Golfers Ginseng Elixir – 500ml

Golfer's Ginseng Elixir with a note of licorice and an elegant body

The Golfer's Ginseng Elixir is Dr. Jagla's herbal bitter based on the ginseng root. Over thirty bitter herbs, barks, and roots surround it. Full-bodied in bouquet, elegant in body, with a finish that takes a long time to say goodbye.

The Golfer's Ginseng Elixir is a digestif with 35% ABV, presented in a 500 ml apothecary bottle with a gift box. It owes its name to golfers, who enjoyed the bitter so much that they kept it. Of course, you can drink it without a golf club, too.

Licorice, forest scent, spicy and velvety

Ginseng tastes more tart than one would expect from a root. The tone is reminiscent of licorice and the scent of a forest, with a fine resinous quality lying behind it.

Over thirty botanicals work around the root. Gentian and centaury provide the bitterness, ginger, cardamom, clove, and cinnamon bark the warmth, cinchona bark and bitter orange peel the structure. Valerian, lavender, camphor, and a hint of saffron provide the subtle notes.

The result is a full-bodied bouquet with an elegant body that never becomes sharp. Compared to the Artichoke Elixir, this bitter is rounder and less green; compared to the Maca Ginseng, it is less nutty and clearer in its root note.

At the nineteenth hole and beyond

Golfers know the nineteenth hole as the clubhouse after the round. That is exactly where this bitter earned its name.

Drink it neat at about 18 degrees or on ice; a measure of 20 ml is enough. Roquefort, seafood, and dark chocolate go well with it – the blue cheese is the most exciting encounter, because the salt and bitterness heighten each other.

As a long drink, it becomes a Ginseng Highball. For this, 20 ml of elixir are poured into the glass, topped up with ginger beer or ginger lemonade, and that's all you need. Cucumber lemonade also works if you want it to be more herbaceous.

For those who prefer something more elaborate, mix a German Apothecary from 50 ml Golfers Ginseng Elixir, 10 ml Blue Curaçao, 20 ml sugar syrup, 30 ml lemon juice, and 5 ml olive oil. The oil sounds idiosyncratic, but it settles as a silky film over the drink and takes the edge off the acidity. Bartenders have been working this way for years, yet hardly anyone dares to try it at home – unjustly so.

For a trial, the Golfer's Ginseng Elixir is available in 50 ml. Those who prefer to meet the root in juniper should take the Gin Seng, and those who prefer it nuttier, the Maca Ginseng Elixir.

How a bitter got its name

Product names are usually created at a desk. This one was created at the tee.

The Jagla family added the ginseng root to their traditional monastery elixir to give the herbal base a more robust foundation. Among golfers, the variant found so many fans that their endorsement eventually ended up in the name – Golfer's Ginseng, with a wink toward the clubhouse. This makes it the only bitter in the assortment named after its drinkers rather than its ingredients.

The bitter is still prepared today in the Park-Apotheke in the Elberfeld Luisenviertel in Wuppertal, which is run by Helmut Jagla. The hand-picked herbs are macerated cold in small batches, without heat, and then mature over months. The origin, purity, and content of each batch follow the specifications of the Pharmacopoea Germanica.

The herbal specialties were meant to go beyond the Bergisches Land region, says Christina Jagla about her move to Berlin at the end of 2015. Today, the elixirs are found in bars and top-tier gastronomy, right up to the three-star Rutz restaurant. You can find the entire assortment from Dr. Jaglas in the manufacturer hub.