John DeKuyper & Sons – Crave

If you are looking for that perfect gift for the holidays or just want to create an exceptional party for your guests, Beam Inc. is launching John DeKuyper & Sons™ Crave Chocolate Liqueurs featuring three tempting flavors – Chocolate Cherry, Chocolate Mint and Chocolate Chili.

With a suggested retail price of $17.99 per 750 mL bottle, this premium line of chocolate liqueurs offers a delectable and enjoyable experience just in time for the upcoming fall and holiday season.

DeKuyper is the #1-selling line of domestic cordials showcasing nearly 60 mixable and versatile flavors of cordials, liqueurs, crèmes, brandies and schnapps.  DeKuyper was founded in Holland in 1695 by Johannes DeKuyper & Son and for more than 300 years has been the brand to turn to for refreshing and unique liqueurs.

The Fuzzy Navel was inspired and created by DeKuyper® Peachtree® Schnapps in the mid-80’s and  DeKuyper® Pucker® Sour Apple Schnapps inspired the creation of the Appletini in the mid-90’s.

JDK & Sons™ Crave balances chocolate with natural flavors fulfilling your desire for the enchanting taste of chocolate and pairing it with three distinct flavors to create a mouthwatering liquer.

• Crave Chocolate Cherry Liqueur delivers a smooth, rich tasting experience similar to that of the classic cherry cordial. The taste of sweet cherries takes center stage and is complimented by hints of cocoa. It leaves a sweet finish on the palate with notes of fruit, vanilla and bittersweet chocolate.
• Crave Chocolate Mint Liqueur is ideal for peppermint lovers. The experience begins with the tastes of sweet chocolate and vanilla, which gradually introduces peppermint to the palate and finishes with an intriguing and pleasant cooling effect.
• Crave Chocolate Chili Liqueur offers a delicious and surprising twist with its hint of heat. The sweet flavor of milk chocolate, which is enhanced with notes of vanilla and caramel, slowly gives way to the tingly warmth of chili peppers and offers the perfect balance of sweetness with a subtle kick.

“Launching just in time for the holiday entertaining season, JDK & Sons™ Crave Chocolate Liqueurs provide chocolate lovers and cocktail enthusiasts alike with a new way to delight their senses during one of the most indulgent times of the year,” said Gary Ross, Director of Cordials and Rums for Beam Inc. “Whether treating yourself to a decadent cocktail or looking to create a memorable experience at your next holiday party, each distinctive flavor delivers the rich taste of chocolate paired with a unique flavor for an enticing way to satisfy your cravings.”

JDK & Sons™ Crave is by the same token superb when served over ice or as a distinct addition to any cocktail.  Several cocktail recipes are listed below.  Additional recipes and information can be found at http://www.dekuyperusa.com/crave.

Crave Cherry Macaroon Martini

1 part JDK & Sons™ Crave Chocolate Cherry Liqueur

1 part Cruzan® Coconut Rum

Splash of Soda

Method: Shake all ingredients (except soda) with ice. Strain into a martini glass and top with a splash of soda. Garnish with a Maraschino cherry.

Crave Luscious Mint Russian

1 part JDK & Sons™ Crave Chocolate Mint Liqueur

1 part EFFEN® Vodka

Splash of Milk

Method: Build ingredients over ice in an old fashioned glass. Add a splash of milk to make it even more luscious.

Crave Grown-Up Chili Hot Chocolate

2-3 parts JDK & Sons™ Crave Chocolate Chili Liqueur

Hot Chocolate

Method: Pour Liqueur in a warmed coffee mug and add hot chocolate to taste.  Top with whipped cream.

Beam is proud to be one of the world’s leading first-rate spirits companies, and focuses on delivering high-class performance with its matchless combination of scale with agility and a strategy of Creating Famous Brands, Building Winning Markets and Fueling Our Growth.

To learn more about all their products by visiting: www.beamglobal.com and www.drinksmart.com

the Chocolate

Image is everything.  Famed British chocolatier, the Chocolate, is taking the essence of that to a whole new level with their luxury chocolate.  After all, why not have the packaging match what’s inside?

Described by the luxury brand, Harrods of London, as “the most luxurious chocolate experience in the world.” After trying these “to die for” truffles ourselves, we wholeheartedly agree! The Chocolate is now enrobing its delicious chocolates in edible pure 24-carat gold, and then housing them in a Swarovski adorned boutique box.

Not saturated with sugar or high fructose corn syrup or preservatives, the Chocolate offers over 60% cocoa chocolates with its peak benefits: reducing blood pressure, reducing chances of diabetes, lowers LDL and raises HDL cholesterol.  Aside from being the most expensive food in the world, pure gold has also been suggested to have an impact on symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis and its usage complies with the European and American Food Additive Standards.

The Chocolate’s extravagant truffles are created with ingredients carefully selected from a small, artisan chocolate maker just outside Pisa, Tuscany.  The Tuscany Black 63% chocolate has won the coveted Academy of Chocolate Award of “Golden Bean” for best bean to bar in the world.

The cocoa beans are refined using the traditional granite stone mill to give the chocolates their smooth taste, and the cocoa beans are grounded to no more than 15 microns, which also adds to the smooth texture of the chocolates.  The industry standard is about 30 microns and the human mouth can detect a granule size of anything over 18 microns.

The Chocolate is a family run business that prides themselves on their pure focus and honest desire to create the best chocolate in the world.

Using recycled material for the box itself, each chocolate case is hand crafted so that no two boxes will ever be the same.  Between 200 and 450 Swarovski Crystals adorn each Bambina or Boutique box inside and out.  In addition, each box is numbered with its own certificate and is hand made in the UK.

Hand crafted boxes and the artisan truffles have proved that the Chocolate is applying chocolatier pride into all aspects their products.  The company’s chocolates range in price from from $32 USD to over $300 USD per box.

For additional information, please visit: http://www.the-chocolate.com

The New York Palace

The New York Palace, located on the corner of 50th & Madison offers guests the ultimate in old-world elegance and new-world opulence.

Located in the heart of Manhattan, The New York Palace offers 805 luxury rooms and 88 suites. The luxury New York hotel is widely known for its unparalleled splendor, spectacular views, sumptuous rooms and exquisite service.

The New York Palace is celebrating the arrival of Spring, Easter and the 60th birthday of the iconic LINDT GOLD BUNNY with the Gold Chocolate Package.

This special package features premium Lindt chocolate experiences that allow hotel guests to indulge during their stay. A themed hotel package, a custom-created Gold Chocolate Weekend Brunch featuring the LINDT GOLD BUNNY in restaurant Istana, and giant LINDT GOLD BUNNY figures greeting guests from the hotel courtyard all help to usher in the Easter season and spring weather.

The Palace’s Gold Chocolate package includes luxury accommodations and a variety of ways to enjoy premium Lindt chocolate, including a $100 daily food and beverage credit, which can be used towards the Gold Chocolate Weekend Brunch, and an iconic LINDT GOLD BUNNY and special welcome amenity.

The Palace’s Pastry Chefs have custom created a Gold Chocolate Weekend Brunch, featuring the LINDT GOLD BUNNY and premium chocolate dishes, including:
· Raspberry Lemon Pancakes, made with Lindt Classic Recipe White Chocolate Mousse and Almond Brittle Crumble
· “Banana Split” Belgium Waffle, with Chocolate Ice Cream, Caramelized Banana, and Lindt Chocolate Fudge Sauce
· Orange Brioche French Toast, with indulgent Lindt EXCELLENCE 70% Cocoa Ganache, Citrus Segments
· Crème Patisserie Crepes with “Hot Chocolate Affogato”, with Vanilla Bean Gelato, and Shaved Lindt EXCELLENCE A Touch of Sea Salt Chocolate

Two limited-edition chocolate desserts will also be offered at the special brunch, including: a Lindt Classic Recipe White Chocolate macadamia tart with coconut ice cream and Lindt EXCELLENCE 70% Cocoa ganache; and a Lindt chocolate sphere with blood orange brulee paired with a flourless Lindt chocolate brownie. All that glitters at Istana may not be real gold, but it is all certain to be delicious. Over the past 60 years, LINDT GOLD BUNNY has been a cherished centerpiece of families’ Easter celebrations.

Today, LINDT GOLD BUNNY is the #1 selling chocolate bunny in the United States*, and fills Easter baskets in more than 60 countries. In honor of this special milestone birthday, two oversized LINDT GOLD BUNNY figures will greet visitors in the Palace courtyard, perfectly situated for photos.

Hotel package rates start at $369 per night with availability through April 21. Click Here to reserve the Gold Chocolate Package at The New York Palace, or please visit: www.newyorkpalace.com.

Hotel Vitale

Not only can you enjoy a Water View room at the luxury Hotel Vitale in San Francisco, but add a sweet treat through the end of February. Hotel Vitale features 199-rooms and is located at the intersection of The Embarcadero and Mission Street.

Hotel Vitale has partnered with TCHO chocolate factory along the scenic Embarcadero. TCHO is located in the heart of San Francisco, at Pier 17 on the legendary San Francisco waterfront, between Fisherman’s Wharf and the Ferry Building.

The Love and Luxury Naturally Package offered by Hotel Vitale features a couple’s side-by-side massage plus a tour of the famous TCHO chocolate factory.

The Hotel Vitale package is based on a two night stay with double occupancy and can be booked for $879 and the luxury package includes:

* Superior Water View Room; view virtual tour here
* Side-by-Side full session massage
* Sparkling wine and TCHO Chocolates upon arrival
* Tour of TCHO chocolate factory, transportation to & from hotel included

The Love and Luxury Naturally Package is subject to availability and blackout dates may apply, and is valid for stays between now and February 29th, 2012.

Hotel Vitale spa appointments are subject to availability and must be booked directly with the penthouse-level Spa Vitale prior to arrival. Please call 415-278-3788 for a reservation.

To learn more about TCHO, click here: http://www.tcho.com/tcho-is/tcho-is

For additional information on Hotel Vitale, please visit www.hotelvitale.com or call 415.278.3700.

Godiva Chocolate Infused Vodka

During the holidays or anytime for year, especially in Thailand, a good glass of vodka or rum with a fine cigar is sure to satisfy. Now toss in some “to die for” chocolate and you a have a recipe for danger. Godiva Chocolate Vodka is the perfect blend of vodka and decadent chocolate.

The new Godiva Chocolate Vodka is a five-times distilled ultra-premium vodka that’s infused with the essence of luxurious chocolates from the ultra-luxe, Godiva Chocolatier.

This wonderful tasting and cocoa-filled vodka goes down so easily and is quite delicious.

Godiva Chocolate Vodka is so smooth and delicious, you’re gonna think you’ve died and gone to heaven.

It’s the perfect holiday gift for both men and women. But wait, that’s not all. In addition to the Godiva Chocolate Infused Vodka, the company has also launched Godiva Raspberry Chocolate Infused Vodka!

You can enjoy each of the two vodka flavors in several ways – combine it to make a fabulous tasting cocktail or just drink it straight.

Either Godiva Chocolate Infused Vodka or Godiva Raspberry Chocolate Infused Vodka are ideal for that stylish female on your Christmas list who wants to be at the top of the latest, luxury trends.

For that special male, he’ll also enjoy the terrific taste of Godiva’s two vodka flavors. Godiva Vodka is now available at spirit retail stores nationwide for $29.99/bottle (750mL).

For rum lovers, don’t feel left out. In addition, try an ultra-premium sipping spirit – Zacapa Rum. Zacapa Rum is specially aged an incredible 8,000 feet above sea level in Guatemala, Central America.

Delicious tasting Zacapa Rum is carefully blended in a series of barrels, creating a fantastic spirit with a one-of-a-kind flavor that is truly unlike any other rum found today.

Courtesy of: Hotel Chocolat

CHOCOLATE! Just the word alone has power to make mouths water and conjure up a thousand images of well deserved treats, gorgeous desserts, warming drinks and fondly remembered moments that spring even from the earliest of childhood years.

In fact chocolate has become so much a natural part of life, a daily sight on grocery store shelves, restaurant sweet trolleys and coffee shop menus that no one ever questions whether it has become too mediocre, too boring, and just too plain ordinary.

Chocolate should be exciting. It should be fun, a true feast for the senses from the moment it is made to the moment it is swallowed. Chocolate should be passionate and brilliant; an experience to be talked about and longed for and shared with pleasure.

This is the thinking behind Hotel Chocolat and it is the continuing driving principal guiding Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris as they embark on a quest to put new thrill into chocolate for consumers across the United States.

From small beginnings as a mail order supplier in the UK through to an award-winning website that has brought a dedicated following of chocolate connoisseurs from all over the world, and now to exclusive retail stores that are growing in numbers around the country.

Hotel Chocolat is committed to making gourmet chocolate gifts that involve the cocoa growers who farm the beans on their own historically significant plantation in St. Lucia, as much as it does the master chocolatiers who craft the final artistic flair on their latest creations.

Courtesy of: Hotel Chocolat

Using only premium ingredients, Hotel Chocolat is firmly dedicated to the ethics of the whole chocolate experience because chocolate is and always will be a very personal part of life. Whether it is enjoyed in a moment of quiet after a busy day, or as a special treat for a job well down, or given as gift on an important occasion, chocolate is not just food, it is state of mind, a sensory pleasure that is made all the more enjoyable for the passion that has gone into making it.

From within the beautiful wrapping and tastefully crafted boxes, come handmade treasures to be admired like precious jewels, and Hotel Chocolat produce a range of luxurious quality pieces to suit every palate, every taste, every season and celebration.

From giant slabs that are so wonderfully artful it almost seems a shame to break into them, through gift boxes and collections of all sizes designed to suit every pocket, there are mints to be shared after dinner, chocolate truffles to indulge in, tangy fruits bathed in liquor, and rich new textures to be discovered in dipping adventures that are a just as much fun for one or two people to play with as they are for a whole party to enjoy.

Hotel Chocolat even inspire chocolate drinkers and open up whole new recipe ingredients for chefs at home to explore, adding that memorable ‘wow factor’ to cakes and cookies that are bound to keep the family coming back for more!

We all love chocolate. Many times that’s downfall of those trying to watch their waistlines. But what if there was a way to inhale your favorite food, like chocolate?

David Edwards is a Harvard professor and Illinois Institute of Technology graduate and is the inventor of “Le Whif“, an inhalable chocolate.

Along with several of his students, Edwards is using chocolate particles that are only 80 to 300 microns in size, so they’re too large to enter the lungs and cause coughing.

The Le Whif inhaler device actually coats the person’s mouth with the taste of chocolate and it’s less than 1 calorie.

For those you who are already salivating at this cutting edge concept, by the end of the month you’ll be able to purchase 24 “whiff” bundles online for around $50. Each Le Whif whiff will contain four puffs.

Unlike Bill Clinton, you can now proudly say – you do inhale.  Bon appetite !

It seems that everywhere you look these days, whether it’s on radio, television, or in the newspapers, you’re hearing about studies that show that healthy-chocolate promotes weight loss.

A small bar of chocolate can contain as many flavanoids as six apples, as four and a half cups of tea or two glasses of red wine.

Chocolate has forever been a grand gift to give someone. The chocolate industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. There are so many different types of chocolate and so many reasons to give someone a chocolate gift that it is a industry that just keeps getting larger every year.

There are several different types of chocolate. There is dark chocolates, milk chocolate, fair chocolate, and semi-sweet chocolate are just a few. Many people have a favorite chocolate. Each manufacturer of chocolate gifts has their own special formula for the way they create chocolates and this makes each brand of chocolate flavor a little different.

Chocolate Truffles are a great gift to give for just in relation to any occasion or no occasion at all. individuals love to acquire chocolate gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, holidays or just because. extraordinary occasions or events are also grand times to give the gift of chocolates. Baby showers, a move up at work, or just to tell a friend that you are thinking about them are great reasons to give chocolate handouts.

You can buy chocolate gifts just about anywhere including grocery stores, gas stations, malls or convenient stores. Stores that put on the market only chocolates have the biggest variety to choose from and you may even find a particular store that carries the particular type of chocolate truffle that you like or you know your friend likes. This makes choosing chocolates present a little easier because there is such a hefty variety and you may end up finding amazing new that you like.

Chocolate Truffles make grand gifts for any person at anytime. There are a mixture of packages that chocolate gifts come in so you should be able to find one just right for the event or friend you are trying to buy something for. The present of chocolates is a gift that people love to accept. Have fun searching for the just right chocolate for your buddy and don’t forget to get some for yourself!

For individuals of you who like chocolate truffles, there are several different kinds to decide from. You can buy chocolate truffles in milk chocolate, dark chocolate or if you aren’t certain which kind of truffle your cherished one or friend might like, you can always get a box of mixed chocolate truffles.

Buying a chocolate gift for someone is pleasurable and you can get really inventive with the things that you choose. You can get someone a box of milk chocolate truffles. You can get someone a heart filled with assorted filled chocolates and you can still get someone a good old plain chocolate bar.

People love to get chocolate gifts for just about any occasion or still if there isn’t an occasion. Chocolates are a grand treat to show someone that you are thinking about them. Go pick out your chocolate gifts today and show someone how special you fell they are.

Author: Hugh Roberts