The swiss got it right with this 43.5% alcohol by volume schnapps known as Goldschläger. It’s not often you can find an alcohol with floating flakes and consider it a worthwhile drink.
If you collect all the gold flakes found in a bottle you might be able to net yourself USD $2.39, considering you purchased the bottle for more than that, don’t go gold mining a bottle of Goldschläger expecting to get more than a tenth of a gram of actual gold.
If you’ve found yourself with gold allergies when wearing jewelery beware that this alcoholic beverage contains real gold and can result in health issues (national institute of health). It is said the original recipe brought down its gold content to remove the chances of allergic reaction to the alcohol based beverage.
This Swiss Schnapps is actually a product of Italy but isn’t the only alcohol to suspend gold flakes in its contents. Danziger Goldwasser (“Gold Water of Danzig”) is a German beverage that works much the same way with a bottle which is a bit less fancy but has been around since 1598.
If you’ve never tried a cinnamon schnapps, you’ll find it has a crisp cinnamon taste with a very potent punch. It’s fairly smooth and the hot cinnamon impact reduces the chances you’ll notice the alcohol. It won’t have the same ‘cold’ taste you’ll get from a peppermint schnapps like that of Rumple Minze or Ice 101. I don’t find it as ‘hot’ tasting as a Fire 101 which, to me, tastes more like a fireball candy.
Goldschläger on a little ice is a great after dinner drink and has a certain style to it. Those that have never seen Goldschläger will be in awe that you’re drinking little flakes of gold, it will inspire great conversation.
5 Comments
Name 9required)
December 18, 2011 at 4:39 amIs Goldschläger interchangeable with Fireball? I know, I know, one is a type of schnapps and one is a type of whisky; however they are both cinnamon-flavoured. I figured that, since both burn the hell out of the back of your throat, they contribute to the same flavour. BUT, I tried making a “liquid cocaine” with Jägermeister and Fireball instead of Goldschläger, and it just doesn’t have the same effect; id est, it doesn’t get me high for about five minutes…rather, it just tastes crappy and doesn’t do much but get me to be drunken.
And, yes, I have been just trying this.
dschommer
December 18, 2011 at 12:05 pmNo, Goldschläger is going to be much different, because its basically a sweet hot schnapps where fireball is going to bring its base (whiskey) to the drink. It’s not going to bring the same mouth feel, flavor or consistency. The heat of the cinnamon will be different a bit as well, as will the alcohol content in most cases.
Let’s try an example way outside this line of thinking, would you expect a Porsche 911 to drive just like a VW Bug? They’re both cars, so they both have four wheels and, “at the core” they both have engines and both designed by a German mindset. But, at the end of the day, they’re created by different companies, using different types of parts with unique qualities that impart their own look, feel and driveablity. A VW Bug is the same as a 911 as a bottle of Fireball Whiskey is the same as Goldschläger.
Name (required)
December 19, 2011 at 8:57 pmWhen you put it that way, it makes sense. It wasn’t until I had attempted to make “liquid cocaine” with Fireball and not been satisfied by it that I looked up the difference between Goldschläger and Fireball, and found this article.
Thank you for the shared wisdom, and for the prompt reply!
(Now I have to go buy some Goldschläger to appreciate the difference.)
Dorian
March 27, 2013 at 10:24 amHey I got a question since Goldschläger is nearly impossible to get in germany i would like to ask if its simular to Smirnoff Gold Cinnamon
dschommer
March 31, 2013 at 1:15 pmYou want a cinnamon schnapps, you’d think Goldschläger would be easier to get there (guess you gotta be closer to the Swiss Border :). Gold Strike may be something you can get there, that’s got the same cinnamon and gold flake presentation. Or, worst case, anything with sweet and cinnamon 🙂