Badel Pelinkovac Gorki

Badel Pelinkovac Gorki is the standard bearer of Pelinkovac, the bittersweet wormwood herbal liqueur of Croatia, made by Badel 1862, the house working since 1862. Its recipe has stayed almost unchanged for around 150 years, built on selected mountain herbs including wormwood, the Artemisia that gives the liqueur its bittersweet structure, and made without artificial flavourings. It is bottled at 31%.

The nose is spicy and fragrant with freshly picked mountain herbs, the palate sweet and bitter with aromatic herbs and fine spice, the finish bitter, spicy and long lasting. This is a herbal liqueur rather than an amaro, and behind the bar it brings a bitter herbal backbone that cuts sweetness and lengthens a drink, a bar spoon adding wormwood depth to a dark, spirit forward cocktail. It also takes to tonic or cola as a long drink. Croatians serve it as a digestif after savoury food such as grilled meat, game or hearty stews, where its bitter notes round off the meal, and it sits well with strong cheese or dark chocolate.