Jägermeister and its history
A bottle full of history
Jägermeister has more than its unique taste. When you think of Jägermeister, you also
think of its distinctive green bottle, the “hunting poem” on the label, the logo with the stag’s
head and, last but not least, the unmistakeable name itself. What then is the origin of
Jägermeister?
There was general optimism in 1878 when Wilhelm Mast founded a vinegar factory in his home town of
Wolfenbüttel in Lower Saxony. The business grew and when the founder's son Curt Mast entered the
company, a clear new direction was taken: the young man turned out to be extremely talented at making
herbal extracts. It took several more years before Curt Mast had found the perfect formula for his herbal
liqueur. However, over 80 years ago it happened – Jägermeister was born. From 56 herbs, flowers, roots
and fruits as well as 35% alcohol, Curt Mast had created a herbal liqueur bursting with flavour.
The distinctive bottle
Right from the outset, Curt Mast felt that a high-quality yet stable bottle was important for his fine herbal
liqueur. To find his ideal, the Jägermeister inventor had to be creative: he put a number of different
models through a breakage test. At home in his kitchen, Curt Mast dropped the bottles onto the hard
wooden floor from a height. This was how he found the most reliable model: the distinctive green
Jägermeister bottle.
From a hunter for hunters
Like very many of his contemporaries, Curt Mast was passionately fond of hunting, so he dedicated his
invention to hunters. As a result, he had no difficulty in finding a name for the new product: he called the
semi-bitter liqueur “Master Hunter” – Jägermeister in German. It was a term that was well-known in the
Wolfenbüttel region due to its centuries-old hunting tradition. For the front label on the Jägermeister
bottles, Curt Mast chose a “hunting poem” by Oskar von Riesenthal (1830-1898), who was also a
huntsman, “This is the hunters’ honour shield, which he protects and looks after his game, Huntsman
hunts, As it should be, the Creator in the creatures honour”.
Saint Hubertus’s stag
Not just any old symbol would do as a brand mark for the herbal liqueur. On the contrary, it was to be the
legendary stag of Saint Hubertus with the radiant Cross in his antlers.
For centuries, people have been recounting the saga of Hubertus the huntsman. According to the legend,
Hubertus was a wild, uninhibited hunter who lacked a sense of responsibility for other creatures. All he
wanted was to kill. Even on the Lord’s Day he went off into the forest to hunt, quite heedless of the
sanctity of Sunday. This state of affairs continued until one holy day a fine white stag approached him in
the dark forest. A crucifix shone between his antlers and Hubertus recognised the awesome hand of God.
He immediately became a missionary in the service of the Church. The saga about him was handed down
through the centuries and later he even became known as Saint Hubertus, the patron saint of hunters. The
memory of Saint Hubertus’s stag also survived down the centuries. Ever since 1935, the stag has been the
brand mark on the Jägermeister label, together with the well-known Jägermeister lettering.
Further information and pictures available at: http://newsroom.jaegermeister.de/
Press contact
Mast-Jägermeister SE
Andreas Lehmann
Head of Public Relations
Phone +49 5331 81-473
Mail: [email protected]
Web: www.jaegermeister.com