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> The one time I went to Romania I was given a lot of homemade brandy with fruit, all of which appeared to have been distilled from Moscato wine and then having

> The one time I went to Romania I was given a lot of homemade brandy with fruit, all of which appeared to have been distilled from Moscato wine and then having fruit added. You are either wrong about this, or you were served something very unusual. Brandy in Romania is overwhelmingly produced solely from fruit, with no role for wine at all. I have witnessed the production process myself while staying in the countryside.

greglindahl 7y ago
All I can say is that my girlfriend's father made the brandy from Moscato, and his parents made the same thing, and claimed it was made that way since before the Communists showed up. I saw the fruit orchard and the vineyard. However, you're missing the point as it relates to this discussion. Fruit brandy made from fruit is like wine, not vodka. If you want to fight to the death that my girlfriend's parents and great-grandparents are atypical, that's totally fine.
- Mediterraneo10 7y ago
  There is a tradition within Romania of making distilled spirits from wine (vinars), but as I said, that is a very niche product and you just seem to have happened to run into it. Most of the country distills their brandy purely from fruit. In a lot of the villages that produce Romanian fruit brandy, grapes are not even grown by any of the families at all.
- boomskats 7y ago
  I just can't see how distilling mashed-up plums/pears/quince/apricot, in a still - mashed up for the single purpose of being distilled in that still - can be considered more similar to fermenting grape juice, than it is to distilling other things in a still (even potatoes). Hence my comment. I don't know where your girlfriend's father is from, I'm guessing from behind the iron curtain somewhere based on the comment about the Communists. I'm sure he made good brandy from moscato. However rakija is not made from wine nor does it have anything to do with it culturally from a consumption standpoint.
- skinner_ 7y ago
  Here is a guess: It was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomace_brandy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomace_brandy , törkölypálinka in Hungarian, created from the leftover fruit pulp after pressing the grapes for wine. That's what Italians call grappa. The other possibility is distilled grape juice, that is brandy, but brandy is much less common in Eastern Europe, they prefer to turn their grape juice into wine.

greglindahl 7y ago

All I can say is that my girlfriend's father made the brandy from Moscato, and his parents made the same thing, and claimed it was made that way since before the Communists showed up. I saw the fruit orchard and the vineyard. However, you're missing the point as it relates to this discussion. Fruit brandy made from fruit is like wine, not vodka. If you want to fight to the death that my girlfriend's parents and great-grandparents are atypical, that's totally fine.

Mediterraneo10 7y ago
There is a tradition within Romania of making distilled spirits from wine (vinars), but as I said, that is a very niche product and you just seem to have happened to run into it. Most of the country distills their brandy purely from fruit. In a lot of the villages that produce Romanian fruit brandy, grapes are not even grown by any of the families at all.
boomskats 7y ago
I just can't see how distilling mashed-up plums/pears/quince/apricot, in a still - mashed up for the single purpose of being distilled in that still - can be considered more similar to fermenting grape juice, than it is to distilling other things in a still (even potatoes). Hence my comment. I don't know where your girlfriend's father is from, I'm guessing from behind the iron curtain somewhere based on the comment about the Communists. I'm sure he made good brandy from moscato. However rakija is not made from wine nor does it have anything to do with it culturally from a consumption standpoint.
skinner_ 7y ago
Here is a guess: It was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomace_brandy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomace_brandy , törkölypálinka in Hungarian, created from the leftover fruit pulp after pressing the grapes for wine. That's what Italians call grappa. The other possibility is distilled grape juice, that is brandy, but brandy is much less common in Eastern Europe, they prefer to turn their grape juice into wine.