https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1linka https://welovebudapest.com/en/2015/02/20/19-signs-you-learne...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakia
The "belts" seems like made up thing, bending the actual facts to fit someone's story.
This is a really good example of bending actual facts to fit someone's story.
Not really. "Fruit brandy" that people traditionally make and drink in this region is made directly from fruit, without the vine step. There is a brand of it that's made from vine called "vinjak", but that's not the traditional drink everyone is drinking here.
You can also make rakia directly from grapes. That's called "loza" and it hasn't got anything to do with vine.
Really there should probably be a fourth belt covering SE Europe, but as these are only used for informal discussion it doesn't really matter.
Someone else also mentioned the 'fruit-based' vs 'potato based' classification and that's all quite valid, but all it does is show that there should be a fourth category of fruit-based hard liquor on that map.
Or poor Romanians drink very cheap spirits produced by the Prodvinalco company, whose ingredient labels are always good for a laugh.
For example, on a bottle showing a pirate that might lead consumers to expect real rum, one finds in small print "Beverage made from alcohol of agricultural origin with rum flavouring". That is, it’s pure grain alcohol with presumably just an eyedropper’s worth of some kind of rum essence.
At least Romania has more honest labeling.
Their biggest seller though, Original Spiced Gold is according to themselves "a blend of rum and other spirits".
"Other spirits" is an industry euphemism for Grain Neutral Spirits, i.e. industrial alcohol produced using the cheapest base and distilled to 95%, which is something you then buy in bulk. Take a look at these guys, for example: https://ultrapure-usa.com/grain-neutral-spirits-options-sign...
Or take a look at this page: https://ultrapure-usa.com/services-2/spirits-brand-owners/ Want to launch a Gin company? Rum? Whisky? They're experts at white-labeling!
Yes, you have to read between the lines to understand how this works, because none of the large alcohol brands wants consumers to know how their products are actually made, it's all obscured by deceptive labeling.
Also, at the end of the day, ethanol is ethanol. The difference between Captain Morgan's Original Spiced Gold and actual Jamaican rum is like the difference between synthetic diamonds and real diamonds. Yes, both are 100% carbon in a diamond lattice with the exact same refraction index and hardness and properties. They sparkle the same, they look the same, only experts can tell the difference, but a lot of people still care about the difference.
If it’s for mixing with soda or Red Bull with lots of sugar sure the difference might not be noticeable (especially for grain based spirits). But if you drink for example a brandy like Cognac (which is distilled wine) you’ll have a hard time recreating it with artificial flavors.
There is already "cognac flavoring" that can be added to the cheap spirits that I mentioned in my post above. (It is also used for candies.) Few will notice the difference between low-end cognac and the imitation cognac.
You are either wrong about this, or you were served something very unusual. Brandy in Romania is overwhelmingly produced solely from fruit, with no role for wine at all. I have witnessed the production process myself while staying in the countryside.
I saw the fruit orchard and the vineyard.
However, you're missing the point as it relates to this discussion. Fruit brandy made from fruit is like wine, not vodka.
If you want to fight to the death that my girlfriend's parents and great-grandparents are atypical, that's totally fine.
I don't know where your girlfriend's father is from, I'm guessing from behind the iron curtain somewhere based on the comment about the Communists. I'm sure he made good brandy from moscato. However rakija is not made from wine nor does it have anything to do with it culturally from a consumption standpoint.
Agreed. As a Norwegian, I can attest Norway is known for its appreciation of fine spirits like scotch and cognac.
That said, we’re clearly a beer-country. We make beer, we drink beer, we go out for a beer, and when people come over, we ask if they want a beer.
Vodka is only drunk by a smaller niche or Eastern European immigrants.
How we could ever be a “vodka nation” beats me. This looks like fiction.
Edit: I guess the illegal “moonshine” culture in the northern parts of the country could account for “vodkaism”, but that’s not really a striving culture these days, and definitely not mainstream.
And they've lumped by country borders, too. Could people grow hops in very southern Norway, perhaps?
The second map where Norway prefer Beer as of 2012 is probably true. I am not quite sure why there are two maps.
Though I agree moonshine was quite prevalent when I was young. Gallons of some dodgy near methanol drink bought of some Russian trawler...
My Norwegian family does seem to drink a lot of Cognac and occasionally some Aquavit.
I would say Norwegian drinking habits are not like other beer countries where they may have 1 or 2 pints a few times a week. It seemed in Norway more like once a month 8 pints or nothing for most... Though they are more cosmopolitan these days.
The other famous trio are the olive oil/butter/lard belts, which again were fairly clear lines in the west (although obviously things have changed now). Data-points on what fat your grandmother used, in south-eastern europe, anyone?
>However, the general definition tends to include the following states as significant producers and consumers of vodka
Hungary doesn't fit that definition, and brandy favoring states would be considered part of the wine belt.
I think such broad generalizations over vast geographical regions are often a bit tainted.
Interesting that alcohol consumption is down ten litres from 2014 to 2016, but that might be because the economy isnt doing too well ; starting with the war in Ukraine.
Hungarians invented the wine/soda combination known as
fröccs and if you feel qualified to name all the various
wine-to-water ratios, then you probably got your degree
in alcohol at a Hungarian pub.
The purpose of adding soda is to make it more refreshing in the Summer and allows to drink more without flipping over.
About the ratios: https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%B6ccs is a good list. bor = wine, szódavíz = carbonated water.
Not as in wine good, but on a warn day, soda and cheap wine taste fine. Same as for these moment (when I was young and piss poor), we'd buy "cooking wine" (cheapest shit on the shelf) and mix that one on one with cola. No matter how bad the wine, you can drink it easily and still get the added "benefit" of the alcohol.