Boysenberry Liqueur has always been a crowd favourite since its limited release over 10 years ago. For our very first batch we were gifted a pallet of fruit after a nervous phone call from one of the local growers who forgot to turn their chiller room on resulting in the boysenberries just starting to ferment; perfect for us.
We have always been inspired by stories of the old days of Southern Germany where each township had its own small distillery, a co-op system of turning the village’s excess fruit into precious schnapps and liqueurs to be enjoyed year-round. We searched for as much information as possible on the old European recipes and over the years we have perfected our process. A traditional liqueur is made by first making a simple wine with the tasty little berries, from there they are distilled into Schnapps and from there into a Liqueur. While each part of the process produces delightful results, the Boysenberry Liqueur is truly a sensational spirit.
New Zealand is one of only three countries that grow this surprisingly rare berry. Our Boysenberries come from the glorious fruit bowl region of Tasman, where arguably the best Boysenberries in New Zealand are grown, where the berries are hand harvested at the perfect peak of sun ripe. Supermarkets today want only the prettiest berries for their shelves, not us, we are happy with the cosmetically imperfect berries, those that edge on overripe and are bursting with sweetness.
Boysenberries have a wonderful flavour profile, no surprise it’s such a well-loved berry. Originally made by crossing Raspberries, Blackberries, Dewberries and Loganberries, this delicious combination of fruits has created an excellent flavour balance of sweet, tart, and utterly decadent.
We are incredibly proud of our Boysenberry Liqueur and find it immensely fun to use. Some of our favourite things we use Boysenberry Liqueur for are drizzling it over Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, adding it to cheesecakes, trifles, or many other desserts for that extra bit of decadence. It goes stunningly well with your favourite bubbles as a Kir Royal or in a multitude of other cocktails. You can check out our website’s cocktail page for our favourites or let your imagination run wild and create your own masterpiece with this incredibly versatile and exquisite Liqueur.