Some business acquaintances have just given us a bottle of Schierker Feuerstein. What is it exactly and what do we do with it?

What is Schierker Feuerstein?

Schierker Feuerstein is a German herbal liqueur (35% alcohol) first invented in 1924 by a pharmacist, Willy Drube. It’s named after a local red-coloured granite (lit, ‘fire-rock;), but in fact it’s a disappointing sticky dark brown liquid.

The market for the drink initially comprised unfortunate tourists exploring the Harz mountains who’d developed stomach cramps. It’s composition remains the standard clichéd closely guarded secret but, like Underberg and Fernet-Branca, Schierker Feuerstein is based on wormwood (the bitter herb Artemisia). Apparently wormwood is so-called because it kills worms (and bacteria). A sip or two of this and you’ll understand that this is probably true, an understatement even,  of the potentially murdering properties of this plant.

What to do with Schierker Feuerstein

There are three main options as to what to do with a bottle of Schierker Feuerstein.

Option one:

Drink it, as the manufacturers recommend, chilled, in chilled glasses. We’d suggest the more taste bud-numbingly freezing the better.

Or, other ideas from the manufacturers, try mixing it into orange, lemon, or apple juice. Or adding it to bitter lemon and lime. Or even (capital crime in our view – ruining a classically perfect drink) to a gin and tonic.

Option two:

Use it in your cooking. Again, the manufacturers offer an explodingly creative dish of pork schnitzel, blueberries, sour cream, tagliatelle, retsina and Schierker Feuerstein. I wouldn’t recommend it in any of the recipes on Saucy Dressings however…or any others I could think of….

Option three:

You could throw the bottle away. This was the unanimous and recommended course of action of all three intrepid Saucy Dressings tasters. Schierker Feuerstein tastes a bit like Benylin cough mixture… on a bad day.