Ye Old Gammel Dansk

In 1990, Dad and Ev went to on a trip of a lifetime to Denmark 

and when they came back,

Dad raved to me about a liqueur that they had tried in Denmark called Gammel Dansk.

  He said it was such a treat after a meal and it even tasted good if you poured it into a beer.

So, I searched around Denver 

and finally found a bottle at Applejacks Liquor store 

not far from the Coors Brewery where I worked.  

I bought it as a special treat.

On Lille Jule Aften (Little Christmas Eve) of 1990, 

I had friends Mark and Karen and Roche & LeAnna over for 

Æbleskiver, sausages and rød grød med fløde for dessert.

  

As a finish to my Danish meal, I had the Gammel Dansk ready to serve.

After much fun trying to teach my non Danish friends 

how to say what we had just eaten for our meal, 

we settled in for a little after-dinner sip of this danish delight.

I served a cordial glass of Gammel Dansk to each of my guests, 

we raised our glasses, toasted the holiday, and took a sip.

Except it wasn't delightful, not in the least, well....at least not to us.

Each one of us nearly gagged and immediately we agreed that this was much too bitter to drink.

I thought maybe I had misunderstood Dad, so I poured mine into a beer and then took a drink of my beer.  Big mistake....huge.  I had to pour out the beer.

All of the Gammel Dansk that I served that night went right down the drain.

It was kind of a cross between lighter fluid and the most bitter thing you have ever tasted.

I will say that it made for a memorable ending to our evening 

and forever after I called Alka-Seltzer-Plus 

Gammeldansk because it tasted about as bad.

Now, according to The World of Fine Spirits web page: Gammel Dansk is a relatively modern liqueur bitters, having been invented in Denmark in 1964. Gammel Dansk contains 29 natural ingredients and is the second best-selling spirit in its native country, producing over 4 million litres per year.

Who is buying this liqueur?

Where are their taste buds?

One reviewer on the site says:  I first drank this in 1982 in a boardroom in Copenhagen. I was re-seaching equipment for the Sultanate of Oman. In the middle of the meeting I was invited to have a shot of this delicious aperitif ( with a size-able kick) and I was hooked from square 1. Some will find it to be an acquired taste but it is an excellent start to the day/before breakfast tipple. it is also my favourite drink to go with double espresso ( without sugar) after dinner I also put it on a par with a "port & brandy" as the best way to cure eating upsets and the "trots". And is one of those curatives that sets the world to rights on those days when all is not well with the world. But above all it is just very nice and is just a tad different

Are you kidding me?

To start the day?

Jeezuz!

Anyway, 18 years later, as I was packing to move to Wisconsin, 

I came across that bottle of Gammel Dansk in a kitchen cupboard.  

I decided to keep it and packed it for the trip.

Once I unpacked here in Wisconsin, the Gammel Dansk bottle was put in the back of the liquor cabinet and there it stayed, out of sight and out of mind, but still 3/4 full, for 11 years.

Recently I saw an ad on Facebook that made me think of that bottle and so yesterday,

the Gammel Dansk met it's demise.

Into the garbage the liquid went.

Then the bottle got a good rinse and clean up.

And now has been restored to glory.

I ordered the little set of lights with 'cork' for the bottle Amazon, 

(but I think they came from China).

No matter, they worked perfectly.

Now the Gammel Dansk is a little shrine to Dad and 

still reminds of a very fun Lille Jule Aften with friends in Colorado.

Carry on Gammel Dansk!

Cheers!