Drinks similar to Rakia - Palenka

Palenka

Palenka actually means any kind of distillate but namely fruit distillate in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Palenka was borrowed by Hungarians (palinka) and Romanians (palinca) with the meaning remaining very similar.

It is also used as a word for all kinds of liquors, such as vodka, gin, whisky and derives from the Slavonic form "palit", to distill.

Palenka from Slovakia in the main is slivovica - plum spirit, razna - grain spirit, borovicka - Juniper spirit, hruskovica - pear spirit and jablkovica - apple spirit. There is also the ceresnovica - cherry spirit and marhulovica - apricot spirit.

Palenka is also distilled from the wine fermented forest berries, including raspberry, blueberry and cranberry. These are a more expensive from of spirit.

Finally, Drienkovica whicn is made from Cornelian cherries was made famous by a former Slovak president Rudolf Schuster.