Has anyone had a crack at making something like a Beerenburg?

[underjakk]

Hello All,  I have recently had some relatives from Friesland bring me some Sonema Berenburg - quite tasty and very complex.  Since I can't seem to find it locally I thought I might take a crack at making some.  I can't seem to find much about what is in the bottle though so . . .

My first thought is to start with a standard Gin recipe as a base - from what I can read here that is the base they use - maybe try Odin's easy gin on a less neutral white whiskey type base

I have a lead to here: https://www.braumarkt.com/en/beerenburgkruiden-voor-2-3-liter-1-stuks which shows some of the herbs used - but really no idea of proportions, though there is some indication of steeping time

I have also seen some idea of jagermeister which is at least somewhat similar - https://honestcooking.com/make-jagermeister/ thought this looks like everything but the kitchen sink in here!

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[Glenlyon]

Interesting! I might give that a try. But, what are "Blessed Distal Herbs' (sic)?

[DCD]

Hi Underjakk,

Being from the Netherlands I have tried to make a Beerenburg and I think I can at least help you out to get started.

First of all; Beerenburg was originally made by fisherman who bought a mixture of herbs in Amsterdam from a man named Hendrik Beerenburg, they macerated the herbs in Brandy or Genevre while fishing. Nowadays there is a multitude of different spirits that all differ slightly, both named Beerenburg and Berenburg. 

The Braumarkt reference you give is for a mixture made by the company Jacob Hooy, they claim to provide the original herbal mixture. Most people that try this one (myself included) feel that is overly bitter after three weeks of maceration. A shorter period of maceration works better. As for proportions; the list of herbs on the package is in order of dosage with the first mentioned herb being the most prominent, this shlould help a little.

This is a different recipe fin Dutch that I haven't tried but is said to give good results, Herbs are very different from the Jacob Hooy package. I have no time to translate at this moment but I guess google translate will do a quicker job anyway;

https://www.stookforum.nl/thread/beerenburger-kruidenbitter-recept/

Roelof