Question about Jagermeister (the drink)

Factual Questions
1

Hello Teeming Millions!

Do I ever have a question for you!

As a fan of the infamous liqueur Jagermeister (it’s a love or hate liqueur), I rumour I heard a few years ago has perplexed me every time I visit my favourite bar.

Does Jagermeister contain codeine?

I’ve heard tales from bartenders of Europeans (Danes and Germans in particular) visiting their establishments and exclaiming that the Jagermeister served to them tasted different and quite obviously wasn’t the same as they had at home.

So, after researching quite a bit, visiting the official websites, and some unofficial ones, all I’ve been able to find out is that Jagermeister contains something unusual for liqueurs, but just not what that “thing” is.

Also some word-of-mouth that supposedly the Jagermeister containing codeine has a green cross between the deers antlers, instead of the white cross on the bottles I’ve seen.

If Jagermeister does indeed contain codeine, is it only available in Europe, as I’ve also been told?

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated!

2

Welcome to the boards!

Although the jagermeister website says nothing about the ingredients of the drink, I seriously doubt that it contains Codeine - which is a an opiate.

Maybe it did at one time, since several drinks (Coca-cola, Absynth et al.) did contain narcotics once-upon-a-time.

I codeine would not be allowed nowadays, at least not within the EU.

3

FWIW, James Hetfield said on VH1’s Behind the Music that Jagermeister makes you a different, angrier kind of drunk because it contains “an opiate.”

If that’s not a definitive source, I don’t know what is.

4

Yeah, but you have to consider the source, Hetfields one of those ‘instant asshole just add alcohol’-ics.

Jagermeister makes me a happy drunk, well…at least untill the next morning anyhow. The pounding headache makes me sort of sad. :smiley:

5

I was under the impression it contained CAFFEINE (which would be unusual for a liqueur), thus compounding your misery by not being able to sleep it off. I have no cite for it, just one of those word-of-mouth things that’s possibly, but probably not true.