I tested all the hot cross bun flavoured booze for Easter, and this surprising sweet liqueur beats the rest
EASTER does not have to be all about the kids overindulging in chocolate eggs.
There’s grown-up fun to be had too with a new range of Easter-themed alcoholic tipples.
From mouth watering hot-cross liqueurs to deliciously curranty cocktails, expert Helena Nicklin, from , gives us her verdict on the best booze to enjoy over the Bank Holiday weekend, marking them out of five.
M&S Hot Cross Bun Cream Liqueur: 3/5
THIS creamy offering is like the ultimate Easter combination of hot cross bun, chocolate and warming booze.
All the flavours of toasted treats are here with added spice and fruit, but the addition of cream and the taste of vanilla layers on an extra, richer, much more indulgent dimension.
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Similar to a chocolate Irish cream tipple, it is delicious sipped on the rocks or dashed into a coffee as a special Easter Sunday after-lunch treat.
However, a bit more body to the spice flavouring would have made it an even better Easter drink.
Chocolate Orange Gin Liqueur: 2/5
THIS gorgeous-looking bottle certainly looks more expensive than it actually is, and the tipple inside is amazing value for money too.
Made with gin from some of the oldest working copper stills and distilled with top-quality botanicals, this is a superb product for the low price and it would make a perfect adult Easter sipper poured over ice.
The chocolate orange flavour is lovely but this tipple is lighter, fresher and less intense than most of the other products on offer.
It would make a lovely gift.
Hot Cross Bun-Hattan Liqueur: 5/5
AN Easter twist on the classic Manhattan cocktail.
This ready-mixed tipple feat-ures all the fruity flavours and aromas of a hot cross bun in a liqueur, with some added va-va-voom in the form of Mount Gay Rum and vermouth.
It is great to serve up to guests as an aperitif at an Easter brunch, or something just a bit different to enjoy, served in a Martini glass.
This concoction is really quite potent, but the top-notch ingredients make this an egg-stra lovely themed talking point for your Easter celeb-rations.
Mozart Chocolate Cream Liqueur: 4/5
DENSELY packed with the luscious flavour of Belgian milk chocolate, this cream liqueur features additional notes of custard and butterscotch, with touches of cinnamon and spice that sit perfectly with the Easter egg theme.
Blended with cream and cocoa butter, it is actually very filling – just like eating a real choccie egg – and rather moreish.
Indulgent and retro, it is delicious but is probably one for those folk who prefer their booze and their chocolate on the sweeter side.
Baileys Chocolat Luxe Liqueur: 5/5
IF Easter is all about chocolate for you, then you can’t go wrong with a good glug of this choc-tastic liqueur to wash down all those edible treats.
Here, classic Baileys Irish Cream is made even more decadent with a whack of super-rich Belgian chocolate.
It is very powerful, and rather sweet, but if you love Baileys and chocolate you will adore it.
If you thought you could not possibly improve a classic Baileys you would be wrong. It turns out you can – with chocolate!
This is so yummy that the only way to drink it is neat.
Sweet Little Hot Cross Rum Liqueur: 3/5
ANOTHER hot cross-themed boozy offering, but this one uses a golden spiced rum as its foundation alcohol, creating a slightly different taste to many of the other main offerings on the market.
Made by blending the flavours of orange, cinnamon and vanilla in a rum base, this is one of a kind – a complex but super-tasty tipple.
And you really do get all the flavours of baked, toasted, fruity Easter treats coming through.
This would be lovely poured over some ice cream.
One A Penny Hot Cross Bun Beer: 3/5
HOP into Easter. Bready and bubbly, this One A Penny beer tastes like it has come straight out of the oven.
Brewed in the West Country by Somerset craft beer specialists, a can of this will make a nice change for Easter.
Flavour-wise, there is a hint of hot cross bun with a very subtle orange peel aroma tickling the nose.
It is not huge on currant flavours, but it is still fun and frothy – and something a bit different. Yummy if you like it yeasty.
Infusionist Hot Cross Bun Gin Liqueur: 3/5
A REALLY moreish Easter gin packed full of genuine hot-cross bun flavours.
The Infusionists have fun with themed liqueurs and this bun-tastic booze does a good job. A measure of this really does taste like a hot-cross bun, with caramel and currant flavours, and notes of cinna-mon and spice.
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Cheaper than a lot of Easter eggs, it is great value too.
Super sweet and slightly spiced, it could do with the flavour turned up a notch. Drink very cold.