Cocktails with Crème de Violette liqueur
Crème de violette is a sweet, purple-to-blue liqueur made by macerating violet flowers in brandy, neutral spirit, or a blend of the two.
ABV20–25%
Substitutes for Crème de Violette liqueur
Another violet liqueur works one for one, whatever its strength (16–25%). Or leave it out, as Harry Craddock's 1930 Aviation did: the drink loses its color and floral note but stays balanced. Where violet is the main flavor, use a substitute instead. Violet syrup (such as Monin) is roughly three to five times as sweet, so use a third of the measure.
Parfait d’Amour / Crème Yvette
Purple liqueurs in which violet, if present, shares the stage. Bols Parfait Amour adds rose, vanilla, orange and almond, Marie Brizard's has no violet at all, and Crème Yvette mixes violet with berries and honey. In the same measure they give the color with a fruitier, less floral taste.
Violet syrup with a neutral spirit
Syrup brings the flower and the color. Mixed 1 part to 2 parts vodka, it comes to about 27% and 245 g of sugar per liter, close to the liqueurs.
On the label
- “crème de”
- Nothing to do with cream. EU rules set a minimum of 250 grams of sugar per liter for anything sold as crème de, and it is that sugar, not dairy, that gives the syrupy weight.
- color
