Cocktails with Becherovka liqueur
Becherovka is a Czech herbal liqueur from Karlovy Vary, made to a secret recipe, mostly drunk as a digestif.
ABV38%
Substitutes for Becherovka liqueur
Cinnamon and clove over a bitter herbal base, and the blend itself is the thing no substitute reproduces. Anything nearby is spiced differently, so the drink shifts in character rather than in strength.
Often confused with
Amaro is usually more bitter and built on gentian or citrus rather than cinnamon and clove. The drink loses Becherovka’s sweet spiced bed and turns drier — a barspoon of syrup with a pinch of cinnamon brings it back.
Description
Made in Karlovy Vary since 1807, when the spa town’s visitors were being sent to drink the water and Josef Becher began bottling a herbal tincture alongside it. The recipe is still held by two people at a time, and the particular balance of it is what no substitute reproduces. Locally it is drunk cold and neat, or long with tonic under the name Beton, which is the shortest route to understanding what the bottle is for.
