Not 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 Cen

Not 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...