Jägermeister: a hunter's herbal digestif turned global party shot
Curt Mast, a keen hunter from Wolfenbüttel, devised a herbal liqueur in 1934 using 56 herbs, fruits, roots and spices. The recipe has never changed. What did change was its image: an American importer later sold the staid German digestif to students as a party drink, and it went worldwide.
Curt's father, Wilhelm Mast, made vinegar and traded wine. Curt, born in 1897, loved making spirits and created the formula at 37 after taking over the family firm. The name means master hunter, an old title for officials in charge of hunting and gamekeeping, which a new German hunting law that same year applied to senior foresters and game wardens. The label's glowing cross between a stag's antlers recalls Saint Hubert and Saint Eustace, patron saints of hunters, who each converted after seeing that vision. And despite an internet rumour, the drink contains no deer or elk blood.
Production takes time. The ingredients, including citrus peel, liquorice, anise, saffron and ginger, are ground and left to soak in a water-alcohol mix for a couple of days or so, filtered, and aged in oak barrels for about a year before sugar, caramel and more alcohol are added. The finished liqueur is 35% alcohol and belongs to the family of European herbal liqueurs that includes Hungary's Unicum and the Czech Becherovka. The company advises serving it ice cold, ideally from a freezer at −18 °C.
Its reinvention was largely the work of Sidney Frank, whose US importing company from the 1980s pitched it to young partygoers, a far cry from its conservative reputation at home; one market researcher called him a promotional genius. The best-known result is the Jägerbomb, a shot dropped into Red Bull.
The brand has long chased attention in other ways too. Since the 1970s it has sponsored racing teams, mostly running BMWs and Porsches, including Brun Motorsport, which won the team title in the 1986 World Sportscar Championship. Recent spin-offs include a twice oak-aged premium version called Manifest, a cold brew coffee liqueur and an orange edition launched in 2025.
Source: Jägermeister
