People with a hankering for an alcoholic after-dinner treat or something to spike their coffee with can now savour hints of chocolate, coconut, vanilla and graham wafer from a Canadian whisky distiller.
Forty Creek’s new cream liqueur started appearing on liquor store shelves in September and if the blend of flavours are reminiscent of ingredients in a Nanaimo bar recipe, that’s what the company had in mind when it created Forty Creek Nanaimo Bar Cream.
“We started actively launching it in mid September,” said David Allard, vice-president of marketing for Campari Canada, a division of Campari Group. “It just kind of picked up steam ever since. We’re just really thrilled. The reaction’s been quite incredible almost across the entire country, actually, for this product, so we’re very, very excited about it.”
Nanaimo Bar Cream is the second cream liqueur produced by the company, called Forty Creek Cream Liquor, which started winning awards in 2012 not long after it was introduced.
The Nanaimo bar has practically become an iconic Canadian dessert – it was served when former U.S. president Barack Obama hosted a state dinner for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau – and numerous attempts have been made to capture its flavours in various forms. Vancouver Island Brewing introduced its Nanaimo Bar Porter early last year and McDonald’s has offered up a Nanaimo Bar McFlurry.
And Canada Post even released a Nanaimo bar stamp, although there have been no known plans to add Nanaimo bar flavouring to the stamp’s glue.
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“I think that when you ask people about Canadian well-known foods and treats the Nanaimo bar is always near the top and I think our product is really a celebration of that, of Canada’s most beloved and decadent treats,” Allard said. “It’s loved worldwide, right? So I think it’s a great opportunity to celebrate something that’s Canadian and it’s a new luxurious take on something that’s so iconic.”
Allard said all indications are the liqueur will be a permanent addition to Forty Creek’s offerings.
“Certainly Nanaimo bar has just had an incredible reaction for us and it has driven a renewed interest in the brand that we’re just thrilled to see,” he said.
READ ALSO: British Columbians disheartened by Nanaimo Bar mislabel of ‘Canadian Chocolate Bar’
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