OUT OF INTEREST: Salmiakki Koskenkorva

Salmiakki Koskenkorva, also known as salmiakkikossu (or Gee's Linctus, my own personal name for it!), is a pre-mixed vodka cocktail which caused a major revolution in drinking culture in Finland during the 1990s.

Today, it is the Number One drink among locals and tourists and is a combination of Koskenkorva Viina (a white spirit made from barley mixed with spring water and a very small amount of sugar) and Turkish Pepper, a brand salty liquorice.

Inspired by an episode of 'The Simpson's', when Homer Simpson invents a new cocktail consisting of cough medicine among other ingredients, some Finnish drinking establishments started serving a similar drink make from ground ammoinium chloride (ie. salmiakki in Finnish) based candy. Amongst the Finnish youth, it is known as 'Teenager's Vodka'.

Disaster struck when tabloids printed stories claiming that a teenager had suffered a heart attack after consuming the drink. The story was considered strong enough to encourage the state monoplogy alchohol manufacturer from withdrawing the drink from sale throughout the country. Citizens, determined to continue enjoying the newly introduced cocktail, simply made the drink at home by crushing two bags of Fazer's Turkish Pepper and adding this to half a litre of the clear Koskenkorva. After tightly re-sealing the bottle, it is placed on the top tray of a dishwasher. After a wash cycle, the bottle is put into a fridge to cool down. Once cool, it is ready to serve.

Althought the heart attack rumour turned out to be bogus, the drink does have some dangerous properties as it is very insidious; the strong flavour of hot candy almost totally masks the presence of ethanol and the consumer may not realise he/she is consuming drink with almost 40% alcohol by volume (80-proof), leading to possible alcohol poisoning.

Source: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopaedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmiakki_Koskenkorva