Suze (liquor)
Suze is a gentian liqueur that is particularly popular in France and western Switzerland. Due to its bitter-sweet taste, it is enjoyed pure as an aperitif , but also mixed in cocktails . Today the brand belongs to the French spirits group Pernod-Ricard .
Manufacturing
All that is known about the composition and production of the liqueur is that a mixture of roots of the yellow gentian is mashed and distilled with other herbs and aromatic plants. The resulting alcoholic base is mixed with other plant extracts, sugar and water and bottled with 15 % vol , the minimum alcohol content for liqueurs according to the EU Spirits Ordinance , for Switzerland with 20% vol. In Germany, the manufacturer does not officially sell the brand, but it is available.
history
The genesis of the liqueur is partly contradictory. According to one version, Fernand Moureaux developed the recipe in France in 1885. Moureaux did not want to make an aperitif based on wine, as was common at the end of the 19th century , but instead used the roots of the yellow gentian. He is said to have sold the aperitif as picotine and only renamed "Suze" after his sister-in-law Susanne Jaspert in 1898, when it was already being marketed more widely. In 1922 he finally founded the Suze distillery .
According to another version, the recipe is said to have been invented by the Swiss Hans Kappeler from the village of Sonvilier in the Bernese Jura . He sold the drink under the name Gold der Alpen to farmers in the area, but did not protect the brand. Sick and ruined, he was finally forced to sell the recipe to a French industrialist in 1914. He is said to have said to him: "You will see, your drink flows in France like the Suze stream at our feet". An indication of this story is that the yellow gentian thrives mainly on the pastures of the Bernese Jura. A daughter of Hans Kappeler is said to have confirmed in 1995 that her father had to sell the recipe to a French.
The history on the manufacturer's website begins in 1889, when the liqueur received a gold medal at the World's Fair. In 1896 Henri Porte designed the characteristic slim bottle. Another gold medal followed in 1900. A trademark was registered in France in 1912. The Frenchman Moreaux is only mentioned in connection with the first billboards attached to houses in the 1920s. In 1933 the brand was one of the sponsors of the Tour de France . In 1982 a sales record was reached with a sales volume of 15 million liters.
Traditionally there is a close relationship with different artists. A Suze bottle can already be seen on a collage by Pablo Picasso from 1912. Since 2001 there have been special editions that are designed by artists.
Web links
- Official Suze brand website (French)
- Marco Beier: Bitter alternative. Suze bitter liqueur in closeup. In: mixology.eu. July 24, 2013, accessed September 14, 2015 .
- Controversial origin of the "Suze" aperitif. In: swissinfo.ch. August 11, 2005, accessed September 14, 2015 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ EU community trademark "Suze", number of the trademark 004660536 Register information at the German Patent and Trademark Office , subentry: file number 1631165, date of publication of the entry of seniority: March 19, 1912 in France.