Syrco Bakker launches unique liqueur Hierbas de las Dunas in Belgium and the Netherlands

Hierbas de las Dunas, a new unique flavourful liqueur made from fresh organic dune herbs was officially launched this week in the Netherlands and Belgium. It is the creation of top chef Syrco Bakker (restaurant Pure C, Cadzand).

The liqueur is made from 18 different types of herbs, flowers and plants from Cadzand’s dunes. Usually liqueurs are made using only fresh ingredients. This technique gives Hierbas de las Dunas a pure, salty-sweet flavour that makes it a perfect apéritif, after-dinner drink or cocktail ingredient.

The liqueur was launched in Amsterdam and Antwerp on 2 May. It is the perfect way to start the sunny season and it is already available in dozens of stores and shops and soon on their own online store. The price of the 50cl bottle is € 27.50.

Bakker, is the chef of Pure-C in Cadzand which forms part of Sergio Herman’s group of restaurants and is also founder of Inspired Events which promotes the food region of Zeeland.

The Dutch chef told Food and Wine Gazette that he started Hierbas de las Dunas as a hobby but after they sold and used the first batch of 10,000 bottles and got extremely good feedback he decided to launch the drink. “People have really enjoyed it so we want to make it available in speciality shops which fit with the spirit of the liqueur,” Bakker said.

“We saw that it worked well so we want to take this project to the next level,” Bakker said. “We now have a team of 4 people working on Hierbas de las Dunas  and we want to see what happens with it,” he said.

To create the liqueur he drew inspiration from the Spanish island of Ibiza where the traditional Hierbas is made by the Spanish to a secret family recipe. He developed his own recipe in the Netherlands using 100% organic ingredients giving it his own signature taste.

The Hierbas de las Dunas is an exclusive herbal liqueur extracted from 18 fresh organic herbs from the wild dunes of the North Sea including seaberry, sea fennel, wild rocket, rosehip, and elderflower.

There are 54 preparations involved in the  process to create the liqueur. Bakker used organic grain alcohol, organic cane sugar and vitalized water. It is also perfect for cocktails and many famous international bartenders including Esther Medina Cuesta of The Baratroast in London, Jan Van Ongevalle of The Pharmacy in Knokke and Olivier Jacobs of Jiggers among others.

Asked why he chose Antwerp to launch the liqueur, Bakker said that he loved the place Saint Vincent, where it is also being sold. Moreover, this is the city where there is The Jane.

Bakker said that he wanted people to use the liqueur in a creative way though there are serving suggestions on the website such as cocktail ideas.

You can find cocktail ideas on the website.

Here are a few ideas

HIERBAS DE LAS DUNAS TONIC

• 50 ml Hierbas de las Dunas
• 120 ml Tonic
• Slice and splash of lemon

HIERBAS DE LAS DUNAS ROYAL

• 40 ml Hierbas de las Dunas
• Champagne

PIÑA EN LAS DUNAS by Thomas Girard

• 35ml HDLD
• 25ml Manzanilla
• 15ml home made pineapple cordial

 Shaken and strained in a small coupette

Garnished with rosemary

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