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Booze by Geoff Last A few weeks back I took a look at the fruit-flavoured wine and cooler market, with less than spectacular results. I found most of them overly sweet and lacking in any real wine or fruit characteristics, and a recent tasting of Smirnoff Ice (now one of the leaders in this category) only served to reaffirm my impression. This week I thought I would take a look at some of the various flavoured liquors now vying for a spot in this market. These differ from coolers and their related products in that they are based on a distilled spirit — such as grape brandy, as in the case of Grand Marnier — and are then flavoured either with fruit, herbs or spices, and are much higher in alcohol. Many of these products are very good and require no introduction. In the past few years, however, we have seen a proliferation of newcomers to this segment of the market, and I thought it was high time to have a look (and taste) at some of them. Unless you are a shut-in, you will have seen the billboard ads for Baja Rosa – the ones with strapping young girls who have many uses for duct tape and like to be hog-tied. The latest one features a construction worker/babe (oh, them again) who knows how to handle a stud and likes Baja Rosa. However you decide to interpret these ads, this drink both looks and tastes like Pepto Bismol, only sweeter. It is a tequila/strawberry cream-based liquor that boasts several unpronounceable chemical ingredients, as well as "tequila flavouring." (As to what, exactly, tequila flavouring is made from remains a mystery, which is probably just as well.) Something tells me this drink might appeal to people with ulcer problems, particularly if your ulcer has been caused by worrying about your drinking habits. The way this stuff coats the tongue, it must surely provide some sort of protective coating for the belly. Next up is Alizé, the French liquor that blends Cognac with passion fruit juice. The flavours in this drink taste quite natural, albeit sweet. The passion fruit component tends to mask most of the Cognac flavour, and with 14.9 per cent alcohol it is not hard see why. But I could see this making a decent summer quencher, especially if mixed with some sort of fizzy water. The next one on this list really falls into the wine cooler department, but I thought it deserved to be amongst better company. The Italian prosecco producer Canella has created a pre-mixed version of the Bellini — the classic Venetian cocktail created at Harry’s Bar, and enjoyed by none other than Ernest Hemmingway. Prosecco is the grape that lends its name to the traditional sparkling wine of the region, and the classic bellini pairs prosecco with fresh white peach juice and a dash of raspberry juice to create an immensely delicious cocktail. This bottled version of the drink proves to be a reasonable facsimile of this Venetian delight, even if the purplish color is a little disconcerting. The producer claims to use only the best ingredients, and there is no reason to doubt this claim. Again, this would make a better warm-weather quaff. Now comes what should have been the most interesting part of this line-up, the much-ballyhooed Agwa. This drink has received a lot of attention in the media lately due to the fact that it is made from Guarana seeds, which are reputed to increase stamina in the sack, and coca, the plant responsible for cocaine. It goes to figure that this product is created in Holland, a country that has embraced, rather than shunned, drug culture. The drink has been banned in Ontario and elsewhere, which has only served to increase the mystique surrounding it. I had high hopes for this drink, so to speak, even though the producers insist they have removed all the potentially illegal components from it. In the glass, it bears a strong resemblance to another controversial drink, Absinthe. It is a pale, transparent green, and smells minty and herbaceous with some noticeable alcohol (30 per cent, to be exact). The taste is also herbaceous and a bit syrupy, and bears some similarity to green Chartreuse. After the first couple of ounces, I decided that I no longer wanted that taste in my mouth, but in the name of research, I pressed on. I managed to snarf back about eight ounces in total, and then waited for something to happen. Sadly, I have to report that other than a slight alcohol buzz, Agwa failed to rouse little more than my curiosity. I suppose I am not really surprised that this drink failed to give me the tickle, but one can always hope. Cheers!

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