Jaeger Does Not Mix Well

Jaegermeister, as you might know, is a type of strongly flavoured liqueur/spirit. It’s generally seen as and used as a party drink – you shot it or drink it as a Jaegerbomb, a shot dropped into energy drink and drunk very quickly.

Why is it drunk quickly?

Because most people do not drink Jaeger for the taste. It has an anise, liquorice flavour and most people don’t like that these days. It’s not very nice really.

But it’s a party drink and that’s how Jaeger makes its money for the most part. Until recently. Jaeger has decided that it wants to be known as a mixed drink, something with versatility, something with subtlety and gourmet appeal.

It’s a bold strategy. Let’s see how it works out for them.

It’s almost always a useful idea to diversify your offering and give multiple appeals to multiple markets. Of course, the issue is that Jaeger really isn’t a good mixer. The product doesn’t hold up. I’m no cocktail expert but I have some experience and I’ve done more than my share of cocktail designing in the past. I’ve also spoken to bartenders with more experience than myself. There’s a general consensus: Jaeger is too strong, too niche as a flavour, and just doesn’t have a broad enough appeal to make a good cocktail.

So where does that leave Jaeger? They’ve actually dealt with the problem about as well as they could be expected to – by suggesting it be mixed with ginger beer. Ask any cocktail maker and they’ll tell you of the magical properties of ginger beer. It makes everything better. Even Jaeger.

So will the Jaeger and ginger beer become an established drink of choice for the discerning customer?

Lord knows. They have a national campaign going about promoting the idea. But as is well known, unless the product is good enough a major campaign is really just as likely to destroy the product faster as it is to convince people.