Redcliff America's Liqueur Hard to find discontinued !

Fifteen proprietary ingredients, with flavors of vanilla, spices and original cola flavoring are among the several 'mystery ingredients' that could possibly be a cinnamon/nutmeg taste. The burn and cough syrup feel down your throat gives the sampler a swift kick after a long day. RedCliff is the first and only cola-based spirit product in the entire industry. To all those liqueur lovers out there, it can be mixed with just about any other alcohol, fruit juice, and soda or straight on the rocks. Nonetheless, it's a tough decision where to place RedCliff among the other liqueurs on the market. It's like a strong whiskey with scotch-like taste.

Entrepreneur Frank Arcella, a former Seagram executive who made millions creating Corazon tequila, has tried to fill what he saw as a cavernous gap in the industry: a premium American liqueur.

Along with a friend who is a drink chemist and his daughter-in-law, Arcella spent two years in a small room tasting some 500 different versions of a distilled liquid he wanted to capture the taste of an American tradition: cola.

In the end, he settled on a 15-item mix that includes cinnamon, lime, eight-year-old Virgin Islands rum, vermouth, vodka, bourbon bean vanilla, anise and hazelnut.

The hip-flask-shaped bottle pours out a caramel-colored snifter that beverage magazine Patterson's spirits editor Anthony Dias Blue ranked 90 out of 100 in an individual tasting this year. That put it in the "outstanding" range, he said.

But strong reviews don't always equate to sales.

David Fleming, executive editor of beverage trade magazine Market Watch, said it is difficult, but not impossible for new concoctions to gain a foothold.

"There could be some worry out there that there's some 'flavor fatigue' but it hasn't happened yet," he said. "It's a much more crowded market, but there are success stories out there. There's still room for lots of ideas."

Arcella is hoping to generate enough sales to make his brand self-sustaining. So far, he said he has plowed in $1 million without a return. But a pension and continuing royalty income from Corazon, which he sold to Sidney Frank Importing Co. Inc. in 2002, keeps his spirits up.

"If this doesn't work a year from now, two years from now, and I decide to put up the white flag, Frankie ain't going to the poor house," he said.