Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
bitters
Bitters (plural also ''bitters'') is traditionally an alcoholic preparation flavored with botanical matter for a bitter or bittersweet flavor. Originally, numerous longstanding brands of bitters were developed as patent medicines, but now are ...
produced and distributed by the
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
based company ''Just Drinks'', originally produced and developed in
Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...
. The drink can be traced back to the 1950s and is sold under the slogan "''Hverken ny, trendy eller importeret''" (Neither new, trendy nor imported). The recipe is secret but includes
ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...
,
clove
Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...
s,
saffron
Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent i ...
and
licorice root
Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,
History
Arnbitter was invented by Arne M. Hansen who operated a wine storage in
Viby J
Viby J (or just Viby) is a former town and now a district, in the southwestern part of Aarhus in Denmark. The district has almost 30,000 inhabitants. The "J" stands for Jutland, as there is another town called Viby on the island of Zealand, offici ...
, a city district of Aarhus. It is not known exactly when the drink was first created but it is mentioned in the 1950s for the first time when Arne Hansen and sommelier Harald P. Sørensen experimented and created the finished result. In 1978 the company ''Anthon Thorup & Søn'' from 1893 bought the recipe and brewed and distributed it until 2015. The company closed in 2015 and sold the recipe to the company ''Just Drinks'' based in Copenhagen which moved production from Aarhus.
Variants
There are two variants of the drink. The primary variant is 50% vol made with a number of herbs mixed with alcohol. It is sold in specialty stores and by sine wine and liqueur distributors and the Denmark-Germany border markets in
Flensburg
Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...
, Danish airports and on the
Faroes
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway betw ...
. The other variant is Arnbitter Mint which is rarer. It was created in 1997 as an aperitif with
menthol
Menthol is an organic compound, more specifically a monoterpenoid, made synthetically or obtained from the oils of corn mint, peppermint, or other mints. It is a waxy, clear or white crystalline substance, which is solid at room temperature and ...
flavor and is only 40% vol. Arnbitter Mint is amber brown like regular Arnbitter but darker.
Serving
Arnbitter is not a part of any traditional drinks or cocktails. However some local combinations are known.
* Fernarne: A shot mixed with equal parts
Fernet Branca
Fernet-Branca () is an Italian brand of fernet, a style of '' amaro'' or bitters. It was formulated in Milan in 1845, and is manufactured there by Fratelli Branca Distillerie.
History
Fernet-Branca was formulated in Milan in 1845 by a self-ta ...
and Arnbitter.
* Green set: One beer of the brand Grøn (Green)
Tuborg
Tuborg is a Danish brewing company founded in 1873 on a harbour in Hellerup, an area North of Copenhagen, Denmark. Since 1970 it has been part of the Carlsberg Group. The brewery's flagship, the Tuborg pilsner, was brewed for the first time in ...
served with one shot of Arnbitter. It is marketed under the slogan "''Du kan blive fuld af kompromisser''" ("You can become full of compromises" and "You can become drunk of compromises")note: The slogan is a word-play and doesn't translate well. The Danish word "''fuld''" means both "full" and "drunk" in English.
* Aarhus set: A
Ceres
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
Top beer served with an Arnbitter shot on the side. The name references that both the beer and Arnbitter was originally brewed in Aarhus.
* Arnbomb: A
bomb
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...
mixed drink
A mixed drink is a beverage in which two or more ingredients are mixed.
Types
* List of non-alcoholic mixed drinks -- A non-alcoholic mixed drink (also known as virgin cocktail, boneless cocktail, temperance drink, or mocktail) is a cocktail-st ...
with a shot of Arnbitter placed in a pint of beer and drunk all at once, as a play on
Jägerbomb
The Jägerbomb is a bomb mixed drink made by dropping a shot of Jägermeister into an energy drink, typically Red Bull. Sometimes, this drink is incorrectly identified as a traditional "shot".
A Jägerbomb is typically served with a can of Red ...
.
Awards
* Arnbitter won gold at the international wine & spirit Exhibition 1970 in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
* Arnbitter won silver at the
International Wine & Spirit Competition
The International Wine & Spirit Competition is an annual wine and spirit competition founded in 1969 by the German/British oenologist Anton Massel. Each year the competition receives entries from over 90 countries worldwide. The awards given by ...
2005 in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...