Cinnamon Schnapps
A cinnamon-flavored schnapps with a fiery, spicy kick; some bottlings suspend edible gold flakes.
Origin
North America and Europe, part of the same broad flavored-schnapps category as butterscotch schnapps, popularized especially through Goldschlager (Switzerland, 1993).
History
Like other flavored North American schnapps, cinnamon schnapps loosely borrows the German word without following the original strong, dry schnapps style, instead producing a sweet, cinnamon-candy-flavored liqueur. Goldschlager, launched in Switzerland in 1993 and featuring actual edible gold flakes suspended in the bottle, became the category's most recognizable and highest-proof example, closely associated with 1990s and 2000s shot and shooter culture.
Flavor profile
Intensely sweet, hot cinnamon-candy flavor, closer to a cinnamon fireball candy than the more subtle warmth of the ground spice.
Tasting notes
A sharp, sweet cinnamon-candy heat dominates, meant to be taken as a shot or mixed into a shooter rather than balanced into a more classic, spirit-forward cocktail.
Substitutes
- Fireball Cinnamon Whisky, for a similar cinnamon-candy character with a whiskey base instead.
- Cinnamon syrup mixed with a neutral spirit, as a homemade, less intensely sweet approximation.
- A different cinnamon schnapps brand, since the category's flavor profile is fairly consistent.
