Herbal liqueur

An herbal liqueur is a liqueur whose flavor comes mainly from plants: herbs, roots, flowers, seeds, peels and spices. European Regulation 2019/787 defines what a liqueur is. It is a spirit drink made from agricultural alcohol or a distillate, which is sweetened and to which flavorings or products of agricultural origin have been added.

The alcohol content is at least 15 percent. The sugar content, expressed as invert sugar, is in most cases at least 100 grams per litre. For liqueurs made only with gentian, a similar plant or wormwood, the limit is 80 grams. Because a liqueur always has a minimum of sugar, ‘dry’ on the label of a liqueur does not, according to the regulation, mean that the drink is unsweetened.

Monastery liqueurs are herbal liqueurs with a history in a monastery. Chartreuse is still made by the Carthusian monks. According to the makers, Marshal François-Annibal d’Estrées gave the Carthusians in Paris a manuscript in 1605 containing the recipe for an herbal elixir. From that came the elixir and later the green and yellow liqueur.

130 plants go into Chartreuse, and only two monks know the full recipe. Since 2018 distilling has been done at the Aiguenoire distillery, in the Chartreuse mountains.

Bénédictine has a different background. The recipe is attributed to a Benedictine monk and is said to go back to 1510. Wine merchant Alexandre Le Grand from Fécamp brought the liqueur to market and built the Palais Bénédictine there, where it is still made from 27 plants and spices.

The difference is in the sugar. Berenburg, the best-known Frisian herbal drink, is a herbal bitter. For a bitter, European regulations do prescribe a minimum of 15 percent alcohol, but no minimum sugar content. A herbal liqueur, on the other hand, must as a rule contain at least 100 grams of sugar per litre.

Herbal liqueurs are also made in Friesland. Claerkampster is a brand of Boomsma, the family distillery that Dirk Boomsma started in Leeuwarden in 1883. Boomsma has traditionally made jenever, Beerenburger and liqueurs, still following the original recipes. Anyone looking for a Frisian herbal drink therefore first chooses between a bitter and a sweeter liqueur.

Hierbas are herbal drinks from the Balearic Islands with a protected geographical indication in the EU. Hierbas de Mallorca must be made and bottled on Mallorca, with lemon verbena, chamomile, orange, lemon, rosemary, lemon balm and fennel from the island, among other things. There are three kinds: seca, mezcladas and dulce, from dry to sweet.

Hierbas Ibicencas come from Ibiza and Formentera, with between 24 and 38 percent alcohol and plants such as fennel, thyme, rosemary and sage. Legally both fall under the spirit drinks with an aniseed flavour.

In Germany herbal liqueur is called Kräuterlikör. The same European rules apply there: German food control refers for Kräuterlikör to the liqueur category from Regulation 2019/787, with at least 15 percent alcohol and 100 grams of sugar per litre.

The shop stocks herbal liqueurs from, among others, Schrobbelèr, Van Wees, Bols, Claerkampster, Battumse, Izarra, Licor 43, Galliano and Gurktaler. Schrobbelèr originated in the 1970s in the home bar of Jan Wassing in Tilburg and is made with 43 herbs.

Of the monastery liqueurs, Chartreuse and Bénédictine are on the shelf, alongside the hierbas of Mallorca and Ibiza and Drambuie from Scotland, made from Scotch whisky, heather honey, herbs and spices. The bottles come from the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Scotland, Austria and Portugal.

Are you torn between a monastery liqueur and a hierbas, or looking for a bottle for a cocktail? Call the shop or drop by at the 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.