"Distilled and Bottled under supervision of the SIGURDSSON FAMILY
Not genuine without my signature
V T Sigurdsson
Serve Ice Cold 40% vol"
This is an excellent
schnapps with a distinct
anise flavor that unfortunately is hard to come by in most places I have been. The
black label features a skull wearing a
top hat. The bottle is of
green glass and has a
tapered neck. I was first introduced to this beverage in
Iceland by one of my
relatives there. My
family was eating over at his house and he was
liquoring us up. The finale after
cocktails and
wine was a small wooden box. He held it up for everyone to see, slid the top off, and then we saw four shot glasses filled with a clear liquid rise up, as if by magic, as he pushed up the bottom of the box. He explained that you couldn't buy this in Iceland, even though it was Icelandic in style. As I roamed about the liquor stores in
Reykjavik I had to admit he was right. Apparently it was distilled on the
continent.
When I got back to the US I searched for the liquor again, but none of the
package stores I visited had heard of it. Not even the big
New Hampshire State Liquor Stores. I searched on the internet but couldn't even find it there.
Later that year I wound up in
Japan out in the country near
Osaka. Along with a big group of friends,
gaijin and
nihonjin both, went out to do some "camping" even further out in the country.
Alcohol of course being an important part of our event, we stopped in at the local
sake-ya. What should I find gathering dust on the shelf, but two bottles of Black Death Schnapps! At 1500
yen (approximately US$15 at the time) it was a steal.
As tasty as it was, it had to run out some time, so now I'm staring sadly at my empty "0,7
L" bottle. Maybe I'll go have some
port instead.
"~Drink in Peace~" -on the rear label