Galliano is a sweet herbal liqueur first created in Livorno, Italy. It is easily recognized by its bright yellow color and distinctive long-necked bottle. (The latter has occasionally come in handy as an impromptu weapon for bartenders to use against unruly patrons.) Tasting prominently of vanilla and anise, the liqueur was known for many years primarily as an aperitif or digestive. However, it truly came into its own in the 1970s as a defining ingredient in such popular cocktails as the Harvey Wallbanger and Golden Cadillac. During that decade, it was the top-selling imported liqueur in the United States.
Galliano was invented in 1896 by the Italian distiller Arturo Vaccari of Livorno, who named the liqueur to commemorate Giuseppe Galliano, a military hero killed that year at the battle of Adowa during the First Italo-Ethiopian War. Vaccari was one of the few Italian liqueur manufacturers to court a global export market at the time, with Galliano reaching North and South America and even Japan by 1906. The vicissitudes of the twentieth century, however, prevented it from reaching its sales potential until the late 1960s. In 2010, owner Lucas Bols, who had bought the brand from Remy Cointreau, reintroduced what it said was Galliano’s original formula in a bid to recapture the interest of serious bartenders. The new product, named Galliano l’Autentico, replaced a weaker, more syrupy iteration that was introduced in 1979. Galliano also makes a coffee liqueur called Ristretto. Both are made in the Netherlands.
See also Harvey Wallbanger.
Grimes, Williams. Straight Up or On the Rocks, 2nd ed. New York: North Point, 2001.
By: Robert Simonson