Advocaat

Advocaat is a thick, pale-yellow Dutch liqueur made from egg yolks, sugar and a grape-brandy or neutral spirit — a boozy, custardy cousin of eggnog. It tastes of sweet cooked custard and vanilla with a faint eggy richness and a gentle warming thread of alcohol, and it is bottled at a mild strength of around 14 to 20 percent ABV. The classic Dutch and Belgian style is so dense it is spooned rather than poured — traditionally eaten with a little spoon and dusted with cocoa or grated nutmeg, or spread over waffles, pancakes and ice cream. The thinner export version, made with whole egg rather than yolk alone, pours more freely and is the one shaken into cocktails, most famously the Snowball, where it is lengthened with sparkling lemonade. The best-known makers are the Dutch and Belgian houses Bols, Warninks, DeKuyper and Verpoorten.