“It’s only quarantine if it comes from the French region of Quarante, otherwise it’s just sparkling isolation!”
As I learned researching bottle #15, Asbach Uralt brandy, we have the Treaty of Versailles to thank for the rules that gave us that COVID meme (and countless other variations on the theme). This was the peace treaty, signed in 1919, which set the terms for Germany’s surrender in World War I. Not a lot of provisions from the treaty are still in effect today, but articles 274 and 275 live on. These are known as the “Champagne paragraphs” and they prohibited Germany from using foreign designations of origin of the treaty countries to describe its own products — with Article 275 specifically calling out spirits and wine.
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This was the first attempt to establish and protect these geographical indicators. Before that, words like Cognac and Champagne were widely used as descriptors. Which is why this tiny bottle of Asbach Uralt brandy’s story begins in 1892, when German distiller Hugo Asbach founded a company to make what he described as German Cognac. Asbach had trained in France, and wanted to create a German product that could rival those produced in the Cognac region of France.
He succeeded, albeit using French grapes and French oak barrels. Asbach Uralt became the premier German brandy and outsold the French stuff inside the country, even after German distillers were prohibited from describing their product as Cognac. The use of the “Weinbrand” to describe German brandy became enshrined into German wine law in 1923, which was a term that Asbach had coined in 1908 when trademarking Asbach Uralt.
He is also the likely pioneer of another product: those bottle-shaped chocolates filled with booze! Asbach began producing brandy-filled chocolates in 1924, and if you’ve been following My Tiny Bottles before now, you won’t be surprised to know that he did it so that he had something he could market to women, who obviously couldn’t be seen drinking alcohol in public. Also unsurprisingly, the chocolates took off with both men and women alike, and other alcohol producers soon followed suit and produced their own versions. Chocolate also features in the garnish for Rüdesheimer coffee, which was invented in 1957 and combines flambeed Asbach Uralt brandy, sugar and coffee, all topped off with whipped cream and chocolate flakes.
While still the best-selling brandy in Germany, sales have declined in recent decades. The family-owned company sold to United Distillers in 1991 and has been owned by Underberg since 2002. They’ve struggled to remake their brand, and in that they are a victim of their own success. You see, the name “Asbach Uralt” combines the founder’s name with the German word for “ancient.” And this association is so ingrained that the word “asbach” is now colloquially used to mean old. Which makes it hard to position yourself as new and exciting in the increasingly competitive spirit market.
Speaking of old – my best guess on this bottle is from the early 1990s. It could be late 80s, but I’m getting a 90s vibe. I’m basing this mostly off the label on the bottle’s neck. It has both the words Asbach and Uralt, as seen in an ad dated to 1991, whereas bottle examples I can date to the early 2000s only say Asbach.
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“It’s only quarantine if it comes from the French region of Quarante, otherwise it’s just sparkling isolation!”
As I learned researching bottle #15, Asbach Uralt brandy, we have the Treaty of Versailles to thank for the rules that gave us that COVID meme (and countless other variations on the theme). This was the peace treaty, signed in 1919, which set the terms for Germany’s surrender in World War I. Not a lot of provisions from the treaty are still in effect today, but articles 274 and 275 live on. These are known as the “Champagne paragraphs” and they prohibited Germany from using foreign designations of origin of the treaty countries to describe its own products — with Article 275 specifically calling out spirits and wine.
This was the first attempt to establish and protect these geographical indicators. Before that, words like Cognac and Champagne were widely used as descriptors. Which is why this tiny bottle of Asbach Uralt brandy’s story begins in 1892, when German distiller Hugo Asbach founded a company to make what he described as German Cognac. Asbach had trained in France, and wanted to create a German product that could rival those produced in the Cognac region of France.
He succeeded, albeit using French grapes and French oak barrels. Asbach Uralt became the premier German brandy and outsold the French stuff inside the country, even after German distillers were prohibited from describing their product as Cognac. The use of the “Weinbrand” to describe German brandy became enshrined into German wine law in 1923, which was a term that Asbach had coined in 1908 when trademarking Asbach Uralt.
He is also the likely pioneer of another product: those bottle-shaped chocolates filled with booze! Asbach began producing brandy-filled chocolates in 1924, and if you’ve been following My Tiny Bottles before now, you won’t be surprised to know that he did it so that he had something he could market to women, who obviously couldn’t be seen drinking alcohol in public. Also unsurprisingly, the chocolates took off with both men and women alike, and other alcohol producers soon followed suit and produced their own versions. Chocolate also features in the garnish for Rüdesheimer coffee, which was invented in 1957 and combines flambeed Asbach Uralt brandy, sugar and coffee, all topped off with whipped cream and chocolate flakes.
While still the best-selling brandy in Germany, sales have declined in recent decades. The family-owned company sold to United Distillers in 1991 and has been owned by Underberg since 2002. They’ve struggled to remake their brand, and in that they are a victim of their own success. You see, the name “Asbach Uralt” combines the founder’s name with the German word for “ancient.” And this association is so ingrained that the word “asbach” is now colloquially used to mean old. Which makes it hard to position yourself as new and exciting in the increasingly competitive spirit market.
Speaking of old – my best guess on this bottle is from the early 1990s. It could be late 80s, but I’m getting a 90s vibe. I’m basing this mostly off the label on the bottle’s neck. It has both the words Asbach and Uralt, as seen in an ad dated to 1991, whereas bottle examples I can date to the early 2000s only say Asbach.
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