Master Herb Blending Creates Jaegermeister’s New Manifest Liqueur

By Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster, The Herb Society of America

After 80 years dominating the herbal liqueur market Jaegermeister has launched –Manifest. Like the original Jägermeister composition, the new herbal liqueur derives flavor from a mixture of herbs, blossoms, roots and fruits. However, master distillers added more plants to the original blend of 56 botanical ingredients. And, they’ve increased the number of macerates from four to five. (“Macerate” in this context means to “steep.”)

If you’re a crafty herb enthusiast just imagine the process. The Kräuterkellerei – like a wine cellar for herb blending — stocks the finest exotic herbs, blossoms, roots, and fruits, delivered in sacks from all over the world. Several dry mixtures are created and then time-consuming cold macerations follow.

These macerates rest in old oak barrels for an entire year. Meanwhile the base alcohol rests separately in small oak casks of American and German oak with a medium char. Aging in oak imparts wood notes for added flavors that contribute to the complex, smooth character of the new spirit.

If you want to try this at home, you can’t. Jaegermeister and Manifest formulas and processes are carefully guarded secrets of the original distiller’s great-grandchildren. Eleven of the botanicals are

• Star anise
• Ginger root
• Sweet orange peel
• Ceylon cinnamon
• Green cardamom
• Galangal root
• Clove
• Bitter orange peel
• Licorice root
• Chirette
• Mace

The elaborate combination leads to a flavor profile described by the company as “a full-bodied, robust blend of flavors. Slightly sweet notes of anise and dried fruit give way to subtle spice and aromatic bitters, finishing in a marriage of vanilla and barrel oak.”

The limited release of Jägermeister Manifest is available in select on-premise accounts throughout the United States.

Herbs Add Interest to Beer

By Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster, The Herb Society of America

Copyright Ohio University

In late June I took my youngest son to orientation at Ohio University where he plans to study biology with the goal of finding a job in environmental science. (His mom’s influence, perhaps?) For the two-day introduction parents and students separated for sessions of different focus. Up to this point, no problem.

But … let’s just say I’m GPS–challenged. Faced with too many one-way streets and no co-pilot, I looped the campus twice before finding the assigned parking lot. After an already long day of bouncing among buildings, I walked yet another half mile – with luggage – to the dorm room check-in line. Then, by streetlight I trudged another quarter mile and lugged my stuff up three flights of stairs … only to find broken air conditioning.

Overcome by emotions and fatigue I was near tears. A kind gentleman on the orientation staff helped me relocate. Requiring some self-medication I asked him to recommend a place for beer … something within easy walking distance.

His suggestion: Jackie O’s Public House in uptown Athens, Ohio.

To my delight, the brewers are playful and many of their beers use unlikely ingredients. Yes, that includes herbs … a trend that you’ll read more about in the 2018 edition of The Herbarist.

Upon hearing I like bitter, hoppy beer, Bartender Bruce thunked two brews on the wooden bar top – Jackie O’s New Growth Summer Spruce Tip IPA and Jackie O’s Next Level Lager (the first India Pale Lager I’ve ever seen) – and waited for my facial expressions to change. The Lager was good, but the IPA was amazing. The reason, perhaps, was the inclusion of lemon balm and spruce tips in the brewing process. Both are grown on a farm owned by Jackie O’s.

A few swallows and my problems buzzed away. The spruce tips enhanced a fresh piney bitterness and I suspect the lemon balm added a clean and crisp quality.

To entertain myself – after all I was a single woman at a bar — I read through the list of 30 beers created by the brew master. In addition to raspberries, various hops and bourbon-barrel aging, herbs were part of the formula. These included …

• Pretty Ricky, a blonde ale made with hibiscus flowers.
• Tongue Thai’d, an IPA made with lemon grass, lemon verbena and ginger.
• Oro Negro, an imperial stout made with vanilla beans, cacao nibs, cinnamon and Habanero peppers then conditions for months on oak staves.
• Gose, a mixed culture beer brewed with salt and coriander.

Relaxed and re-energized, I headed back to the dorm with samples of New Growth Summer Spruce Tip IPA to share with those back home.

Herbs Flavor Best Cocktails of 2015

Of course, herbs are indispensable in the kitchen. But, we often forget they inspire more than a mojito at the bar. Industry magazine Restaurant Hospitality has identified two herb-influenced cocktails among America’s best in 2015.  Thank you RH for permission to share these awards.

The Seersucker Cocktail

Ferrel Douglas at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans created this rosemary-spiked martini.

“I was inspired by my grandfather, and this is a perfect cocktail for a southern gentleman (or woman) to sip as they sit on the front porch in a seersucker suit,” he says. “He also has a lot of rosemary growing in his yard, so the two are linked in my mind. And when the kitchen at Commander’s had some black cherry vinegar on hand, I knew I had to make a cocktail with it.”

Key Ingredients: Bourbon, Fee Brothers Cordial Syrup, Mandarine Napoleon, Black Cherry Vinegar, lemon, simple syrup, rosemary.

The Shrine Builder

At  The Whistler in Chicago, creators — Billy Helmkamp, Rob Brenner, Eric Henry – use unusual herb-based ingredients to concoct a lively green beverage.

Key Ingredients: Green Chartreuse, verdita, falernum, lime juice.

Historically, chartreuse liquor has been a blend of alcohol aged with 130 herbs, plants and flowers. Verdita is  a blend of cilantro, mint, jalapenos, lime and pineapple juice. Falernum is a rum-based cordial from Barbados that includes lime, ginger, cloves and almonds.

Now that’s an herbal cocktail.

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How do you incorporate herbs in your cocktails?

Lavender Love: It’s everywhere

By Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster, The Herb Society of America

It’s synchronicity … a meaningful coincidence … that I’m finding lavender everywhere. Or perhaps a trend that I didn’t know about?

In August I ordered bulk lavender buds to make sachets for Christmas gifts.

Next thing I know my friend, travel writer Janet Podolak, posts a picture of herself in French lavender fields.

The weekend came and I was at a family gathering where the virtues of lavender essential oil became a topic.

Then, at Barrio taqueria in Cleveland, the specials included a lavender margarita.  You bet that I ordered it.

A day later I was at a conference – Content Marketing World – and one of the vendors was treating us to lemon-lavender shortbread.

Back at the Willoughby (Ohio) Farmer’s Market vendor Maggie Fusco was selling aromatic, handcrafted lavender wands.

Its as though the lavender gods were blessing me with my favorite herb. Now, if I could just get it to grow it without getting so spindly and sad in the limited sunshine over my Northeast Ohio parcel of clay.

P.S. After I’d written this I stumbled upon Luvin’ Lavender Farm in Madison, Ohio. I’ll hold on to their story for another blog. Watch this space!

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Share your synchronous herb experience in the comments below.