Unicum (keserűlikőr)
ingredient / ingredient-unicum
ウニクム
Unicum (keserűlikőr) is a bitter herbal liqueur (keserűlikőr, ; in translation: "bitter liqueur") made by Zwack Unicum in Budapest, Hungary. It was registered as a Hungarikum (one of Hungary's national values) in 2015. It is widely known with an origin story in which a court physician serving the emperor presented a special drink, but the registration site itself presents this as "according to the story". No check back to primary sources has been confirmed (see leads for treatment of the origin story).
Photographs (captions in Japanese)
A bottle of Unicum (keserűlikőr), a bitter herbal liqueur made by Zwack Unicum in Budapest, Hungary. It is described as using forty or more kinds of herbs and spices.
Shown: No applicable taxon (bottle of Unicum)Part / state: A bottle of Unicum, photographed alone
Photo: Christine Zenino / CC BY 2.0 / original image / ledger's original image
Scope and provenance of the photo
Identification: Identified as labelled in the source. Unicum is a proper product name, and the entity itself refers to a specific brand (Zwack Unicum), so the appearance of the trademark label is adopted as the subject itself.
Image shown: After obtaining the full-size file from Wikimedia Commons, NIGAMI LAB reduced it to about 2400 px on the long side with sips. No cropping or color changes. 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 (7 sections)
Reading the bitterness
Unicum (keserűlikőr) is a bitter herbal liqueur made by Zwack Unicum in Budapest, Hungary. In 2015, it was registered in both the Hungarikumok Gyűjteménye (Hungarikum Collection) and the Magyar Értéktár (Hungarian Value Repository) under the specialist category 『Agrár- és élelmiszergazdaság』 (in translation: "Agriculture and Food Economy"). The registration site says it was registered through the application and review procedure of the Hungarikum Bizottság, under Annex III of the 114/2013. (IV. 16.) Kormányrendelet (the government decree on the protection of Hungarian national values and Hungarikums). This registration is a national appraisal of the Unicum brand itself, not a statutory standard for the entire generic category keserűlikőr.
According to the company's official history, József Zwack began his first brewing and distilling operations in 1840 and registered Unicum as trademark number 805-071 in 1883 (dated May 22 in the source). The founding-year statement appears only in the Hungarian original; the corresponding passage remains untranslated even on the English page, although the English section also gives the trademark-registration details. This is the company's own account, and no corroboration from independent historical sources has been confirmed.
In its section introducing the derivative Unicum Riserva, the company describes the base brand's taste as its 『よく知られたビタースイート(bittersweet)な味』 (in translation: "well-known bittersweet taste"). It contrasts another derivative, Unicum Next (developed in 2004), by saying it reduced the proportion of bitter herbs and brought citrus flavors forward. The company page does not disclose formulation details (specific plant species, proportions, production method, or aging period), and there is no corroboration from independent component analysis.
Sources for this overview
UNICUM keserűlikőr — Hungarikumok Gyűjteménye / Magyar Értéktár
Checked for this overview: Checked the registration site's description of the legal basis and registration categories.
Történet – Zwack Unicum（企業公式沿革ページ、英語版）
Checked for this overview: Checked the history page's statements about founding and trademark registration. / Checked the taste descriptions in the Riserva and Next sections of the company site.
Other names: Unicum (hu), keserűlikőr (hu)
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: Hungary. Registered through an application and review procedure to the Hungarikum Bizottság (under the Ministry of Agriculture) pursuant to Annex III of 114/2013. (IV. 16.) Kormányrendelet (the government decree on the protection of Hungarian national values and Hungarikums)
Note: The registry site displays "Hungarikum - 2015" (registered in 2015). The registration is a national recognition of the specific brand name (Unicum) itself, not a statutory standard for the general category name "keserűlikőr" (bitter liqueur). A record of institutional recognition of the same type as Italy's PAT and GI registration records.
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ingredient-unicum —is_registered_as→ (the claim sentence above)Culture (2)
Scope: Hungary, Budapest. Zwack Unicum's official history page (the company's own account)
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ingredient-unicum —has_history→ (the claim sentence above)Scope: Budapest, Hungary. The Zwack Unicum company's official history page (the company's own description).
Note: Formulation details (specific plant species, ratios, method, and aging period) are not disclosed on the company's page, and there is no corroboration from independent compositional analysis. The wording "more than 40 herbs" and "aged in oak casks" appears on the company's history page only in the description of the derivative product Unicum Barista, so it is not recorded here as the composition of the flagship product.
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ingredient-unicum —is_presented_as→ (the claim sentence above)