Just thought you should all be aware of a new drink I’m in the process of launching called Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur.

It is a combination of Dutch chocolate, cream and premium vodka and more information on it can be seen at http://www.vermeeruk.com

The drink can be enjoyed on the rocks, as part of cocktails or to help create many delicious recipes.

If anyone has any queries about the drink, please do email me at maureen@vermeerspirits.com

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the cocktail, Vermeer Spirits Limited challenge bartenders, mixologists and members of the public to create a new cocktail recipe using Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur as a main ingredient.

“Cocktail,” the term for mixed drinks, was first used in 1806 in the Balance & Columbian Repository journal as a description for a “stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters.” They went on, rather creatively, to add “It is vulgarly called a bittered sling and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said, also to be of great use to a Democratic candidate: because a person, having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow anything else.”

To mark this historic milestone, Vermeer Spirits Limited challenge cocktail creators across the UK to create a new drink using Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur, their unique blend of Dutch chocolate, cream and vodka, to create a delicious new cocktail. For inspiration, existing cocktails using Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur can be seen at http://www.vermeerspirits.com/content/the_mix.php where recipes include combinations with other liqueurs such as Chambord® or Toussaint Coffee Liqueur® and others with rum, SKYY® vodka or Amaretto®.

The winner, to be chosen by an independent tasting panel, will receive three cases of Vermeer along with various other prizes. One second prize winner will receive one case and two third prize winners will receive a bottle each.

Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur is available from retailers including Partridges of Soho, the Corney & Barrow Notting Hill Wine Shop, The City Beverage Company and Partridges of Sloane Square, as well as through wholesalers including Coe Vintners, Venus & Company, Amathus Wines and Malcolm Cowen. To purchase online go to http://www.drinkon.com or http://www.drinkfinder.co.uk

Cocktail recipes should be submitted, complete with an appropriate name for the drink, by email to Maureen Muirhead of Vermeer Spirits Limited at info@vermeerspirits.com or posted to 9 Royal Avenue, London, SW3 4QE by the cocktail hour on Friday 14th July 2006.

Please telephone Maureen Muirhead with queries on +44 (0) 20 7259 9990. Publications requiring imagery should email maureen@vermeerspirits.com to request JPEG images.

Almost 2 years later and still no reply?! I havebeen thinking a lot lately of making a chocolate liqueur for my little business. Any advice would be really welcome. Any recipes that anyone would care to share would also be lovely. What chocoalte? Whatpercentage? How much cream? What are the shelf life issues?
Thanks!