Centerbe

Centerbe (cento erbe), literally, "hundreds of herbs," is a digestive liqueur from the Abruzzo region of Italy made by infusing a variety of medicinal herbs, some say as many as one hundred (which explains the name), in alcohol. It has a very high alcoholic content, usually 60 to 150 proof (30 - 75%). Homemade Centerbe can be made by placing orange leaves, basil, chamomile, rosemary, sage, juniper, cloves, cinnamon, toasted coffee beans, saffron, mint, lemon leaves, mandarin leaves, thyme blossoms, and marjoram in a bottle, pouring alcohol over the whole thing, and letting the mixture macerate, covered, for at least 30 days, then straining it through a cloth napkin and adding a sugar syrup. Aged at least one month, Centerbe is an excellent digestive drink.

'White Unsweetened Centerbe' is an ingredient in the forgotten, presumably French, Coup de Foudre ['Love Struck'] cocktail, included in the United Kingdom Bartenders Guild's '1700 Cocktails' (1934). Verbatim, the recipe is: 1/3 White Unsweetened Centerbe', 1/3 Red Curaçao, 1/3 Coates Plymouth Gin. Serve with a small piece of candied orange peel.

'Unsweetened' suggests that, at that time, a strictly medicinal version of Centerbe was available. Perhaps on the lines of the homemade recipe above minus the sugar syrup? Alternatively, many of the 1700's sweet recipes are, to modern tastes, exceptionally sweet. So perhaps standard Centerbe was routinely sweetened to make it palatable. Bols and Grand Marnier both formerly made red curacaos. Coates, then owners of Plymouth Gin, subsidised the publication of 1700, and in return became the 'named' gin brand in almost all the recipes.