Butterscotch Liqueur
Butterscotch, the old British confection of brown sugar and butter, rendered drinkable over neutral spirit. It behaves as liquid sugar with an engine, so it counts as both the drink’s sweetener and part of its spirit.
Quick Facts
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Brown sugar and melted butter in liquid form, vanilla behind: confectionery first, spirit second.
Storage & Handling
Sealed and upright at room temperature: the sugar does the preserving.
Shelf Life
Unopened: years. Opened: best within a year, though it fades rather than spoils.
Usage
Melted into hot apple juice or hot chocolate, poured into dessert shots, and giving winter serves their toffee centre. Cut the other sweeteners back in any spec that includes it, since it is sugar before it is spirit.
A Product of the Schnapps Boom
Butterscotch liqueur arrived with the American schnapps boom of the 1980s, when flavoured spirit at friendly strength took over the shot rail. It takes butterscotch, the old British confection of brown sugar and butter, and renders it drinkable.
As with the peach and apple bottles from the same period, the American use of the word schnapps means a sweetened liqueur rather than the dry fruit brandy the word means in German. Nothing about this bottle is dry.
Sugar With an Engine
It behaves like caramel syrup that happens to contain alcohol: sweet enough to count as the drink’s sugar, strong enough to count towards its spirit. Specs that forget the first half turn out cloying.
Strengths vary widely across the category, from around 15% at the familiar end to nearer 24% in some bottlings, which is a large enough gap to change a drink. Check the bottle before building a spec around it rather than after.
It Belongs Warm
Its natural season is winter, and its natural format is hot. Warm apple juice, hot chocolate and bonfire-night serves give the sweetness a job to do, and heat is what stops a confection liqueur reading as syrup in a glass.
The low strength has a practical consequence here too. At around 15% it will not survive heavy dilution, so it wants a short shake or a warm build rather than a long shake over plenty of ice.
Keeping It
Sealed and upright at room temperature is enough, because the sugar concentration does the preserving and there is no dairy in a standard bottle to worry about.
That makes it an easy thing to own for one season a year, which is roughly how most bars use it. It will still be good next November, which is more than can be said for most of what gets bought for a single occasion.
There is no dairy in a standard butterscotch liqueur despite the butter in the name, which is why it does not need the fridge and does not curdle against acid the way a cream liqueur would. Cream versions exist and behave differently.
Top Tips
- Treat it as liquid sugar with an ABV: cut back on other sweeteners in any spec that includes it.
- It shines warm: hot apple juice or hot chocolate lengthen it without a shaker in sight.
- At around 15% ABV it will not survive heavy dilution: shake short or build it warm.
Possible Substitutions
- Caramel syrup plus vodka: the deconstruction
- Butterscotch syrup: the flavour without the alcohol
Production Method
Neutral spirit sweetened and flavoured with butterscotch: the brown-sugar-and-butter confection rendered as a liqueur. De Kuyper Buttershots, the category benchmark, bottles at 15% ABV; other brands and markets run stronger, so the label is the authority.
Common Questions
Is butterscotch schnapps the same as butterscotch liqueur?
In a bar, yes. The American use of schnapps covers sweetened flavoured liqueurs rather than the dry fruit brandies the word means in German, so the two names describe the same bottle regardless of which one the label prints.
How strong is butterscotch liqueur?
It varies more than most categories, from around 15% at the familiar end to nearer 24% in some bottlings. That is a wide enough gap to change a drink, so the bottle is worth checking before a spec is built around it.
What drinks use butterscotch liqueur?
Dessert shots and winter warmers. It melts into hot apple juice, sits happily beside hot chocolate, and gives bonfire-night serves their toffee centre. Heat is what stops it reading as plain syrup, which is why it belongs in warm drinks.
Does butterscotch liqueur contain dairy?
A standard bottle does not, despite the butter in the name, which is why it keeps at room temperature and does not curdle against acid the way a cream liqueur would. Cream versions of it do exist and behave quite differently.
Featured In These Cocktails
Often Used With
Guide by Jerry Can Spirits