Licor Beirão is a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 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...

. Its recipe is a trade secret; the producer, J. Carranca Redondo, Lda., only states it is made from a double distillation

Distillation

Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....

 of seeds and herbs from all over the world, including Malaysia, Brazil, and Thailand. It has 22% ABV

Alcohol by volume

Alcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage .The ABV standard is used worldwide....

.

Origin of the name

Beirão is Portuguese for "from Beira

Beira, Portugal

Beira was one of the six traditional provinces or "comarcas" of Portugal.-Administrative history:The medieval province of Beira was divided in 1832 into* Beira Alta Province* Beira Baixa ProvinceBeira Litoral...

". Beira was the name of a former province in Portugal, which is currently contained within Portugal's Centro region.

History

The liqueur was produced in the 19th century as a medicinal product for stomach aches by a pharmacy in Lousã. In the late 19th century alcoholic beverages were no longer qualified as medicinal but the liqueur was kept in production in a small factory owned by the son-in-law of the original producer. In 1929 the liqueur entered a contest on the 2nd Beirão Congress where it earned a gold medal and its name of Beirão. In 1940 the factory was bought by José Carranca Redondo (1921-2005). In the 1960s Redondo drove Beirão to a nationwide success. He understood the importance of advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

 - he used to say that after laying an egg, the hen clucks - so he launched the first Portuguese advertising campaign using billboard

Billboard (advertising)

A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure , typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers...

s.

Advertising

These first billboards, picturing a simple sign-board with Licor Beirão, the liqueur of Portugal on a country landscape, became an icon of Portuguese advertising.

A later billboard, picturing an American style majorette

Majorettes

Baton twirling is an activity involving the manipulation of a metal rod and the human body to a coordinated routine and is similar to rhythmic gymnastics or color guard . Twirling combines dance and gymnastics while manipulating a single baton or multiple batons. It is primarily performed with the...

, wearing very short and tight red t-shirt and breeches, and showing her belly, had to be withdrawn because it was not well accepted due to the girl's lack of clothes.

A punch line used by then, O Beirão de que todos gostam (port. The one from Beira which everybody loves), had a subtle reference to António de Oliveira Salazar

António de Oliveira Salazar

António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...

, "the one from Beira which not everybody loves", the leader of Portuguese authoritarian New State. Allegedly Salazar knew of this even before it was out on the streets and just smiled at its audacity.