While sitting at the bar at Mexicue on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood, I watched in awe as their mixologist, Noel, made cocktails for the restaurant’s thirsty patrons. First I had the Michelada, and later I tried his delicious Smoky Margarita. But midway though my margarita, I tried something interesting – Combier Kümmel Liqueur. Mixologist Noel uses Combier Kümmel in his Mezcal Manhattan, a delicious cocktail made with Mezcal, Kümmel, Meadow Love Absinthe, Peychaud’s bitters, and a lime twist.
“It’s the next St. Germaine,” he said as I sniffed the clear liquid. Licorice is what I picked up. Then I took a sip of the liqueur. “Tastes like licorice,” I said. While one of my colleagues said she tasted cumin, another said it was an aperitif and shook his head in approval.
Hours later, I was curious. What is kümmel? What is it made out of? Was my palate right in saying this tastes like licorice after first smelling its aroma.
So this is what I’ve learned.
“Kümmel, also called kummel or kimmel, is a sweet, colorless liqueur flavored with caraway seed, cumin, and fennel. Originally, the words kümmel, kummel, and kimmel were somewhat generic terms in the German, Dutch, and Yiddish languages, respectively, meaning both caraway and cumin.” – Combier Liqueurs
“Historically consumed in Europe as a shot before or after a round of golf, kümmel, a caraway- and cumin-infused spirit that originated in Holland, has found its place in America as a sweet-savory addition to cocktails.” – Food and Wine magazine
Too much of the liqueur can overpower the drink, so be careful how much you pour.
And now I feel like I having a kümmel served cold neat.
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