Budapest, Hungary--A Toast To Sunday

Sunday morning, a strange time to be visiting a distillery. 

This was the day that most passengers would be leaving the ship. The small group, about 20, who would stay on to Nuremburg and Prague, were encouraged to take the offered excursion in the morning. It saved a lot of confusion with trying to work around the luggage moving out the door and the business of traffic trying to pick up passengers for hotels or the airport.

There was a long walk from our ship to steps that led up to the street level and there were a few who were schlepping suitcases along it. We found our bus waiting for us and it took us just several minutes up the road and around the block to the Unicum distillery.

Every country seems to have its special drink. I think Hungary has a couple but Unicum is likely the oldest. Production is said to date back to 1790 and the very secret recipe of more than 40 spices had been handed down generation to generation and fiercely protected.

The history of the company is almost like looking into the history of Hungary itself. We watched a video that showed its survival during wartime and the Communist regime. The Zwack family managed to survive during the war in America where they tried to set up a part of the company there. 

When they returned to find the original distillery bombed and in ruin, they vowed to rebuild. Rebuild they did but when the Communist took ownership of all the businesses, they insisted on the original recipe for the Unicum. To save the secret, another recipe was concocted that was similar but not quite right. It was enough to endure and keep sacred the original and now after rebuilding, the distillery is once again pouring out its much sought after drink.

So what does this wonderful elixir taste like? Imagine the worst strongest cough syrup your mother ever gave you. There were two kinds, the original flavor and then we were given a plum flavored one to try. It was almost endurable. As it burned all the way down, I hoped it would help to cure the rest of whatever had made us sick.

As Bob said and I agree, there was quite an extensive marketing and PR campaign for the product and I think a lot of the popularity just may be due to that. Like most things, it's all in the marketing.

We returned to the ship for lunch and a leisurely afternoon watching the new people get used to the ship.