St Maur is not a liqueur that will languish at the back of your drinks cupboard; St Maur is a spirit to share and enjoy.
St Maur is 100% created from a place of love; in 2018, St Maur was created by its founders to add to English sparkling wine to make a royale cocktail for their wedding guests. And the rest, as they say, is history.
We might not have been guests at the wedding of makers, William and Kelsey Seymour, Earl and Countess of Yarmouth, but we sure feel like it.
They have developed St Maur as a versatile spirit to savour as a sip, to use as a hero ingredient in cocktails, and to create many easy long drinks perfect for brunch with friends and to serve at parties.
Along the way, St Maur has picked up international awards and acclamation – and it’s easy to see why.
If you prefer an occasional cocktail strong, try a truly English Martini made with St Maur elderflower liqueur, dry gin, and just a hint of rosemary; shaken, of course, not stirred. In a more accessible incarnation, St Maur makes a sublime Hugo cocktail: St Maur elderflower liqueur, freshly squeezed lime juice, mint leaves, ice, topped up with Prosecco. And for evenings by the fire: St Maur on its own over ice.
They have given St Maur bags of flavour, imbued the product with a natural light peach pink colour as a nod to “the colour of love”, and have crafted an outstandingly well-made drink.
There is an intense elderflower-lead nose with aromatic white flowers, beautiful red berry fruit, and crisp, zesty citrus aromas. St Maur is big, easy and natural on the palate, with a pronounced fruity and floral richness and no hint of bitterness.
There is nicely positioned supporting soft red berry fruit, with the citrus zest keeping it fresh. Not too sweet like many others tend to be from this genre, it has a great balance between sugar and acidity and a long pleasing finish. St Maur is a very well made example of a contemporary English style floral liqueur with a lovely ‘grown up’ elegance to it.
Indeed, the drink was rated the Best English Floral at the 2021 World Liqueur Awards, awarded a 2 Star Great Taste rating when it was first released to the market in 2020, and picked up Gold at the Las Vegas Global Spirits Awards last year. This early international success proves I’m not alone in my taste test verdict. It’s clearly a winning recipe – and word is spreading fast.
It’s a brand with a heck of a back story too! On the bottle’s label are map coordinates which take you to a wild elder grove in the ancient woodlands in Warwickshire surrounding the Ragley Estate which were passed to William by his grandfather, Hugh 8th Marquess of Hertford.
In late spring and early summer, William and Kelsey pick the wild elderflowers that go into St Maur (and yes, they do pick the elderflowers themselves). The name, St Maur, revives the surname the Seymour family used in the early Middle Ages, in a family that traces its lineage back to Jane Seymour, the wife of Henry VIII, and then far and wide beyond that. How’s that for provenance?
St Maur is an exciting artisanal product, at home in a growing segment of the UK alcohol beverage market for drinks that have a great story, a sustainable element, and most importantly great taste.
Now, I’ll drink to that!
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Amanda Chalmers
A journalist for three decades, I now run an award-winning PR agency in Warwick and, through my clients and my reviews, love discovering and showcasing the diverse and burgeoning food and drink scene in the county and beyond.