Questbg.com - A Good Rakia Article and More

There is a new website out this year called www.questbg.com. It comes from the owners of the publication 'Quest Bulgaria Property Magazine' which enjoys good circulation.

The reason this is here is that there is a good article on Rakia within the site and well worth a visit to get another overall picture of what Rakia is.

The British couple that have set up this site have a well-grounded publishing background so as expected the site is professionally presented and with polished articles throughout. By all accounts it has taken off with a storm with many interesting archives about Bulgaria, Bulgarian life and culture including lots of advice on property in Bulgaria.

To get to the Rakia Page simple click on this link the-rakia-story.

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Preslav Rakia (Brandy)

You will often find this distinctive Rakia (Brandy) on the shelves of Bulgarian supermarkets, it comes in a 750 ml bottle and is usually a full bodied 42% alcohol by volume.

Preslav Rakia is claimed to be made from the finest grapes in Bulgaria under the the control of the famous Vinex Company. This particular Preslav Rakia is made from the finest quality grapes and aged in oak barrels for a period of no less than 7 years giving it its fine character and colour.

There is additional maturation that takes place in oak barrels beyond this that are used exclusively for this prestigious Rakia. This Rakia is now being exported to the U.S.A. market where no doubt it will rise in popularity -- and not just from Expatriate Bulgarians there!

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Rakia Producers - Vinex Slavyantsi

The Vinex Slavyanatsi winery is among the most famous wine producing companies in Bulgaria. Its success is due to the combination of the old wine growing and wine producing traditions and the new modern technologies.

The Vinex Slavyansi region is located in the famous Sungurlare valley which is the most Eastern part of Bulgarian sub-Balkan wine-growing and wine-producing region.

There are many archaeological finds and monuments that indicate that both wine-growing and wine and Rakia (Brandy) -producing have been known there since ancient times. This tradition has now been carried on into modern times woith the community and the company.

Growing grapes is predominantly meant for Rakia (Brandy) and wine-producing here. Wine massifs are located on the slopes of this hilly countryside and an environmentally pure region.

The main white wine varieties include Red Misket, Muscat Otonnel, Chordonnais, Riesling and Ugni Blanc; while Cabernet, Merlot and Pamid produce the main sorts of red wines.

The use of modern technical base of large capacity. There are four well equipped wine cellars for grape-processing and winification located at different places namely, the village of Slavyantsi, the town of Sungurlare, the town of Karnobat and the village of Chernitsa.

Vintex Slavyanisi is also the owner of three up-to-date products designed to stabilize and bottle sparkling wines as well as produce and bottle vermouth, bitter, grape Rakia (Brandy) and wine Rakia (Brandy). These are located in the town of Sungurlare and the village of Lozarevo.

Annually they market over 20 million of bottles of wine and Rakia with various in house brands and labels.

Among the Company's main foreign partners are Poland, Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Holand and the USA, where the Vinex Slavyantsi production is well known and preferred.

Vinex Slavyantsi
8460 Slavyantsi,
Burgas Region,
Bulgaria
Tel: +359 5571 2500;
Fax: +359 559 2131
E-mail: Vinex@Unacs.bg

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Homemade Rakia Process Started

Well on the way to my own grape Rakia being made now as the process in in full swing.

It was a couple of weeks ago that the grapes from my farmhouse were harvested, put into big plastic bags and transported to Yambol. They were put into a big plastic barrel and trampled on bare-footed to crush them. This by the way is not traditional way that the grapes are crushed. Bulgarians normally press them through a chicken wired framed system where the stems are separated.

The fermentation has been in progress for some time now and the addition of 30 kilogram of sugar and 90 litres of spring water was suggested by my Bulgarian rakia expert neighbours, family and friends. The grapes apparently were picked a few weeks too early and the sugar content wasn't too good was the reason. The idea is to get as much alcohol content as possible out of the mixture to get more Rakia from the distilling process.

There is a town Rakia house on the other side of town, which has to be booked in soon. Right now every home is making reservations, so I'd better get in quick.

The smell of the fermenting grapes attracts many wasps and flies in the garage where it is kept, but who can blame them with all that sugar knocking about!

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Trifon Zarezan - Vinegrowers Day

February 14th, what day does that say to you? If you say Valentine's day, you are right but in Bulgaria heart are far from people's minds, it is wine rakia, vineyards and grapes that takes the day by storm.

Bulgarians celebrate the second Sunday of Febraury, with this year falling on the 14th February. It is another name day in Bulgaria but a special one as it is the name of the patron of wine, Saint Trifon or Trifon Zarezan. There are folklore rituals in vineyards in villages throughout the whole of Bulgaria.

The rituals vary across the country but basically the men go out to prune the vines leaving they're womenfolk behind to cater. They bake festive loaves and cook roast chicken then set off to join up with their men in the country.

Everyone now together, they gather in among the vines and do what all Bulgarian’s do whether a festive time or not, namely eat, drink, sing, dance and not least talk.

Tradition says that the man who had harvested the most grapes last season is duly appointed as the "Grape King" nest year. It is also tradition that he and his followers must get drunk to ensure a good harvest the following year.

Rakia of course is part and parcel of the celebrations an with the harvest much of the grape that are grown will turn out as Rakia each year, that is from the pomace that was left from the wine.

Having attended a few of these celebrations in my own village, there is a lot of wine being drunk, but also the Rakia which sneaks in round the back. After all, it is a celebration and no celebration in Bulgaria is without the company of Rakia!



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Rakiya Tradition from a Bulgarian Student

This article was from a school project completed all about "National Drink and Related Traditions" It shows another view of how Rakia is processed. It is interesting to see that they recommend double or triple distillation to get rid of toxins, this doesn't happen normally in rural Rakia making customs.

Another point of clarification was the mention of Rakia improving with age. In wooden barrels apparently as the wood, typically oak, affects, but in glass bottles or non-wooden containers it doesn't.

Rakiya

The manufacturing of typical drinks in Bulgaria has a long story and stable traditions. My country is relatively famous in Europe mostly for its alcoholic drinks, but I am going to include some of the soft drinks in my composition, too. The main raw stuff for the manufacturing of wine and the strong alcoholic drink called "Rakiya" are the grapes. Rakiya can be also made from plums, apples, pears or other similar fruits which contain a large quantity of glucose.

The production of wine and rakiya is based on the fermentation processes of glucose. The raw fruits have to be pressed and squeezed. The extracted juice is poured into big wooden casks.There it ferments for a long period of time by itself. The rest of the raw stuff which is called "Jibre" is used to make rakiya. When it ferments it is placed into metal containers with some water added. These containers are closed ones, with a spiral pipe on the top called "serpentine".

The container has to be heated till its content begins to boil. The alcohol evaporates and condenses in the serpentine. The result of this distillation is a liquid which consists of ethylic and methylic alcohol. This liquid should be distilled one or two more times in order to separate the poisonous methylic alcohol. Every distillation increases also the alcoholic concentration of rakiya. After the distillation processes rakiya is stored (as wine) in wooden casks. The longer period of time rakiya matures, the better its taste becomes.

Rakiya is an inseparable part of Bulgarians' table, especially on holidays. February 14, also called "Trifon Zarezan Day" is a holiday which is related to rakiya and wine. On this day the vines are trimmed.

By Andrew Andronov, 11V Class
91 German Language High School, Sofia, Bulgaria

Project co-opdinators:

"Pavle Tvaliashvili" ;

"Gela Azikuri"

This was taken from http://iearn.osgf.ge/drinks/rakiya1.htm

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Homemade Rakia Safer Than Factory Rakia

Home made Rakia in Bulgaria is considered to be of better quality and indeed safer than Rakia produced and made in factories. During the 1990s there were many counterfeit Rakia products for sale in Bulgarian stores. This still goes on in place even now and is not just confined to Rakia but other spirits that are counterfeit so beware.

Distilling a certain amount of Rakia purely for domestic use is tax free, but with Bulgaria joining the European Union in 2007, the government decision to raise taxes in line with the rest of Europe was put forward on all home made spirits. The result led to massive protests in late 2006 and early 2007. Local traditions and the poor performance of state institutions in Bulgaria, there is now little risk that the new taxes will actually be paid if enforced and the Government backed down.

In Bulgarian tradition, drinking Rakia (ракия) is accompanied by eating little dishes called mese (мезе), usually a salad, e.g. Shopska. Rakia also has many uses as a folk medicine.

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Kehlibar Rakia (Grape Brandy)

The Kelibar Rakia is of premium quality from the delicious grapes produced by the quite simply the largest Bulgarian winery (SIS Industries) in the town of Karnobat.

This particular Rakia is aged for 4 years in oak barrels resulting in a very smooth tasting and delicious fruit rich flavour. This makes it highly prized and appreciated as an aperitif.

The Kehlibar has a specific bouquet which is a trade mark giving a superior aroma and an extrodinary delightful taste.

It is sold as 40% alcohol by volume and is found throughout Bulgaria and comes in a very distinctive 750 ml bottle.

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'Home' Home-made Rakia

I found some instructions that were given from a Bulgarian source on how to make small amounts of home-made Rakia in the home, rather than using the Rakia houses. The English was very bad so I tidied it up a bit and the instructions now are given. This of course is illegal in many countries, so this is just given as a piece of educational information.

No doubt this does go on thoughout the Bulgaria lands without censorship as Rakia making is part of Bulgarian culture and an essential part of their community.

Although in Bulgaria Rakia is made in large quantities, this system will produce around one or two litres.

Here is some advice on how to make a rakia at home:

• Gather some fruits - plums or grapes (or other fruit which can ferment).

• Put them in a big plastic container of 10-20 litres, the type that mineral water comes in

• Put about 4-5 kg of sugar in bottle and mix it up

• Put the bottle in a warm dark place and waiting to start ferment.

• After fermenting has more or less stop it has to be distilled.

• Take a big saucepan and put a part of mixture in it.

• Cover up the saucepan, and put one end of a plastic pipe between lid and saucepan.

• Do not put the pipe in the mixture it must be above it.

• Fill the gaps left with something so the steam from mixture to goes through a pipe.

• Find another bottle and pierce it then lay pipe through the pierce section, Once again, fill the gaps with something to make it watertight and fill bottle with water.

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Too Much Rakia

This was seen recently and is a hilarious video of two chaps who have obvioulsy had too much Rakia. They don't know when to give up, mind you without the log it will be a cold night as the video was made in the very cold month of January.

The video was taken from the site http://www.youtube.com/user/mkirsch79







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Bulgaria's Rakia = American's Bourbon

This was taken from a very good website about Bulgaria called FindBGFood. It give lots of information about the food you will find in Bulgarian and of course the customs and traditions that go with it. The article on Rakia is given here.

Classic Bulgarian Drinks

Rakia

Rakia is as rooted in Bulgarian history and existence as is bourbon in American. It has aided the nation in surviving its hardest years and has helped bring many bright ideas to live. In case you haven't tried it yet, rakia is hard liquor from the brandy family. It is made from fermented grapes, plums, or virtually any fruit with sugars in it. Its alcohol content varies from 40% for the commercially sold liquor to 70-80% of pure firewater for the home-produced rakia. Some of the most popular brands of rakia are Peshterska, Slivenksa Perla, Sungurlarska, Burgas 63, Kehlibar, Karnobat. Drink it ice cold, preferably straight up (no rocks), and have a Shopska salad, lukanka or at least a few pickles standing by.

Source from www.findbgfood.com

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Homemade Bulgarian Rakia - Duty Bound Eventually

Homemade Bulgarian Rakia has always been part of Bulgarian folklore and traditions.It is chilled in the summer and drunk hot in the winter and an essential part of the way things have been and always will in Bulgaria. When something happens that disturbs the tradtional way of life in Bulgaria the Nation is stirred.

Last January 2007 Bulgaria as part of the the inclusion into the EU, the holiday spirit of the whole nation was tarred by the prospect of an increase of the excise duties on homemade Rakia. The country united and what followed was a mass of protests and debates against this. The facts state that After January 1st 2007 the excise duties on Rakia was to be increased to 2.20 levs (1 Euro = 1.95 levs) per litre up to 30 litres.

If the homemade Rakia exceeded 30 litres the excise duties would be doubled to 4.40 levs per litre. It is a fact that almost 30% of the Bulgarians think that the hike was like selling their soul for its accession to the EU. Over 30% of Bulgaria's people said that they blamed the large Rakia distillers who had lots to gain from the increase.

The main concern was that small producers of Rakia will be worst hit (a normal fact of modern western culture and Globalisation) by the changes but also that many vineyards will be forced into closing down their business. In essence only the big rich companies will remain.

A survey concluded that 50% of Bulgarians drinks Rakia, while less than 15% of the populous consume more than 30 litre in a year. And almost two thirds of the population (62.2%) produce their own Rakia.

The argument is that unlike other nations, alcohol in Bulgaria is drunk mainly as part of the rituals of informal communication. Slightly more dated figures prove that over 60% of Bulgarians consume alcohol when they are in the company of friends. However, there was a greater fear in the mind of Bulgarians. They knew that not only will they be hit hard financially on the Rakia front, but if they give up fight against this, the can of worms with be well and truely opened with duty beign imposed on other homemade products traditionally homemade such as salami.

So, with so much deep rooted concern and a National public outcry against the introduction of excise duties on Rakia is it no wonder the EU directive actually listened and the levies were not made statutory. It is however a waiting game many fear and the outcome will eventually come into force at some point in the future.

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