European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 5, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sto mgt and bottling quips int at it  Ditl Ilary. Photo court Tiv  byjoe Mapother Bremerhaven Bureau Ark red liquid piped to and from the Lone mixing machine in the Jager Melster distillery reinforces the impression of watching an Industrial size artificial heart beating away at nearly 28,400 quarts per hour. The machine the Only one performing the final mix at the Home Plant is the nerve Center of a Modem operation headquartered in woke Bottel. Germany. The company s product is on Sale in most grocery stores in Germany and Export markets extend to the United states. ". Tie distinctive Green bottle with the table of a Stag with a Cross Over its head has remained unchanged since Jager Melster was introduced in 1935, according to Sven Resenhoeft a company representative. The Symbol originated from tha pre medieval legend of St. Hubertus who was said to have turned to a Rehg Lous life after a Stag he was Hunting on Good Friday turned on him and displayed a Crucifix Between us horns. Hubertus realized How wrong he was to play Hooky on a religious Holiday so the legend goes. Eventually Hubertus became the Bishop of Liege Belgium and the Patron Saint of Hunters. The Saint s name was invoked in prayers for the cure of Rabid animals and humans and americans familiar with Jager Melster claim that generous quantities can induce the same symptoms the invocation of hubertus1 name was supposed to cure. On reason for that claim is the smoothness of the drink. Jager Melster goes Down easy despite its 35 percent alcohol Content. Jager Melster is a Universal drink that can be drunk on any occasion and that anyone can drink Resenhoeft said. A taste with Broad Appeal is part of the Jager Melster philosophy he said. The herbal concoction is distilled from natural ingredients 56 herbs and spices from around the world water alcohol and a sweetener. A walk into the mixing room of the distillery is an aromatic journey to where the schnapps process begins. Saffron from Spain and rhubarb roots from China Are two of the ingredients carefully weighed mixed and placed into tanks where a mixture of alcohol and water is added. At the main Plant alone there Are 500 barrels most of which lower above the Concrete warehouse floor. More than 4.2 million quarts can be aged at the main Plant at any one time Resenhoeft said. After one year the mixing machine comes into play. Amounts of sweetener water and the Jager Melster extract Are mixed under the supervision of a computer which stands in a room next to the brightly polished mixer. The product spends another three months in tanks and then undergoes filtering and the final Quality control for color taste and Aroma before it is bottled and sent of to a massive warehouse near Olfenbuttel. An aggressive advertising Campaign is a hallmark of thei Jager Melster company a limited partnership. Perhaps most famous Are the series of ads More than 500 to Date that feature a picture of person picked off the Street and an accompanying text that begins i drink Jager Melster because soccer stadiums throughout Europe have Jager Melster placards strategically placed in the Corners of the stadium where a television camera is Likely to Home in on the action. The professional soccer team in nearby Braunschweig is owned by Guenter Mast head of the Jager Melster partnership. About 100 million bottles of the dark liquid in various size bottles Ore sold each year in Germany alone Resenhoeft said. Our strength he said is that we Are represented  Jage Meister herbal brow that goes Down easy Page 14 the stars and stripes the gun str Bimm frit distil try can fill4,000 Btl by Dan Wollam Stuttgart Bureau Hen i first met William Ernst he Wall perched on a bar Stool in the Patch Barracks Rod and gun club watching the cowboys Slaughter the redskins of an. He was sipping Beer. Wait a minute he said. It s almost  he did t strike me As any kind of a schnapps expert. But then neither had anyone else. I found out Early that a lot More people drink German schnapps than know anything about it. Ernst had said on the phone that he could Ted me everything i wanted to know about schnapps Beer whiskey or any  seeing him on the bar Stool was dubious. Then he started rattling off the Huston of aple Korn so i asked How he Learned so much about. Alcohol. I he gave me a look of irritated indignation and sat i drink  the 41-year-old Coin auctioneer and self proclaimed drinking expert started giving me the Storff of Southern schnapps plus a few anecdotes on. American whiskey norwegian aquavit and Kom \ whiskey in a Way that said he knew what he was talking about. He said he picked up a Little of it in chemistry classes in German school. Most of k he Learned while perched on a bar Stool somewhere. J  Ernst said. First of All there Are two kinds of j schnapps. All Wassers Are straight and made from Mash. They re straight because they re distilled directly from the fruit s  these include j Kirsch Wasser  a Tut and Obst Wesserle usually called Obs Fer and made j from apples pears and sometimes plums. J Ernst mid thai with a Little practice you can my what s in an Obstler. You can Tell the plums because they give k a it str aftertaste. That s because they Mash the seeds in wet it. And you can Tell How much Pear is in it because Poar will numb the inside of your lip he said. The second Type of fruit schnapps is called a Gnu. Elsts Are made by blending the concentrate of the Trull with alcohol. That process is necessary be cow distillation removes most of the character from s0fl� fruits Ernst said. A couple of the More popular Are Holmbe Egelst Raspberry and  apricots. Ernst said Southern Germany is renowned for its we schnapps for twp reasons. One is that it s Good he for growing territory. South toward the Rhine Matey. M very Good area to grow cherries and plums. The Bode see Lake Constance is known for is High. Quality  the second reason is that schnapps has been favorite Here a Long time the drink became popular in the mid-19th Century. What were then the German states of Baden