For hundreds of years, the term schnapps referred to powerful alcoholic drinks akin to German gin or Dutch acquavit. A few years ago, as the original schnapps took on the image of an "old man's drink", the sale of these beverages began to decline. It took an unknown sales-minded genius to lower the alcohol content of schnapps from 50% to 25%, to add fruit flavors and loads of sugar and to present the world with schnapps for Yuppies.

Schnapps has been taken a step further, and Polar Lime Time produced in Germany is a vodka based beverage to which 40% of fruit pulp has been added. The beverage comes in three versions, peach, strawberry and raspberry, all of which also contain a bit of lime juice. With an alcohol content of only 15%, these beverages are only a bit more potent than wine. Considering that most of those drinking them dilute them with Sprite, lemonade or other fruit juices, one might tend to think of these as alcoholic beverages for people who really do not like alcohol.

I did not care for these beverages when they were mixed with soft drinks or fruit juice. What surprised me, however, was that when poured over either ice cubes or crushed ice, they made mildly alcoholic drinks ideally suited to the hot summer months. The strawberry and peach drinks are clearly the best, their aromas and flavors clean and rich. The raspberry seemed to suffer from a bit of muskiness. I also enjoyed a cocktail made by pouring one measure each of strawberry Lime Time, white Creme de Cacao and sweet cream over ice cubes in a cocktail shaker, shaking well and then straining the frothy mixture into a Champagne glass. I concur with Abraham Lincoln's dictate that "this is the kind of thing that people who like this kind of thing will like". At any rate, if humor and light drinking are among your summertime pleasures, this beverage is worth trying.

© Daniel Rogov