O.O that's just wrong

Any of you guys ever tried authentic rakija? Traditional style of brandy in the Balkans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n454ulrdzoE

never as a real brandy, ie made from grape/wine
but plum, apricot and cherry versions
the plum versions are very good digestives
(good alternative to calvados)

There are versions of grape, called lozovača. In some parts it's known as grappa.

But I've tried all kinds of versions. The stuff from wallnuts or quince is godly.

the italian grappa is actually made from fermenting the skins and other leftovers remaining after making wine
similar to marc de champagne in the champagne region of france (and that is very nice)

if you are still lurking:



definitely try a sauternes (sweet white from the bordeux region in france)

postscript: no need to pay the $200,000 one paid for a bottle of 1811 chateau d'yquem (the top sauternes) recently - but if you can, why not

This post was edited by brmv on Mar 31 2014 07:40am

Yeah, I knew that about grappa. Didn't know it disqualified it from being brandy.



Anyway, the best are found with local villagers. The homebrew from the Lika region is strong and good. (It's mostly from plums, but you get a fair amount of pear variants as well).

grappa can be classified as brandy but often the label brandy is applied to those distilled out of wine

family friends of ours were growing fruit for fermentation and while the 'product' had to be supplied to the government or an accredited spirit producer, there were a few odd bottles of very nice ~56% (mainly pear) spirit which found their way to us

This post was edited by brmv on Mar 31 2014 07:51am

Yeah, it's the good stuff. I go to Croatia every summer. I always bring back a couple of litres

edit: last year, I had some made from rosebuds. It's more like a liqueur, but damn tasty.

This post was edited by hATemOnkEy on Mar 31 2014 07:59am

the very best fruit spirits come from alsace, black-forest and switzerland (but are in comparison expensive)
that reminds me, they produce nice liquers as well (and not that expensive), bought a bottle of chamomile liquer recently



This post was edited by brmv on Mar 31 2014 08:04am