Mentzendorff Kummel

Mentzendorff Kummel is a spiced liqueur which began in 1823, it is a superb digestif, flavoured with Caraway seeds.

In a nutshell: We are proud that this spirit retains the name of our founder, Ludwig Mentzendorff, who first brought Mentzendorff Kummel to London in the 1850s at the behest of the Baron von Blanckenhagen. The Baron had established the Allasch distillery on his country estate near Riga in the 1820s to produce Kummel to his family’s private recipe.

Since 1985, Mentzendorff Kummel has been distilled for us, true to the original recipe by Combier Distillery in the Loire Valley in their world famous stills designed by Gustave Eiffel, and before that by Bols.

Upon its arrival in Britain, this clear, aniseed liqueur flavoured with caraway seeds made its mark on the British palate as “the principal liqueur of Russia”. Today, Mentzendorff Kummel is held in high regard by golf clubs who offer post-round doses of “putting mixture”, and with bartenders who appreciate its complex and stimulating flavour that is ripe for cocktail experimentation. In 2022, Mentzendorff Kummel relaunched a new look bottle shape. This year will see this much-loved liqueur return to its original bottle shape to honour 200 years since the birth of our founder, Ludwig Mentzendorff, who was born in Prussia in 1823

Production: Caraway seeds are placed into vats with natural alcohol derived from sugar beet. The pot stills are steam heated for seven hours with steam passing under the stills at 152°C at 7 bar pressure. Once the distillate passes through the cooling pipes it is collected in inert tubs and then double distilled to produce exceptional clarity of flavour. During the first distillation, the hearts and tails are retained, however the unstable heads are disposed of. The hearts and the tails then together undergo a second distillation from which only the hearts are collected. This clear, stable liquid is mixed with sugar and reduced to 38% abv with ionised water. It remains in vats for two months prior to bottling. It is then rinsed with a neutral spirit, filled and wax sealed by hand.

The Mentzendorff Kummel “personality”: A nod to the company’s heritage, with powerful, lifted aromas of aniseed, liquorice and cumin, this sweet liqueur is a wonderful way to end a meal.