UNIKUM (Unicum) HUNGARY
The national drink of the country, along with Palinka fruit vodka, Tokay wine and slivovitz. The taste is bitter, the first sip burns. Fortress – 40%. It is used both as an aperitif and as a digestif. There are more than 40 herbs in the Unicum recipe, medicinal and herbal notes predominate in its taste, and wormwood, cashews and marmalade stand out noticeably. The consistency is thick. During the production of “Unicum” is aged in oak barrels. The recipe is strictly classified; there is a legend that its manufacturer (the Zwak family company), in order to mislead competitors, purposely buys more medicinal herbs than are included in the recipe.
History of occurrence. Reminds me of the rise in popularity of Black Balsam of Riga. Riga Balsam cured Empress Catherine the Great, and Unicum treated Emperor Joseph II. It was the emperor (according to family legend) who gave the name to the drink. Tasting it, he exclaimed: “Das ist ein Unikum!” The name turned out to be very successful.
The balm was created in 1790 by the imperial court physician Josef Zwak, opened a factory for its production, and passed on to the children both the factory and the secret recipe for the drink. And for over 200 years it has been produced by the Zwak family. From generation to generation, the secret of making “Unique” is passed on. As well as the family legend that Emperor Joseph II himself gave the name to the balm. After tasting it, he exclaimed: “Das ist ein Unikum!” Better not to think!
During the Second World War, Zwak’s factory was destroyed. It was raised from the ruins, but a new misfortune awaited the owner – the communists came to power in Hungary and nationalized the business of the winemaker’s family. The Zwak family fled the country, taking with them the Unicum recipe. Until the 1990s, the Hungarian communists produced a fake “Unicum” in the country, repeating the practice of all usurpers of power in the 20th century – taking someone else’s, passing it off as their own. So in Cuba, barbudas produced rum at factories stolen from the Bacardi family, in Russia they poured wine and champagne at factories expropriated from Pyotr Smirnov, and in Czechoslovakia during socialism they drank Fernet Stock, taken from the owner …
The real Unicum was produced by the Zwak family in Italy. Only after the destruction of the socialist system in Europe did the real Unicum return to Hungary, along with its old original recipe.
The beginning of the 21st century was met by the management of the Unicum bitters manufacturing company with a new unique drink – Millenicum. All versions of Unicum are bottled in spherical bottles, the label shows a cross. Previously, the cross was red and, as they say, the Zwak factory paid a fee to the Hungarian Red Cross for the right to use it. In 1922, the term of the contract ended and the cross became gold.
The family business today is headed by Isabella Stock. “There is no male or female profession,” she says. – I am ambitious. If I wake up in the morning, my first thought is what my next step will be to make Unicum a global brand.”
