Peach 'schnapps' clear liqueurs

The term schnapps traditionally refers to a clear, strong spirit or liqueur that may be flavoured and served in a shot glass. However, marketers in the 1980s misappropriated "schnapps" as a name to make their sweet, low-strength fruit (originally peach) flavoured liqueurs sound more appealing and less like sweet, low-strength liqueurs.

This misappropriation of a generic term to make a drink sound stronger than it is can also be said of 'Martini' cocktails (e.g. neo-martinis such as a Porn Star Martini and Espresso Martini) and the term 'spirit' being applied to non-alcoholic products, such as Ben Branson's 2015 Seedlip.

In Austria, "schnapps" still predominantly refers to clear eaux-de-vie, produced from anything from pears to rowan berries to juniper, and in Germany, "schnaps" (with one 'p') is a term for almost any hard liquor.

However, in countries like the USA, UK, Australia and Spain, thanks to brands like Peachtree, "schnapps" is now better known as a term for sweet liqueurs that were 20-24% alc./vol, but in the pursuit of lower duty and higher profits, some have been reduced to 18% alc./vol. (e.g. Archers Peach Schnapps. These clear, sweet liqueurs have no resemblance to the strong, dry schnapps from which they take their name, but thanks to being made with flavour essences rather than directly with fresh fruit, they are aromatic and strongly flavoured.