This review has been a long time coming. I got a bottle of this liquor from Franck Lieck, back when he was still blogging. It might have been over a year by now.

The liquor is a product from Düsseldorf, Germany, where it has been a popular drink for a long time. It’s only been available world wide for a rather short period of time. I don’t know exact years but this is what Wikipedia tells me.

A rather nice ad.

The site itself is also rather romanticized about the origins with more emphasis on the story of two friends surviving a bombing than the factual history. A strange this is that the history of the drink is taking place at the end of world war two, and the bottle gives a number 1858.

I guess Killepitsch itself is more recent than the factory where it’s made.

Killepitsch

Sniff:
As to be expected of a herbal liquor, very big on sweetness and bitterness. The fruitiness focuses mostly on orange with all kinds of other fruits singing backing vocals. The herbs and spices are mostly cinnamon with other woody spices.

Sip:
The 42% abv is rather clear here. That’s pretty high for a liquor and that makes it rather sharp and spicy, but in a pretty tasty way. The cinnamon has gone to the hotter red cinnamon, with the orange continuing the fruitiness. It tastes rather oaky but I’m not sure if there’s any oak involved in the process. It has a warming effect and after a while I get some Chai and garam masala.

Swallow:
There’s not much of a finish. No new development, but I didn’t really expect that. Liquor ain’t whisky, after all.

The complexity of this stuff is rather huge, but that’s no surprise with over 90 ingredients in it. Eat that, Liquor 43! It’s a tasty drink this, and I think it would work well in quite some cocktails. I might just investigate the recipe page on their website a bit further!

On the other hand, it’s a liquor and while I’m glad I’m able to taste random stuff like this every once in a while, it won’t be the start of a new hobby.

Killepitsch Kräuterlikör, 42%, should be not too hard to get. I don’t know prices though.

Thanks to Frank Lieck for the bottle!