🍸 Liqueurs

Cherry brandy, crème de cassis, sloe gin, Irish cream, amaretto-style sweet drinks: all are liqueurs in law, and the rules are about sugar. A liqueur is a sweetened, flavoured spirit drink. Under EU rules (category 33) it has at least 15% alcohol and at least 100 g/l of sugar. Cherry liqueurs made with cherry spirit need only 70 g/l, and liqueurs flavoured only with gentian or wormwood 80 g/l. ¹

What liqueur is made from. The base is ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, a distillate or another spirit drink, which is sweetened and given flavourings, agricultural products or foodstuffs. Flavourings are generally allowed, but liqueurs of pineapple, citrus, sea buckthorn, mulberry, sour and sweet cherry, blackcurrant, arctic bramble, cloudberry, raspberry, cranberry, bilberry and cowberry, and of génépi, gentian, mint and aniseed, may use only natural flavourings. ¹

Special names. A liqueur of sour or sweet cherries macerated in alcohol may be called guignolet or češnjevec, and one of sour cherries only ginja, ginjinha or višnjevec. A liqueur whose alcohol comes only from rum may be called punch au rhum. A liqueur with milk or milk products may be called cream, followed by the raw material that gives its main flavour. ¹

Cherry brandy is a liqueur. The compound terms prune brandy, orange brandy, apricot brandy, cherry brandy and blackcurrant rum are allowed for EU liqueurs made in this traditional way. The term must be on one line in the same font, with the word «liqueur» right next to it in letters no smaller. If the alcohol does not come from the spirit named, its origin must be stated nearby. ¹

Crème de, pacharán and sloe gin. «Crème de» plus a fruit is a liqueur with at least 250 g/l of sugar, and dairy is banned in it; crème de cassis from blackcurrants has over 400 g/l. Pacharán is sloes macerated in alcohol with aniseed: at least 25%, 125 g of sloes per litre and 80–250 g/l of sugar, and only Spanish pacharán may use the plain name. Sloe gin is sloes macerated in gin, at least 25% and with natural flavourings only. ¹

Colourless and nutty. Sambuca is a colourless aniseed liqueur with at least 38%, 350 g/l of sugar and 1–2 g/l of natural anethole, and colouring it is banned. Maraschino is a colourless liqueur of marasca cherries, from 24% and 250 g/l of sugar. Nocino, or orehovec, is made from whole green walnuts: from 30% and 100 g/l of sugar. ¹

Egg liqueurs. Egg liqueur, or advocaat, is made from yolks, whites and sugar or honey: at least 150 g/l of sugar, 140 g of pure yolk per litre and at least 14% alcohol. «Liqueur with egg» needs only 70 g of yolk per litre but at least 15% alcohol. Both may contain milk products. ¹

Protected names. Protected geographical names for liqueurs include Cassis de Dijon, Zadarski maraschino, Nocino di Modena, Pacharán navarro, Liquore di limone di Sorrento, Genepì and Irish Cream. Most are in France, Italy, Croatia and Spain. ²

Why it matters to you. «Crème de» contains no dairy, it is only a sugar level, and «cherry brandy» or «apricot brandy» on a liqueur are compound terms, so what is in the glass is a liqueur. A liqueur is always sweetened, starts at 15% and has no upper limit. ¹ The WHO stresses that there is no safe level of alcohol. ³