🥃 Passoã

Passoã is a liqueur whose main ingredient is passion fruit. It was created in France in the mid-1980s and launched in Europe in 1986. Its strength is about 17% ABV, and since 2020 the brand has been fully owned by the Dutch company Lucas Bols. That is why catalogues list both France and the Netherlands as the country.

History. The brand was created and long owned by Rémy Cointreau. In December 2016 Rémy Cointreau and Lucas Bols set up the joint venture Passoã SAS: Bols ran day-to-day operations, while Rémy was responsible for production. On 4 December 2020 Lucas Bols bought Rémy's stake for 71.3 million euros. Production was then moved from Angers in France to the firm Avandis in the Netherlands, with bottling there due to start in January 2021.

How it is made. The base is passion fruit; the full recipe has not been disclosed, so we do not guess the variety or method. The strength in open data is about 17% ABV; this is typical for a fruit liqueur, so check it on the label.

The range. In the open sources we checked, Passoã is presented as one main liqueur; we do not list flavoured variants for now.

Why this matters to you. Liqueurs contain sugar, which sets them apart from classic spirits. Passoã is often used in cocktails, where the strength is diluted further, but that does not mean less alcohol in total. The WHO reminds us: there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.