Goldschlager - Where's the Bling?

16 10 2007

Goldschläger - Where’s the Bling?

goldschlager

Photography: Goldschlager by Phil Schatz

Goldschläger, yummm! Even better, Goldschläger and Jägermeister to make a liquid cocaine shot or even drink. Today I set out to discover what the deal is with the yellow flakes, and how exactly they are not supposed to kill you when ingested.

Goldschläger has it’s origins in Switzerland, however it is created in Italy. The word "Goldschläger" actually means "gold leaf maker". It is a cinnamon schnapps that has an alcohol content of 43.5% or 97 proof. Currently each bottle, 750ml, contains less than 0.1 grams of gold in it. Yes, it is actually gold. However, the street value of that amount would only be about $2.50, and good luck trying to pawn those flakes off at your local pawn shop.

Initially, Goldschläger contained a larger amount of gold. Until reports of allergic reactions, as we humans are not able to digest gold. Go figure. So I guess we just pass it through. My issue is that why is it not toxic even at these amounts. Lead is a heavy metal, as is gold, and if you were to drink this amount of lead daily, (because we all know most of us drink a bottle of Goldschläger daily), you would surely have problems down the road. (surely not because of the large amount of liquor intake).

I did some scrubbing. I actually did find some cases where people have had reactions to the gold in Goldschläger. It seems mostly because they had previous allergies to gold, such as wearing gold jewelry. Here is an article I found at this link.

"Central New York Poison Control Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, State University of New York Health Science Center, Syracuse, USA.

We describe the case of gold allergy after ingestion of GOLDSCHLAGER, a gold-containing liquor, in a patient with a previous allergy to gold jewelry. The patient was not aware that genuine gold particles were contained in the schnapps liquor and that ingestion could result in a reaction similar to that experienced by individuals sensitive to gold jewelry. Clinicians should be familiar with the presence of gold particles in GOLDSCHLAGER liquor and the potential for allergic reactions to occur in those so predisposed.

PMID: 10434381 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]"

So be warned. If you have any reactions to gold touching your skin. Don’t partake in the liquid cocaine shots at your friends bachelor party.

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