Jägermeister - All you should know about this drink!

The title of this article contains the character ä. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as "Jaegermeister".
Jägermeister is a 70 proof (35%)liqueur flavored with herbs. It is the flagship product of Mast-Jägermeister AG, headquartered in Wolfenbüttel, south of Braunschweig, Germany. Jägermeister is also a family name, some modern variants are De Jager, Jeager, Jager, Yeager.

Jägermeister's recipe is kept secret but is speculated to be a blend of 56 herbs. Although anise is a major component of its flavor, it is not as dominant in Jägermeister as in true anise-flavored liqueurs. It is a digestif spirit similar to other Central European stomach bitters, such as Gammel Dansk from Denmark, the Hungarian Unicum, or Czech Becherovka. In contrast to many such drinks, Jägermeister has a sweet flavor. On tap, the drink is ideally served at 4°F (-15.5°C).
Within Germany, the term bitter applies only to those bitters that actually are bitter. Since Jägermeister has a sweet flavor, it is instead considered a kräuterlikör (literally "herbs liqueur"). There are many other brands of kräuterlikör in Germany, but most aren't widely exported. Jägermeister is the market leader in Germany.


In German, Jägermeister means "master hunter" (combining Jäger, hunter, and Meister, master). The Jägermeister logo, the head of a stag with a glowing cross between the antlers, is a reference to the story of Saint Hubert. On the edge of the label of a Jägermeister bottle, the following poem by Otto von Riesenthal (1848) is printed:

Das ist des Jägers Ehrenschild,
daß er beschützt und hegt sein Wild,
weidmännisch jagt, wie sich's gehört,
den Schöpfer im Geschöpfe ehrt.

In English:
This is the hunter's badge of honour,
that he protect and nourish his game,
hunt sportingly, as is proper,
and honour the Creator in the creature.

Or, slightly more loosely but preserving rhyme and meter:

This is the hunter's badge of glory:
That he protects and tends his quarry,
Hunts with honour, as is due,
And through the beast to God is true.


The company was founded in 1878 by Wilhelm Mast. In 1934, the recipe for the herbal liquor was developed, and the product was introduced to the German market in 1935. The original purpose of this concoction was medicinal; being used to cure everything from an incessant cough to digestive problems. In Germany, it is still widely recognized as a digestif and is kept in many German households for such purposes, sometimes being irreverently called Leberkleber, or "liver-glue."

Beginning in 1970, it was exported to 60 countries. In the United States, it became popular through savvy promotion by Sidney Frank (see Sponsorship). The product is widely used as an alcoholic "shooter"and is served in many American bars today very cold.