That’s not a typo there. Heeet is so hot it neeeds threee eees.

The brainchild of MerryGo Spirits in Rigby, Idaho, Heeet (aka Blazing Heeet) is a Fireball alternative for those who really want the essence of cinnamon Red Hots in their drink. While cinnamon schnapps are a common sighting, cinnamon vodka is a rarer encounter. But the rush to compete with Fireball — at present the third best-selling whiskey in the world — is bringing out the ingenuity in people… and the spice rack.

There’s not a lot of mystery here: It’s cinnamon candy, just in booze form. The label tells you right up front what you’re getting: “Easy drinkin’, slow burnin’, little sweet mixed with a lot of heat.” To be fair, it’s honestly not that hot. The sugar is prominent, though there’s less here than you’d think: The vodka proper does a lot of heavy lifting, giving an astringency and cleansing heat to the proceedings.

Of course, the main course here is cinnamon, and it’s a dead-on recreation of Red Hots, from the peppery attack to the soothing, cinnamon-sugar conclusion. Secondary notes are… elusive, to say the least. Maybe some lemon, some vanilla? Honestly, it’s hard to pick out much of anything against the background signal of sweet, spicy cinnamon. That’s not a bad thing, really. Heeet tells you what it is up front — it’s written all over the bottle, really — and it follows through on its promises. Here’s to truth in advertising, then.

68 proof.

B+ / $25 / merrygospirits.com

Heeet Hot Cinnamon Vodka

$25

8.5

Rating

8.5/10

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