Mixologist

Family recipe

by Sir Thomas the Alcohol Man

Have you been feeling "Hungary" for a new drink? (Pun totally intended.) Well you're in luck: Zwack, Hungary's best-selling liquor, just arrived in Ohio.

"If you were to take all the shot glasses, you could go around the border of Hungary twice. That is how much we sell," Izabella Zwack explained when she and her brother Sandor were in Columbus to celebrate the liquor's launch earlier this month.

Zwack is distilled from herbs according to a secret family recipe. How secret? "Every 10 years we kill the master blender, like the Egyptians with the architects that designed the pyramids," Sandor joked.

Seriously, "There needs to be one family member present with the master blender when the herbs are being blended, and even the master blender doesn't know the recipe because he receives them pre-mixed," Izabella explained.

During their visit, the siblings expressed their thanks to Columbus for being friendly and open-minded. In fact, the mayor even declared it "Peter Zwack Hungarian-American Day."

"Egészségedre!" That's how you say "cheers" in Hungarian.

Could you offer some history on the product?

Izabella Zwack: Discovered—I always say that great things are more discovered than invented—in 1790 by our great, great, great, whatever, grandfather. We are sixth-generation Zwacks.

What we know is what we inherited, so we inherited a secret recipe made of 40 different types of herbs and spices. We know that the original Zwack was a doctor and he came out with this concoction.

Sandor Zwack: He was not just a doctor, he was the physician to the court of Joseph II, the emperor of Austria-Hungary.

Izabella: And he came up with this round bottle with a cross on it.

During the communist period, the whole family had to escape. They confiscated the factory, came and took the keys. My grandfather escaped with the recipe in his pocket and that was the only time when Zwack was not in the family. We went back in 1988 and were able to buy it back.

How should Zwack be enjoyed?

Izabella: I think that it was born as the ultimate shot and it has remained as the ultimate shot. It has quite a lot of character; it has a nice, smooth, citrusy finish to it.

Sandor: It's a wonderful drink, it is wonderfully made. You can drink it room temperature if you want, with a nice cigar. You can mix it with cranberry, pineapple and orange juice. It's great with Red Bull, but the way we market it is to be ice cold.

What prompted you to bring it to Ohio now?

Sandor: On a more emotional basis, we were looking for a place where people are open-minded.

Izabella: It's funny enough, but it is quite similar to Hungary, people who are hard-working and want to have fun, so we actually could reproduce the Hungarian model over here.

March 29th, 2007