![]() Sugar is an accepted additive for several spirits that are tightly controlled by an AOC ( Appellation d’origine contrôlée) including Cognac and Tequila. The issue of sugar in spirits isn’t trivial. There are a number of rums that claim that they “don’t add any sugar” and yet, they do: Source: Alko Finland / Refined Vices Would you buy a honey liqueur if you saw that it had more high fructose corn syrup than honey? Would you buy a bottle of vodka if you found out it had glycerine, sugar, or other additives? Having the basic information on the label would also mean that some brands would have to change their stories. It’s understandable why these companies don’t want to have to disclose what they put in the bottle. They don’t even disclose calories and sugar! We did a search to try to find the nutritional information on the corporate sites for many of the major consumed liquors, including Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey, Jim Beam Kentucky Fire, and Jägermeister, and came up empty. To their credit, Sazerac is one of the few spirit companies to list the nutritional information for their products, but most other spirit companies don’t disclose even the most basic information on their spirits. Of course they sum up their flavorings under the term “natural flavorings”, but the list of what’s inside the bottle, for the most part, is on the bottle. It’s a thin argument, as some of the most iconic beverages in the world, like Coca Cola, list most of their major ingredients on the package. Most spirit companies will state (as Sazerac did when asked) that “the exact recipe is proprietary”. ![]() Go to any grocery store and almost every packaged product lists its ingredients as well as calories, sugar, and a host of other important details. The big issue that this Scandinavian recall raises is that, whether or not it’s considered safe, consumers should have the information on what they’re consuming so they can make their own decisions. (Calamus is also the reason you can’t get Amer Picone in the US, as it’s one of the ingredients). Martini makes a special version of their vermouth in the United States that doesn’t contain any calamus, a botanical that’s banned by the FDA but considered safe in the EU. It’s not uncommon for alcohol companies to make different versions of their products for different regions because of varying food laws and requirements. The US Food and Drug Administration considers propylene glycol safe “up to 50 grams per KG” (Fireball has less than 1/8th of that) and it’s a common additive that’s found in thousands of products in the US. Truth be told, the EU has much stricter regulations on food and beverage than the US (which is why tonic in the EU has sugar and not high fructose corn syrup, and is consequently so much better). Since Fireball is such a hot product, there was an immediate firestorm on the Internet, enough to cause Sazerac president Mark Brown to issue a statement about the recall. ![]() Both Sweden and Norway followed suit asking for the batches of of Fireball with propylene glycol to be recalled. This week the state run liquor stores in Finland pulled Fireball Cinnamon Whisky because it contains levels of propylene glycol that are “out of compliance with European regulations”. ![]()
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