Perhaps you know about this or know someone who does -- it's been
driving me crazy(er) for several years now:

Around 1980 a new set of Austrian liqueurs appeared on liquor store
shelves near me. The bottles were shaped in an elegant "Z" for Zwack,
the distiller. We bought two, a peach and a pear, and they were
concentrated essences of each -- just wonderful.

Now when I look up Zwack it refers to the Unicum herbal liqueur of
some Hungarian company.

Do you remember the Austrian Zwack, the individual fruit liqueurs, the
Z-shaped bottles, or anything about them?

"spamtrap1888" :

> Perhaps you know about this or know someone who does -- it's been
> driving me crazy(er) for several years now:

> Around 1980 a new set of Austrian liqueurs appeared on liquor store
> shelves near me. The bottles were shaped in an elegant "Z" for Zwack,
> the distiller. We bought two, a peach and a pear, and they were
> concentrated essences of each -- just wonderful.

> Now when I look up Zwack it refers to the Unicum herbal liqueur of
> some Hungarian company.

> Do you remember the Austrian Zwack, the individual fruit liqueurs, the
> Z-shaped bottles, or anything about them?

Well, the distillery Zwack was founded in Pest in 1840.
So, yes, the name is Austrian and the brand was k.u.k. until 1918.
Then it became Hungarian until 1948, when the Communists took
over the factory.
The family Zwack went to Italy and produced Zwack liquors, like
the communists did in Hungary.
After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Zwack bought back the factory
in Hungary and produces from there nowadays.
To answer your question : Yes, it was Austrian at one time long ago,
but not since 1918.
It's most famous product is their "Magenbitter" Unicum.

Cheers,

Michael Kuettner

On Sep 24, 3:39*pm, Sqwertz > wrote:
> <snip>
>
> Since we're on the subject of Austrian liquor... How well is Stroh rum
> regarded there in Austria, or is it just a gimmick they sell to us
> gullible Americans? *I've bought about 20 bottles of Stroh 80 in my
> lifetime. *It tastes exactly like Butter Rum Lifesavers (both are
> artificially flavored, I know). *It's not unusual for 4 of us to do
> "Shots from Hell" all night until the bottle is gone. *Much better
> than the overrated Bacardi 151.

On a visit in 1982, my cousin Ottilie gave us some co-op Inlaender Rum
with Cola, which was delicious. I guess that was sold by Konsum, which
I see went belly up almost 20 years ago. Of the two strengths of
Stroh, I prefer the 60%, which you can't find over here.

"Sqwertz" wrote :

> Since we're on the subject of Austrian liquor... How well is Stroh rum
> regarded there in Austria, or is it just a gimmick they sell to us
> gullible Americans? I've bought about 20 bottles of Stroh 80 in my
> lifetime. It tastes exactly like Butter Rum Lifesavers (both are
> artificially flavored, I know). It's not unusual for 4 of us to do
> "Shots from Hell" all night until the bottle is gone. Much better
> than the overrated Bacardi 151.

Stroh Rum is regarded well.
It's used for baking and mixed drinks (like Rum-Cola).
You also put it in Tea (black tea, sugar, cream, rum)
or coffee (Besoffener Kapuziner - Drunk Franciscan), e.g.

Very few drink it pure. (There is also Stroh 50 and Stroh 30.)
I doubt that the original Stroh Rum is "artificially flavoured" .
However, I don't know whether they've "adapted" their product
for the USAn market; that would be disappointing.
How was the bottle labelled ? "Stroh Original 80", "Original Stroh 80" ?
It's more flavourful than Bacardi, yes.
Especially in a "Jagatee" in the freezing cold ;-)

Cheers,

Michael Kuettner

"Sqwertz" wrote :

> Michael Kuettner wrote:

>> "Sqwertz" wrote :
>
>>> Since we're on the subject of Austrian liquor... How well is Stroh rum
>>> regarded there in Austria, or is it just a gimmick they sell to us
>>> gullible Americans? I've bought about 20 bottles of Stroh 80 in my
>>> lifetime. It tastes exactly like Butter Rum Lifesavers (both are
>>> artificially flavored, I know). It's not unusual for 4 of us to do
>>> "Shots from Hell" all night until the bottle is gone. Much better
>>> than the overrated Bacardi 151.
>
>> Stroh Rum is regarded well.
>> It's used for baking and mixed drinks (like Rum-Cola).
>> You also put it in Tea (black tea, sugar, cream, rum)
>> or coffee (Besoffener Kapuziner - Drunk Franciscan), e.g.
>
>> Very few drink it pure.

>[bowing]
<snip>

> It says "Rum, Artificial Flavor, colors, etc...". So the taste may
> indeed be partially based on real rum. But I think most of the flavor
> is artificially derived.

Ah, now I see the confusion.
A shoddy translation into English. Stroh isn't pure rum,
it's "Inländer Rum". Maybe it would have been better to label it
"Austrian Rum". It's rum with essences ("Bonificateurs");
the "Artificial flavors" are part of the (secret) recipe.
Here's their plagiat warning on their homepage with original bottles :

<http://www.stroh.at/marke/plagiate---faelschungen/>

Cheers,

Michael Kuettner

On Sep 26, 10:05*am, "Michael Kuettner" >
wrote:
> "Sqwertz" *wrote :
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Michael Kuettner wrote:
> >> "Sqwertz" *wrote :
>
> >>> Since we're on the subject of Austrian liquor... How well is Stroh rum
> >>> regarded there in Austria, or is it just a gimmick they sell to us
> >>> gullible Americans? *I've bought about 20 bottles of Stroh 80 in my
> >>> lifetime. *It tastes exactly like Butter Rum Lifesavers (both are
> >>> artificially flavored, I know). *It's not unusual for 4 of us to do
> >>> "Shots from Hell" all night until the bottle is gone. *Much better
> >>> than the overrated Bacardi 151.
>
> >> Stroh Rum is regarded well.
> >> It's used for baking and mixed drinks (like Rum-Cola).
> >> You also put it in Tea (black tea, sugar, cream, rum)
> >> or coffee (Besoffener Kapuziner - Drunk Franciscan), e.g.
>
> >> Very few drink it pure.
> >[bowing]
>
> <snip>
>
> > It says "Rum, Artificial Flavor, colors, etc...". *So the taste may
> > indeed be partially based on real rum. *But I think most of the flavor
> > is artificially derived.
>
> Ah, now I see the confusion.
> A shoddy translation into English. Stroh isn't pure rum,
> it's "Inländer Rum". Maybe it would have been better to label it
> "Austrian Rum". It's rum with essences ("Bonificateurs");
> the "Artificial flavors" are part of the (secret) recipe.
> Here's their plagiat warning on their homepage with original bottles :
>
> <http://www.stroh.at/marke/plagiate---faelschungen/>
>

Does Stroh have any competitors, by the way?