4 ms·

These 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

These 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 ago
Rakı is deceptively strong, especially the Cretan version, from which I am proud to have recovered.
- rob74 2y ago
  It'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 ago
    Traditionally, 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 ago
      All 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 ago
  Croatian (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.
- wheels 2y ago
  The Creatan stuff is raki, not rakı. Both the pronunciation (ı is 'uh') and beverage are different. Rakı is the basically the same drink as ouzo or pastis. Raki is the same as grappa.
apavlinovic 2y ago
I am a Croat and no, we dont describe them as Vodka, nor are we aware that people call them Vodka. The beverage you linked is not rakija, and it’s not even similar. Rakija is made from grapes, Vodka from potatoes. We don’t have enough potatoes to throw away
- SomeoneFromCA 2y ago
  Interestingly but central Asia it is called Arak. Same root.
  - wheels 2y ago
    It's somewhat confusing since there are a lot of things based on the Arabic / Persian word arak (arak, raki, rakı, rakija, etc.) but they're not all that closely related drinks. "Rakija" would usually be translated as "fruit brandy" (but also overlaps with grappa, and then there are Croatian varieties which throw a lot of herbs and flowers in there) whereas arak, rakı and friends are most in the category of pasties, ouzo and sambuca in their flavoring. Confusingly, the Cretan raki is grappa. The other confusing thing is that most of these words (schnapps, vodka, arak, rakija) are generic words for distillates, not indicative of a style. Vodka can be made of almost anything, but in contrast to other styles, its heavy filtering and purification (basically leaving not much but ethanol and water) is what makes it "vodka", and where I'm skeptical that the Moldovan booze meets that description.
- Tade0 2y ago
  Specifically in Polish "wódka" (vodka) historically could describe any alcohol-based fluid, be it drinks, perfume or topical medication, so I guess it's this broader term that's used here.
  - dredmorbius 2y ago
    Etymologically, "vodka" (and its various, mostly Slavic, cognates) means "little water". Similarly, whiskey means "water of life". Alchemists had aqua vitae, in Latin, with the same meaning, and the French eau-de-vie. <https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka> <https://www.etymonline.com/word/whiskey https://www.etymonline.com/word/whiskey>
alxlaz 2y ago
This is only true in those parts of Eastern Europe were "vodka" retained its (old) colloquial use from Polish. So... Poland and maybe some parts of Ukraine, Slovakia etc.. If there are parts of Moldova where these drinks would be called "vodka", I haven't been to them yet :-). The local generic term for an alcoholic drink is different, but "vodka" is specifically used only for things that say "vodka" on the label pretty much everywhere between the Tatra Mountains and the Mediterranean.
- jajko 2y ago
  Definitely not called vodka in Slovakia nor Czech republic unless its precisely that, using it in such way would show lack of pretty basic local knowledge (since alcohol use permeated much of the society). Neither has the taste nor smell any resemblance with vodka, usually much higher quality drink compared to standard vodka (ie from plums you smell and taste plums very intensively, and its 100% from just the fruit, no marketing tricks). Also usually around 50-57% alcohol content compared to 38-40% of usual vodka. Each drink has their own name based on fruit its distilled from, plums are easiest and most common to make due to generous fermenting window and high sugar content of the fruit. The tradition to make it at home is pretty strong for those who have gardens/houses with such trees, and those home products are of much higher taste quality than anything you can buy in any shop (once western world discover this I expect prices will skyrocket and move it into 'artisanal' category, how can anybody be satisfied with just good quality bland vodka is beyond me). It means given person collected fruits, let them ferment for very precise time for given fruit in vats, and then took it to local certified distillery, no blinding self-made moonshine which is a tool of desperate and very poor.
  - HideousKojima 2y ago
    >Definitely not called vodka in Slovakia nor Czech republic unless its precisely that, using it in such way would show lack of pretty basic local knowledge (since alcohol use permeated much of the society). I can confirm this. When I lived in the Czech Republic I knew a local who made his own plum schnapps. He explicitly called it slivovice (and schnapps when I asked for the English name), not vodka.
  - 2y ago
walterlw 2y ago
In most of Ukraine that would be called "samohon", which can be translated as "self-brewed" and is an umbrella term for a bunch of liquors similar to those described in the article. Vodka (or "horilka" how it's known in Ukrainian) is a specific drink that's mostly ethanol and does not include any supplements.

YVoyiatzis 2y ago

Rakı is deceptively strong, especially the Cretan version, from which I am proud to have recovered.

rob74 2y ago
It'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 ago
  Traditionally, 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 ago
    All 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 ago
Croatian (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.
wheels 2y ago
The Creatan stuff is raki, not rakı. Both the pronunciation (ı is 'uh') and beverage are different. Rakı is the basically the same drink as ouzo or pastis. Raki is the same as grappa.

apavlinovic 2y ago

I am a Croat and no, we dont describe them as Vodka, nor are we aware that people call them Vodka. The beverage you linked is not rakija, and it’s not even similar. Rakija is made from grapes, Vodka from potatoes. We don’t have enough potatoes to throw away

SomeoneFromCA 2y ago
Interestingly but central Asia it is called Arak. Same root.
- wheels 2y ago
  It's somewhat confusing since there are a lot of things based on the Arabic / Persian word arak (arak, raki, rakı, rakija, etc.) but they're not all that closely related drinks. "Rakija" would usually be translated as "fruit brandy" (but also overlaps with grappa, and then there are Croatian varieties which throw a lot of herbs and flowers in there) whereas arak, rakı and friends are most in the category of pasties, ouzo and sambuca in their flavoring. Confusingly, the Cretan raki is grappa. The other confusing thing is that most of these words (schnapps, vodka, arak, rakija) are generic words for distillates, not indicative of a style. Vodka can be made of almost anything, but in contrast to other styles, its heavy filtering and purification (basically leaving not much but ethanol and water) is what makes it "vodka", and where I'm skeptical that the Moldovan booze meets that description.
Tade0 2y ago
Specifically in Polish "wódka" (vodka) historically could describe any alcohol-based fluid, be it drinks, perfume or topical medication, so I guess it's this broader term that's used here.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  Etymologically, "vodka" (and its various, mostly Slavic, cognates) means "little water". Similarly, whiskey means "water of life". Alchemists had aqua vitae, in Latin, with the same meaning, and the French eau-de-vie. <https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka> <https://www.etymonline.com/word/whiskey https://www.etymonline.com/word/whiskey>

alxlaz 2y ago

This is only true in those parts of Eastern Europe were "vodka" retained its (old) colloquial use from Polish. So... Poland and maybe some parts of Ukraine, Slovakia etc.. If there are parts of Moldova where these drinks would be called "vodka", I haven't been to them yet :-). The local generic term for an alcoholic drink is different, but "vodka" is specifically used only for things that say "vodka" on the label pretty much everywhere between the Tatra Mountains and the Mediterranean.

jajko 2y ago
Definitely not called vodka in Slovakia nor Czech republic unless its precisely that, using it in such way would show lack of pretty basic local knowledge (since alcohol use permeated much of the society). Neither has the taste nor smell any resemblance with vodka, usually much higher quality drink compared to standard vodka (ie from plums you smell and taste plums very intensively, and its 100% from just the fruit, no marketing tricks). Also usually around 50-57% alcohol content compared to 38-40% of usual vodka. Each drink has their own name based on fruit its distilled from, plums are easiest and most common to make due to generous fermenting window and high sugar content of the fruit. The tradition to make it at home is pretty strong for those who have gardens/houses with such trees, and those home products are of much higher taste quality than anything you can buy in any shop (once western world discover this I expect prices will skyrocket and move it into 'artisanal' category, how can anybody be satisfied with just good quality bland vodka is beyond me). It means given person collected fruits, let them ferment for very precise time for given fruit in vats, and then took it to local certified distillery, no blinding self-made moonshine which is a tool of desperate and very poor.
- HideousKojima 2y ago
  >Definitely not called vodka in Slovakia nor Czech republic unless its precisely that, using it in such way would show lack of pretty basic local knowledge (since alcohol use permeated much of the society). I can confirm this. When I lived in the Czech Republic I knew a local who made his own plum schnapps. He explicitly called it slivovice (and schnapps when I asked for the English name), not vodka.
- 2y ago

walterlw 2y ago

In most of Ukraine that would be called "samohon", which can be translated as "self-brewed" and is an umbrella term for a bunch of liquors similar to those described in the article. Vodka (or "horilka" how it's known in Ukrainian) is a specific drink that's mostly ethanol and does not include any supplements.