Cream liqueur

Cream liqueur is a liqueur made with milk or dairy products, such as cream. European Regulation 2019/787 on spirit drinks covers this in Annex I, category 33. For liqueurs containing milk or dairy products, the legal name may be 'cream', supplemented with the name of the ingredient that gives the predominant flavour, with or without the word 'liqueur'.

A cream liqueur must meet the usual requirements for liqueur. That means an alcohol content of at least 15 percent. The sweetener content, expressed as invert sugar, is at least 100 grams per litre. For some cherry and gentian liqueurs, that limit is lower, at 70 and 80 grams.

The base is ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, a distillate or another spirit drink. The producer adds flavourings, agricultural products or foodstuffs to it. Article 10 of the same regulation also allows compound names using the term 'liqueur' or 'cream', as long as the end product is a liqueur under category 33.

A liqueur with 'crème de' in the name does not contain cream. The regulation literally says in category 34 that the raw materials for a crème de may not contain dairy products. What distinguishes a crème de is the high sugar content.

A crème de contains at least 250 grams of sweeteners per litre, expressed as invert sugar, and at least 15 percent alcohol. The fruit or raw material in the name must provide the dominant flavour. Stricter rules apply to crème de cassis: that name is only permitted for blackcurrant liqueur with more than 400 grams of sweeteners per litre.

On the label you can therefore see the difference in the words. 'Cream' points to a liqueur with milk or cream, 'crème de' to a sweet liqueur without dairy.

No, egg liqueur has its own category in the European regulation. Egg liqueur, also called advocaat, falls under category 39. There is also category 40, liqueur with egg. Both are about egg yolk, not cream.

Egg liqueur or advocaat contains at least 140 grams of pure egg yolk per litre, at least 150 grams of sugar or honey per litre and at least 14 percent alcohol. Liqueur with egg requires at least 70 grams of egg yolk and 150 grams of sugar or honey per litre, at a minimum of 15 percent alcohol.

Dairy products may be used in both types. The regulation expressly mentions this in both categories. Even so, the legal name remains egg liqueur, advocaat or liqueur with egg, and not cream liqueur.

Irish Cream is a protected geographical indication for cream liqueur from the island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland. The Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine laid down the requirements in 2015 in a technical file and checks the producers before a product comes onto the market.

According to that file, Irish Cream is a stable emulsion of fresh Irish cream in a sweetened and flavoured alcohol base with Irish whiskey. The alcohol content is at least 15 percent. The drink contains at least 10 percent milk fat and at least 100 grams of sugar per litre. Irish whiskey provides at least 1 percent of the alcohol.

The cream must be pasteurised and may not be sterilised, UHT treated or frozen. The file gives 1974 as the year in which Irish Cream was presented in Dublin. If the liqueur is bottled outside the island, the label says 'Bottled in' with the place added.

Producers mainly mention cream and the alcohol base. Baileys describes its Original Irish Cream as a combination of Irish whiskey and distilled spirits, Irish cream and flavours of chocolate and vanilla. The alcohol content is, according to Baileys, 17 percent. The brand calls itself the first cream liqueur in the world and reports that about 200 million litres of milk per year go into the cream for Baileys.

Amarula from South Africa uses no whiskey but a distillate of the marula fruit. According to the producer, this marula spirit is distilled, aged for two years on French oak and then mixed with cream. Amarula recommends the liqueur on ice. In this way both brands show that the base of a cream liqueur can differ greatly, while the cream always comes back.

The shop currently has 32 bottles of cream liqueur. Most come from the Netherlands and Italy, followed by Germany, Ireland, Spain, South Africa, Belgium and Austria. From Baileys, the Baileys Original, the Baileys Chocolate Pistachio and the Baileys Mint Chocolate are on the shelf. The Amarula Cream and the Amarula Raspberry Chocolate come from South Africa.

Of Bottega you will find, among others, the Bottega Cioccolato Nero, Bottega Crema Latte, Bottega Gianduia Crema and Bottega Latte Macchiato. Berentzen is there with the Cherry Banana Cream, Passionfruit Cream and Winter Mandel. Also the Warninks Lemon Cheesecake, the Bols Natural Yoghurt and the Boswandeling, and cream liqueur from Disaronno, Dooley's, Milky Gecko, Zuidam and Chouffe.

Would you like to know how these bottles differ? Feel free to call or drop by ’t Bockje at Brink 2 in Bathmen.

The shop is at Brink 2 in Bathmen. Open Tuesday to Friday from 09.00 to 18.00 and Saturday from 09.00 to 17.00. For advice, call 0570 541 278 or email info@bockje.nl.