Sambuka Vaccari has recently appeared on the Russian market, but has already gained a lot of fans. The brand is owned by one of the oldest European alcohol producers – the Dutch company Lucas Bols, which exports this liquor to 77 countries. In Mexico and the Netherlands, Vaccari is the most popular sambuca, with a mild and balanced taste, making it ideal for making cocktails.
The drink was named after Arturo Vaccari, the famous Italian blender who created the Galliano liqueur in 1896. “Vakkari” is a premium sambuca, in the manufacture of which only natural ingredients of the highest quality are used.
Historical reference. The Dutch merchant Lucas Bols, who lived in the second half of the 1575th century, inherited from his father a small distillery on the outskirts of Amsterdam. The first Bols distillery, which mainly produced gin, was built as early as XNUMX. Lukas Bols significantly expanded the family business. Having acquired shares in the Dutch East India Company, he engaged in the export of gin and the import of various exotic spices. Under his leadership, the first Bols liqueurs were created.
For more than 100 years, the descendants of Lucas Bols continued the family business, branded liqueurs and gins were successfully sold in Europe and America. However, in 1813, the male line was interrupted, and the widow of Hermann Bols sold the company to Gabriel van Vult on the condition that the name of its founder be preserved in the name of the company forever. Over the next two centuries, the company changed owners many times, but they all fulfilled this condition.
In 1868, the company was acquired by the Moltzer family, whose members did a lot for its development. In the second half of the XNUMXth century, Lucas Bols became the official supplier of spirits to the courts of the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Monaco, Ethiopia and Nepal. In countries where the monarchical form of government has been preserved, Lucas Bols still enjoys this privilege. Having closed the old distillery in Amsterdam, the Moltzers built three plants at once in the Netherlands.
Between the two world wars, nine more distilleries were opened in Europe, the USA, Canada, Argentina and South Africa. After the last representative of the Moltzer family left the board of directors of the company in 1954, its management continued its previous course of conquering foreign markets. In the second half of the XNUMXth century, Lucas Bols acquired several well-known foreign brands, in particular, the rights to produce the fashionable Italian liqueur Galliano.
Now only sambuca was missing in the Lucas Bols line of liqueurs. But this omission was corrected in 1990, when the company’s master distillers developed a recipe for a new anise liqueur.
From 2000 to 2005, the company was owned by the international corporation Remy Cointreau, and this was far from the best period for Lucas Bols. The new owners did not understand that it was not appropriate for an enterprise with centuries-old traditions to exchange for cheap drinks. Fortunately, in 2005, 75% of the company’s shares were bought by the European investment fund ABN AMRO Capital, and another 25% by the current chairman of the board of directors, Huub van Dorn, who took up the revival of the brand.
Van Dorn’s favorite saying: “Who wants to succeed in business must have eyes in the back of his head.” Having carefully studied the activities of competitors, the head of the company came to the conclusion that Lucas Bols cannot reduce the cost of production through the use of chemical additives and low-quality raw materials. But there is another way to increase sales: to prove to thrifty Europeans that it is better to buy one bottle of liquor, which is supplied to the royal courts of Sweden, Monaco and Luxembourg, than many drinks of unknown origin.
To this end, the company has established a permanent international bartending school in Amsterdam. To date, more than 20 people have graduated from this educational institution. The school has an interactive museum of the company, where you can get acquainted with the history, as well as taste the “royal” Bols liqueurs and Vaccari sambuca.
Types of sambuca Vakkari
Two varieties are produced with a strength of 38%:
- Sambuca Vaccari – colorless transparent anise liqueur;
- Vaccari Nero is an almost black sambuca with the addition of licorice root. There is no Sambuca on the label, because according to EU standards, sambuca must be colorless and not have any other flavors than anise.
Lucas Bols mixologists recommend the Aperitivo cocktail. Fill a mixing glass halfway with crushed ice and add:
- Xnumx gin ml;
- 28 ml Sambuki Vaccari;
- 15 drops of bitter.
Pour the mixture into a tall cocktail glass and garnish with two orange slices.