Hpnotiq Liqueur

Rating: 14/23 I know it's artificial, but I really love the color of this. Imagine the pristine blue water of the ocean waves approaching a white Caribbean beach as viewed from above. Nose: It's tropical fruity with a clear bias toward citrus. I get lemon, lime, orange, passionfruit, and possibly mango and pineapple. It smells tart, but still sweet and very juicy. It smells enticing, like a refreshing cocktail for a summer day. Palate: Very fruity. I get orange with a lot of lemon tartness and some lime bitterness leading into a bit of passionfruit. I'm not sure that I quite taste the mango or pineapple that I might have smelled, but maybe they are there. I can imagine that there is some cognac in here, but I can equally imagine that it's all well-executed vodka though. A nice corn or wheat vodka would make sense given the sweetness and fullness, but it does remind me just a tad of Grand Marnier, so I definitely believe their claim that there is at least a dash of cognac. It's very balanced if you'd like a good hit of citrus like in lemonade or limeade and the complexity is decent. Finish: It citric and drying just like the end of a glass of lemonade. This is richer, fuller, and more complex than lemonade without just having a big blast of one other flavor like most flavored (e.g. mango) lemonades. It's a bit too puckering on the finish, but it feels right given the nose and palate. So on it's own it essentially tastes like a cocktail with the fruits dialed up to 11. And by fruits, I mean citrus. It isn't bad, but it does make me think of a cocktail in a bottle mixed with orange concentrate (you know, from the freezer section, or from Trading Places if you prefer a dated movie reference that doesn't help you understand what I'm writing about). It's solid enough to drink on its own, though I really would like a bit more going on. It's simultaneously hard to figure out what to do with this and also hard to go wrong with it. What do I mean by that? I mean that there is no clear purpose that I can say it was designed for (well, there are like 2 cocktails), but it also fits in all sorts of fruity drinks. Essentially, if you have a fruity cocktail (I mean one with a substantial amount of fruit juice), there's a decent chance that throwing a bit of this in could make it better and there's not a huge risk of making it worse. Hypnotiq's flavor is pretty much citrus with some tropical influence though, so its complexity is likely to get flattened in mixing. That makes it hard to rate. The value for money question is also out to the jury, though for drinking on its own, I'd wager that some fresh lemons and limes with some orange liqueur and a few good base spirits would be cheaper and also more flexible. This isn't bad and it's not very expensive either though, so I wouldn't be afraid of buying a bottle. Come summer, it should be pretty easy to make use of. Now, I do think that I saw a mention of some cocktail somewhere mixing this with Chartreuse Green. Throwing a dash of Chartreuse Green in with this really made it less biting and added a lot more complexity. It was a big improvement. It might be a decent way to use Chartreuse Green or not (considering the price). It isn't as good as Chartreuse Green neat and even gin actually made it worse (though maybe I picked the wrong gin). The color is pretty cool at least - very tropical, just like a clean ocean meeting a pristine beach! It really helps to sell the whole experience. I think that this is most suited for some variation on a Mai Tai. Maybe it makes sense to use this in place of some or all of the lime juice and simple sugar and then reduce the amount of rum as well. This works pretty well mixed with some good light rum and a bit of dark rum (maybe 2:1 light:dark). I could have a lot of fun with this and while I don't see myself buying another bottle soon, that largely has to do with a lack of shelf space (the trials of collecting liquor!). I don't really think that the value for money is here since at only 17% ABV. I could instead get a $44 bottle of rum and water it down with fruit juice (OK, $44 less the price of the fruit juice, so let's call it $30-35). and probably get a better result. Well, at least if I'm allowed to assume a situation in which I'm debating between buying a few bottles of rum to use for cocktails at parties over the course of a summer versus buying several bottles of this, I can probably do better using some rum at the $20 range with a little bit of Grand Marnier. This is fun and easy to use though and the fact that I actually had to do some math indicates that it isn't too far off from being a decent value. In terms of raw quality, I think I'm going with a 14. It's pretty tasty, but it's kind of hard to drink neat because the citrus is a bit much for me. I can't quite figure out what to do with it in cocktails and I don't really think it's bringing anything to the table that I can't get with rum (and/or other spirts/liqueurs that are not too expensive and I likely already have stocked) and fruit juice. I like this pretty well given the price, but it would be at best a 15 and I might drop it to a 13 if I found on closer analysis that it consistently produced inferior cocktails.

The artificial blue color is obvious. The taste is very fruity, starting with a pleasant sweetness that then develops a bitter edge. The flavor also seems somewhat diluted. It's very tropical, with prominent notes of orange, mango, passion fruit, and pineapple. A touch of mint and some lemon and unripe strawberry contribute to the more aggressive aspects of this drink. It's like a fun punch that's a bit too intense. The nose has a hint of licorice, but the mint is the primary medicinal scent. I wouldn't want to drink a lot of this, but a small amount might be enjoyable. It could work well mixed with rum for a delightful fruity beverage. The grapefruit is really its downfall; I wish there was much less of it. This is acceptable with E&J XO. It combines nicely and refreshingly with Beefeater gin. Chopin vodka is fine but not particularly exciting. Rye whiskey pairs well, enhancing the taste. Irish whiskey (Kavanagh) is not a good match. The combination with Old Forester Signature is good. Mixing with Symbole National creates a delightful harmony. That Symbole National balance is so exquisite that this instantly becomes a terrific cocktail. Amaretto is a nice addition. Hypnotic plus Symbole National plus amaretto? A fantastic cocktail. This isn't a typical liqueur but it is surprisingly adaptable and delicious. Framboise is a surprisingly unsuitable flavor, but Cointreau is quite good. Cointreau on its own doesn't work too well, but mixed with framboise it is quite good. The mix with Grand Marnier is interesting and rich but could use more balance. The mixture has a strange tequila flavor. Some amaretto balances it somewhat. April 2017

It's like a terrible sweet and sour mix with alcohol, excessively sour. I tried it neat and also with cognac (The Incredible Hulk), and neither were good. The latter was a waste of fine cognac. This was a marketing attempt from the early 2000s that I'm glad is gone.

The aromas are intensely sweet, like fruit cocktail with extra pineapple. There are hints of ruby red grapefruit preserved in syrup. The flavors maintain the sweetness on the finish, following an initial tartness. It leaves a slightly puckering sensation.

A fruity flavor; it's not bad, but it's better when mixed with Sprite or another mixer.

Our preferred fruit liqueur and spicy blue Gatorade.