Briottet Liqueur de Coquelicot de Nemours (Poppy Liqueur) 18% 70cl

Briottet Liqueur de Coquelicot de Nemours is a poppy liqueur made from the bright red wild poppy flowers of the papaver genus.

Maison Briottet is a family business, founded in 1836, and has been run by the 6th generation of the Briottet family, Claire and Vincent, since 2014. The Maison is located in the centre of the town of Dijon in the Burgundy wine-growing region. Originally, the family were negociants of Burgundy wine, involved with ageing, blending, bottling and selling the wines. Following the development, and massive popularity of the Blanc Cassis Aperitif (white wine with Crème de Cassis also known as a Kir), in the 1900s, the company progressively focused its activities on producing fruit crèmes, liquors, brandies and Marcs de Bourgogne.

Maison Briottet maintains a very high level of quality. It is the selection of the ripest fruit, locally sourced where possible, from the most suitable cultivars that provides for the finest flavours. The first step on the ladder in the process is contracting the right growers to produce the finest, best quality, ripe fruit. Then, at the headquarters, the fruits undergo carefully observed maceration with very pure neutral alcohol and blending with the correct proportion of sugars to achieve the balance between fruit flavour, sweetness, acidity and alcohol to create top of the range crèmes and liqueurs.

 Wild poppies are harvested in June and July mainly from fields that have been left fallow. It is rumoured to have medicinal qualities particularly against coughs. In 1872 the master confectioner Desserey of Nemours (northern France) created a speciality of the region called “poppy drops”, a flat rectangular red hard candy or pastille, using a poppy flavoured liqueur. In 1996 chocolatier Des Lis rediscovered this speciality and it can be found at their website.