In addition to all the wine, beer and hard liquor that Hungarians power through, there is also a growing market for what are officially known as szénsavas, alkoholtartalmú frissítőitalok ("carbonated, alcoholic refreshing drinks"). We say "officially," because there seem to be more names used locally for the product sometimes called "wine coolers" than actual products. Producers mostly call them frissítő ital ("refreshing drink") or just "mixed drink," while consumers apparently prefer alkopop, "long drink," lónyál (horse saliva) or bákárdibrízer ("Bacardi Breezer," regardless of the producer). And interestingly enough, some of the best - and worst - are made right here in Hungary.

Portal Privátbankár recently tested eight such varieties of frissítő ital available on the local market. After tasting and scoring the assorted alkopopok on a 10-point scale, they found the best and worst bákárdibrízer were both domestically made.

Sweeping the awards with 7.8/10 was the Cool Vodka Green Apple, which costs Ft 259 a bottle, and is made by Győr Likőrgyár Rt (Győr Liquor Factory Inc.) Say the critics: "Has green apple smell and taste, and the vodka in it can't be tasted more than necessary. It is cheap and good, which was enough to win the test."

After the second-place Bacardi Breezer Tropical Watermelon (7.0/10) came another Hungarian entrant, Lord Green Ice Lime. No one seems to know who is behind Lord, but its Green Lime Ice (Ft 259) was good enough to rate 6.6 out of ten. "The product has a pleasant taste and smell but too much coloring," the critics said. "The producer failed to add anything to the basic idea, so it is probably better to make the drink for ourselves than buy it."

After three more foreign entrants - Bacardi Breezer Tropical Orange (6.6/10), Bacardi Breezer Tropical Lemon (5.0/10) and Smirnoff Ice (4.2/10) - Lord's second contestant (Lord Peach, Ft 244) could only score a miserable 2.2/10. "Smells exactly like Socialist-era bubble gum Turbo rágó and the alcohol can be tasted in it. Has a coconut after-taste, but that doesn't help, either," concluded the panel, pointing out that it was horrible, though not the worst. That award went to Cool Vodka William, a pear-flavored brízer from the same producer as the winning lónyál that several of the judges agreed simply "stinks," and which went home with a miserable 1.8 out of a possible 10. According to the tasting notes of one judge, however, the bad showing of the CVW may give hope to a new generation of bottled Bloody Marys, because he swore he could taste real pepper in there with the artificial pears.