Redcliff America's Liqueur Hard to find discontinued!
Fifteen proprietary ingredients, with flavors ofvanilla, spices and original cola flavoring are among the several 'mysteryingredients' that could possibly be a cinnamon/nutmeg taste. The burn and coughsyrup feel down your throat gives the sampler a swift kick after a long day.RedCliff is the first and only cola-based spirit product in the entireindustry. To all those liqueur lovers out there, it can be mixed with justabout any other alcohol, fruit juice, and soda or straight on the rocks.Nonetheless, it's a tough decision where to place RedCliff among the otherliqueurs on the market. It's like a strong whiskey with scotch-like taste.
Entrepreneur Frank Arcella, a former Seagramexecutive who made millions creating Corazon tequila, has tried to fill what hesaw as a cavernous gap in the industry: a premium American liqueur.
Along with a friend who is a drink chemist and hisdaughter-in-law, Arcella spent two years in a small room tasting some 500different versions of a distilled liquid he wanted to capture the taste of anAmerican tradition: cola.
In the end, he settled on a 15-item mix thatincludes cinnamon, lime, eight-year-old Virgin Islands rum, vermouth, vodka,bourbon bean vanilla, anise and hazelnut.
The hip-flask-shaped bottle pours out acaramel-colored snifter that beverage magazine Patterson's spirits editorAnthony Dias Blue ranked 90 out of 100 in an individual tasting this year. Thatput it in the "outstanding" range, he said.
But strong reviews don't always equate to sales.
David Fleming, executive editor of beverage trademagazine Market Watch, said it is difficult, but not impossible for newconcoctions to gain a foothold.
"There could be some worry out there thatthere's some 'flavor fatigue' but it hasn't happened yet," he said."It's a much more crowded market, but there are success stories out there.There's still room for lots of ideas."
Arcella is hoping to generate enough sales to makehis brand self-sustaining. So far, he said he has plowed in $1 million withouta return. But a pension and continuing royalty income from Corazon, which hesold to Sidney Frank Importing Co. Inc. in 2002, keeps his spirits up.
"If this doesn't work a year from now, twoyears from now, and I decide to put up the white flag, Frankie ain't going tothe poor house," he said.
