Mentzendorff Kummel Liqueur | 50 cl

Product Information

Kümmel (also spelled kimmel, or kummel) is a colorless herbal liqueur flavored with spices and herbs—most notably, caraway seeds and cumin, which impart a distinctly savory-spicy flavor. Lore has it that the liqueur was created by Dutch distiller Lucas Bols in 1575. It’s here in Holland that it was encountered by Peter the Great in the last decade of the 1600s, while he was illicitly gathering intel on Dutch shipbuilding methods. He apparently enjoyed it so much that he brought it home with him to Russia, where it ultimately became a mainstay. Kümmel began to further establish itself in Eastern and Western Europe in 1800s, when one family in Riga, Latvia—then under Russian rule —decided to go commercial with its traditional recipe; today that brand, Mentzendorff Kümmel (now produced in France by the Combier distillery) remains one of the most popular producers of kümmel, along with Combier (France), Gilka (Germany) and Wolfschmidt (Denmark).

Wolfschmidt Kummel dates to 1847 when it was first produced in the Latvian capital, Riga. Made to a historical Danish recipe (nowadays in England), it is branded as a ‘double kummel’, indicating a higher proportion of botanicals. The brand leader in the UK (and among the many golf and gentleman’s clubs), this is seen as the benchmark for kummel. We say: Dry and Martini-like. Assertive kummel flavours pervade a punchy mix of rum and coconut water. We first encountered kümmel in a funny-looking bottle featuring an image of a ‘kaiser penguin,'” says Billy Helmkamp, co-owner and co-beverage director at Chicago’s The Whistler, referring to Gilka Kaiser-Kümmel. The unique caraway and pepper notes (the latter is dominant in the Gilka brand, in particular) immediately intrigued. In the South Pole Swizzle, those flavors are a balancing addition to the tiki trio of passion fruit syrup, citrus, bitters and gin. Either way, with speculation rife about the end of production of Wolfschmidt, the largest and most recognisable Kummel brand on the bar shelves across the U.K. what can we learn and what does this mean for future generations of golfers?

A charming and evocative scene of drinking kümmel occurs in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's television miniseries, "Berlin Alexanderplatz" (1980), where the character Franz Biberkopf speaks in the voices of glasses of kümmel and three beers in a philosophical dialogue as he evaluates the taste and downs each drink in turn. Fill the bottle of infused spirit with about 440 ml of your premade simple syrup, close the bottle and let rest for 1 day in your refrigerator. Place a small bowl on your kitchen scale and weigh out 25 grams of caraway. Dump the caraway into the alcohol and repeat with the coriander and fennel.

Allasch is a variety of Kümmel; it is also a caraway liqueur of around 40% ABV, usually flavoured with bitter almonds, anise, angelica root and orange peel. Of its characteristics, the 1955 UKBG Guide to Drinks describes kummel as, " One of the most popular of all Liqueurs with definite digestive properties. It has been made in Holland since 1595, but Kummel from Riga, and Gilka Kummel from Berlin, used to be even more universally popular than the Dutch Kummel. Kummel has in its basis some highly distilled or almost neutral spirit, sometimes distilled from grain, sometimes from potatoes rarely if ever from wine. It is flavoured with caraway seeds and cumin, to which it owes its digestive qualities." Whether that is due to a decision by the company to remove distribution in the U.K. or if the product itself is no longer to be produced at all is not known, and the details behind it seem to be extremely vague.After 3 day filter the spices from the alcohol and pour the infused spirit into a clean 750 ml bottle that has a cap or closure. You can filter the spices with a simple mesh strainer or a coffee filter. Since I have a V60 for making coffee at home I use that. If you use a paper or cloth filter, remember to wet it before hand, or the filter will soak up you alcohol. Place a small glass container (a pint size mason jar will work) on your kitchen scale and weight out 252.96 grams of Everclear and put aside.