Colour yellow & green Introduced 1904 | Proof (US) 40-48 Manufacturer Rémy Cointreau | |
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Variants Yellow Izarra, Green Izarra Similar Pisang Ambon, Chartreuse, Boukha, Bénédictine, Noilly Prat | ||
Izarra is a sweet liqueur made in Bayonne in the French Basque Country. This liqueur of basque origin is now produced in Angers, far from the original distillery.
Contents
Types
There are three varieties of Izarra:
Pyrenean herbs and other flavourings are used in a fifteen-month process to produce the liqueur. Four different liquids are produced: alcohol distilled with herbal flavorings; a liquid resulting from the soaking of prunes and walnut shells in armagnac; syrup of sugar and local acacia honey; and a colouring infusion of saffron for the yellow and several plants for the green variety. The liqueur matures for six months in barrels before it is bottled.
In recent years the company has begun to diversify its range and has added varieties such as Izarra Manzana Verde.
Izarra is drunk on its own, on ice or in cocktails, frequently with gin. It can be found in chocolates and desserts. The drink is ubiquitous in the Northern Basque Country and is also found in the rest of France and parts of Europe. Traditionally the company has used the slogan Le soleil et la neige des Pyrénées ("the sun and the snow of the Pyrenees").
History
Joseph Grattau, a botanist, bought the recipe in the late 19th century for a traditional Basque liqueur dating back at least to 1835. He renamed it Izarra (Basque for "the star") and began selling it from 1904 onwards. He acquired the present production site at Quai Bergeret 9 in Bayonne in 1913. Izarra has been owned by Rémy Cointreau since the early 1980s.