Curt Mast took years to perfect the 1934 recipe; the stag with the cross on the label comes from the legend of Saint Hubertus, patron of hunters
Jägermeister was born in Wolfenbüttel, a town in northern Germany, in a company that started out making vinegar. According to Mast-Jägermeister, Wilhelm Mast bought the family's headquarters on July 23, 1878 and devoted himself to vinegar production. His son, Curt Mast (1897-1970), joined the business at 16, took over in 1917, began selling wine and ended vinegar production in 1922.
Curt was a hunter who enjoyed the gatherings after the hunt; for them, he wanted an herbal liqueur. According to the company's press material, he tested several blends that came out too sweet or with a weak citrus note, until he arrived at the formula in 1934: 56 herbs, blossoms, roots and fruits, at 35% ABV. The liqueur reached the German market in 1935, and the recipe, the company says, has been the same ever since.
The process begins with weighing the ingredients, which are mixed dry and then left for several weeks in a blend of water and alcohol, the maceration. The macerates form the liqueur's base, which rests for about a year in roughly 400 oak casks in the Wolfenbüttel cellars. New casks are neutralized before use so the wood does not affect the flavor. Before bottling, the base receives water, alcohol, caramel and sugar. The company names orange peel, ginger, star anise, clove and a hint of licorice among the aromas and recommends serving it at –18 °C.
The name means master hunter in German. The symbol is the stag of Saint Hubertus, born around the year 657 in what is now France. According to the legend as the company tells it, Hubertus was a reckless hunter until he saw a great white stag with a glowing crucifix between its antlers; he changed his ways, became a missionary and is now the patron saint of hunters. The label, created by Curt with graphic artist Günther Clausen, carries the opening of a hunting poem by Oskar von Riesenthal.
The dark green bottle was chosen to evoke the hunt and, according to the company, also blocks most ultraviolet rays. To pick the design, Curt is said to have dropped several bottles on his wooden kitchen floor and kept the sturdiest one, the brand's press kit says.
In 1973, Jägermeister launched shirt sponsorship in the Bundesliga: Eintracht Braunschweig players wore the stag's head on their chests from 1973 to 1987. In 1935, the first year of sales, about 35,000 bottles were sold; in 2022, the figure was 120.7 million 0.7-liter bottles, according to the company, which has about 1,000 employees, sells in more than 150 markets and is in its fifth generation of family ownership.
Sources: Mast-Jägermeister (official website and press fact sheets, 2026), Mast-Jägermeister (press kit, July 2021).
