Grappa is a fruit-based spirit, similar to French eau de vie and German schnapps. Real grappa has no added sugar, but some American versions are sweet and flavored. It is usually 40% ABV and used in mixed drinks. Many flavors are available, including non-fruit flavors like cinnamon and butterscotch.
Grappa is a spirit distilled from fruits, such as pears, apples, peaches or cherries. True German schnapps has no added sugar and isn’t particularly sweet, though it does carry some of the flavor of its parent fruit. French eau de vie is in many ways analogous to this spirit, with its subtle fruit flavors.
Although real grappa is simply fruit juice distilled with no added sugar, the word is often used – especially in the United States – to mean something quite different. This type, much more like a liqueur, usually has a significant amount of sugar and an additional flavoring added and is quite sweet as a result. Some types, like butterscotch schnapps, aren’t distilled from their flavor source—distilling butterscotch would be quite difficult—but instead use a base alcohol and add flavor. Even many American schnapps that might be distilled from a fruit juice are instead made by grinding the fruit into a base alcohol, such as vodka.
Like vodka, gin, rum, and many other hard alcohols, grappa is usually 40% ABV (80 proof). It is rarely found at proofs higher than this, although it is not uncommon to find varieties with alcohol at 30% (60 Proof), or even lower. This spirit is often drunk plain, neat or with ice, and different flavors are used in a wide variety of mixed drinks.
It could be said without too much exaggeration that there are as many flavors of grappa as there are flavors of soda. While some, like peach, apple and cherry, are derived from the juices of a real fruit – or at least could be, if a traditional process were used to make them – others, like cinnamon and peppermint, have no source in the world of fruit. Still others, like butterscotch and root beer, are even more far-fetched. Because of their relatively low price, uncomplicated sweet flavors, and perceived silliness, sweet schnapps are a staple in many mixed drinks. While rarely seen in more traditional or serious mixed drinks like Martinis or Manhattans, various flavors abound in drinks with names like Hot Peppermint Patty, Slippery Nipple, Fuzzy Navel, and Guillotine.
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