A tasty but strong clear liqueur sold in a bell-shaped bottle; you'll know it if you see it because it actually has little flakes of gold floating in it. Goldschlager tastes almost exactly like pureed red-hots (which are cinnamon candies, for those who don't know; you could also say it tastes like liquid cinnamon on fire). It's a wonderful breath freshener if you sip it slowly; if you dare attempt to chug it, I suggest you have a chaser ready.

College lore has it that the tiny flakes of gold in this stuff are there to cut the lining of your stomach and throat. Supposedly this makes the alcohol enter your system faster (as if this is ever a problem with hard liquor anyway)

Goldschlager is 87 proof.. it has 43.5% alcohol, putting it a slight bit higher than most other hard alcohol. I find it easier to take shots of than most other forms of alcohol this strong, because the cinnamon taste overpowers that 'rubbing alcohol' taste found in vodka and other forms of distilled alcohol. Either way, it gets the job done

Goldschläger (German for "gold leaf maker") is a 43.5% alcohol (87 proof) cinnamon schnapps containing real 24 carat gold, not in solution (since gold doesn't dissolve except in extremely strong acid, such as aqua regia, which believe me you don't want to drink) but as tiny, extremely thin flakes in suspension. People get excited about the gold for a couple of reasons; first of all, because it's gold, and gold is valuable! Every now and then some kid pops onto a drinks forum all excited about his genius idea to amass a fortune by extracting the gold from bottles of Goldschläger; the total amount of gold in any bottle, however, is less than one-tenth of a gram, worth less than the usual price of a shot of this happy stuff.

The second reason why people get excited about the gold is the folklore that the gold flakes make tiny incisions in your oesophagus or stomach, allowing the alcohol to enter your bloodstream directly and getting you drunker faster. Unfortunately this is an urban myth that I've also been guilty of spreading before finding out the obvious truth: gold is far too soft to do this kind of damage to you. If you try to handle gold leaf with your fingers it will disintegrate and stick to your skin. The makers did, however, have to reduce the gold content from its original levels since allergic reactions were reported by a very small minority of drinkers.

The good news, however, is that Goldschläger is still more than strong enough to get you riotously drunk. Personal anecdotal evidence from the experience of my friends and I is that this liqueur has an unusual and possibly catalyzing effect on other alcohol, and it became a tradition to initiate crazy time after a number of normal drinks had been consumed by ordering a tray of Goldschläger shots, knocking them back, and charging onto the dance floor. Personally, I can't taste the cinnamon much. I thought it tasted like mouthwash; although now that I think of it, I may have a cinnamon-flavoured mouthwash. Cinnamon or not, though, this drink packs a punch that's difficult to match. I hear some people mix it with Jägermeister to make a cocktail called JägerSchläger; clearly a drink that only got created because it sounds cool.

Originating in Switzerland, Goldschläger is now made in Italy, and is not even the only liqueur out there with suspended gold flakes - Danziger Goldwasser has been made in Germany for hundreds of years.

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