Buff (spirit)
Buff is a spirit that, as a regional specialty in Luxembourg and the border region of Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate ( southern Eifel ), is usually drunk as a digestive schnapps. Unlike other bitters, it contains very little sugar or sweeteners . That said, the buff is literally a stomach bitter .
history
The recipe for the drink, which is based on alcohol and 15 exotic herbs, is said to go back to Herman Boerhaave . During his lifetime and after his death, he was a celebrity throughout Europe for his extraordinary services to the medical sciences. In an interview with the SR , the current company owner stated that Boerhaave was not the best businessman and therefore sold his recipe for one of his medicines to a compatriot. In 1847 a descendant of the buyer, Friedrich-Wilhelm-Ludwig Buff, was transferred as a captain from the Netherlands to Ettelbrück and later to Echternach as part of his military career . After the end of his military service, he began there in 1876 with the production of a drink called Maag-Elixir van Doctor Boerhave according to the aforementioned family recipe . This was intended as a medicine.
“Boerhave's Stomach Elixir, manufactured solely by Ludwig BUFF in Echternach, invented by the well-known Dutch doctor Dr. Boerhave, recommended by various famous doctors, has a strengthening, warming and calming effect on the stomach and abdomen and is used as a condom against cholera, cholerins etc. Available in Diekirch at HH. Müller, Schenkwirth; Theato-Henckes, hostess; Reckinger, hostess; Diederich-Ridel, Schenkwirth "
For the sake of simplicity, the local population abbreviated the complex name with the family name of the manufacturer Buff. This designation established itself. In 1887 the rights to manufacture and sell were transferred to the Echternach spirits trader Paul Ossyra , who came from Lower Silesia . The drink was now trading under the name Maagbitter Buff and was no longer sold as a pure medicine. Ossyra had the recipe as well as the label he designed with the promotional mention of the legendary doctor Boerhaave patented. This portrait adorns every bottle of bitters to this day. In 1932 the rights passed to the Pitz-Schweitzer family in Hosingen . They still produce the bitter there today, even if it is still advertised as a drink from Echternach ( Buff a Echternacher , German: Buff from Echternach ).
Manufacturing
The owner family has modernized and automated production since the 1930s. Pure industrial alcohol is diluted with water to a drinking strength of 40 % by volume , and then added to 15 exotic herbs such as Kolombo root . After 14 days, the alcohol is withdrawn. The remaining herb cake is then carefully squeezed out. The extracted essence is filtered and added to the bitters. Since natural ingredients are used, the intensity of the bitter substances varies slightly from year to year. This is counteracted by carefully adding sugar and glucose. Nevertheless, slight fluctuations in taste cannot be avoided - according to the company owner in an interview with Saarländischer Rundfunk in 2017. The exact composition is not disclosed by the owners.
Presentation and taste
If the bitters are served as an aperitif, they are served diluted with mineral water. Because of the intense aroma, fruit syrup is occasionally added. As a digestif , it is usually drunk straight or on ice . Since comparatively little sugar or glucose is added to the bitters, opinions differ. Lovers appreciate the intense aroma.
"... for the others it tastes like slag from the Minett, the mining area in the south of Luxembourg."
effect
In Luxembourg, the phrase buff triple de Suff (in German roughly Buff drives away the hangover ). In addition to the digestive effect after eating, it is said to help with colic and menstrual pain . How far the bitter substances and essences of herbal liqueurs generally have an effect on digestion is still often only guesswork.
swell
- D´Industriegeschicht vu Lëtzebuerg, article about the Buff brand, accessed on September 20, 2018 (partly in French and Luxembourgish)
- Contribution to Buff in "Wir im Saarland - Grenzenlos", broadcast on January 8, 2018, media library of the Saarländischen Rundfunks, accessed on September 20, 2018
- Museum Sybodo Article about Buff on the website of Museum Sybodo - Medical Instruments and Nursing Devices, Innsbruck, accessed on September 20, 2018
- "Buff triples de Suff" in the Trierischer Volksfreund on June 9, 2017
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Felk: "Travel Guide Luxembourg", Marco Polo, ISBN 978-3-8297-2826-3 , p. 28
- ↑ Interview with Jacques Pitz. Saarland radio. August 1, 2018, accessed September 20, 2018 .
- ↑ Digestif. Eat Drink. Retrieved September 20, 2018 .