Liqueur gems, sky-high and affordable

Liqueurs often seem like the bearded ladies of the spirits circus.

As you approach that shelf in the store, you feel as though you’ve left the big tent and can almost hear the carnival barker’s cry: Come one, come all!

Taste a hazelnut liqueur from a bottle shaped like a medieval friar!

Try a ginger liqueur poured from a Chinese lantern!

Unscrew the beehive cap and sample the nectar of this honey liqueur!

See the glittery flecks of gold floating inside this cinnamon schnapps!

Even the definition of liqueur as a category is vague and promiscuous, encompassing spirits infused or macerated with all manner of nuts, fruits, botanicals, herbs and dairy products. For every gem — Luxardo maraschino, Benedictine, creme de violette, St-Germain elderflower liqueur — there are dozens of weird and less pleasant offerings. Spend time tasting cordials made of peppermint or butterscotch or odd berries or coffee, or perhaps the whole cornucopia of cream liqueurs (mint chocolate chip! Creme caramel! Marula fruit from Africa!), and you start to feel trapped in the funhouse.