Becherovka Finally Gets the Green Light

Remember how last summer was going to be the summer when Becherovka, the wonderful Czech liqueur, was going to go wide in America. I sure do. I wrote about it. An article that appeared in Wine Enthusiast. And yet all this time, Becherovka never appeared. Readers kept writing to me asking where it was, and and complaining that they couldn't get the stuff, and were forced to ask traveling friends to smuggle it in from Europe.

Well, turns out it was caught up in US government channels for months, held up by the TTB. I couldn't get an answer from Pernod Ricard, which owns Becherovka, as to when it would be unleashed.

Until now. I ran into Pernod's Jamie Gordon by accident in a Brooklyn bar. He told me Becherovka should be on U.S. shelves by the end of March. So get ready to pour yourself a Concrete.

The Becherovka Summer

I began writing for Wine Enthusiast with the June issue. The publication has decided to up its spirits and cocktails coverage, a move I heartily applaud.

My opening item is about Becherovka, the spiced, bitter Czech liqueur that's been around forever, but is only know getting a big push from its mothership, the mighty Pernod Ricard. When it arrived in the mail, I was a bit skeptical. Another obscure European liqueur aimed at the already crowded cocktail market, I thought. But I liked it almost immediately. And, beyond gin, I have never encountered anything that naturally marries so well with tonic water. Bottles empty very slowly around here. This one was gone within a month. 

Czech Liqueur Makes a Return to U.S. Market

Like Chartreuse, the complex herbal recipe behind the ancient Czech liqueur Becherovka is known to only two living souls. Unlike Chartreuse, the 203-year-old Becherovka's fame has never stretched far beyond the borders of its home country. That should change this July, when the liquor conglomerate Pernod Ricard, which bought Becherovka in 2001, begins a re-launch which they hope will improve the liqueur's fortunes in the U.S. 

Becherovka was created in 1807 by pharmacist Josef Becher, who originally sold it in his native Carlsbad solely for medicinal purposes. In the Czech Republic, it is typically taken cold and neat—the better to enjoy its light anise/cinnamon bite—or with a dose of tonic water, a delightful drink know as "Beton" (translation: Concrete). But don't be surprised if you find some new Becherovka cocktails at your local watering hole by summer's end. 

—Robert Simonson