Xante is a liqueur brand developed by the Swedish Thilander family. The distillery developed a pretty famous liqueur made from cognac and pear juice. The company was acquired by the Finnish Altia in the 2000s, which later merged with the Norwegian Arcus and changed its name to Anora. The merger took place in 2021 and soon after that, changes also took place in the Xanten product family. The alcohol content of the original Xante was reduced and new products were quickly launched. Pear-cream liqueur mixed with coconut milk, rum-pear liqueur and passion fruit & pear combination. The alcohol content of the liqueur is only 15%, which describes Anora’s current lighter product line. The price for a 50 cl bottle was €9.70.
The liqueur is very light brown in color, slightly greenish. The aroma is pear-like, sweet and slightly essential. The taste is a little sour at first, apparently due to the passion fruit. Later, pear also comes into the taste and it also brings sweetness with it. It is not the sweetest liqueur, it runs nicely in the glass and is not sticky at all. The aftertaste is short, the fruit taste fades very quickly, until what is left is mostly a sugary and watery taste. Passion fruit is not very familiar to me, I have probably never tasted it fresh. So I can’t say how it comes out in the liqueur, other than as a slight acidity at the beginning. The pear is very recognizable in the taste. There is something artificial in the taste. The pear is also not as natural as it was in the original Xante. The alcohol is not noticeable at all, perhaps only with a slight tongue-drying nuance of ethanol in the aftertaste. There is no cognac in the product, the alcohol in the liqueur is a neutral spirit.
The taste itself is quite exotic, as Anora promises in its advertising texts. There is fruitiness, but the essence of the aromas is distracting and leaves the product with a rather cheap impression. The only thing left of the original, high quality Xante is the pear aroma, otherwise it is a fairly even, cheap liqueur. It’s okay to pay ten bucks and try it once, but I will not buy this again. Also I am seriously considering whether the next Xante launches are worth buying at all.
75/100
