5 ms·
šljiva, Serbia's popular brandy, could be the next mezcal
- shever73 4y agoI attended a wedding in Albania where they served homemade raki. They drank it before the meal, which surprised me because I thought it would have been after as a digestive.
- jaclaz 4y agoHmmm, Serbia wasn't "southern europe" last time I checked.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- rypskar 4y agoBoth Worldatlas and Wikipedia disagree with you and include Serbia in Southern Europe https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-countries-make-up-southern-europe.html https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-countries-make-up-... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Europe
- jaclaz 4y agoThen I stand corrected, I didn't think of the wider classification, that surely is correct, but to me it is southeast Europe or Balkan peninsula.
- akie 4y agoIt depends on who you ask. The "World Factbook" puts Serbia in South-Eastern Europe [1], the Serbian Wikipedia page [2] puts it in South-Eastern or Eastern Europe. Myself, I would consider it part of the Balkans, with Southern Europe more traditionally defined as Italy, Spain, Portugal, maybe Greece. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_Europe [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia EDIT: It's like saying that Arizona is part of the Southern United States.
- vasac 4y agoWe consider ourselves to be a continent of our own ;)
- WastingMyTime89 4y agoPart is contextual rather than geographical. People tend to lump countries which used to form Yugoslavia together as the Balkans and view them as somewhat similar to Romania from an economic point of view. Meanwhile, Greece which is definitely part of the Balkan Peninsula is lumped with southern countries like Italy, Spain and Portugal because it entered the EU as an early member at roughly the same time despite it bordering the European part of Turkey which most would definitely view as eastern.
- ithkuil 4y ago> yebiga Lol, nice name
- rapsey 4y agoTranslation: fuckit
- ithkuil 4y agowhat I found nice about it is the use of `y` instead of `j` so that it could be pronounced correctly by international speakers who more often associate the letter `j` with the english (or to a lesser extent french) pronunciation of the letter. EDIT: while at the same time making the word more web-searchable
- malermeister 4y agoUsing the Serbian flag for a liquor that's popular all across the Balkans certainly is a choice, especially in an area that's infamous for its ethnic tensions...
- frogulis 4y agoI suppose so. The article does focus on Serbia pretty heavily though, and states that rakija originated there.
- malermeister 4y agoI don't think there's any conclusive evidence on rakija's origin, afaik the earliest evidence found so far is from 11th century Bulgaria. Claiming it originates from Serbia is straight up Serbian nationalist propaganda imo.
- SideburnsOfDoom 4y agoClaims that "$foodstuff originated in $sountry" when it's more a than a few hundred years old should generally be read as a puff piece to raise tourism and country profile. They're common, e.g. Hummus: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20171211-who-invented-hummus https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20171211-who-invented-hum... halloumi is from Cyprus, but that's ... divided now: https://www.halloumicheese.eu/halloumi-cheese/the-history-of-halloumi https://www.halloumicheese.eu/halloumi-cheese/the-history-of... Wine plausibly originated in Georgia (the country) but it's so old, who can really tell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine Arguing continuity of national borders over centuries in the Balkans is a fools game anyway.
- radiator 4y agoSince you say that Cyprus is 2 countries now, you must be from Turkey.
- SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
- SideburnsOfDoom 4y agoRelated, I have been to Slovenia (Lake Bled and Triglav area) The "Blueberry Snaps" or "Borovničevec" was excellent, and it should be better known. Unfortunately I can't get it here. They also make variations with Cherries, honey, herbs, just about any fruit or flavour at hand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropinovec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropinovec It's a regional thing, as it has a bit in common with Slivovitz (plum brandy from Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Poland and multiple other countries) and Limoncello (lemon-infused liqueur from neighbouring Italy). I wouldn't just focus on Serbia alone as a unique island of good distilled spirits, that's clearly not the only thing.
- ginko 4y ago>..and Limoncello (lemon-infused liqueur from neighbouring Italy). Eh, as you mention limoncello is a liqueur while all the others you mentioned are brandies. Italy has it's own variety of brandies though. Grappa probably being the major one.
- marton78 4y agoCorrect me if I'm wrong, but judging by the name Borovničevec should be made of Juniper berries, bot blueberries.
- SideburnsOfDoom 4y agoI'm sure there's a Juniper variant too, like I said "any fruit or flavour at hand". There's definitely a popular blueberry one, google suggests that "Borovničevec" is it. However, I'm not the expert on Slovenian naming, I suggest that you try it under whatever name it goes by.
- chillstreem 4y agoNo, borovinčevec is made with blueberry (latin Vaccinium). blueberry in Croatian and Slovenian is borovnica.
- twic 4y agoThought it might be about tsipouro, Greek unaged pomace brandy. It has a lovely bright freshness that to me is much more like tequila than an aged brandy. Doesn't have the broad range of weird tastes that mezcal has, though.
- indigochill 4y agoThe Balkans have some interesting drinks I'd never heard of before but would probably be popular if they were more widely exported. In Croatia I had travarica which is apparently a type of rakija with savory herbs like rosemary or lavender (it seems the mix differs across different producers). The bottle I bought even still had the herbs in it. It instantly became my favorite hard liquor and it apparently does get exported to the states, just not where I live at the moment.
- malermeister 4y agoThe problem with exporting it is that we don't get to drink what we send abroad.
- eru 4y agoJust make more.
- rob74 4y agoNot sure why this article is drumming this up as something special, but fruit brandies (from various fruits) are popular all over Southern, Eastern and even Central Europe, under various names: Raki (apparently Rakija in Serbia) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rak%C4%B1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rak%C4%B1 ; Slivovitz (apparently Slivja in Serbia) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slivovitz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slivovitz ; Țuică https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Auic%C4%83 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Auic%C4%83 ; Pálinka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1linka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1linka ; Schnap(p)s/Obstler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnapps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnapps etc. etc. etc. Or, to quote the overarching Wikipedia article, "there are about 80 different kinds of fruit spirits in the European Union, registered with protected designations of origin from Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Spain" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_brandy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_brandy). Actually, it looks like fruit spirits are popular almost wherever fruit are grown. Further North, they have to turn to grain or potatoes...
- peoplefromibiza 4y agoEvery Country in Europe has its own boze. In the Balkans is called Rakja. It's popular in all the Balkan peninsula and in eastern Europe (Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Poland, etc. ) under different names In Italy there are similar fruit spirits (or fruit brandy) but the most popular one is Grappa, which is distilled pomace. Greece has their own, Outzo (made with grapes, which also contains anice), Raki and Tsipouro (pomace). In France the equivalent of Italian Grappa is called Marc, in Spain they have the Orujo. There are also a lot of spirits that were made in the past in Benedictine monasteries. They're all made in the same way and part of the large fruit brandy family, which is very popular across continental Europe.
- yuppiepuppie 4y agoSpain has Pacharán, Orujo, Casalla (Anís) to name a few, and many more from each individual region. Drinking is a long cultural tradition all over Europe, which is probably why you get these hyper-local variants. It makes for great conversation.
- arlort 4y ago> Every Country in Europe has its own boze I'm fairly certain that any area where a large enough community has been living for long enough has its own booze
- mejutoco 4y agoAgree, and probably cheese and cured meat/sausages.
- red-iron-pine 4y agoMeats maybe. Much of the world is lactose intolerant though. The highest concentrations of lactose-tolerant folks are in Europe.
- peoplefromibiza 4y agoYes, of course, but this article was specifically about Southern Europe and my comment was simply saying that the same kind of booze they talk about in the article, is common across all over Europe. USA doesn't have its own booze though. Vodka and Whisky are not native from the USA.
- taylorius 4y agoBulgaria has a rich culture of distilling Rakia from a variety of fruits (Rakia is a type of fruit brandy). Personally I dislike the Slivi (plum) based ones. The grape is my favourite.
- jansan 4y agoMy father-in-law left a whole килер full of self-made Rakia when he died. I cannot say that I like any kind of Rakia, but we sometimes use it as a prophylaxis against cold, because we cannot imagine that any virus can survive that stuff.
- WastingMyTime89 4y agoArticle has somewhat of a Serbian slant. Raki seems to be mostly done with grapes rather than plums in the southern part of the Balkans. I am not convinced that Rakija is the most common form. Most of it is made cheaply and not particularly enjoyable. The Rakija I had in Serbia reminded of the plum eau-de-vie my grandfather used to illegally make when I was a kid in France. It’s definitely better but it’s probably too strong to ever be massively popular.
- CoBE10 4y agoGood rakija, just like good whiskey, requires a significant investment of time to produce. Aging for 15 or more years is necessary to produce a high-quality rakija, which is why only a few distillers in Serbia are able to produce good rakija. When made at home, the quality of rakija can be inconsistent. Additionally, many home distillers face the problem of producing rakija that is excessively strong, which is not in line with its intended strength. Rakija is not supposed to be stronger than whiskey.
- acadapter 4y agoCheap rakija is traditionally used as a household cleaner, for example windows
- d--b 4y agoWhat does it mean to be "the next mezcal"?
- smcl 4y agoMezcal had a bit of a moment recently and spiked in popularity, for example it gained a few connoisseurs and cocktail bars started to work with it more. It sounds like this article suggests Rakija will experience this too, sadly I don't think it'll turn out this way.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y agoI was always disappointed that mezcal had nothing to do with mescaline...
- devoutsalsa 4y agoMezcaline could be your legacy!
- red-iron-pine 4y agoOne makes you puke sometimes, and the other makes you puke most of the time.
- devoutsalsa 4y agoI always enjoy seeing a bottle of Montelobos mezcal sitting on a shelf behind the bar in a place far from Mexico. Over the course of a month, I drank one Istanbul restaurant’s Montelobos supply. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chacha_(brandy) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chacha_(brandy)
- smcl 4y agoYou and me both, I really like it. A local cocktail place (“bar který neexistuje” - the bar which doesn’t exist) came out with a twist on the Moscow Mule a while back called the “Mezcal Mule” which are very more-ish :-) And I legit love Chacha. I drank it a lot in Georgia and brought a bunch back home with me. I particularly love how most little shops sold it homemade and distributed in reused bottles of Coca Cola etc.
- emptyfile 4y ago[dead]
- mxxc 4y agotrigger warning: serbia is referred to as "southern europe"
- eru 4y agoWell, it's south of Switzerland.
- skrebbel 4y agoI don’t understand your objection. It’s obviously well south of the middle. Even France is often lumped together with Southern Europe (esp in discussions about EU monetary policy) and it’s way further north than Serbia. Also Serbian culture shares plenty of traits with other mediterranean cultures, despite not having a coastline (anymore). I don't understand who would be triggered, frankly.