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"Sergiu exuberantly offers up shot glasses of mulberry vodka, pine-needle vodka, strawberry vodka, “medicine” vodka, “78 per cent proof” vodka" Although Moldov
by userulluipeste 2y ago
"Sergiu exuberantly offers up shot glasses of mulberry vodka, pine-needle vodka, strawberry vodka, “medicine” vodka, “78 per cent proof” vodka"
Although Moldova has vodka-drinking Slavs in it, the beverages described are not vodkas. Vodka is made of cereals or potatoes, whereas these are nicer-flavored, fruit-based distilled beverages that locals call "rakiu", in English it would be schnapps:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnapps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnapps
- g1sm 2y agoI’m guessing it’s actually răchie from pine cones, not needles. Either way, now I’m curious to try it.
- asutekku 2y agoDrinks made out of pine needles are pretty common. They have a very distinct nice taste.
- ogurechny 2y agoSmall soft pine cones are also used for jams and flavored liquors.
- ciceryadam 2y agoalso try https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borovi%C4%8Dka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borovi%C4%8Dka The difference between gin and borovicka is that gin is usually a neutral tasting alcohol that gets the juniper berries macerated in them, but borovicka is vapor infused during the distilling process. One of my favourites is https://www.zufanek.cz/en/product/borovicka-juniper-spirit/ https://www.zufanek.cz/en/product/borovicka-juniper-spirit/
- thriftwy 2y agoThey will also not be considered vodka in Russia, rather 'nastoika'.
- golergka 2y agoNot exactly. Nastoikas are vodkas and other similar strong spirits infused with different aromas after distillation. You could buy a vodka bottle from the store and make a nastika at home from it. Rakia is a strong spirit which is distilled from a different base than vodka. Whereas vodka is distilled from grains, rakia is distilled from fruit. You could also do a nastoika from rakia, I suppose.
- alexey-salmin 2y agoYes, not the same, but it's very likely that "pine-needle vodka" from the article was indeed a nastoika. The rakia was only mentioned here in comments, not in the original article.
- larodi 2y agoYou can absolutely make one, and very popular is the rakia infusion with Rodiola, which is adaptogen itself.
- viraptor 2y agoThese are often described as vodkas in practice, even if they technically aren't. Applies to other eastern Europe products too. For example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%B3dka_%C5%BBo%C5%82%C4%85dkowa_Gorzka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%B3dka_%C5%BBo%C5%82%C4%85... is fruit/herb based, but is commonly known as vodka and even was labelled as such.
- YVoyiatzis 2y agoRakı is deceptively strong, especially the Cretan version, from which I am proud to have recovered.
- rob74 2y agoIt's also important to distinguish between the "Balkan" rachiu/rakija/whatever (which can be distilled from several types of fruit and isn't further processed) and the Turkish/Greek raki/ouzo (which is distilled from grape pomace, flavored with aniseed and generally drunken with water, which gives it a characteristic cloudiness - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rak%C4%B1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rak%C4%B1).
- egeozcan 2y agoTraditionally, Greek Ouzo is mized with just ice (at least that's what my Greek friends thought me), Turkish Rakı is mixed with water and ice. In some cycles though, drinking Rakı without ice/water is a party trick (it's very bitter and strong so a very unpleasant experience - not everyone can do it). Source: I'm originally from West Turkey.
- _glass 2y agoAll Izmirian's I know told me that it is okay to drink with water, but they would never do :) So I always drink pure. I quite like the taste.
- seer 2y agoCroatian (Balkan) Rakija is more like Greek Tsipouro. It is very easy to mistake though, since the names are so similar. Plenty of bulgarian tourists have been disappointed to get a totally different tasting alchohol from what they were expecting.
- 9front 2y ago"rachiu" in Romanian/Moldovan is brandy in English.
- shiroiushi 2y agoFrom the Wikipedia page for "schnapps": "Schnapps or schnaps is a type of alcoholic beverage that may take several forms, including distilled fruit brandies, ..."
- larodi 2y agoThose drinking ракия know that it’s not a brandy, although it can be made to resemble brandy or even in the image of some whiskeys but is essentially made from completely different produce, and usually also process.
- tsimionescu 2y agoMoldovan/Romanian is not written with cyrillics, "rachiu" is the proper spelling.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- kwhitefoot 2y ago78% or 78 degrees proof? They are different measures in different places. Slivovitz, for instance, is typically 70% alcohol. Proof spirit (100 proof) in the UK is 57.06% alcohol by volume, in the US and Australia it is 50%, in France Gay-Lussac defined proof degree and percent alcohol by volume to be the same. See https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-alcohol-measured-by-proof https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-alcohol-measured-by-...
- danpad 2y ago[dead]
- kvgr 2y agoSlivovitza and other fruit spirits go from 50 to 60 % usually. Depending how much you dilute it. Pure is higher, but it not nice to drink.
- xdennis 2y ago> 78% or 78 degrees proof? It's always percent ABV (alcohol by volume). As you can see in this table, typical values for rakia (rachiu in Romanian) are 40–86% ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_by_volume https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_by_volume ). Degrees proof is a term originating in English tax law where the drink catching fire was deemed 100 proof. But it's only used in the US now.
- biztos 2y agoYikes, where do they drink 70% Slivovitz? A fairly strong one is 42%, same with most other alcohols, even grappa. I’ve had 60% and it was distinctly unpleasant, felt like something you’d drink on a dare instead of for pleasure.
- mschuster91 2y ago> Yikes, where do they drink 70% Slivovitz? I'd be surprised if the stuff some of my relatives used to distill in Croatia would have less than that lol. In my experience virtually everyone from the Balkans knows someone who distills themselves or knows someone who does. In my alcohol closet there's like six distinct Slivos from all over South/Eastern Europe. Homemade, of course, and you absolutely do not want to drink more than 2cl... not because of possible methanol but because this stuff will absolutely get you wasted in no time at all.
- bgnn 2y agoRakiya is closer, no? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakia
- kvgr 2y agoIn russia everything is vodka. Sometimes this overflow to english. In europe it is kore distinguished.
- SomeoneFromCA 2y agoSince what Moldova is Russia? Am I on reddit or 4chan?
- teractiveodular 2y agoThe Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was a constituent republic of the USSR from 1945 until 1990.
- razius 2y ago[dead]
- ossobuco 2y agoSince history is a thing? Beside being part of the USSR, part of Moldova has also been in the Russian empire. Also a good portion of the population identifies as Russian.
- alxlaz 2y ago"History" might be a thing but Moldova has not been part of the USSR for more than 30 years now, and has been part of the Russian Empire for only about a hundred years (after the peace of 1812 and until shortly after the first World War). It was one of the shortest-lived imperial possessions. > Also a good portion of the population identifies as Russian. Said "good portion" is about 4%, according to the latest census [1]. Balti is the only municipality with a substantial Russian population. USSR politics means that much of the Moldavian population speaks Russian (tl;dr you had to learn it at school and were generally forced to use it in any public setting) but only a small minority of the Moldavian population "identifies" as Russian. Pre-emptive "but ackshually": 1. nothing wrong with identifying as Russian, this is a comment on population statistics 2. the census was conducted the same year that a pro-Russian administration was voted into power so yes, the statistics are perfectly representative, no one had second thoughts about saying they were Russian. 1. https://statistica.gov.md/en/population-and-housing-census-in-2014-122.html https://statistica.gov.md/en/population-and-housing-census-i... .