Creme De Banane
A banana-flavored liqueur used to add tropical sweetness to cocktails like the Bananas Foster Martini.
Origin
France, the same late 19th/early 20th-century origin as banana liqueur more broadly - "creme de banane" is simply the French name for the category.
History
Creme de banane developed in France as bananas became a fashionable new tropical import in the late 1800s, with mentions of banana brandy dating to the 1850s evolving into a proper creme de banane by the early 1900s. Historic houses like Combier, Marie Brizard, and Bols helped standardize the category, and it anchored early classic cocktails like the 1930s-era Banana Bliss and Waterloo.
Flavor profile
Sweet and distinctly banana-flavored, often with a concentrated, almost candy-like banana intensity.
Tasting notes
A bold, ripe-banana sweetness dominates, more concentrated and less subtle than fresh fruit, useful for adding banana flavor to a drink without needing fresh bananas on hand.
Substitutes
- Banana liqueur from a different brand, since it's functionally the same product under an English name.
- Ripe mashed banana with added sugar, for a fresher but less shelf-stable substitute.
- A banana-flavored syrup, for a non-alcoholic version of the same flavor.
