PALINKA

The Zwack family comes from the giant middle-European melting pot that was the Austro-Hungarian Empire. József Zwack, the founder of the firm, was a patriarchal figure with a magnificent white moustache, rarely seen without his tapering cigar, who oversaw every detail of the distilling and marketing of Unicum until the day he died at the age of 94. By that time, the Zwack firm was producing not only Unicum, but about 220 liqueurs and brandies which were exported all over the world. The Zwack name also became synonymous with Barack Pálinka, the famous eau-de-vie of apricots from the orchards of Kecskemét in its distinctive long-necked bottle.