Spirits | North America | New York | C. Cassis
C. Cassis
Summary
C. Cassis is a domestic botanical blackcurrant liqueur crafted by Rachael Petach with fresh blackcurrants from the Hudson Valley.
Crème de cassis is traditionally made from macerating grain neutral spirits with just sugar and black currants (a.k.a. cassis), but Petach has created a blackcurrant aperitif inspired by Spanish Ratafia. The process happens just a few miles from where the black currants are grown—a feat that would have been illegal (!) for most of the 20th century.
While currants are popular across Europe, they have a limited fan base stateside because the federal government banned currant-growing back in 1911. The fruit was thought to harbor a tree-damaging disease called white pine blister rust. Disease-resistant strains were cultivated over time. The federal government left regulation up to the states in 1966, and in 2003, a Hudson Valley fruit farmer named Greg Quinn pursued New York to lift the ban. His black currants form the base of Current Cassis today.
