The bottle: Heimat New York’s cranberry liqueur, $30 (for 375 ml)
The back story: Thanksgiving may have come and gone, but cranberries are forever. Or at least a good bottle of cranberry liqueur is. That’s how Ute Londrigan, founder of Heimat New York, a fairly new spirits brand that specializes in handcrafted liqueurs, sees the situation. Londrigan indeed features a cranberry sip as part of her lineup and sees it as a versatile, tart-sweet offering that can be enjoyed year-round. Then again, she’s hard-pressed to pick a favorite among her liqueurs, which also include ones made from white peaches, blackberries, raspberries, pears and rhubarb.
Londrigan comes to her passion for liqueur, a spirits category that is often neglected in America, by way of her childhood in Germany. In her home country, fruit liqueur is commonly enjoyed and she can recall how her grandmother produced her own homemade version from fruit grown in her backyard. Jump ahead several years and Londrigan, who has worked professionally in marketing food and beverage brands, is living in a New York City suburb. When she saw the quality of fruit in New York state, particularly from small farms, she decided to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps. But by 2018, she took it to the next level and began releasing her liqueurs commercially. The name Heimat New York is clearly meant to honor her heritage — “heimat” translates roughly from German as “homeland” — while also speaking to her new home in the U.S.
Londrigan admits that cranberries weren’t part of her German childhood, but she has come to love the fruit. And keeping to her idea of sourcing from her home state, she found a cranberry grower in upstate New York. Of all her liqueurs, she says cranberry “was the hardest to figure out” because of the fruit’s extremely tart nature. But she adds that she is glad to have persevered and sees her sip as one that actually works ideally in the summer as a refresher of sorts.
What we think about it: The problem with most commercial liqueurs is that they are far too sweet. But Heimat New York’s offerings — we tried a few others in addition to cranberry — balance the sugar with the genuine flavor of the fruit (or even vegetable, in the case of rhubarb). The cranberry liqueur also keeps the tartness just enough in check. In all, these are delicate sips that remind you how appealing a liqueur can be if done right.
How to enjoy it: You can have your cranberry liqueur straight out of the bottle as a way to keep the spirit of Thanksgiving going at any time of the year. But Londrigan really believes in this as a summertime drink that pairs well when added to carbonated water — think of it as hard seltzer gone upscale. Heimat New York’s liqueurs are produced in small quantities and distributed mainly at select retail outlets in the Northeast. But the brand also sells its products online at a site devoted to New York craft spirits.
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