After multiple heatwaves it’s been a bumper year for blackberries around London. Parks are full of brambles. A great chance to try making a home-made blackberry liqueur, a crème de mûre. This is a lot quicker than making infusions like damson gin, and is ready to drink within days.

“Crème” liqueurs aren’t the same as “cream” liqueurs; here crème describes a silky, syrupy texture. Famous ones include mint (crème de menthe), chocolate (crème de cacao), blackcurrant (cassis), or of course blackberry (mûre). They date at least back to the 1800s in France, with crème de cassis invented by Auguste-Denis Lagoute in Dijon in 1841; forming the template for other crème liqueurs. Oddly, they also form a vital part of EU law. Products sold in one European country can generally be sold in all others. That wasn’t always true. Originally, Germany blocked the sale of Cassis de Dijon: in Germany fruit liqueurs must be at least 25% alcohol, whereas French crème de cassis was typically 15-20%. It went to court. Germany lost, and had to accept the French liqueur, and thus in 1979 the EU “principle of mutual recognition” was created and the “Cassis de Dijon” ruling has been taught ever since.

Once you’ve made your blackberry liqueur, before attempting to sell it in Germany, you should really try the Bramble cocktail, developed by famed cocktail guru Dick Bradsell in 1984 (among his other hits is the Espresso Martini, still consistently high in the charts). The Bramble is a gin sour with lemon and crème de mûre; recipe below. If you absolutely can’t wait, you can also make a delicious Fresh Bramble just using your fresh blackberries, before you’ve made the liqueur, recipe courtesy of yours truly in 2025.

Home-made blackberry liqueur (Crème de Mûre)

Difficulty: Easy

Volume

1.2

Litres

A sweet, fruity, easy and quick to make liqueur that is a fantastic drink to make with a glut of blackberries. It’ll help you make 32 different cocktails, so keep a bottle in the cocktail cabinet.

Ingredients

650g blackberries
1 bottle of red wine (750ml)
350g granulated sugar
150ml vodka

Directions

Pick your blackberries wherever you can. Just nice black ones that are ripe, but don’t worry if some get a bit damaged as they’ll be crushed.
Crush the blackberries and add the red wine into a container with a lid. I use a potato masher.
Leave in a cool, dark place for 3 days, shaking once or twice a day. I did 3½ days, but keep an eye as you don’t want anything to start fermenting or any mould.
Sieve out the blackberries and discard.
Very gentle heat the mixture with the sugar just until the sugar dissolves. This should only take a minute or two on a low heat.
Mix in the vodka and bottle.

Notes

I used a cabernet sauvignon, which is maybe a bit on the assertive side, although all the fruit and sugar will dominate anyway. Something like a merlot might be better still.

To use this in a tasty cocktail, make a Bramble:

40ml gin
30 ml fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar syrup
12.5ml Crème de Mûre as above

The classic and dramatic presentation would feature the blackcurrant liqueur poured over crushed ice at the end, but it is wonderful just all shaken together with ice and served in a coupe.