Travis Hasse’s
Apple Pie Liqueur

On rare occasion a  new  product comes along so unconventional and sporting so many creative ways to entice the public that backbar success seems a foregone conclusion. Welcome Travis Hasse's Apple Pie Liqueur, an all-American product launched in September 2008 that's as appealing as a neighborhood bakery and as irresistible as the last slice of pizza.

Travis Hasse's Apple Pie Liqueur hails from the small town of Springfield, Wisconsin just outside Madison and is made according to an old family recipe created by Travis' father, Gene. It's crafted in nearby Temperance, Michigan using several varieties of apples, cinnamon, baking spices and premium neutral spirits distilled from locally sourced grain. The liqueur is bottled unfiltered and at a reasonable 40-proof.

Travis and his wife Carly run Springfield's Missouri Tavern, a historic landmark built in 1940, where the Apple Pie Liqueur has been a long-time specialty of the house. A quick sip makes it easy to understand why Travis decided to share it with the rest of us. The liqueur has the golden color of honey and the look of freshly pressed cider. It's generously aromatic and smells like an apple pie right out of the oven. Sampled neat the liqueur is moderately tangy and sweet with the long-lasting flavors of baked apples, cinnamon and nutmeg.

The Wisconsin-born brand now also includes Travis Hasse's Cherry Pie Liqueur. It's an equally tempting liqueur made from maraschino cherries and vanilla. Bottled at 30-proof, the liqueur has a brilliant, true-to-fruit color and a generous cherry aroma. It has the authentic, sweet/tart flavor of homemade cherry pie filling down to the hint of vanilla on the finish.

That these liqueurs are fabulous used in cocktails, hot tea, coffee or mixed with ice cream, sorbet or sour mix hardly merits mentioning.

With two sterling products to his credit, Travis Hasse has done the family name proud.