Appearance: Transparent, pale straw-gold with no particulate matter. Rather like chardonnay in appearance. Aroma: Honey and herbal tisane. Reminiscent of honey and herb throat lozenges where honey is the dominant note. It is delicate, however, and not at all a heavy aroma. Flavour and Texture: The initial flavour is that of sweet dilute honey but then you almost immediately notice the supporting herbal character. This is warm, complex, well balanced and comforting with no particular herbal element standing out. The texture is full but not heavy or syrupy. There is a robust alcohol presence but it’s neither hot nor spiky, and certainly not rough. It presents the typical warming, comforting profile that results when sugar is used to balance reasonably high proof. The aftertaste is of mildly spiced honey and is lingering. Krupnikas is the Lithuanian name for honey liqueur (it’s called krupnik in Poland). This is the first time I’ve tasted it and it was different to my expectations. I have had other honey liqueurs in the past, but they were much more one-note and heavy on the honey, and usually had a rather hot character. This, however, bears a striking resemblance to both DOM Benedictine and Drambuie, which was a surprise. Imagine either of those but with the honey note turned up a couple of notches and clearly dominant. I couldn’t begin to guess at the full range of herbs employed but there are definite notes of clove, sweet cinnamon, aromatic herbs and some sort of citrus peel. AB Stumbras is the largest drinks manufacturer in Lithuania, but this is the first of their products I’ve tasted. Sometimes commercial versions of traditional drinks such as this can be decidedly flaccid or lacking in character, but as far as I could tell they have done a good job with this krupnikas. Surprising and impressive, particularly at the very reasonable price. I'd buy this again. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)