liqueur, cordial, creme de **** what is the difference

[Berti]

I know liqueurs have alcohol but some cordials do not and are in fact, just syrups.
are there different coridal types then? why are they not called syrups if no alcohol.
what is creme de (fill in the blanks), what exactly makes that different from a liqueur, say?

I'd like to have a go with stuff but those terms are a bit confusing.
must be the USA/ UK english thing....

berti

[red]

as far as I am concerned - a cordial is non alcoholic and you add water to make into a drink. so i surpose the same thing as a syrup, but in the UK we dont tend to use that name. and syrup would be something you might pour on icecream or something,

I dont know what the difference between a creme de... and a liqueur is. my sweet very alcoholic drinks are liqueurs.

[Rod in Japan]

I'm not yet familiar with which words get starred out on this forum. Were you perhaps enquiring about 'crème de merde'?

[Berti]

hahaha........well.....it was creme de *fill in the blanks* (framboise, etc) but yours is much more original............
wonder what that would taste like? :)
berti

[ocailleagh]

I'm no expert Berti, but as far as I know red is correct about cordials. Basically a sugary, often fruit-based, syrup to which one adds water to make it drinkable.
A liqueur is a very sweet, usually spirit-based, alcoholic drink which is, again, often flavoured with fruit (eg cherry liqueur) and sometimes herbs.
I'm completely guessing for this last one, but I would think that a 'creme de something' would be a similar affair to a liqueur, but with the addition of cream.

[Rod in Japan]

Wikipedia saieth thus;

A crème liqueur is a liqueur that has a great deal of additional sugar added to the point that it has a near-syrup consistency. Unlike cream liqueurs, crème liqueurs include no cream in their ingredients. Crème in this case refers to the consistency. This category includes crème de cacao (chocolate), crème de menthe (mint), and crème de cassis (black currant).

[red]

crème de menthe is disgusting though isn't it...

[Rod in Japan]

You can't even brush your teeth with it.

However, crème de noix is very pleasant. Not something I've seen outside the south of France.

[mrsflibble]

ooooooooo so what I've been calling flibblehooch should by rights actually be called "créme de flibble"?! wow. you learn something new every day.

[Berti]

mrs flibble!!

[ocailleagh]

Ah, I didn't think of wiki-ing it! And lmao Mrs F!