A Jigger of Blog

Creme de Roses & Vicomte Cocktail

A good friend of mine just came back from a vacation in Paris. She was kind enough to offer to pick me up a present in her travels and I sent her a list of liqueurs and spirits that were produced in France, but unavailable in the US. I told her to surprise me, because I didn’t really know much about any of the liqueurs I was asking for — found courtesy of the Cocktail Database’s Defunct Ingredients category. I was pleased when my friend returned with a bottle of Creme de Roses. Naturally I had no idea what it would exactly taste like, but was hoping for a sweet but not too sweet floral liqueur that could be potent but not overpowering. Fortunately, I think that’s pretty much what I got.

The Creme de Roses is not as sweet or with as heady a bouquet as something like St. Germain Elderflower liqueur. It’s closer to creme de violet. I haven’t found a ton of recipes to use the Creme de Roses in, but did try out the Vicomte Cocktail last night:

Vicomte Cocktail

1 oz gin (Martin Miller’s gin)
3/4 oz dry vermouth (Noilly Pratt)
3/4 oz creme de roses

Stir and strain into cocktail glass

This was a pretty great cocktail. It was light and sweet. The creme de roses is subtle enough that while giving the drink real sweetness, it still left meaningful access to the gin and vermouth. I might try this with even slightly less creme de roses or a different gin to see how it can be better tweaked for my tastes, but all in all this was a great first go with the creme de roses.

If anyone know of other cocktails with Creme de Roses or has ideas for cocktails that might work with a liqueur like this, please feel free to leave suggestions in the comments.