25/01/2023

DOM Bénédictine Herbal Liqueur

Discover The World Of Flavor With Benedictine Liqueur
An Aromatic And Complex Sweet Treat

Benedictine liqueur is a sweet herbal liqueur that originated in France in the 19th century and has been a favorite among liqueur connoisseurs ever since. The distinct aroma and flavor of Benedictine liqueur is due to the combination of 27 herbs, spices, and botanicals that make up its unique recipe. With a unique and complex flavor profile, Benedictine liqueur is enjoyed neat, on ice, or as a key ingredient in many cocktails. Its recipe includes a variety of herbs and spices such as angelica root, cardamom, coriander, lemon balm, and many more. Furthermore, Benedictine liqueur is sweetened with a combination of honey and sugar. This combination of ingredients gives Benedictine liqueur its distinctive aroma, flavor, and deep golden color that makes it a beloved staple in the liqueur world.

Benedictine monk Dom Bernado Vincelli and his Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy, France, serve as the foundation for the Bénédictine movement. Chinese oriental spices are said to have enhanced the local medicinal plants used in the secret recipe of Bénédictine, which dates back to 1510. Drambuie, Yellow Chartreuse, Chartreuse Liqueur, Glayva, Amaro, Regular Brandy, Jagermeister, Grand Marnier, Fernet Branca, and Campari are all excellent substitutes for Benedictine. The order is supported by funds raised through sales. Unlike Bénédictine, which is not made by monks and has yet to be widely distributed, a type of oil does not require monks to manufacture. The brand claims that the Benedictine monk Dom Bernardo Vincelli created the medicinal elixir at the Fécamp Monastery in 1510.

Though the recipe is kept strictly secret, some of the ingredients include angelica root, hyssop, juniper berries, myrrh, saffron, mace, fir cones, aloe vera, arnica, lemon balm, tea, thyme, coriander, clove, lemon, vanilla, orange. A 700 ml bottle of Benedictine D.O.M Liqueur. The flavors on the palate are rich and complex, with 40% abv, intense sweetness, and a robust herbal aroma. A subtle scent of lavender honey and herbs dotted with a variety of botanicals creates a sense of understated elegance. There is no hint of the’medicinal’ taste that is commonly found in herbal spirits. The tonic is a health tonic that relieves fatigue while also strengthening the physical body. Because the active ingredients in Benedictine DOM activate gastrointestinal workings, it is possible to return to a regular diet after consuming it before meals. An active ingredient’s role in regulating primary bodily activities contributes to a healthy body.


What Is Bénédictine D.O.M. Liqueur?
The term D.O.M. found on the label stands for Deo Optimo Maximo which translates to "God, infinitely good, infinitely great." It is used to remind everyone of the liqueur's origins at the abbey

Bénédictine D.O.M. is an herbal liqueur produced in France. Its recipe comes from a 16th-century monk and includes a secret blend of 27 herbs and spices in a neutral spirit that's sweetened with honey. It may be an old liqueur but it has a well-deserved place in the modern bar. Bénédictine is a favorite distilled spirit worldwide and adds a refined spiced sweetness to some of the best cocktails ever created.

Bénédictine has a long history. Like many spirits of this age, there may be more myth to it than actual fact. The story begins in 1510 with a Bénédictine monk named Dom Bernardo Vincelli at the Abbey de Fécamp in Normandy, France. Vincelli was one of the many monks during that time who dabbled in alchemy. He documented his medicinal liqueurs in a manuscript that included some 200 recipes. One was the original formula for this unique herbal liqueur, which was apparently intended to revive tired monks. In the 1860s, a wine merchant named Alexandre Le Grand was browsing his family's collection that included acquisitions from the 1789 French Revolution. The monks had fled the abbey during the conflict and Vincelli's manuscript was in the collection. Le Grand interpreted the incomplete recipe and created what is known today as Bénédictine. Le Grand first sold Bénédictine in 1863 and it was imported into the U.S. beginning in 1888. It is produced at Palais de la Bénédictine near the original abbey. The brand is now owned by Bacardi Limited.

The recipe for Bénédictine is proprietary and one of the "secret" recipes seen so often on the liqueur side of the distilled spirits industry. There are a few aspects to the two-year production that are revealed. Bénédictine is made of 27 herbs and spices. It's believed that it includes hyssop, lemon balm, juniper, aloe, arnica, and cinnamon. The brand, however, only reveals angelica and saffron, making no other claims or allusions as to what the exact ingredient list entails. The distillers at Bénédictine do reveal that those 27 ingredients are divided into four groups. Each group is combined with neutral spirits and distilled either once or twice in copper stills. The result is four distillates called esprits. The esprits are aged for eight months then blended with honey for flavor and infused with saffron for color. This blend is double-heated to finish the flavor before going into oak barrels to age for four months. Before bottling, the liqueur is filtered.


Why Is Bénédictine DOM So Popular in Malaysia?
Newborn Gift Basket with Bénédictine by Gifts from Heaven

Malaysia accounts for a disproportionately high share of the global sales of Bénédictine DOM, a French herbal liqueur drink made up of a secret elixir of 27 aromatic plants and spices thought to include Angelica root, hyssop, juniper, myrrh, saffron, mace, fir cones, aloe, arnica, lemon balm, tea, thyme, coriander, clove, lemon, vanilla, orange peel, honey, red berries, cinnamon, nutmeg and six unknown ingredients. 

The drink was concocted in the 19th century by Alexandre Le Grand, a French wine merchant who cleverly marketed it as the favourite tipple of Benedictine monks at the Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy whose long lost recipe had been rediscovered by his grandparent. To add authenticity to his story he added the initials D.O.M. on every bottle, meaning Deo Optimo Maximo (To God, most good , most great), an abbreviation used by the monks on their documents. The United States is the biggest market, followed by Malaysia, Singapore and UK. It is said that Burnley in England is a big consumer of 'Béné and hot' (diluted with hot water), popularised by returning soldiers of the East Lancashire Regiment who developed a taste for it in France during World War One.

The drink is more usually known as DOM in Malaysia where it is thought to have healing properties. The taste is honey sweet, pungent and herbal. Some Malaysian Chinese regard it as a health tonic particularly for mothers with newborns. Gift companies advertise baby shower gift hampers which include a bottle of Béné alongside the pacifiers, wipes and baby talc. As it is 40% alcohol or 80 proof, nobody is suggesting it is good for baby, but Malaysian mums seem to find it a comfort.


Dom Benedictine

It is claimed that Dom Bénédictine is made from a traditional recipe from the Dominican Order of Monks (D.O.M) of 1510, lost then later rediscovered by wine merchant Alexandre Le Gran in the 19th century. Today Dom Bénédictine is one of the world’s favourite liqueurs. Its secret recipe contains aged Cognac blended with 27 individual herbs, roots and spices with a mellow touch of honey. Best served neat, on ice, or in cocktails.

Product Specifications:
  • Type - Liqueurs
  • Size - 700m
  • Current Vintage - Dom Benedictine
  • Standard Drinks - 22.
  • Alcohol Volume - 40.0%
  • Country - France
  • Brand Name - Dom Benedictine
  • Closure - Cork
  • Spirit Style - Herbal Liqueurs

What Is The Health Benefit For Drinking Dom Benedictine?

Drinking DOM Benedictine has an image of providing health benefits, but like all alcoholic drinks, this is only in extreme moderation. Health benefits from alcohol are very much a side issue, although most companies like to play on and promote this image. DOM was initially used for medicinal purposes but with medical advances it became more popular as an alcoholic drink and is best known as a drink rather than for any medical impact.

DOM has a herbal liqueur taste to it which many people find nutritious, it can often be served up within a meal and is popular with meat dishes. The recipe for DOM is a closely guarded secret retained with the Benedictine Abbey that it originated from. Drinks produced by religious orders tend to be have a more wholesome image with DOM, brewed at the Benedictine Abbey in Fecamp, Normandy, falling into that category. Its religious connotations are, however, outweighed by the fact that it consists of 40% alcohol; making it a very potent drink that should only be consumed in extreme moderation whether or not the health benefits are being considered!

Regular drinking of DOM won't provide you with any health benefits. It would be foolish to consume on the basis that it was for health reasons. If you wish to drink something for health reasons there are multitudes of drinks to choose from which are non-alcoholic and medicinal. Many older people will enjoy a daily drink of DOM or an equivalent and feel that its rich warming taste and reputation will be beneficial, but that is mainly in the mind rather based on facts.


Bénédictine DOM 1510

Distilled and aged in a flamboyant palace, built in Fécamp in tribute to this unique liqueur, Bénédictine is a subtle alchemy of 27 different plants and spices. Some of the herbs and spices have been used since the biblical times and many still have a place in folk remedies. The origin of these plants is like a journey around the world: from Greece to Africa, to Indonesia, India and so much more. Bénédictine selects product ingredients from the five continents with quality as the sole criterion of choice.

ORIGIN - Bénédictine is united by a quest to achieve the extraordinary that begins with benedictine monk Dom Bernado Vincelli and the Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy, France. The secret recipe of Bénédictine is said to date back to 1510 and is based on local medicinal plants enhanced by oriental spices.

LEGACY - The last surviving monk of the Abbey of Fécamp passed down the secret recipe to the Le Grand family to preserve the legacy of Vincelli and the benedictine monks. Alexandre Le Grand was passionately committed to protecting the secret recipe of this local elixir and its production process, which is why the same traditional craftsmanship is used today.


Bénédictine
A poster from 1908 advertising Bénédictine

Bénédictine (French pronunciation: ​[benediktin]) is a herbal liqueur produced in France. It was developed by wine merchant Alexandre Le Grand in the 19th century, and is reputedly flavored with twenty-seven flowers, berries, herbs, roots, and spices. History:
  • In 1863 Alexandre Le Grand developed a recipe for an herbal liqueur, helped by a local chemist, from old medicinal recipes that he had acquired from a religious foundation where a maternal grandparent had held office as a fiscal prosecutor. To market it, he embellished a story of it having been developed by monks at the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy, and produced by them until the abbey's devastation during the French Revolution. He began production under the trade name "Bénédictine", using a bottle with a distinguishing shape and label. To reinforce his myth, he placed the abbreviation "D.O.M." on the label, for "Deo Optimo Maximo" ("To God, most good, most great"), used at the beginning of documents by the Benedictine Order to dedicate their work.
  • The liquor was mentioned in the 1948 RKO Pictures movie, “The Bishops Wife”, of three “Benedictines” drinks being ordered at a French restaurant by the Angel, “Dudley” (Cary Grant), then the order was changed to “Stingers” for the three nosey women with the cathedral board.
  • In 1982 just 15% of the production of the liqueur was sold in France with 45% of the product going to the United States of America. Benedictine is sold in over two hundred markets. The United Kingdom remains a significant market in Europe where much of the Bénédictine is consumed in the Burnley area of England.[citation needed] This is as a result of returning Great War soldiers of the East Lancashire Regiment acquiring a taste for the drink while stationed in France during the War. Traditionally people in East Lancashire drink Bénédictine with hot water, known as "Bene 'n' 'ot", and the Burnley Miners Club is reputedly the largest single customer. The abbey at Fécamp was used for a convalescence hospital.
  • In 1986, the Martini & Rossi group took control of Bénédictine. In 1992 they in turn were bought out by Bacardi for a reported $1.4 billion.
  • By 2010 around 75% of the production was exported. This marked a significant increase in its popularity in France. The biggest consumers of Bénédictine are the United States, Malaysia and Singapore.
The recipe is a closely guarded trade secret, purportedly known to only three people at any given time. So many people have tried to reproduce it that the company maintains on its grounds in Fécamp a "Hall of Counterfeits" (Salle des Contrefaçons). The bottle and label have been imitated, as has the name Bénédictine. The company prosecutes those it feels are infringing on its intellectual property. The manufacturing process involves several distillations which are then blended. The recipe of Bénédictine is a commercial secret, but it is known to contain 27 herbs and spices, of which the following 21 are publicly known: angelica, hyssop, juniper, myrrh, saffron, mace, fir cones, aloe, arnica, lemon balm, tea, thyme, coriander, clove, lemon, vanilla, orange peel, honey, red berries, cinnamon, and nutmeg.