This case shows an important milestone in the history of the Company when in 1936 János and Béla Zwack – having followed in their father’s footsteps – entered into an agreement with Kraus Brothers of New York for the exclusive marketing of Zwack brands in North America. This is evident from the labels in English on the miniature bottles marked 1 on the top shelf.
Mark 2 records the visit to Hungary in 1935 of the heir to the British throne, Edward, Prince of Wales. He became an enthusiastic fan of Barack Palinka, the apricot eau de vie made in Kecskemet. The royal visitor was heard to declare: “ with tea it is better than rum and with soda it is better than whisky!” – praise that can be read on the inside of the label of the revolving bottle from that time – which was to launch this Hungarian speciality on an international career. The Zwack Barack Palinka is known as “Futyulos” because the Company adopted the name as their trademark referring to the long-necked whistle shaped bottles used in taverns in those days. By blowing into an empty bottle clients could produce a whistling sound to summon the waiter for a refill.
Exhibit no 3 is a real rarity. This is an original Coronation glass made for the coronation ceremony of the future Edward VIII who abdicated for love of Wallis Simpson, pictured with the prince on the left hand side of the case, before he could be crowned.
The photographs marked 4 were made at the International Fair held in 1941 in Budapest where the Zwack Company was present with an impressive pavilion to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the firm. One of the photographs features the visit to the Zwack pavilion of the Regent, Miklós Horthy. To mark the centenary of the foundation of the firm a postage stamp was also issued; it can be seen on the lower shelf marked 5.
The 5 litre bottle marked 6 was brought back to us after 66 years from the United States by an American visitor to our distillery.
On the right-hand side of the lower shelf, marked 7, is the libretto of the Unicum Fox Trot by Ákos Holéczy which was the advertising jingle accompanying the Zwack cartoon film featured in show case 9. You can listen to it by pressing the green button on the right-hand side of the show case.
