The GCW Tour, Budapest: Well That's One Word for It

This afternoon we bought tickets for the Hop On, Hop Off bus and started riding it around. At one point it pulled up to the tiny bottle museum and we decided to hop off and take the tour. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was actually pretty interesting. 

The quick story: A few hundred years ago the patriarch of the Zwack family was the emperor's doctor. He came up with a herbal health drink -- i.e., alcohol infused with various herbs -- and gave it to the emperor who described it as "unique." The doctor subsequently established a company to distill and distribute Unicum, which became one of two national beverages in Hungary. The company grew, things were wonderful, and World War II came a long and, shortly after that, the communist takeover. Family flees, sets up shop in America, things happen, and then in 1989 when the USSR broke apart the family heir goes back to Hungary, buys the company back, and sets up shop again.

Yay! A happy ending.

It would be even happier if Unicum wasn't, well, nasty. Terrible, terrible stuff.

But the museum they set up to tell the family's story and display their collection of a million-plus tiny bottles was very nicely done. However, I can't really say the free taste of Unicum was a successful marketing strategy.