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The Liqueur | What Is It?

Domaine de Canton is a ginger liqueur made from Vietnamese baby ginger which is peeled and hand-cut, then macerated with herbs and spices. It is fortified with fine eau de vie, VSOP, and XO Grande Champagne Cognacs, and crafted with fresh Tahitian vanilla beans, Provencal honey, and Tunisian ginseng. The result is a bright, spicy, fresh, sweet liqueur that you can drink on its own with ice or blended into cocktails.

You notice a few things when you sip Domaine de Canton for the first time: first you sense the viscosity of the liqueur on the tongue, followed by a warming kick from the ginger (appropriate since it is a ginger liqueur) along with a field of floral notes. The flavors are bound together with a strong sense of sweetness.

Domaine de Canton has some similarities to St-Germain, the elderflower liqueur that burst onto the cocktail scene in 2007, in that the base flavors are elegant and floral and there’s an instantaneous attraction that occurs. There is a cautionary tale in as much as using too much in a cocktail can be bad thing and impact the overall balance and flavor profile.

The finalists of the cocktail challenge have used a range of ingredients to enhance and balance the ginger, including smokiness from mezcal in two of the cocktails; acidity and brightness from citrus, shrubs and vinegar in a majority of them; and tannins from tea in a couple.

The Simple Chi

Bartender David Roth grew up in Hartford, CT, has been mentored by and worked with Naren Young at Empellon Taqueria and is currently opening the bar at Il Principe in New York’s South Village. The Simple Chi is the cocktail that propelled David into the finals. It was inspired by a dinner at a Chinese restaurant with his bartender friends where he was eating General Tso’s chicken. Just like the classic Chinese American dish, the cocktail has a spicy ginger, sweetness, and citrus combination. It balances the ginger liqueur with a smokey mezcal and additional citrus notes from Dry Curaçao, lemon juice, grapefruit bitters and grapefruit peel. was

[Try out The Simple Chi recipe below.]

Summer Cocktail Ideas

David enjoys using the liqueur for its ginger spiciness, its sweetness, and the fact that it is lower in alcohol, which makes it ideal for both summer and winter drinks. In the summer, David recommends a Ginger Collins which is a long and refreshing cocktail with gin, Domaine de Canton, lime juice and soda water; and the spicy Summer Bourbon Smash with equal parts Domaine de Canton and Bourbon with the juice of half a lemon served on the rocks.

Some twists on summer classics that are perfect for the season are the Dark & Stormier with equal parts Domaine de Canton and Dark Aged Rum with a splash of fresh lime juice and ginger beer; and the Pimm’s Cup with 1 part each of Pimm’s No. 1 Cup and Domaine de Canton, with 3 parts ginger beer and garnished with slices of orange, lemon, cucumber, a strawberry, and a sprig of mint.

[Get the recipes.]

More Cocktails

Bartender Ryan Goodspeed of Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in Miami created The Candidate cocktail with Domaine de Canton, Chivas Scotch, simple syrup and a lemon wedge.

For their PDT winter 2010 cocktail menu, bartenders Jim Meehan and Karen Fu concocted Manuka Sage Southside with 42 Below Manuka Honey Vodka, Domaine de Canton, yuzu juice, Nardini Acqua di Cedro and sage leaves.

Chef Harold Dieterle uses Domaine de Canton at his Thai restaurant Kin Shop in their Sohm & Khing cocktail, “We take the Mekhong and infuse it with ginger and let it hang for a little bit. We add Domaine de Canton, Aperol, grapefruit bitters and finish with bitter lemon soda. It’s a good drink.”

Not Just For Cocktails

Beyond cocktails, using Domaine de Canton makes obvious sense in desserts like Francois Payard’s chocolate pots de crème and as a glaze on a lemon pound cake, but consider using it in savory dishes too. Chef Eric Ripert says, “It adds richness, spice and dimension to cuisine and cocktails.” His recipe for spicy hamachi ceviche combines coconut milk with fresh ginger, lime juice, chili paste, basil and coconut flakes. He also uses it in a more wintry dish: Chicken, Bamboo and Black Mushroom Casserole.

[Get the recipes.]

More Ginger Liqueurs

In addition to Domaine de Canton, there are some other ginger liqueurs available on the market.

King’s Ginger Liqueur

Boston bartender Jackson Cannon recommends King’s Ginger Liqueur, which is higher proof than Domaine de Canton. It’s more of a brown spirit because of the single malt scotch added.

Barrow’s Intense Ginger

Josh Morton is producing Barrow’s Intense Ginger in Brooklyn and each batch (he’s only made 3 batches so far) requires 30 pounds of fresh ginger. It’s a similar in proof to Domaine de Canton, but what is different about Josh’s liqueur is that it only contains ginger and no other flavors.

NYC Drinking Recs

Download the F.E.D. iPhone app and get bartender David Roth’s favorite NYC drinking spots, as well as more recommendations from other chefs, bartenders, sommeliers, and food artisans.

Cocktail Recipe

Simply Chi

Cocktail recipe courtesy of David Roth & Domaine de Canton

Serves 1

Glass: Coupe

Ice: Cubes for shaking

Garnish: Grapefruit Peel + Mezcal Mist

Ingredients

- 1.5 oz Domaine de Canton
- 0.5 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Orange Curaçao
- 0.5 oz Vida Mezcal
- 0.75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 dashes Grapefruit Bitters
- Grapefruit Peel
- Smoke (Mezcal Mist)

Directions

1) Combine Domaine de Canton, orange curaçao, mezcal, lemon juice and bitters in a mixing glass.

2) Shake vigorously with ice and double strain into a chilled coupe.

3) Express grapefruit oil over drink and put peel into glass.

4) To finish, spray mezcal mist over top of drink.

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