The museum in Karlovy Vary in Czech Republic.

You’ve certainly experienced the feeling of a bouncing ball filling up your stomach. At this point, you feel like the skin becomes balloon-thin and your abdominal wall will burst like the Universe did some billions of years ago. Maybe you’re used to thinking that only time helps in such occasions.

Well, that’s unless you take a herbal shot…of the combination between liqueur and medicine called Becherovka. In 1907, Joseph Becher created this drink not only as a pharmaceutical cure, but also as a social one. This happened in the Czech resort Karlovy Vary.

The 38% liqueur is famous for its positive effect on the digestive system. “The connection between alcohol and medicine is very attractive,” says the tour guide in Jan Becher Museum in Karlovy Vary dedicated to Beherovka. Jan Becher is the name of the company that produces the drink.

In the first years of production, Joseph Becher sold it in pharmacies. The liqueur is made of a big variety of herbs and spices and has a bitter-sweet flavor of cinnamon, ginger and orange. Only two people in the company know the recipe for Becherovka – the Director of production and the Main technologist. The latter works in a secret room and processes 1,500 kg of herbs and spices daily, only with his hands. “For him, physically, it’s a very hard job,” says the tour guide in Jan Becher Museum. After that, the extract is mixed with sugar and water from only one special spring.

The ointment for the stomach and the soul is exported in over 40 countries around the world. The biggest sells are realized in Russia, Ukraine and Germany. So, next time when you stuff every square centimeter of your belly in the Czech Republic, don’t forget that you can be cured in a bar.

Nikolay Nikolov