Michelsen Hummer Aquavit
Hamburg, Germany
- ABV
- 40%
- Base spirit
- Unknown
- Color
- Gold
- Style
- Barrel-Aged Aquavit
- Maturation
- 3 years in Used oak cask
Michelsen Hummer Aquavit is a 40% ABV aquavit sold under the L.W.C. Michelsen name. The documented 700 ml bottle is labelled Hummer Aquavit and carries the wording “Finest Export Quality.” A 350 ml version was also marketed internationally as Lobster Aquavit, using the English equivalent of the German word Hummer.
The aquavit was matured in oak. A product listing for the 350 ml Lobster Aquavit states that it was stored in oak barrels for three years, while another surviving description specifies old oak barrels and refers to caraway and dill-seed distillates. The spirit has a golden colour.
About the producer
L.W.C. Michelsen
Hamburg, Germany
L.W.C. Michelsen traces its history to 1 October 1814, when Christian Friedrich Michelsen established a flour-trading business in Hamburg. After the original premises were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1842, his grandson Ludwig Wilhelm Christian Michelsen rebuilt the business and developed it into a delicatessen house; his initials supplied the name L.W.C. Michelsen. Johannes Carl Peters, who had joined the firm as a partner, purchased the business from the Michelsen family in 1899.
Under Peters ownership the company expanded as a delicatessen and wholesale business. The detailed company history dates its appointment as a royal court supplier to 12 January 1912. Production, warehousing and offices were moved to Billbrook in 1988, and the later headquarters were established at Michelsenweg in Hamburg-Hammerbrook. Jan Erik Peters and Malte Peters joined the business in 2009; since Malte Peters left the management in 2025, Jan Erik Peters has headed the seventh-generation family company alone.
L.W.C. Michelsen is best described as a delicatessen manufacturer and wholesaler rather than a confirmed distillery. The company operates its own Hamburg manufacturing facility but also states that its assortment includes products from partner manufacturers. L.W.C. Michelsen should be treated as the brand/company responsible for the product rather than automatically as its distillery.