The 6 Best Cocktails to Make with Suze

Suze is perhaps the most iconic example of gentian liqueur, made with the bitter root of an Alpine flower. Equal parts intriguing and approachable, it’s an essential aperitif for anyone who enjoys bittersweet and herbal flavors. 

The golden-hued liqueur was first registered as a brand in 1889 by French businessmen Henri Porter and Fernand Moureaux, who had inherited his family’s distillery in the Paris suburb of Maisons-Alfort.

The idea of using gentian instead of wine as the base of an aperitif was novel at the time, though the origins of Suze’s recipe are murky—conflicting stories credit its creation to a Swiss herbalist, who sold it to Moureaux and Porter, or the director of the distillery’s laboratory. Its name, meanwhile, has been linked to both Moureaux’s sister-in-law and a small river in Switzerland where the ingredients were grown.

Suze’s now-signature bottle was designed in 1912, and even became the subject of a Pablo Picasso painting. As historian David Wondrich has reported, the liqueur was a popular aperitif in France by the 1920s. French company Pernod Ricard purchased Suze in 1965, but it wasn’t imported into the U.S. until 2012.

Today, Suze also produces three types of bitters as well as Racines de Suze, a higher-proof liqueur made with gentian root that has been grown for at least 25 years. 

What’s in Suze and What Does It Taste Like?

Suze is made with gentian, a bitter and herbal root that comes from a family of Alpine flowering plant. Gentian is used as a bittering agent in several famed bitter liqueurs like Aperol and Campari, but it’s the predominant flavor profile of Suze.

Suze employs fresh gentian root, which takes at least 10 years to reach maturity, after which it is picked, washed, cut, and left to macerate in neutral alcohol for at least a year. The juice is extracted and double-distilled before it’s blended with other proprietary herbs. 

Production takes place at the company’s factory in Thuir, in the Pyrénées Orientales department of France, where the quinine liqueur Byrhh and Pernod absinthe are also produced. 

Suze has a bright, verdant flavor profile, with a pleasant bitterness and citric and floral undertones. Though some tolerance for bitterness is required, it is slightly sweet and considered relatively approachable in the pantheon of bitter liqueurs. 

How to Use Suze

With a relatively low ABV of 15%, Suze is commonly consumed as an aperitif, or pre-meal drink. It’s delicious on its own over ice with a lemon twist, or topped with either tonic water or soda water.

Thanks to its bittersweet flavor profile, it often features in Negroni variations, most famously the White Negroni, which also includes gin and Lillet Blanc. 

Here are 6 great ways to use Suze in cocktails.