Crème Yvette

I have my bottle of the reincarnated Crème Yvette. It is flower and fruit, and every shade of purple. It surpasses all expectations of richness, complexity and beauty. It is royal. The color is elusive and hard to photograph. While the prevailing hue seems to be from its four berry constituents, making a Blue Moon a lilac one, it picks up any hidden flashes of blue light in the room like an amethyst. A touch in a cocktail transforms it, refracting through gin, citrus, vermouth, even cacao. A deep and mysterious spirit.



Of course, after a small glass of awestruck wonder, I whipped up some pretty sweet drinks.

First up was the Blue Moon, so good with Rothman & Winter’s awesome lavender-blue Crème de Violette. As noted, Yvette made for a warmer purple than the Violette. Dr. Cocktail says that an egg white is a nice touch, so I added one white for two drinks, which gave it a lunar translucence. Maybe if I upped the egg, it would have foamed interestingly too. The proportions, minus the egg, came from the version on the official site.



Blue Moon

• 1 1/2 oz London dry gin
• 3/4 oz Crème Yvette
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1 egg white

Dry shake until egg is blended, then add ice, shake and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE

After that, I tried the Dr. Cocktail version of 2 oz gin, 1/2 oz Yvette or Violette, 1/2 oz lemon, but I think I prefer those proportions with Crème de Violette. As my housemate notes, there’s something over-the-top about the first version that suits the Yvette better.

We also tried a vermouth version from the CocktailDB. Really elegant.

Blue Moon Variation

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 3/4 dry vermouth
• 1/4 Crème Yvette
• 1 dash orange bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: COCKTAILDB

Last but not least was one adapted from the Crème Yvette site and also found in the CocktailDB, the Perpetual. This is all vermouth and liqueurs and begged for some gin, so I gave it some. It was the standout, don’t-miss, surprise hit drink of the set.

The Perpetual Fog

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
• 1/2 oz dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz Crème Yvette
• 1/4 oz light Crème de Cacao

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE



Very warm thanks to the awesome Robert Cooper for bringing this great liqueur to us, and thanks to all the cocktailians who kept plugging for its return.