What is liquorice liqueur?

Liquorice liqueur is a liqueur whose flavour comes from liquorice, often supplemented with aniseed or with a salty salmiak component. Liquorice is the root of the shrub Glycyrrhiza glabra. Its extract contains glycyrrhizin, the substance that carries the liquorice flavour.

The Voedingscentrum mentions liquorice root extract in, among other things, liquorice sweets and liquorice water, in beers with a liquorice flavour, in herbal teas such as liquorice tea, and in liqueurs such as pastis and sambuca. A liquorice liqueur therefore works with a raw material that is also widely used outside the wine & spirits shop.

Whether a bottle contains liquorice, aniseed or both, you can read on the label under the ingredients. We are happy to check that with you in the shop, bottle by bottle.

European legislation has no liquorice liqueur category; a bottle of liquorice liqueur falls under the general category of liqueur, category 33 of Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/787. A liqueur must contain at least 15 percent alcohol and at least 100 grams of sugar per litre, expressed as invert sugar.

For a few named liqueurs the sugar limit is lower. Cherry liqueur whose alcohol consists entirely of cherry distillate needs to reach 70 grams per litre. Liqueur flavoured exclusively with gentian or a comparable plant needs to reach 80 grams per litre. For liquorice liqueur no such exception exists.

The word liquorice liqueur is what the European Commission calls a compound term. Such a term may replace the legal name, as long as the drink meets the requirements of category 33. Liquorice is named in the regulation, but only for pastis: it must contain natural extracts of liquorice root, Glycyrrhiza spp.

Liquorice root is the raw material; sweet liquorice and salmiak liquorice are sweets based on it, distinguished by the salt they contain. According to the Voedingscentrum, liquorice root comes from, among other places, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Iran and China.

Sweet liquorice lacks the salty component. The Voedingscentrum keeps separate nutritional values for sweet and salty liquorice and reports that one piece of salty liquorice of 4 grams contains 0.01 gram of salt. Salmiak liquorice falls under salty liquorice in that data.

The same distinction returns in a liquorice liqueur. The ingredients list shows whether it contains only liquorice, or also a salty component. Which of the two you are looking for is a matter of preference; the bottle itself gives the answer.

A dropshot is not a separate legal category; the word shot only says how the drink is served, not what is in it. Regulation (EU) 2019/787 does not know the term shot.

What may appear on the label depends on the composition. If a bottle does not reach 15 percent alcohol or 100 grams of sugar per litre, the legal name liqueur may not appear on it and the drink must be sold under a different designation.

In the selection in Bathmen the alcohol percentages run from 14 to 30 percent. The lowest bottle is below 15 percent and therefore carries a different legal name than liqueur. The percentage is on every label, so you can check it per bottle.

Glycyrrhizin from liquorice has its own labelling rule, because larger quantities can retain fluid and raise blood pressure, according to the Voedingscentrum. The Voedingscentrum names three limits.

Above 100 milligrams per kilo, or 10 milligrams per litre, the label must state that the product contains liquorice. Above 4 grams per kilo, or 50 milligrams per litre, a warning is added that people with high blood pressure should avoid excessive consumption. For alcoholic drinks above 1.2 percent alcohol, the same warning applies from 300 milligrams per litre.

In 1998 the RIVM described in its report on the health risks of liquorice that an advisory limit of at most 200 milligrams of glycyrrhizin per day would protect the population to a considerable extent. With a liquorice liqueur or liquorice shot the amounts of drink are small, but the label remains the place where you find the warning.

Verkoop van droplikeur en dropshots is in Nederland verboden aan iemand onder de 18 jaar, zoals artikel 20 van de Alcoholwet bepaalt. Wij stellen de leeftijd vast en vragen om een legitimatie als daar aanleiding voor is, in de winkel en bij een bestelling. NIX18.

Licorice liqueur is sweet and is often served as a shot. The alcohol percentage is on every label, so it is clear how strong the drink is.

The Alcohol Expertise Centre of the Trimbos Institute sets out the Dutch drinking guidelines. The Health Council of the Netherlands advised no more than one standard glass per day, and the Trimbos Institute reports that in June 2026 the advice was changed to: there is no safe lower limit for alcohol consumption.