Fratello Hazelnut Liqueur

Fratello Hazelnut Liqueur is an Italian nut liqueur bottled at 20%, made from 100% hazelnuts of the Tonda Gentile del Piemonte variety grown in Piedmont in north west Italy. Only the best nuts of that protected local variety are used, prized because they grow larger, plumper and sweeter when roasted, and the liqueur is produced at the Francoli grappa house in Piedmont, founded in 1895, right where the hazelnuts are grown. The single origin Piedmont hazelnut is the whole story.

The nose is spicy with roasted hazelnuts, cocoa notes and vanilla, the palate aromatic with roasted hazelnut, cocoa, chocolate notes and acacia honey, finishing long on the palate. Behind the bar it works as a dessert and nutty body ingredient, adding roasted hazelnut, cocoa and a honeyed sweetness, which suits it to a Nutty Irishman, a hazelnut White Russian or a praline edge in an Espresso Martini. It pours neat over ice, stirs into coffee, and spoons over vanilla ice cream, sitting as a useful bridge between the coffee and dessert ends of a menu. Serve it neat or over ice.