German Shopping

So, I'm back from Germany; this is our annual trip to the Essen Spiel Fest, where over 45,000 people play board and card games, and I'm there to wallow in game culture for a week (with a bit of sightseeing on the back end). And, annually, I get to visit one of my favorite liquor stores: the Banneke Feinkost Flüssig in the shopping district off of the main train station. There's always stress in deciding what goes into the luggage going home, always mindful of the duty-free limit of one liter of spirits per person (and willing to pay the $3 for each liter over if it's something I can't get at home).

In an earlier post, I mused about bringing home a bottle of Bacardi Black, just 'cuz; I passed on that. Similarly, I scoured Schipol airport's duty-free shops for the limited edition Corenwyn that Bols just released with no success. I ended up with four bottles, one of which is a Big Deal. Here's what I found:

• In my continuing quest for a julischka recipe for domestic consumption, I bought a bottle of what passes as the commercial stuff in Germany. If I had never tasted the Waldhaus-Resse Steakhaus julischka, I'd probably be quite happy with this. As I HAVE had the privilege, this is too thin, less sweet, and not as lingering on the palate as what we are accustomed to. This all plays into my working theory that of the two basic ingredients (slivovitz and kruskovec), the kruskovec is the central taste (and, for that matter, consistency) driver, with slivovitz the restrictor plate on the viscosity and sweetness. I could probably tweak this and make it better, but I'm still looking for the right kruskovec. However...

• While wandering the streets of Aachen, I ran across a small liquor/cigar store that may have given me another ingredient for tweaking my julischka recipe. Previously, we revealed the secret ingredient in the reference julischka as hruska, a green apple extract. I purchased a small bottle of Gravenstein apple liqueur, and we're going to see if this can't act as a substitute. It's definitely tart, with a bit of apple-sweet peeking out from below, but not something I'd be eager to drink alone. We'll see how it goes with our next batch of test julischka.

• Nuremberg has lebkuchen as its signature cookie, Köln has its Dom-Spekulatius (a thin butter cookie-crisp), and Aachen has printen - a ginger cookie, glazed, with a thin, crisp exterior and a soft-but-toothsome interior. And, with the cookies, there's a liqueur that's based on the cookie. It's a very light, sweet liqueur; not as gingerbready as I would have hoped for, but pleasant. I might try tarting it up to punch up the cookie's characteristics, but it's a nice, different liqueur option.

• The star of the show, though, is The King's Ginger. It hasn't been available in the U.S. before this year, and despite its royal heritage and century of existence, it has only had a standardized recipe for the last few years. This tastes just like ginger heaven, with a taste that delivers even more than the aroma of the liqueur promises. It's base is actually a single malt (from The Glenrothes, if my reading is to be believed), and the lemon notes add a high tremulo to a warm, lingering, clean but not cloying taste of ginger in your mouth. I'll be trying this with cider, rum punch, and anything else I can get my hands on. I'm firing Canton as far as I'm concerned; this stuff is unbelieveable.

We actually brought back one more bottle: champagne that my wife received as a gift from the proprietor of the Waldhaus-Resse Steakhaus. We're always so thankful for our friends and partners-in-crime while we're over there, and the bottle will have an honored spot at our New Year's celebration this year. And, we're not done talking about our Germany adventures quite yet; stay tuned for our next episode...

Julischka

So, it’s 2004, and I’m attending my first Essen Spiel (anannual game convention that attracts upwards of 180,000 people every year) in Essen, Germany. We stay at the Hotel Arosa, and we’re having dinner at the end of theshow on Sunday night. At this dinner, I am introduced for the first time to anamber nectar called julischka.

This julischka glass is available from
Contemporary Complements by
special order.

Julischka is an Eastern European liqueur made from two basiccomponents: slivovitz (a plum brandy) and kruskovec (pear liqueur). It’s anaperitif (well, it’s usually an aperitif; we tend to make it a starter, thirdcourse, aperitif, and desserts 1, 3, 4 and 5). It’s sweet, fruity, with aslightly thick mouth feel and a lingering sweetness that never goes cloying.

The hotel dislocated the restaurant, and they’ve now endedup in Gelsenkirchen in their own place. Dragi, the cook, proprietor and SupremeHostess of the Essen Dinner (lifetime), makes one or more of the liqueurs, andadds a secret ingredient (eventually outed as hruska, a sour apple extract, ina very small quantity). I’ve discussed the initial process of replicating theliqueur on my Facebook page, but suffice it to say I’ve gone down a slightlydifferent path, spiking my blend with Zwack (more on that later) as adimensional layer. I can’t duplicate her julischka, and frankly don’t want to;this is about being able to talk with my American friends about the piles ofperfectly-cooked Argentinean steaks, the wienerschnitzel that’s paper-thin andbreaded expertly, the amazing goulash soup, and the hundreds (yes, hundreds) ofother menu items that we have available to eat there, and then be able to letthem have a little taste that honors the craftsmanship and flavor that we getto enjoy every time we visit.

Julischka

After the julischka atthe Waldhaus-Reese Steakhaus, Wiedehopfstrasse 17, Resser Mark. 45892Gelsenkirchen-Reese

1/4 c. slivovitz

3/4 c. kruskovec

3/4 oz. Zwack

Current paths ofinvestigation:

• Thereare only two major ingredients, so if I’m going to improve this, I have toimprove the alcohols involved, and kruskovec is the one I most want to playwith. I need one that’s thicker and clearer with the pear flavor, without goingtoo sweet. I can adjust the slivovitz to take more or less sweet out of it, butI want to start with the kruskovec as providing the next best opportunity forimprovement.
• I want to stay true to its geographic roots, and I do like the flavortouches that Zwack adds. That said, Zwack in the US is NOT what’s sold inGermany; Unicum (the REAL Zwack) is to US Zwack as a chainsaw is to a butterknife. I’m bringing home a little bit of the real thing to play with, hopingthat when I next put together a batch, I can see how this will affect theoverall flavor (probably forcing me to twitch the kruskovec up as well). Isthere another dimensionalizer out there to discover?...