BECHEROVKA - MEDICINE OF CZECH PEOPLE

Chance seems to stand at the head of many a great historical event. One such piece of luck brought the
Imperial Count Plettenberg-Mietingen on a visit to Karlovy Vary in 1805, bringing with him an eccentric
English doctor by the name of Frobrig. It must have been coincidence that the count and his personal
physician Frobrig put up at the House of the Three Skylarks, which, by another piece of fortune, belonged to
our Josef Becher, Karlovy-Vary pharmacist.

Becher and the easily bored Dr Frobig soon became close friends united by a common passion: inventing blends of
herbs, aromatic oils, and alcohol. Taking his leave of Karlovy Vary a while later, Dr Frobig gave his companion a
piece of paper. 'This preoccupied me somewhat,' said the Englishman with the cool composure his fellow countrymen
are famous for, before disappearing from Josef Becher's sight for all eternity. There was an inkling of something truly
inspired in Frobrig's blend of herbs and alcohol, and over the next two years Josef Becher went on to spend all his
spare moments experimenting with the secret recipe. Then, in 1807, Josef Becher started selling cordial drops at his
pharmacy according to his own recipe. Initially, his liqueur bore the names Carlsbad English Bitter, Carlsbad Bitter,
English Bitter, and even the German name Original Karlsbader Becherbitter. In short, Karlovy Vary Becherovka had
seen the light of the world.

http://www.becherovka.com/