German Herb Liquor

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TonyKZ1
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German Herb Liquor

Post by TonyKZ1 »

I had some of this at a German Festival this past weekend and was wondering if anyone had ever made anything like this radeberger-krauterlikor. Here's some info about it from google.. A traditional German herb liqueur, Original Radeberger Kräuterlikör was first formulated back in 1877. A secret blend of herbs and spices that's excellent chilled or as a post-prandial digestif. There's a few brands that are available here in the States but this kinda peaked my interest.

From what it sounds like and what was on the bottle, it's pretty high % abv along with the herbs, spices, fruits, so it might take some time to age or condition. I don't know, just thinking out loud I guess.
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mashani
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Re: German Herb Liquor

Post by mashani »

If you want to make it from scratch you would need the ability to do distillation.

Otherwise you could start with some kind of neutral clear alcohol like vodka and then steep herbs and/or add a flavored sugar syrup or a mix to get some kind of similarish (very vaguely) result. Or start with a brandy that has the flavor profile you want and steep herbs in it... or something.

Jaggermeister is a similar thing that you can get readily here.

Maybe this helps as a concept, however note that *this is nowhere near* going to turn out like the real thing, it's missing at least 40 ingredients, has no juniper in it, and more... But the "concept" of how they are doing it is how you would need to go about it.

https://www.thrillist.com/vice/what-s-i ... -diy-jager

I'd suggest just making tiny little test batches playing around with ingredients to find something you like.
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John Sand
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Re: German Herb Liquor

Post by John Sand »

A late friend used to make Krupnikas using white lightning and various herbs, maybe honey. Most of his friends have humorous stories about imbibing more than one.
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TonyKZ1
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Re: German Herb Liquor

Post by TonyKZ1 »

Nice. Thanks guys for the information. Without knowing much about it, I kinda figured there was more to it than just fermenting or distilling some grains, berries, etc. I thought it might be like barleywine until I started reading more about it. Several of those brand's recipes are closely guarded family secrets from what I've read. There's one called Killepitsch that's pretty close to the one I had listed above and available locally at a liquor stores, at least according to the guy I talked with and that shared his liquor with me.

Killepitsch is a herb liqueur from Düsseldorf, Germany. It is a blood red colour and is flavoured with fruits, berries, herbs and spices. Its alcohol content is 42% by volume. Killepitsch is produced by Peter Busch GmbH of Düsseldorf.
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mashani
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Re: German Herb Liquor

Post by mashani »

All I can tell you for sure is Germans treat these things as medicine.

If we went out clubbing back in the day and then stumbled into the local German bar/restaurant (Der Braumeister) for some grub, and we had bleary eyes, they would always shove some of that stuff in our face and tell us to drink it to prevent hangovers the next day.

I'm not sure if it actually worked for that or not, but that's what they did.
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Re: German Herb Liquor

Post by JoelCooper »

Thanks for sharing this small research! I was helpful for me, as I thought of buying the bottle
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Re: German Herb Liquor

Post by BrooklynHickman »

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've never personally made it myself, but I have some friends who have dabbled in making their liqueurs, and they've had some pretty successful with it. It's definitely a unique process, and aging or conditioning can make a big difference in the final product. I am thinking of trying this drink at restaurant füssen, so let me know if you're interested in my review. It's always worth experimenting and trying new things.
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