Watered Down Rakia in Bulgarian Restaurants

A subject that causes concern to me should also concern close Bulgarian community here is the question of watered down Rakia in restaurants being served to foreigners.

As an expatriate I am seen as a complete novice on Bulgarian matters, Rakia included. In some restaurants I know for a fact that some of the commercial Rakia, namely Yambolska Rakia that is given to me is watered down. I have a few years of experience of Rakia under my belt to know the difference between a 100 ml glass of 40% Rakia and 100 ml glass of 35%. This has been served to me on more than one occasion in my hometown of Yambol.

Bulgarians are not treated the same way, as they would not get away with it. Well my immediate reaction after getting stung a few times with this was that they should not get away with it anymore as a contingency plan was in my mind for the next time round. I will bring with me my alcohol-measuring tool and if I suspect that the Rakia is watered down I will test it there and then in the restaurant. With my insight to Rakia and me appreciation of the spirit, I will not allow scrupulous Bulgarian restaurant owners prey on my disposition as an expatriate. This was my plan. However my immediate Bulgarian community here sees this as inappropriate behaviour.

When this problem was mentioned to my Bulgarian friends and family and they are of the opinion that this should not go on in restaurants. There is no third party or ombudsmen that you can go to report these happenings unfortunately. The only way that this can be avoided is to either not use that restaurant or in my opinion confront them with the evidence at the time. My Bulgarian friends and family's thoughts on the matter are different and they are in the main more than a little apprehensive as the restaurants concerned may be Mafia infiltrated. This could cause big problems ahead.

I asked the question, what if this happened to a Bulgarian in a restaurant? The answer I got back was that it wouldn't happen to a Bulgarian! Well that's an answer I totally expected from Bulgarians. Perhaps I should order my rakia then swap it with a Bulgarian in the party and see what happens next!?

Image by Boby Dimitrov via Flickr

66% Drink Rakia Without Ice

POLL RESULTS

The question asked was:

Rakia With Ice?

The Results

Never	46 (66%)
Always	8 (11%)
Sometimes	11 (15%)
Don't know	4 (5%)

Total Votes: 69

Well this was the result of the recent poll and quite clearly the verdict from 69 votes took the side of no ice with rakia. In restuarants and bars in Bulgaria ice is nearly always put alongside the rakia, This wouldn't indicate the ice not being used as I personally put the ice provided in the glass mineral water alongside; I'm sure many other rakia drinkers in these places do the same.

A new poll is now cast asking whether the EU should make tax on homemade Rakia a mandatory requirement in European Rakia making countries. Surely the EU members have to be uniform in this and all be equal. Why should duty on spirits be imposed in one European country and not another? Or should EU countries that have Rakia making as part of their tradition, culture and even religion, be excused?

Another Source Buying Bulgarian Rakia Online

The Rake Site is not a commercially orientated blog, far from it. It was designed to make a public more aware of Rakia, how it is made, where you can get it and anything else remotely associated with Rakia.

So when I find a Rakia related online shop where you can buy Rakia and find it reasonably priced I will tell people about it through The Rakia Site. If it were overpriced I would also tell people about it.

This online shop sells 5 well-known brands of Rakia and charges a few Bulgarian leva above high street shop prices, but you are paying for convenience here. the service is restericted to major Cities and Town in Bulagair but that might change over the next few years.

I will leave you to judge for yourselves whether this particular site is worth trading with.

As for me I don't buy Rakia I make it!

www.nay-mag.com We deliver your products every day from 12:00 am to 9:00 pm, excluding Sunday. You need to choose the time that is most convenient for you. You may provide directions to our delivery officers by leaving a message in the empty field (specifics of the building, who will accept the delivery). For orders below BGN 25 the price for delivery is BGN 5. For orders above BGN 25 the price calculated on the website is final. Our company holds the necessary certificates and permits to trade on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria. Fresh products require special care. Our vehicles are equipped with an independent refrigerator installation, which meets the new European requirements laid out by the EU. It helps products reach our customers as fresh and natural as possible. In this regard, the high professional level of our staff is of key importance. Currently Nay-Mag Ltd operates on the territory of Sofia, but we plan to offer this service in other cities in Bulgaria as well (Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas). RAKIA PRICE LISTS + Delivery Charges as mentioned above Special Burgas Muscat grape brandy, 0.7 l 12.96 lv Special grape brandy Burgas 63, 0.5 l 12.96 lv Grape brandy Karnobatska, 0.7 l 7.86 lv Grape brandy Slivenska perla, 0.5 l 12.42 lv Grape brandy Peshterska, 0.7 l 6.96 lv

Bulgarian Walk, Wine and Rakia Tour

If you are active and want to ry the wines and rakias and the beautiful west regions Bulgaria there is a tour of nine days on offer..... Although mainly a wine and sightseeing tour there will be plenty of opportunity to try rakia as many wine producers have rakia making facilities as part of the process.

We'll visit some of the best wine-producing regions in the country and will taste typical Bulgarian high-quality wines like the Mavrud, Melnik and Gamza brands, and will also sample some excellent brands of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Traminer and Chardonnay. There will be also a chance for walking in the mountains to admire natural scenery and beauty, as well as for visiting historical sites. And you should definitely try the original local grape and plum brandies (‘rakiya'), usually served as a starter (‘aperitif') combined with abundant salads of fresh vegetables and white cheese, another solid Bulgarian tradition. clipped from www.magictours-bg.com

It's Not Just The Bulgarians Who Love Rakia

Well Rakia is the business in France apparently having won the highest prize possible at the oenolgy competition held in there last month. This is some accolade as the French know their spirits, but this wasn’t confined to French judges, it was an international group of spirit experts that considered the award. This will be no surprise to Bulgarians, but many others will now will look at Rakia more seriously other than just being tagged as rocket fuel.

Bulgarian rakia wins the highest prize at a French oenology competition Submitted on Tuesday, 10 March 2009 Bulgarian rakia (strong alcoholic beverage) won the prized trophy of the French oenology competition Vinalies Internationales. This was announced by “Domain Boyard”, producer of the notable alcohol. The rakia Solitaire Special Selection 2008 of the company was recognized by the international jury as the best distilled drink of the entire competition. 127 experts from 32 countries participated in the fifteenth edition of the prestigious competition. They evaluated 3500 samples of wine and other alcohols from all international wine making regions. Clipped from www.bulgariagazette.com

Rakia Made in Bulgaria - Not From Scotland

Scotland and Bulgaria have many similiarities including being famed for whisky and rakia making repectively. Many Scottish people are drawn here from that as much of the landscape is quite simliar as well.

Over the last year I have seen a particlar advertisment shown extensivley on terrestrial television in Bulgaria highlighting other simliarities, the bagpipe of course. the differences between cultures are suddenly apparant when the music and dancing starts. And lets not forget that rakia is made in Bulgaria.

This particular commerical Rakia is made in Karnobat under the brands Karnobatska (kaрнобатска) retailing just under 10 Bulgarian Leva for one litre in most shops.

For now just enjoy this cleverly made clip from YouTube. It gets my feet tapping everytime and joining in with the big 'Ohwa!' shouted out in the line of Bulgarian male dancers.

Rakia - A Historic Account

I have found a good post that give a detailed account of the Rakia and its history. It brings up some new insight to the regions where the Rakia making process have been made, not only Bulgaria. Although this is a business website with products to sell, the writing is quite impressive and of great interest to anyone who want to know more about this spirit.

Thanks to posts like this Rakia is gaining an increasing worldwide following over the past few years.

Rakia is hard liquor similar to brandy and vodka, popular in the Balkans and among the South Slavic peoples. The tradition of making and drinking rakia as well as all other distilled beverages, is a lot poorer than a corresponding wine tradition. However, the two of them are certainly intertwined, since the process of distillation as we know it today was first used by South Italian monks approximately a thousand years ago. As the reader will know, it was the monks who dominated the production of wine for almost a whole millennium. Prior to Italian monks, distillation was used by alchemists in Alexandria, but their experiments did not contribute to producing alcoholic drinks, since they had a different purpose. clipped from www.klikic.hr