Kräuterbitter
ingredient / ingredient-krauterbitter
クロイタービター
Kräuterbitter is a customary commercial designation in German-speaking regions for a bitter digestif made by macerating and distilling several herbs. Under EU Regulation 2019/787 it may correspond to (category 30, a bitter-tasting spirit drink) or, if it meets the sugar requirements, a bitter-herb liqueur (category 33). Neither nor appears as a separate statutory category name in the English regulation. Underberg of Rheinberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, is a widely known example.
Photographs (captions in Japanese)
A bottle of Underberg. Kräuterbitter is the common name in German-speaking regions for a type of bitter digestif made by steeping and distilling several herbs, and Underberg was photographed as a real, representative commercial example of it.
Shown: Not applicable (product bottle of a seasoning liquid)Part / state: Product bottle
Photo: Gryffindor / CC BY-SA 3.0 / original image / ledger's original image
Scope and provenance of the photo
Identification: Identified as labelled in the source. 'Kräuterbitter' is a type name and not a collective name for a specific brand. The photograph is a representative actual example of the type.
Image shown: The full-size file from Wikimedia Commons. No cropping or color changes by NIGAMI LAB. For display, a WebP capped at 1200 px wide is served; the ledger's original image can be checked from the link above.
On this page (6 sections)
Reading the bitterness
Annex I of EU Regulation 2019/787 defines spirits with a predominantly bitter taste as category 30, 『Bitter』, with a minimum alcohol content of 15%. When the sugar requirement is met, it defines liqueurs flavored with bitter plants such as gentian and wormwood under category 33, with a minimum sugar content of 80 g/L. Kräuterbitter may correspond to either category, but a search of the English regulation for terms such as 『Kräuter』 found no separate statutory category named 『Kräuterbitter』 or 『Kräuterlikör』. The original German version and domestic German food legislation were not checked here.
Underberg of Rheinberg calls its product 『Kräuter-Digestif』. Its official online shop titles a product-category page 『Underberg Bitter』 and tags the product 『Kräuterbitter』. The company's self-designation and category tag illustrate commercial use of this term rather than a statutory category name under the EU regulation.
The company describes Underberg as made from 43 carefully selected herbs extracted without impairing their aroma through its proprietary 『Semper Idem®』 process. It is described as a family recipe known to only 7 people, and the company's official homepage also carries the tagline 『BITTER IS BETTER』.
Underberg is described as founded in Rheinberg, Germany, in 1846. The company states that its ingredients are only herbs, alcohol, and water, with no coloring. This history is the company's own account; no independent historical source has been confirmed.
Sources for this overview
Checked for this overview: Checked the result of searching the complete English text of the EU regulation for Kräuter and related terms.
Underberg 12 x 0,02 Liter 44 % Vol. im Karton (商品ページ)
Checked for this overview: Checked the category-page title and category tag on Underberg's product page. / Checked the description of the Semper Idem process, 43 herbs, and access limited to 7 people. / Checked the founding year 1846 and Rheinberg location.
Underberg Online-Shop トップページ（タグライン確認用）
Checked for this overview: Checked the tagline on the official homepage.
Hypotheses and recipe candidates for this entry are on the Japanese page.
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
Safety and regulation (1)
Scope: EU/German-speaking regions; our mapping between a customary commercial term and Regulation 2019/787, not an equivalence stated in the law.
Show data
ingredient-krauterbitter —corresponds_in_eu_law_to→ (the claim sentence above)Culture (2)
Scope: Rheinberg, Germany; description in Underberg's official online shop (the company's own account).
Show data
ingredient-krauterbitter —is_presented_as→ (the claim sentence above)Scope: Rheinberg, Germany; official Underberg material (the company's own account).
Show data
ingredient-krauterbitter —has_history→ (the claim sentence above)