Imbibist

“Well, if this is out there, think how much more is out there! This is the kind of music that tells me to go out there and be somebody!“

        Steve Martin, as Navin R. Johnson in The Jerk

About a year ago, a rather degenerate hobby was taken on by this author that sprouted from necessity. It had come to my attention that Liquore Galliano – that yellow, infamous what-the-hell-do-I-do-with-this bottle found in many bars – had undergone a reformulation, bringing it back to its original pre-1980s form. While I enjoy the new (original) Galliano, I realized the flavor I’d grown up with would soon be extinct, and that I must build an apocalyptic stockpile before Armageddon set in.
 

One cannot find old bottles of booze in high turnover shops like BevMo or your chain grocery stores. One must seek them wisely. El Camino Real, the old Spanish highway that defines the Mission Trail of California, is littered with small liquor stores along the Peninsula and into the South Bay. These store serve an important purpose in (sub)urban society. Lottery tickets, tobacco products, VHS pornography, and international calling cards are all staples here. Random items from both extremes of the Utility Scale are readily available; I once found fifteen (15) unwrapped Sandy Alomar, Jr porcelain bobbleheads next to the neglected and dusty bottles of giardiniera in an El Camino shop. More importantly, local men of the alleys know to come here for alcoholic refreshment. Cheap fortified wines, forty ounce bottles of malt liquor, and The Club’s Brass Monkey in a Can are hot items. Galliano is not.
 

Luxardo Perla Dry. Bums don't like this stuff.

Many bottles of Old Galliano have been recovered by the author in these dank establishments. The Galliano is not alone, however, as I’ve discovered a number of “museum pieces” along the way. This is where the miscreant hobby I mentioned above comes in, as I began collecting any bottle that piqued my interest. Bottle Slummin’, if you will. Some bottles are novelties, others simply interesting relics of a bygone era. A few, surprisingly, are actually drinkable.
 

One such find is Luxardo Perla Dry, which I happened upon on a recent Old Galliano run. As you can see, the bottle is identical to Luxardo Maraschino, save the label. According to the Luxardo website, Perla Dry is Maraschino liqueur that “is further aged to complete and round out the bouquet and to obtain an even greater concentrate that releases a high aromatic force. Highly recommended for use in pralines (truffles).”
 

Of course, I had no idea what Perla Dry was when I came across it. Given the $11.99 price point, however, I could not leave without it. My bottle looks nothing like the one on the website. And the ABV does not match either – mine is 80 Proof versus the 70 shown online. As the name implies, it is drier than Maraschino. And as mentioned in an earlier post, it makes a harsh Last Word. But in drinks where the Maraschino doesn’t play such a major role, it is a fine substitute, offering a subtle shift from what you are accustomed to.