unique island spirits of the abcs island gourmet
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Curaçao creationsEven those who have never heard of the
Caribbean island, recognize the name Curaçao
as the famous liqueur used to color cocktails a
striking electric blue. The original product is
actually clear, and you can still buy it that way,
but it later became colored in green, red, and
bright orange to appeal to North American cock-
tail makers. It also comes in coffee, chocolate,
and rum-raisin flavors. It has often been imi-
tated, but the distillery in Curaçao is the only
place in the world that makes the authentic prod-
uct. In fact, only a bottle marked “The Genuine
Curaçao Liqueur” is the real deal because it’s
made with laraha oranges – small green fruit E
Unique Island Spiritsby Susan Campbell
One of the joys of traveling is exploring the local flavors through food and drink. And when it comes to spirited local libations, the Dutch Caribbean islands
don’t disappoint. So let’s discover the lovely native liqueurs and liquors of the ABCs and St. Maarten.
Aruban elixirsThe island’s most famous cocktail the “Aruba
Ariba” uses a unique local liqueur called coe coei
to sweeten it. It’s a thick red syrup, almost like
grenadine but with a strong anise taste made
from the sap of the agave plant kukwisa added
to rum and cane sugar. The recipe stems from a
centuries-old concoction believed to have orig-
inated in Venezuela and brought to Aruba by the
island’s original inhabitants – the Caiquetio In-
dians. Another island liqueur is “Ponche Crema”,
a thick, rich, rum-based eggnog mixture that is
especially popular during Christmas holidays.
Palmera Rum is another local liquor, the
Palmera company makes it in white, amber, dark,
coconut flavored, and also a lemon blend called
“Lamoenchi”. They also make a special blend
to pay tribute to San Nicolas landmark Charlie’s
Bar called “Rhum Charlie’s” and have put their
own spin on the rich, red coecoei, and call it
“Koekoei”. Palmera also offers their own ver-
sions of other popular liqueurs and pre-mixed
cocktails.
Interesting artisanal local creations can often
be found at cultural events like the Thursday
night Carubbian Festival in San Nicolas where
you can sample and purchase a liqueur made
from cashews. Or go to the farmer’s market at
Santa Rosa for homemade spirits like wilde roos,
a liqueur made from the edible pulp of the flow-
ers that grow on the local Madras thorn trees.
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Photos courtesy of Papiamento Restaurant
unique to the island. They ended up growing
there via the Spanish who thought they might
grow their sweet Valencia oranges on their newly
acquired Caribbean outpost. But the arid cli-
mate and poor soil had the trees yield fruit so
bitter that even the goats wouldn’t eat it! How-
ever, it was later discovered that when the peels
dried in the sun they produced very pleasing
aromatic natural oils. Soon folks began trying
to leverage these aromatic essences into some-
thing delicious to drink. Eventually the perfect
blend of alcohol, sugar, spices, and peels resulted
in the liqueur that the Senior family has now been
producing since 1896. The distillery is presently
housed in a century-old restored plantation house
called Landhuis Chobolobo.
Another colorful local liquor can be found
at Netto’s Bar, in Curaçao. Ròm Bèrdè is a
bright green rum created by the late Ernesto
(Netto) Koster who had been making it for his
bar since 1954. But don’t expect the barkeep to
reveal what makes it green. It’s a secret they
intend to keep!
St. Maarten’s spiritsThe most famous St. Maarten liqueur is
made from guavaberry that grows wild on the
island. The berry is red, small, and bittersweet,
not at all like guava, and for some reason known
only to Mother Nature, there are more guava-
berry bushes on St. Maarten than anywhere else
in the world! Visit the Sint Maarten Guavaberry
Company in Philipsburg for samples and to
learn about its interesting history. Also try some
island cocktails made with it like the sparkling
“Guavaberry Fizz” at Divi Little Bay Resort.
The island also has a love affair with flavored
rums. Ma Doudou is a cottage factory in Cul-
de-Sac producing superb blended rums with
flavors like banana, coconut, ginger, lime, and
vanilla. Look for the cheery madras-capped
bottles with hand-painted island scenes on them;
they are available island-wide. Also making their
own creative flavored rums are the owners of
Topper’s Restaurant & Bar in Simpson Bay. They
come in cool flavor combinations like white-
chocolate-raspberry, banana-vanilla-cinnamon,
and mocha mama, and they are also available
island-wide.
Ma Doudou Rum from St. Martin
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Photos courtesy of The Cadushy Distillery. Portrait of Eric Gietman by Stephanie Brauer
also branched out to create liqueurs for all of the
Dutch Caribbean islands – each with an ingre-
dient indigenous to its respective culture. And
Gietman also developed an orange liqueur ded-
icated to the House of Oranje, the royal family
of Holland. They are available island-wide on
Bonaire, and now they are also available on Aruba.
The Dutch Caribbean produces some de-
lightful spirits that you won’t find anywhere
else. Do indulge while on holiday; ask your bar-
tender to sample some specialties made with
unique island spirits or buy a bottle to take
home! Cheers! K
On a smaller scale, local social worker/
counselor Amy Arrindell has been moonlighting
as a master distiller in her home. She has now
perfected her own line of award-winning “Amy’s
Island Liquors” using rum and locals fruits like
kenip, gooseberry, and passionfruit. Look for
them at cultural events or sample them at The
Summit Resort Hotel’s restaurant, Tropical Heaven.
And like Amy, the owner of Jimbo’s Rock & Blues
Café has been experimenting at home with some
special spirits for his customers and regularly
offers up what he calls “Dirty Tequila” distilled
with tangerines or passionfruit depending on
the season.
Bonaire’s bestIt took Dutch marketing man Eric Gietman
who fell in love with Bonaire and moved there
with his family, to figure out that the arid is-
land’s most abundant produce kadushi cactus
might be turned into an interesting spirit. He
enlisted the local refreshing libation awa di
lamoenchi (lime water) and added it to distilled
cacti peel and the result was Cadushy of Bonaire
Liqueur, the world’s only cactus liqueur. His
distillery has also developed a local cactus vodka,
a spiced rum, and a whisky dedicated to Cap-
tain Don, Bonaire’s father of dive tourism. They
Eric Gietman from The Cadushy Distillery in Bonaire
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