Becherovka

Becherovka was created in 1807 in Carlsbad by Josef Vitus Becher, an apothecary who blended it as a medicinal English bitters, with his son Jan later founding the famous factory in 1838. For over two centuries its recipe has stayed a closely guarded secret known to only two people, who mix the herbs once a week in a locked room called the Drogikamr. Long sold as the unofficial thirteenth healing spring of the spa town, it became the Czech national liqueur.

Cold from the freezer it coats the tongue silky and sweet, then blooms into warming ginger, cinnamon, and clove with a clean bitter finish. Stretched over ice with tonic as a Beton it turns crisp, herbal, and refreshing.

Macerating whole spices in high-proof spirit slowly extracts their fat- and alcohol-soluble aromatic oils, building layered complexity that water alone cannot. Balancing the bitter infusion with sugar syrup rounds the sharp edges into a smooth, sippable liqueur.