Tempus Fugit Liqueur de Violettes

This is a fine, Swiss-made violet liqueur from a company in Petaluma, California. Their media points out the lower sugar content of this product compared to crème-style violet liqueurs, and how this showcases the delicate florals. I’d probably care more if I were drinking the stuff neat except to taste a bit. That said, a sip is definitely intriguing. There’s a subtle musk note I keep chasing but never catch up with. The color is interesting too, and appears to be from the flowers, a lilac-pink. Let’s try a cocktail with the stuff.



Erik Satie Cocktail

• 1 1/2 oz St. George Dry Rye Gin
• 3/4 oz dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz Tempus Fugit Liqueur de Violettes
• 2 dashes absinthe
• 2 dashes lavender bitters

Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

The liqueur is based on a French recipe from 1868, and has something both old and Old World. I composed the above cocktail from the Violettes’ logical compliments, the other tastes of the Belle Époque, with which it goes perfectly. The mauve—“pink trying to be purple,” as Whistler would say—turns rosé in the company of dry vermouth.