Paula Pumpernickel Men's Cream Liqueur

Herrencreme Liqueur is the Münsterland festive dessert in a glass

The Paula Pumpernickel Herrencreme Liqueur by Sasse is a cream liqueur with 17% ABV that recreates the traditional Münsterland festive dessert: vanilla, cream, dark chocolate, and a splash of rum. Creamy, sweet, familiar.

Paula Pumpernickel Herrencreme Liqueur is the liquid version of a dessert that belongs on every festive table in the Münsterland region: vanilla pudding with folded-in cream, coarsely chopped dark chocolate, and a generous splash of rum. The Sasse fine distillery in Schöppingen created this cream liqueur with 17% ABV in 2021, in collaboration with the Münsterland food blogger Paula Pumpernickel – available in a 700-milliliter bottle and as a small 200-milliliter version.

It pours into the glass a light beige color, with dark chocolate flecks inside. If you grew up in the Münsterland, it takes less than two seconds to recognize: this is Christmas at Grandma's, just in a bottle.

Vanilla, dark chocolate, and a splash of rum

On the palate, the Herrencreme liqueur reveals creamy vanilla, the sharp edge of chopped dark chocolate, and the warmth of overseas rum – exactly the three-part combination that defines the original.

It feels creamy, sweet, and familiar on the tongue, and with 17% ABV, it remains a liqueur for spooning rather than sipping. The chocolate is the decisive factor: it remains noticeable – small dark shards that provide resistance to the sweetness. The rum carries the whole experience and prevents it from becoming just a pudding.

Neat, over ice cream, in coffee

The Herrencreme liqueur is best enjoyed chilled and neat – over vanilla ice cream or vanilla pudding, it becomes the dessert from which it originates.

With a scoop of vanilla ice cream, you have a Münsterland dessert on the table in ten seconds that would otherwise take an hour in the kitchen. In coffee, it melts into a kind of evening latte, and anyone baking waffles can pour it over them instead of cream.

At Christmas, it is served with coffee and cake, in summer over a bowl of strawberries – vanilla and berries are old acquaintances. And when guests are over, simply place the bottle next to the ice cream tub and let everyone serve themselves. Nobody ever doses it too lightly.

The three varieties in the series are worth comparing: in addition to Herrencreme, there is Salted Caramel and Café au Lait. All three are part of the Paula Pumpernickel family, and for those who want to get a taste first, the 200-milliliter bottle is the way to go.

Every family has its own recipe

The Sasse fine distillery has been working since 2021 with Paula Pumpernickel, a blogger who has been collecting and presenting Münsterland specialties for years.

"When it comes to Herrencreme, every family has 'their' original recipe," says Rüdiger Sasse – and that was exactly the difficulty. How do you recreate a dessert that everyone has a different version of in their head? The answer was to stick to the core ingredients: vanilla, cream, chocolate, rum. Whatever comes after that is determined by the individual's spoon.

Distilling takes place in Schöppingen, where a distillery has stood since 1707 and Rüdiger Sasse runs the house in the 15th generation. At the World Spirits Award in 2025, the distillery was the only Korn distillery in Germany to be named a World-Class Distillery – one of 18 worldwide. Worlds lie between a ten-year-aged barrique Korn and a pudding liqueur, and both are created under the same roof.

Into the fridge, not the bar

Belongs in the fridge, not the bar – cream liqueur likes it cold, and the chocolate shards are best enjoyed chilled. Give it a quick shake before pouring so everything is distributed. Over vanilla ice cream, in coffee, or neat in a small glass after a meal. Once opened, it will keep for a few weeks when refrigerated, which is the rule for cream liqueurs.