This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2009) |
Company type | Public |
---|---|
BPSE: ZWACK BUX Component | |
Industry | Food, Beverage & Tobacco |
Founded | 1840 |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | 30 countries around the world[ citation needed ] |
Key people | Sándor Zwack, Isabella Veronika Zwack |
Website | zwackunicum |
Type | Digestif |
---|---|
Manufacturer | Unicum Zwack plc |
Distributor | PMA Canada |
Country of origin | Budapest, Hungary |
Introduced | 1790 |
Alcohol by volume | 40% |
Proof (US) | 80 |
Website | zwackunicum |
Zwack is a Budapest, Hungary-based company that makes liqueurs and spirits. The company produces an 80 U.S. proof (40% alcohol) herbal liqueur known as Unicum from a secret blend of more than forty different herbs and spices. Unicum is known as one of the national drinks of Hungary.
The company is also a distributor of a range of international brands such as Johnnie Walker, Baileys, Smirnoff, Hennessy and Gordons. Zwack has been listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange since 1993.[ citation needed ]
According to the company, Unicum was created by József Zwack, the Royal Physician to the Habsburg Court, for Emperor Joseph II in 1790. In 1840 the family founded J. Zwack & Co., the first Hungarian liqueur manufacturer. [1] By the early 1900s, the Zwack company had become one of the largest distilleries in central Europe, producing and exporting over 200 liqueurs and spirits.
During World War II, the Zwack factory was damaged and production stopped. After the war the factory was nationalized in 1948 by the communist Hungarian Working People's Party. The Zwack family fled the country. János Zwack with his son Péter Zwack, great grandson of József, was able to escape with the original Zwack recipe. Béla Zwack remained behind to give the communist government a fake Zwack recipe and went on to become a regular factory worker. Meanwhile, János and Péter migrated to the United States, eventually settling in the Bronx in 1949 when Péter was 22 years old.[ citation needed ]
In 1988, just one year before the fall of Communism in Europe, Péter Zwack returned to Hungary and resumed production with the original Zwack formula. He repurchased his family business from the State in the summer of 1989, and by the spring of 1990, the original Zwack product was reintroduced to the Hungarian market. That same year, Péter was named Hungarian Ambassador to the United States. [2]
In 2008, Péter Zwack handed over the company's leadership to the family's 6th generation, his own children, Sándor and Izabella Zwack. One of their first initiatives was to launch Zwack in the US. In 2013, the Zwack Company also launched Unicum and Unicum Plum in the US.
Unicum is made from a blend of more than 40 different herbs and spices. Some of the herbs and spices are distilled, some are macerated, then blended together and aged in oak casks at the factory in Budapest for over 6 months. The dark amber hue is achieved with added caramel colour.
This bitter herbal liqueur is mainly consumed as an apéritif before meals or a digestif after meals. The company also produces a different version of the liqueur known as Unicum next, which is made from basically the same recipe but is slightly less bitter and has more of a citrus finish on the palate.
Vilmos is a product range of spirit drinks made by mixing pear pálinka, neutral spirits and added flavourings with or without the addition of honey. There's also a genuine pear pálinka in the range, aged 3 years.
St. Hubertus is a traditional, herbal liqueur, St. Hubertus 33 gets its name from the 33 different herbs used to make this drink and because it is 33% alcohol. St. Hubertus 33 is marketed more towards younger people, because of its lighter flavour.
This product family consists of real palinkas and some spirits that although are made 100% from distilled fruit, they are sweetened with honey, thus they cannot be sold under the label of pálinka, so they are marketed under the Hírös Kecskeméti label. These are a lighter, sweeter, pálinka-based liqueur.
Contains one vodka and two vodka-based alcoholic beverages. Kalinka Samovar is a 30% drink flavoured with honey and tea. Carbonated Kalinka, or "Fény" is a flavoured, 21% drink with carbon dioxide added.
This product family was based on Fütyülős Barack, a spirit drink made by mixing apricot pálinka, neutral spirits and flavourings. The range initially has been broadened with six different fruit liqueurs produced alike, but mellowed with sugar and honey. Finally, it was completed with six different kinds of pure pálinka. Fütyülős Barack is not to be confused with its 20th century predecessor, Fütyülős Barackpálinka, which was an authentic apricot pálinka, aged in wooden barrels. Modern Fütyülős Barack was described by a professional Hungarian jury as having "a taste and flavour of petroleum; cannot be recommended to anyone [...]" [3]
The noble pálinka family consisting of genuine fruit pálinkas.
Gin is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients.
A liqueur is an alcoholic drink composed of spirits and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-aged beyond a resting period during production, when necessary, for their flavors to mingle.
Liquore Galliano L'Autentico, known more commonly as Galliano, is a brand of sweet herbal liqueur produced in Italy. It was created in 1896 by Tuscan distiller and brandy producer Arturo Vaccari and named after Giuseppe Galliano, an Italian officer of the Royal Italian Army of the First Italo-Ethiopian War.
Schnapps or schnaps is a type of alcoholic beverage that may take several forms, including distilled fruit brandies, herbal liqueurs, infusions, and "flavored liqueurs" made by adding fruit syrups, spices, or artificial flavorings to neutral grain spirits.
Jägermeister is a German digestif made with 56 herbs and spices. Developed in 1934 by Wilhelm and Curt Mast, it has an alcohol by volume of 35%. The recipe has not changed since its creation and continues to be served in its signature green glass bottle. It is the flagship product of Mast-Jägermeister SE headquartered in Wolfenbüttel, Germany.
Rakija, rakia, rachiu, raki or rakiya, is the collective term for fruit spirits popular in the Balkans. The alcohol content of rakia is normally 40% ABV, but home-produced rakia can be stronger.
Horilka is a Ukrainian alcoholic beverage.
Ratafia is a broad term used for two types of sweet alcoholic beverages, a flavouring essence whose taste resembles bitter almonds, later to a ratafia flavoured biscuit, a biscuit to be eaten along with ratafia, and later still, to a cherry variety.
Unicum is a Hungarian herbal liqueur or bitters, drunk as a digestif and apéritif. The liqueur was created in 1790 and is today produced by Zwack according to a secret formula of more than forty herbs; the drink is aged in oak casks. During communism in Hungary, the Zwack family lived in exile in New York City and Chicago, and Unicum in Hungary was produced using a different formula. Before moving to the United States, János Zwack had entrusted a family friend in Milan with the production of Unicum based on the original recipe. After the fall of communism, Péter Zwack returned to Hungary and resumed production of the original Unicum.
Pálinka is a traditional fruit spirit with origins in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, known under several names. Protected as a geographical indication of the European Union, only fruit spirits mashed, distilled, matured and bottled in Hungary and similar apricot spirits from four provinces of Austria can be called "pálinka", while "Tótpálinka" refers to wheat-derived beverages. Törkölypálinka, a different product in the legal sense, is a similarly protected pomace spirit that is commonly included with pálinka. While pálinka may be made of any locally grown fruit, the most common ones are plums, apricots, apples, pears, and cherries.
Becherovka, formerly Karlsbader Becherbitter, is a herbal bitters, often drunk as a digestif. It is produced in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic by the Jan Becher company. The brand is owned by Pernod Ricard. It is made from a secret recipe based on more than twenty types of herbs and spices.
Chambord is a 16.5% abv raspberry liqueur modelled after a liqueur produced in the Loire Valley of France during the late 17th century. The Chambord product brand has been owned and produced by the Brown-Forman Corporation since 2006.
Bénédictine is a herbal liqueur produced in France. It was developed by wine merchant Alexandre Le Grand in the 19th century, and is flavored with twenty-seven flowers, berries, herbs, roots, and spices.
Kräuterlikör is a type of liqueur that is flavored with herbs or spices and traditionally drunk neat as a digestif, very close to the concept of an italian amaro.
Apricot brandy can refer to a liquor distilled from fermented apricot juice or a liqueur made from apricot flesh and kernels.
Amaro is an Italian herbal liqueur that is commonly consumed as an after-dinner digestif. It usually has a bitter-sweet flavour, sometimes syrupy, and has an alcohol content between 16% and 40%.
Irish Mist is an Irish whiskey-based liqueur produced in Tullamore, Ireland, by the Irish Mist Liqueur Company Ltd. In September 2010 it was announced that the brand was being bought by Gruppo Campari from William Grant, only a few months after Grants had bought it from the C&C Group. It is made from aged Irish whiskey, heather and clover honey, aromatic herbs, and other spirits, blended to an ancient recipe claimed to be 1,000 years old. Though it was once 40% alcohol per volume, Irish Mist is now 35%. The bottle shape has also been changed from a "decanter" style to a more traditional whiskey bottle shape. It is currently available in more than 40 countries.
Oghi is an Armenian spirit distilled from fruits or berries. It is widely produced as moonshine from home-grown garden fruits all across Armenia, where it is served as a popular welcome drink to guests and is routinely drunk during meals. Arguably, Armenian oghi is not "vodka" at all and merely became thought of as such during the Soviet era in Armenia.
Balsam "Krasnaya Polyana" is a dark brown strong herbal liqueur, 45% abv. It is one of the traditional Eastern European beverages, called balsam.