"The Best Guests Come Bearing Gifts" Create Your Own Liqueurs With Alchemist Dreams

Liqueur is a tricky drink to get used to. There are tons of flavors and essences and finding a good one can be a confusing process. But now the UK-based company Alchemist Dreams is here to save the day (or drunken night)...

According to the website, the company didn't start off with the intention of creating liqueurs:

"We just set out to make the purest flavours that we could, starting from a pure, flavourless spirit and giving a drink which you would happily sip on its own. We extracted the flavours in pure, organic grain spirit and added homemade sugar syrup to soften the edges of sharp fruits and peppery spices. We added pure spring water to bring the strength down to something sippable. Then we looked for a name for the drink we'd made. The word we settled on was 'liqueur', a term for any spirit with a strong flavour and added sugar."

The Alchemist Dreams website allows users to combine any number of base fruit flavors (they offer blackberry, orange, raspberry, lime, and blueberry), with a variety of accents (the 19 options include everything from cinnamon to lavender to Szechaun pepper), and then select a decorative bottle for their new liqueur.

If you're unsure which flavors work well together, you can also order one of the site's pre-blended liqueurs such as Black(Berry) Magic ("a mellow blend of blueberry, elderberry and vanilla"), Winter Warmer ("a delicious blend of orange, nutmeg, cinnamon and clove"), and Everything's Rosy ("an optimistic blend of raspberry, juniper and rose).

For liqueur novices, Alchemist Dreams suggest how to drink your liqueur, including putting it over ice, mixing it with club soda, and even pouring it on ice cream.

Unfortunately for all of us who live stateside, Alchemist Dreams only ships within the UK, but with any luck, they'll be shipping internationally soon. Americans need their liqueur, too!

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