A Beginner's Guide to Creme de Cassis

While you might not find yourself reaching for fruit liqueurs as often as you do your favorite sweet vermouth, bitters, or a top-shelf gin, learning to harness the powers of certain bottles can help round out your mixed drinks and infuse a bit of unexpected history into your cocktail hour chatter. 

Créme de cassis is a French blackcurrant liqueur with a 150-year history, and is commonly used to add sweet, tart blackberry flavor to cocktails. Read on to learn how best to integrate créme de cassis into your bar.

What is créme de cassis?

This violet French liqueur is made from macerated blackcurrants, which gives it a rich, layered sweet flavor. You’ll notice that this flavor is balanced by the tannins and tartness commonly associated with blackberries. 

Not all créme de cassis is made equal, and there are various expressions that you can find on the market today. “The famed créme de Dijon is held in such high esteem that there’s a detailed, four-page document of conditions that must be met for it to be labeled as such,” writes David Lebowitz in Drinking French: The Iconic Cocktails, Aperitifs, and Cafe Traditions of France. He notes that true crème de cassis de Dijon must be made from two types of black currants, which includes a variety known as Noir de Burgundy. This berry is much darker and richer in flavor and color, and using créme de Dijon will add a richer blackberry flavor to your final cocktail. 

If you’re looking for a modern, American twist on créme de cassis, we recommend trying C. Cassis, a silky, light purple-hued liqueur inspired by New York state’s abundance of blackcurrants. “I became obsessed with the flavor of fresh blackcurrants and the plant’s relative absence from American agriculture,” says Rachael Petach, founder of C.Cassis. “Blackcurrant liqueur is typically known as being concentrated and quite sweet. What I make with C. Cassis is more in conversation with the qualities of the fresh fruit that are sometimes more difficult to parse in most conventional liqueur — its acidity, depth, and herbaceousness.”

Does créme de cassis contain dairy?

Créme de cassis is entirely dairy-free! The name is somewhat misleading, and is actually a reference to the smooth, cream-like texture of the liqueur. 

How can I use créme de cassis?

The most traditional way to use créme de cassis is to make a Kir cocktail, for which you’ll also need a bottle of Aligoté, an acidic, dry white wine from Burgundy; other dry white wines, like Riesling, also work well. If you want to make things a bit fancier with bubbly and make a Kir Royale, feel free to substitute Crémant de Bourgogne (to keep things French), Champagne, or even sparkling Chenin Blanc. Another classic créme de cassis cocktail, the El Diablo, calls for tequila, lime juice, and ginger beer.

For those taking the modern route with a bottle of C. Cassis, we suggest trying a one-to-one C. Cassis Manhattan, or subbing it in for some of the vodka in an Espresso Martini. Petach also loves combining it with beer. “We have a cocktail on the tasting room menu that’s a highbrow ice beer; C. Cassis on ice with a squeeze of citrus, a splash of Matchbook Distilling sunchoke spirit, topped with Another Moon rye saison. It’s unique, seasonal, and delicious.”