Lovoka is a caramel liqueur from South Africa that’s launching this year in the United States. Arriving in an aluminum bottle that reminds me of a bicycle flask, Lovoka (la-vah-cah) fills a pretty sparse niche – I can only think of one more brand of caramel liqueur on the market. “Serve chilled” is the instruction on the bottle, so if you store it in the fridge or freezer, the aluminum with frost up nicely.

Taste-wise, Lovaka is nice and sweet, just as you’d expect it to be. There’s a lot of opportunity to make some cocktails with it – stir it into a White Russian, mix with S’mores Vodka, or add a shot to a cup of coffee or a pint of Guinness. I made this simple cocktail with it (pictured above):

Betty Rubble (by Greg Mays)

• in a old fashioned glass with a huge chunk of ice, stir:
• 1 oz Lovoka Caramel
• 1 1/2 oz strong coffee liqueur (like Kahlua Midnight or Below Deck Coffee)

Lovoka will be available this Spring in the U.S., starting in California, for $28 a bottle.