short answer is yes. But don’t confuse maraschino liqueur sold at liquor stores with the syrupy liquid in maraschino cherry jars.

Unlike that syrup, maraschino liqueur is clear and it isn’t sticky. Its complex flavor includes cherry but also has a nuttiness that comes from cherry pits.

You may want to sip maraschino liqueur as an apéritif or pour it over fresh fruit. However, the very best use for the sour cherry liqueur is in cocktails.

Maraschino Liqueur Cocktails

Measuring Maraschino Liqueur into Diplomat Cocktail
If you’re like us, your first maraschino liqueur cocktail you craft won’t be the last.

Some of the most iconic cocktails contain maraschino liqueur. But maraschino liqueur isn’t the primary liquor in any of those drinks. That honor goes to liquors like gin, rum and rye.

However, a little bit of maraschino liqueur goes a long way. You’ll understand once you buy a bottle and start crafting maraschino liqueur cocktails at home. And, when you do, we recommend starting with the following cocktails:

6 of the Best Maraschino Liqueur Cocktails

Maraschino Liqueur FAQs

What is Maraschino Liqueur?

Maraschino liqueur is a clear liqueur produced with maraschino cherries.

What is the best way to drink Maraschino Liqueur?

While you can sip maraschino liqueur straight up or on the rocks, the best way to drink the sour cherry liqueur is in cocktails like the Aviation, Brooklyn, Diplomat, Hemingway Daiquiri, Last Word and Martinez.

What is the most iconic Maraschino Liqueur cocktail?

The Aviation is the most iconic maraschino liqueur cocktail. The classic cocktail’s other ingredients include dry gin, crème de violette, lemon juice and a maraschino cherry

View the latest Web Story.

About the Authors

About the Authors

Daryl & Mindi Hirsch

Saveur Magazine’s BEST TRAVEL BLOG award winners Daryl and Mindi Hirsch share their culinary travel experiences and recipes on the 2foodtrippers website and YouTube. The married Food and Travel content creators live in Lisbon, Portugal.

Disclosures

Article Updates
We update our articles regularly. Some updates are major while others are minor link changes and spelling corrections. Let us know if you see anything that needs to be updated in this article.

Funding
We purchased the ingredients and tools used to craft these cocktails.

Original Publication Date: May 7, 2023

Philip Greene

Monday 8th of May 2023

You should tell your readers that the original recipe called for sweet vermouth, not dry. I’ve always wondered why the recipe got changed over the years. Here is the 1910 copy of Grohusko’s book. https://euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz/1910-Jack-s-manual-on-the-vintage-and-production-care-and-handling-of-wines-liquors-etc-1910/39/. I write about this drink in my book The Manhattan: The Story of the First Modern Cocktail. It’s funny, you wonder why dry vermouth replaced the sweet, the same thing happened to the Boulevardier. The 1927 recipe calls for sweet vermouth but by 1930 it was dry.