But what the heck is it? More importantly, what makes a schnapps a schnapps? Can you have plain schnapps, or is it a schnapps by virtue of its flavor?
I feel a little stupid, as this is my first post here, but it’s a question that’s plagued me for well nigh to…oh, three years, and the Straight Dope has taught me everything I know about animal sex and chemtrails. I figured liquor was next on the list
I’ve never heard or drank plain schnapps.It’s always had some sort of flavoring to it.
here’s a little i found about it.
http://gunther.simplenet.com/liqueurs/schnapps.htm
The English word “schnapps” comes from the German “Schnaps” (only one p). In Germany the word can refer to any liquor, but most often Holland gin (a/k/a Dutch gin). I think the German word “Sirituosen” (“spirits”) is more often used as the general term for any liquor.
In the U.S. the term seems to be used for any almost any flavored liquor (except gin, oddly): apple, peppermint, licorice, cinnamon, blackberry, and even butterscotch (blech!).
In Denmark, “schnapps” refers to Akavit (Aalborg being the most famous), which is basically a caraway flavored vodka. Some of the other Scandinavian schnapps are colored with caramel to give them a tawny hue.
All of the other more common schnapps are more akin to mouthwash or some bizarre syrup in my experience.
Schnaps is ok. Rumplemints, Jagermeister, or Uzo is pretty nasty to me. I think I will stick with beer.
I can tell you, with utmost authority, that EVERYONE does not love that vile liquor. Try binging on a bottle of the peach flavor - you must drink almost the entire bottle yourself for this to be effective - and I would wager that after that you will count yourself among those that do not LOVE schnapps.
BTW, the same experiment is also effective for Goldschlager (sp?).
Funny though, this behaviour (look, I’ve become Canadian!) has not cured my love for a good beer - no matter how many times I’ve binged on that.
There’s lots of flavors. I hate peppermint schnapps, but cinnamon is great- tastes like Red Hots candy. I use it in the winter as a throat soother at bedtime.
Pear schnapps is also very good. There’s one kind where they grow the pear inside the bottle hanging off the branch, as a novelty, and then fill it.
How interesting! Thanks for the info. As for liking schnapps, it was simply a rhetorical question. I watched a girl at a party five years ago drink a whole bottle of peppermint schnapps and proceed to vomit all over the floor.
“Why’d ya drink all that peppermint schnapps?”
“It makes my breath fresh” she answered, from a pool of her own sick.
On the other hand, a shot of butterscotch schnapps in a steaming cup of cocoa is the perfect thing for a chilly chicago night…of which we’ve had about six in a row.
thanks again!