Content

• What is a digestive?
• How to choose a digestif?
• Drinks digestives

At festive celebrations after the end of a meal, it is considered good to serve strong drinks in small quantities. This is believed to improve digestion and is a good continuation of the event. Such drinks are called digestives.

What is a digestive?

Digestif – drink, consumed after a feast. The word is of Latin origin digestivus and French is digestif and is translated as digestive. The purpose of serving such drinks is to maintain a good mood in the company, to continue easy communication. It is important that the drink contributes to better digestion and purification of taste buds.

Mainly strong alcoholic drinks are served, because after a heavy meal, the taste of light and refined wines cannot be fully felt.

Digestif for its intended purpose is the opposite of aperitif. Aperitifs are used to improve the appetite before eating, and digestives are used to digest food after meals. But, the same drink can act in that and other quality.

See also: What is an aperitif? Rules of choice and recommended drinks.

Reception of aperitifs and digestives is a ritual that prolongs the pleasure of eating and contributes to the relaxed atmosphere for communication.

How to choose a digestif?

What can be used as a digestif? There are unwritten rules for choosing such drinks:

1. The digestif is made to choose tighter aperitifs and drinks served with food.
2. Digestifs choose darker aperitifs, which is not always necessary, because taste is more important than color.
3. The digestif should be combined with consumed drinks during the feast. For example, after a beer consumed with food, a pile of whiskey will harmonize as a digestif. If the main drink was wine, then you can complete the event with a small dose of brandy.
4. After the meal, you can eat the same drinks that were served during the main meal.
5. The digestif should match the food that was during the main meal. For example, if the food was nourishing and fatty, you can serve a glass of brandy or whiskey. If at the end of the feast sweet dishes were served, then the digestif may be a liqueur or a cocktail.
6. Digestives are used in small quantities: no more than 50 grams. spirits or 100 gr. lighter.

Drinks digestives

As digestives are used:

Cognac is a strong alcohol made from certain grape varieties.

Whiskey – a strong and aromatic alcoholic beverage, obtained from cereal grains.

Brandy – alcohol, obtained by the method of distillation of grape wine. For example:   Metaxa , Torres .

Port wine is a fortified wine originally from Portugal.

Dessert wines – fortified wines, 12-20% alcohol

Liqueurs – fruit alcoholic beverages.

Cocktails – alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, in which different components are mixed.

Herbal tinctures, refreshing taste buds can also be used.

Tea and coffee, which are often consumed after meals, are not considered digestives, but perform the same function.

German digestif

Jägermeister is a popular German strong liquor, which is traditionally consumed after a meal. The Germans love to drink it in the form of ice-shot (ice shot). To prepare it, you need to cool the bottle with Jagermeister in the freezer to -18C. In a shot glass (a small glass with a capacity of 45 ml), also cooled in a freezer, liqueur is poured and drunk in one gulp. In this form, the drink becomes thick and viscous, revealing additional taste, which is not felt at room temperature.

A less extreme method of preparation is to add one or more ice cubes to a glass of liquor. Many connoisseurs consume the drink at room temperature, enjoying, apart from the taste, its aroma.

French digestive

In France, since the Middle Ages, wines with added spices and a small amount of sugar were used as such. The main rule when choosing a digestif in France is its ability to help digestion and have a pleasant taste and aroma. These can be French “inventions” champagne, brandy and Armagnac, as well as wine, liqueurs, cocktails.

There is no single standard for choosing a digestif, but there are certain rules. Observing them and relying on imagination, on your guests taste and taste, you can choose a suitable drink for a good completion of the event.