British Framboise

Travel Distilled reviews British Framboise, a raspberry liqueur from White Heron Drinks in Herefordshire in England.

I fell in love with framboise at the very first sip, when I discovered it on a visit to France. But British framboise?

Framboise is such a very French-sounding drink and word (it’s the French for raspberry) that at first the thought of a British framboise just doesn’t sound right. But then, not too long ago the thought of English whiskies and Scottish vodkas didn’t sound right either, but today good spirits are being made everywhere, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with the quality of British raspberries.

White Heron Drinks

This British Framboise is made by a company in the heart of England’s Herefordshire countryside, White Heron Drinks. They’re based on the Whittern Estate, which dates back to 1876 when Whittern Farm was bought by the Green family, which still runs it today.

In 1880 the first blackcurrants were grown in the farm’s kitchen garden. They were soon growing strawberries and raspberries, planting cider orchards (Herefordshire is prime English cider country), as well as raising sheep and chickens, and with a prize-winning herd of Hereford bulls. The farm became one of the limited number of approved suppliers to the British soft drinks company, Ribena, providing them with their blackcurrants.

A Red Royale Cocktail made with British Framboise raspberry liqueur — A Red Royale Cocktail with British Framboise

British Cassis

In 2005 present owner Jo Hilditch diversified and used some of their quality blackcurrant crop to produce a British cassis and by 2008 this was being sold in London’s famous Fortnum and Mason store.

The White Heron

So why White Heron? Well, check back to the name of the farm, Whittern, which derives from White Ern, or White Heron. This bird is also known as the Great White Egret, and used to be common on the farm though is only now occasionally seen.

Tasting British Framboise

For a long time British Cassis was the only drink White Heron produced, but at last it’s been joined by British Framboise, using the estate’s raspberries. It’s an appealing dark red colour, and on the nose I was expecting it to be very sweet, one of those sticky-sweet liqueur aromas. Instead, it was a balanced mix of the sweetness of raspberries with a tartness that reminded me of cherries. As far as I’m aware there’s not a cherry in sight, but there’s still that pleasing blend of sweet and tart.

This British Framboise is 15% ABV, though on the palate it tasted to me much stronger than that. It certainly has an alcoholic punch, when sampled neat. It’s sweeter on the tasting, although still with a little restraining tartness.

This is a very versatile drink. It works as an aperitif, as an alternative to sherry, calvados or vermouth, say. It’s also good as a lighter digestif than, for example, brandy or cognac, if you don’t want something quite as strong as those.

I can also imagine serving this with a good ice-cream for dessert, with guests having the option to drink it neat or pour it over their ice-cream.

British Framboise Cocktails

This will also make a good cocktail ingredient, and the White Heron website recommends several, including a delicious-sounding and delicious-looking Berry-Choc Surprise:

35ml White chocolate liqueur

35ml British Framboise

10ml Double cream

Shake hard with ice in a cocktail shaker, double strain into a glass. Decorate with grated white or dark chocolate and chocolate dipped raspberries.