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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   2659 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 16, 2025

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Partially on the recommendation of an Ukrainian friend I've started drinking clear spirits and lightly spiced spirits straight, like whiskey. Its pretty nice and works well if you feel like whiskey is too heavy, like after a big meal.

People kind of already do this during traditional Swedish holidays of christmas, easter and midsummer (and Valborg), but thats usually more like doing shots during a sitdown dinner.

What do you mean by ‘lightly spiced spirits’? I’m genuinely curious. Do you mean something like southern comfort, with sugar mixed into the whiskey for old women to drink?

I mean clear spirits spiced with things like Anise, Wormwood, Angelica, Sea Buckthorn, Caraway, Fennel, Coriander, Rowan and juniper berries.

I'm not sure what the equivalent would be in America, in Sweden it's called 'Snaps' but the English translation of 'Schnapps' isn't very good since that's a broader category of drinks.

Interesting. Are hard, clear fruit spirits (usually double-distilled straight off the fruit mash and not treated or mixed after) also called Snaps in Sweden?

Anyway, I can warmly recommend drinking those after dinner, neat, as well. I like plum best, but Williams Christ (a type of pear) is a well-deserved classic, too.

They can be but that isn't typical modern usage. These days it usually refers to spiced clear grain/potato alcohol, which is pretty much the Danish meaning of the word, for which the EU market protected word is akvavit (not to be confused with 'eau de vie', even if that is the etymological root of the word).

Aquavit / Eau de Vie?

I know what you’re talking about but yeah there’s not a good term for it in English.

Lightly spiced spirits sounds like gin.

Gin is like a subcategory of what he’s referring to.

It is a lot like Gin but it doesn't have to be flavoured with juniper berries. On that note, gin is very good drunk straight.

My current favourite is Hernö.

So liqueur then?

Aren't liqueurs almost universally (heavily) sweetened?

Yes. ‘Unsweetened flavored hard liquor’ is not a thing that exists in the U.S. market outside of niche things with their own special names(chartreuse, absinthe, flavored vodka, gin, etc). You can buy whiskey with no flavoring or you can buy whiskey with tons of sugar in it.

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