Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur is a sweet liqueur

Liqueur

A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.The...

 made of Dutch chocolate, cream

Cream

Cream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, over time, the lighter fat rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators"...

, and vodka

Vodka

Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....

. It was created by Maurice Kanbar

Maurice Kanbar

Maurice Kanbar is an American entrepreneur and inventor who lives in San Francisco, California. He is particularly well-known for his creation of SKYY vodka, and is also noted for his extensive real estate investments.-Biography:...

 who tested it for five years before presenting the liqueur to the public in 2001. Vermeer is 34 U.S. proof (17% alcohol by volume

Alcohol by volume

Alcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage .The ABV standard is used worldwide....

) and the bottles are labeled with an image of Johannes Vermeer's

Johannes Vermeer

Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...

 Girl with a Pearl Earring

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Girl with a Pearl Earring is a painting by Johannes Vermeer.Girl With a Pearl Earring may also refer to:* Girl with a Pearl Earring , by Tracy Chevalier* Girl with a Pearl Earring...

.

Kanbar, who also developed SKYY vodka

SKYY vodka

SKYY vodka is produced by SKYY Spirits LLC in San Francisco, California. SKYY Vodka is 40% ABV or 80 proof; SKYY 90 Vodka is a 90 proof high-priced brand aimed at martini drinkers. When SKYY Spirits LLC first launched in 1992 SKYY vodka was its first product; its creator, Maurice Kanbar, claims the...

, wanted to create "a liqueur as perfect as a Vermeer painting." The Vermeer liqueur benefited from the popularity of chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

 in the early 2000s, and was included in the "Chocolate Shows" (held annually in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 since 1998) of 2001 and 2002.

Vermeer is served with ice on the rocks, or it can be mixed in a chocolate martini cocktail or added to coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 or hot chocolate

Hot chocolate

Hot chocolate is a heated beverage typically consisting of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and sugar...

. It is also used to create sauces, such as for ice cream

Ice cream

Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...

.

Recognition

Gambit Weekly

Gambit Weekly

Gambit is a New Orleans, Louisiana-based free alternative weekly newspaper that was established in 1981 as Gambit Weekly. Gambit features reporting about local politics, news, food and drink, arts, music, film, events, environmental issues and other topics, as well as listings...

praised it as "ridiculously silky", and the Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...

gave positive reviews to two different cocktails made with the liqueur--the "Coco Colado" (3 oz. Vermeer, 1 oz. coconut rum, 2 oz. milk poured over ice and garnished with orange or pineapple slice and cherry) and the "Vermeer Valentine" (2 oz. Vermeer, 1 oz. vodka, and 1/2 oz. Chambord, shaken over ice)