Zwack Unicum Museum

Unicum is a dark, bitter herbal liqueur made from a mix of some forty herbs and spices, aged in oak, and it has been produced by the Zwack family since 1790, which makes it one of the older continuously made spirits in Europe and a fixed part of Hungarian drinking. The family museum at the distillery covers that history, including the years after 1948 when the business was nationalised and the family left, taking the recipe with them and producing abroad until they returned after 1989 and recovered the brand. The visit takes in the aging cellar of oak casks, a collection of well over a thousand miniature bottles gathered by the family, and a tasting of the standard bitter and its variants.

What you actually see

• The oak aging cellar - the casks the bitter matures in.
• The miniature bottle collection - over a thousand pieces gathered by the family.
• The nationalisation story - the recipe that left the country and came back.
• A tasting of the variants - the standard bitter and the newer versions.

When to go

Year round. One to two hours. Tours run at set times and English departures are limited, so book. Closed on Sundays.

Honest expectations

It is a brand museum and the marketing is not subtle. Unicum is genuinely bitter and many visitors dislike it. English tour times are few. The area around the distillery is industrial and unappealing.

Nearby

The Great Market Hall is upriver; the ninth district centre lies north.