Source: Loop Caribbean News
By : Karla Berridge
Imagine a shimmering teal as cool as the island breeze, tantalizing the palette with its rich enticing tropical flavour– that’s NEVIQ.
Clifton Estate’s NEVIQ Tropical Liqueur is the newest locally made liqueur on the market and it is already the talk of the town — Charlestown that is, and just about everywhere else across the twin-island federation of St.Kitts and Nevis, as a matter of fact.
It has not only made an impact for its uniquely sleek and intrinsically detailed appearance which adds a hint of St. Kitts and Nevis’ culture, with the engraving of the Moko Jumbies on its back, this liqueur’s tropical, fruity taste lets the drinker know that is it made in the tropics.
With 20% alcohol, NEVIQ offers just enough diversity to be served iced or straight from the bottle, with or without added ingredients.
Having heard about this new gem, Loop Caribbean visited the L&L Rum Shop in Nevis to chat with Chief Blender and Neviq Creator, Mark Theron.
The name Neviq, he explained, was conceptualised to pay homage to it’s island home, Nevis.
“There are a few products on the market that are in the liqueur business that ends with a Q and I was trying to come up with something a bit similar,” he said. “There is Nevis and so I thought Nevis ending with a Q was appropriate. It’s a product being made on Nevis. I think it’s a fairly catchy short name and so it just works. I think it’s something Nevis people can really identify with and enjoy.”
And indeed they do. While at the shop we got the opportunity to observe Mark interacting with customers, explaining the concept of NEVIQ and offering samples to very appreciative groups. The colour coupled with the bottle and the shimmer catches the eye.
“Feedback has been above my expectations; it has been really, really good. People love the look of it, they love the shimmer effect but more importantly for me, is that people like the flavour of it. Honestly, it was developed more with the ladies in mind but it is very interesting to see the guys reactions there’s very few of them who have said they don’t like it. It has been a good response.”
Speaking about how the concept for NEVIQ came about, Mark told Loop, “I was looking to come up with something that was a little bit different, something that was fun, something that the local market would really appreciate.
It all came together slowly. I had the idea of wanting to put the shimmer dust in it so I sourced that along with the colouring options. The flavouring was trial and error and I eventually selected the fruity tropical punch. I think it has all come together quite nicely; the bottle, the packaging, the flavour and the fun of having the shimmer dust. We were just trying to put together something a little bit different, another product made on Nevis and I think we have done a fair job of it.”
It is at this point that we take a moment to acknowledge one of the elements that make NEVIQ so unique. Though it has been mentioned before, the signature of this liqueur is what Mark refers to as magic dust.
“There is actually FDA-approved shimmer dust inside,” he said with a smile. “I like to call it magic dust. It settles at the bottom and when you give it a little shake you get millions of galaxies inside your bottle!”
So what makes Neviq special and cements its position among the best Caribbean-made liqueurs?
Theron said:
It is made on Nevis.
It is meant to be fun. We have put the shimmer into it so that makes it special. There aren’t too many drinks, beverages, liqueurs on the market that have that. While it’s not entirely new, there aren’t many.”
I think this is really what’s quite special about it: you can drink it by itself or you can mix it with a variety of chasers, sodas, fruit juices. Squeezing lime juice with it works really well, mixing it with pineapple juice is really good, Ting and almost all of the local sodas including club soda work well with it so I think that’s quite special ….its uniqueness is in its versatility.
Mark is also the producer of the original Clifton Estate Rum. “ Clifton Estate is our brand identity. It started off with Clifton Estate Rum. I was making a spiced rum. I live on Clifton Estate in Nevis and so it was originally developed on Clifton Estate in my kitchen and it has just caught on. It’s a great name for a liquor brand so that’s what we have been working with and we are looking to grow the brand.”
This new Clifton Estate Liqueur is currently only available at Land L rum shop located in Charlestown, Nevis. The Libation and Leaf (L&L) rum shop has an exceptional variety of rum, offering over two hundred different types of rum from all over the world. And now NEVIQ Tropical liqueur has been added to its offerings.
Mark said there are plans to sell his liqueur on St. Kitts and hopes for future exporting opportunities. ‘We would love to see this become a regional product and even beyond the region, that would be the ultimate end goal.”
“NEVIQ has the look, the flavour and the branding, It is meant to taste good, it’s meant to be fun, it’s meant to be versatile.”