Amaretto- a liqueur with a slightly bitter almond flavor, made from apricot pits.

Amontillado- a pale, dry sherry from Spain.

Anusette- a fragrant liqueur with a sharp licorice flavor, make from anise seeds.

Aperitif- a term that once meant a before-dinner liqueur drink is now used almost interchangeably with the word cocktail.

Applejack- a very sweet apple-flavored brandy.

Bitters (Angostura, orange)- a concentrated extract made from roots, herbs, or fruits that is used sparingly to flavor cocktails.

Blended whiskey- whiskey produced from a combination of whiskeys and/ or neutral spirits containing at least 20% straight whiskey.

Bourbon- a whiskey mash of not less than 51% corn, rye, wheat, malted barley, or malted grain and stored in charred new oak containers.

Brandy- a spirit produced primarily from the juice of grapes but also make from the juice of apples, peaches, plums, and other fruits.

Canadian whisky- distilled in Canada usually from rye grains.

Cassis- a purple liqueur made from currants.

Cherry brandy- a colorless spirit produced from the distillation of cherries, often called by its German name, Kirschwasser.

Cobbler- an iced drink combining wine or liqueur with fruit juice and sugar.

Coffee brandy- a spirit made from distilled coffee beans.

Cognac- the world’s best-known and most highly regarded brandy.  Distilled from grapes, true Cognac originates only in the Cognac region of west-central France.

Cooler- a mixture with a base of either wine, malt, or a spirit, combined with ingredients such as fruit flavors or popular cocktail flavors.

Cream of coconut- a canned preparation made from coconut milk, sugar, and other nonalcohol ingredients useful in making tropical drinks.

Crème de- this French term usually denotes a liqueur of a rather thick consistency.

Crème de bananas- a sweet, banana-flavored liqueur.

Crème de cacao- a sweet, chocolate-flavored liqueur.  White crème de cacao contains no coloring; dark does.

Crème de cassis- a sweet, black currant-flavored liqueur.

Crème de menthe- a sweet, mint-flavored liqueur.  White crème de menthe contains no coloring; green does.

Crème de noya- an almond-flavored liqueur made from fruit pits.

Crème de violette- a sweet liqueur flavored with violet oil and vanilla.

Curacao- a cordial flavored with the peel of the sour orange, used frequently in preparing cocktails and tropical drinks.  White curacao contains no added color; the colored varieties such as blue and orange, of course, do.

Falernum- a tasty West Indian syrup made from almonds and spices.

Fino sherry- a pale, very dry Spanish sherry.

Grappa- an Italian brandy made from distilling grape skins that remain after wine production.

Grenadine- a thick, red syrup used in cocktails, traditionally made from pomegranate juice.

Irish whiskey- whiskey made in Ireland, often produced using barley.

Liqueur- a class of spirit that is usually sweet and often served after dinner.  It is produced by either mixing or redistilling spirits with natural ingredients such as fruits, plants, flowers, or chocolate.  Sugar must be at least 2-½% of the contents by weight.

Madeira- a wine resembling sherry traditionally produced in the Madeira Islands, a chain of eight islands off the northwest coast of Africa.

Maraschino liqueur- a cordial distilled from a bitter wild cherry called the marasca.

Orange--flower water- a particularly fragrant distillation of orange petals that is used sparingly to accent mixed drinks.

Port- a dark dessert wine from Portugal.

Pousse-café- an after-dinner drink made with liqueurs of varying weights and colors.  The liqueurs must be delicately poured into the glass so that several separate layers of liquid are the result.

Praline liqueur- a cordial flavored to taste like buttery pecan pralines.

Raspberry liqueur- a raspberry-flavored cordial, sometimes called crème de framboise.

Rock and rye- an amber-colored American liqueur originally made from rye whiskey and rock candy.

Rum- a spirit produced from the fermented juices of sugar cane, sugar cane syrup, sugar can molasses or other sugar cane byproducts.  It is traditionally produced in the Caribbean.

Rye- a whiskey distilled from a mash containing not less than 51% rye grain, traditionally produced in the United States and Canada.

Sake- wine produced from rice.

Sambuca- an Italian licorice-flavored liqueur made from elderberries.

Schnapps- dry European spirit.  Popular flavors include apple, peppermint, peach, black cherry, cinnamon, and wild berry.

Scotch- whisky distilled in Scotland, usually from malted barley, broadly divided into two types: blended and single-malt.

Sherry- a dessert wine from southern Spain.

Simple syrup- a combination of water and granulated sugar that, when boiled, condenses into a clear, sweet syrup—often used in cocktail recipes.

Sloe gin- a cordial or liqueur whose characteristic flavor is derived from sloe berries.

Sour mash- a blended grain mash used to make whiskeys.

Tequila- a spirit distilled from the agave plant, produced in Mexico.

Tonic water- a carbonated beverage containing lemon, lime, and quinine, an alkaloid obtained from cinchona bark.

Triple sec- a type of curacao liqueur.

Vermouth- an aperitif wine derived from grapes.

Vodka- a clear spirit that is generally made from grain, but can be distilled from other starches such as potatoes, corn and beets.  Vodkas are commonly flavored with essences of citrus or other fruits, or spices such as pepper.

Whiskey- a spirit distilled from fermented grain mash, stored in oak containers.

Acidity- the backbone of a wine; too much creates a tart, unpleasing taste and too little detracts from the character.

Aerate- the exposing of wine to oxygen to bring out the bouquet.

Aroma, bouquet, nose- all refer to the scent of a wine.  Aroma and bouquet are similar terms alluding to the strength and type of scent in a wine (a spicy bouquet or a peachy aroma), while nose is a specific term meaning a strong and intense scent.

Balance- when all the components of a wine (primarily the acidity. Aroma, color, fruit, sugar, and tannin) are in harmony, not being stronger than another.

Body- the weight of a wine in the mouth, and the depth or substance of the taste.  Wine ranges from light-bodied to medium-bodied to full-bodied, a full-bodied wine being the heaviest.

Bottled by or cellared by- term on a bottle indicating that the winery did not necessarily make the wine, but definitely bottled it.

Character- the nature of a wine; also the blend of fine qualities in a wine.

Dry- the lack of sweetness and sugar.

Estate bottled- term on a bottle indicating that the wine was produced completely by one vineyard (cultivation of grapes, fermentation, aging bottling).

Fermentation- the conversion of ripe grapes to alcohol and carbon dioxide gas through a yeast agent.

Herbaceous- a term for wine with a grassy flavor.

Herbal- a wine that contains an aroma of vegetables.

Noble- a wine having exceptional balance and character.

Oenology (or enology)- the science of winemaking.

Residual sugar- the unfermented sugar left in a wine following fermentation that provides the sweetness.

Sweet- containing sugar from the grapes.

Tannin- an acid found in grape stems and skins, as well as oak fermentation casks, that assigns a bitterness to the wine.

Varietal- refers to a wine produced solely from one type of grape.

Vinification- the process of winemaking.

Vintage- the year in which a wine was bottled, often displayed on the label.