Raritas – Bergamot Orange Liqueur

Raritas Bergamot Orange Liqueur by Lantenhammer from Calabria

Raritas Bergamot Orange Liqueur by Lantenhammer is a crystal-clear citrus liqueur made from Calabrian bergamot and Sicilian oranges. The oranges are macerated as whole fruit including the peel, which gives the liqueur its slightly tart edge.

Raritas Bergamot Orange Liqueur is the citrus liqueur from the Lantenhammer Distillery in Upper Bavaria, with 38 percent alcohol in a 500 ml bottle. Two Italian fruits come together here—bergamot from Calabria and oranges from Sicily—distilled in the historic stills of the Tegernsee castle distillery.

Crystal clear with a tart edge

In the glass, this liqueur is perfectly clear, and what rises from it is pure citrus fruit, bright and almost ethereal in its intensity.

On the palate, you first experience the fruity freshness, then that slightly tart twist that only bergamot can provide. This makes it the opposite of a sticky orange liqueur. The finish carries both fruits for a long time, first the orange, then the bergamot, leaving the palate remarkably clean.

This tartness comes from the bitter substances in the peel and not from a lack of sugar. That is precisely the reason why you will want a second glass of this liqueur and won't have had enough after the first.

On ice, in a Spritz, with chocolate dessert

Well-chilled and neat, this liqueur is an aperitif that doesn't fill you up, but rather stimulates the appetite—a small glass before a meal is all it takes.

Topped with Prosecco, it becomes a fruity Spritz variation; with tonic water, a long drink for a summer evening. In the kitchen, it pairs well with fruit salad, quark dishes, and anything involving light chocolate. If you like, pour a spoonful over a dark chocolate mousse and watch how the bitterness of the bergamot blends in.

A fruit that only grows on a single strip of coastline

Bergamot is a hybrid of citron and bitter orange, and it grows almost exclusively on a narrow, sun-drenched strip of coastline in Calabria, Southern Italy.

Bergamot oil is known from Earl Grey tea and perfumery, but as a liqueur, it is rarely encountered. That is precisely the appeal of this bottle, because the fruit brings an aromatic spectrum that no other citrus fruit can replace.

It is harvested by hand, and the harvest season lasts only from November to February. Anyone who has ever held a bergamot in their hands also knows how little pulp is inside that peel and how much fragrance.

Added to this are Sicilian oranges, which are macerated as whole fruit including the peel. The essential oils come from the rind, the sweetness from the pulp, and together they create the balance that carries the liqueur. Distiller Christina Kölbl works in small batches at the castle distillery on Lake Tegernsee.

Ultimately, this results in a liqueur in which two Italian coastal landscapes converge: the Calabrian with its bitterness and the Sicilian with its sweetness. That this does not result in a jumble, but rather a clear, straightforward citrus liqueur, is the true achievement.

Those looking for more fruit will find it in the liqueur made from fully ripe apricots or the dark cassis from the same line. The entire assortment from the Schliersee distillery is available alongside it.