Schierker Feuerstein is an alcoholic liqueur produced in the town of Schierke

Schierke

Schierke is a village and a former municipality in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Wernigerode.Schierke was first mentioned as Schiriken in a 1590 deed...

, located in the Harz

Harz

The Harz is the highest mountain range in northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart , latinized as Hercynia. The legendary Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz...

 region of Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. is a herbal liqueur

Liqueur

A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.The...

 (half-bitter with 35 % alcohol by volume), whose recipe was developed in the 1920s by Willy Drube, the then proprietor of the chemist's, Zum Roten Fingerhut, in the village of Schierke

Schierke

Schierke is a village and a former municipality in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Wernigerode.Schierke was first mentioned as Schiriken in a 1590 deed...

 and which was patented in 1924. Due to its red-brown coloration, the liqueur is named after the so-called Feuersteinklippe

Feuersteinklippe

The Feuersteinklippe is a rock formation in the Harz National Park in central Germany and the landmark of the nearby village of Schierke.The Feuersteinklippe is a butte made of granite, not firestone as the name suggests. It shows the woolsack weathering typical of the Harz region. The striking...

, a rock formation near Schierke made of reddish granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

.

After the death of Willy Drube in 1952 and the migration of his descendants to West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

 (BRD), production was continued in the West at Bad Lauterberg im Harz in Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

. From 1972 it was also produced again in East Germany in Schierke by the Volkseigener Betrieb

Volkseigener Betrieb

The Volkseigener Betrieb was the legal form of industrial enterprise in East Germany...

 (VEB) of Schierker Feuerstein which was owned by the Getränkekombinat Magdeburg. After the reunification of Germany in 1990 the firm of Schierker Feuerstein GmbH & Co. KG was founded, which continued to produce the liqueur both in Bad Lauterberg and also in Schierke.

Schierker Feuerstein is related to the following bitter drinks which are all based on the bitter herb, Artemisia: Underberg

Underberg

Underberg is a digestif bitter produced in Germany by Underberg AG, made of aromatic herbs from 43 countries. The exact number and identity of the herbs remain a well-guarded secret.-History:...

and Jägermeister

Jägermeister

Jägermeister is a German 70-proof digestif made with 56 different herbs and spices. It is the flagship product of Mast-Jägermeister SE, headquartered in Wolfenbüttel, south of Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany.- History :...

(Germany), Piolunowka

Piolunówka

Piołunówka is a very bitter alcoholic infusion made by macerating wormwood in alcohol. Its name comes from piołun, which means wormwood in Polish. It is becoming popular due to the recent absinthe revival but has been well known before absinthe...

(Poland), Fernet Branca

Fernet Branca

Fernet is a type of amaro, a bitter, aromatic spirit. Fernet is made from a number of herbs and spices which vary according to the brand, but usually include myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, and especially saffron, with a base of grape distilled spirits, and coloured with caramel colouring...

(Italy) and Gamel Danske (Scandinavia).

Artemisia is called wormwood

Wormwood

Wormwood may refer to:*Various plants of the genus Artemisia but commonly Artemisia absinthium, also called grande wormwood or absinthe wormwood...

in England. It kills most bacteria and worms in the gut.