What is the difference between a liqueur and a crème?

At least 250 grams per litre, expressed as invert sugar. For an ordinary liqueur that is 100 grams. The minimum alcohol content is 15 percent in both cases.

Creme de is a category of its own in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2019/787, alongside and on top of the liqueur category. The name is completed with the fruit or raw material that gives the dominant flavour, for example creme de peche or creme de mure.

Crème in the legislation refers to the high sugar content and the syrupy structure, not to dairy. Dairy products are in fact excluded as a raw material with crème de.

The word comes from French and describes the thick, almost syrupy texture that results from 250 grams of sugar per litre or more. A crème de does not contain cream.

Crème de cassis may only be called that if it is made from blackcurrants and contains more than 400 grams of sugar per litre, expressed as invert sugar.

Of all liqueur categories in the regulation, that is the highest minimum sugar content. A cassis liqueur without those 400 grams is simply a blackcurrant liqueur and may not carry the name crème de cassis.

Cream liqueur falls under the ordinary liqueur category. If a liqueur contains milk or milk products, the word cream may appear in the legal name, together with the raw material that gives the predominant flavour.

The requirements of category 33 therefore apply to cream liqueur: at least 15 percent alcohol and at least 100 grams of sugar per litre. The category crème de is excluded for cream liqueur, because dairy products may not be used there.

Look at the legal name. If it says creme de followed by a fruit, the 250 grams of sugar and 15 percent alcohol apply. If it only says liqueur, 100 grams applies.

The term liqueur may be added after a crème de name, so crème de cassis liqueur also occurs.

The regulation has three exceptions to the 100 grams for ordinary liqueur: cherry liqueur at 70 grams, gentian and wormwood liqueur at 80 grams, and crème de cassis above 400 grams per litre.

The 70 grams for cherry or sour cherry liqueur applies only when the alcohol consists exclusively of cherry distillate. The 80 grams applies to liqueur flavoured only with gentian, a similar plant or wormwood, where bitterness masks the sugar.

Egg liqueur follows its own track: at least 14 percent alcohol and at least 140 grams of egg yolk per liter of end product. The regulation works there with an egg yolk minimum instead of a sugar minimum.