Midori

An instant hit was made when it was already launched in 1987. Midori was another product from the giant Japanese drinks group, Suntory.  It had aimed for a slice of the coctail action with this very bright green liquer in an idiosyncratic small bottle of very textured glass. Originally a Japanese product, it is now being made in Mexico. The flavour is melons, not a common taste in the world of liquer, but the drinks bright vivid green colour is achieved by means of a dye. Indeed the greenness is its principal sales pitch, scince midori is the word "green" in Japanese. Perhaps the colour is intended to evoke the skins of certain melons varieties, such as Gali or Cantelope, as opposed to the flesh that is actually used to flavour it. The smell is in fact much closer to a bannana. It is very sweet and syrupy, and at the lower end of standard alcoholic strength for liquers: 20%.