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Zwack is a
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
,
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
-based company that makes
liqueur A liqueur ( , ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of Liquor, spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-age ...
s and spirits. The company produces an 80 U.S. proof (40% alcohol)
herbal liqueur A liqueur ( , ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-aged, beyon ...
known as
Unicum Unicum () is a Hungarian herbal liqueur or bitters, drunk as a digestif and apéritif. According to legend the liqueur was created in 1790 and is today produced by Zwack a secret formula of more than forty herbs; the drink is aged in oak cask ...
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 Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky produced by Diageo in Scotland. It was established in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire in 1820, and continued to be produced and bottled at the town's Hill Street plant, once the world's ...
,
Baileys Baileys Irish Cream is an Irish cream liqueur made of cream, cocoa and Irish Whiskey emulsified together with vegetable oil. Baileys is made by Diageo at Nangor Road, in Dublin, Ireland and in Mallusk, Northern Ireland. It is the original Ir ...
,
Smirnoff Smirnoff (; ) is a brand of vodka owned and produced by the British company Diageo. The Smirnoff brand began with a vodka distillery founded in Moscow by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov (1831–1898), but its modern incarnation traces back to the ...
,
Hennessy Jas Hennessy & Cie., commonly known simply as Hennessy (), is a French producer of cognac, founded in 1765 by Richard Hennessy which has its headquarters in Cognac, France. It is one of the best-known cognac houses, along with Martell, Courvo ...
and Gordons. Zwack has been listed on the
Budapest Stock Exchange Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) (, (BÉT)) is the Stock exchange, third largest stock exchange in Central and Eastern Europe by market capitalization and Market liquidity, liquidity. It is located at 55 Krisztina Boulevard, Budapest, Hungary, in ...
since 1993.


History

According to legend,
Unicum Unicum () is a Hungarian herbal liqueur or bitters, drunk as a digestif and apéritif. According to legend the liqueur was created in 1790 and is today produced by Zwack a secret formula of more than forty herbs; the drink is aged in oak cask ...
was created by József Zwack, the Royal Physician to the
Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
Court, for
Emperor Joseph II Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor F ...
in 1790. In 1840 the family founded J. Zwack & Co., the first Hungarian liqueur manufacturer. By the early 1900s, the Zwack company had become one of the largest distilleries in
central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
, producing and exporting over 200 liqueurs and spirits. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, 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 Hungarian Working People's Party (, , abbr. MDP) was the ruling communist party of Hungary from 1948 to 1956. It was formed by a merger of the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP) and the Social Democratic Party of Hungary (MSZDP).Neubauer, Joh ...
. The Zwack family fled the country. János Zwack with his son
Péter Zwack Péter János Zwack (21 May 1927 – 5 August 2012) was a Hungarian businessman, investor, philanthropist, diplomat and the Hungarian Ambassador to the United States from 1990 until 1991. He was the CEO and owner of the company Zwack. Early lif ...
, 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 The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
in 1949 when Péter was 22 years old. In 1988, just one year before the
fall of Communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...
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. 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.


Details

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 Maceration is the process of preparing foods through the softening or breaking into pieces using a liquid. Raw, dried or preserved fruit or vegetables are soaked in a liquid to soften the food, or absorb the flavor of the liquid into the food. ...
, 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.


Other Zwack products


Vilmos product family

Vilmos is a product range of spirit drinks made by mixing
pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the Family (biology), family Rosaceae, bearing the Pome, po ...
pálinka Pálinka () is a traditional fruit spirit (or fruit brandy) with origins in the medieval Hungary, known under several names. Protected as a geographical indication of the European Union, only fruit spirits mashed, distilled, matured and bottled i ...
,
neutral spirit Rectified spirit, also known as neutral spirits, rectified alcohol or ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, is highly concentrated ethanol that has been purified by means of repeated distillation in a process called rectification. In some countr ...
s 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 product family

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.


Hírös Kecskeméti product family

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.


Kalinka product family

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.


Fütyülős

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 ..


Zwack Sándor Nemes Pálinka Family

The noble pálinka family consisting of genuine fruit pálinkas.


References


External links

{{Authority control Food and drink companies established in 1790 Hungarian alcoholic drinks Hungarian brands Herbal liqueurs Manufacturing companies based in Budapest Purveyors to the Imperial and Royal Court Companies listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...