I find unusual spirits interesting, and I want to hear about the ones you have.
Linie Aquavit. It is a Scandinavian liquor meaning “water of life”. It is a white spirit infused with botanicals, like gin. Its principal herbs are caraway or dill.
It’s incredible.
Vikre in Duluth MN makes an aquavit. I think it’s pretty good.
Ohhhh, I’ll have to seek that out.
I checked the website, and apparently they make two!
A small bottle of the delightfully named Unicum:
Really not sure where it came from, we just found it one day!
Tasted it while visiting Hungary, beloved by the locals. Not being a connoisseur, it tasted to me like the extracted essence from a ton of black pepper seeds into a single ounce of alcohol. Strongest stuff I’ve ever had. They had also a traditional drink with like 85% alcohol. Quite a culture. Lots of warm people.
It’s exclusive to Hungary. Used as a ‘digestif’ before or after a heavy meal. The formula is a closely held family secret.
They made a movie inspired by the family liquour business: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_(1999_film)
Oh God, I’ve had this. It tastes like a cedar chest smells. I can’t believe I didn’t go blind.
Hummm, this sure seems like a unique spirit:
Icelandic lichen liquor. Tastes like forest.
Is this what you are talking about?
https://www.reykjavikspirits.is/spirits/fjallagrasa-icelandic-schnapps/
Seems interesting
OMG that’s so weird, I need that.
I will see if I can get it myself, sounds very interesting
If you find it, please let me know. I looked around and struck out. It sounds so odd, is like to try it. Perhaps bring it camping to compare its flavor to a forest’s!
I live in Sweden, so our main source of alcohol is the government monopoly Systembolaget, now, I can order alcohol throughout the EU with no customs or any restrictions (as far as I know), but i have no clue where to start, however, Systembolaget are famous for being able to bring in stuff from all over the world on special order, so I’ll probably go through there, but I will keep my eyes open on other sites as I find them.
We could create a community for odd spirits, both for finding and asking about odd spirits…
TheHiddenSpirit could be a decent name…
In a good way?
This is the question. “It tastes like the forest: still, slightly sweet air, golden sunlight filtered through emerald leaves, a crystal brook babbling just out of sight” versus “It tastes like the forest. Dirt, rotting undergrowth, and animal shit”.
still, slightly sweet air, golden sunlight filtered through emerald leaves, a crystal brook babbling just out of sight
Honestly, you should write poetry.
Thank you, that’s very kind! However as you can see, half my work isn’t even worth quoting 😋
I thought you were speaking of ghosts or demons and the like 😂
Yeah I was thinking the ghost of the Windows start menu
Cacique, which is Costa Rica’s national liquor (only rare because it’s hard to import).
It’s essentially sugar cane hooch that the government decided to nationalize in an attempt to end secret production, back around the mid 1800s. Their plan worked and it became a sort of national identity. The whole history of it is pretty neat.
It doesn’t taste like anything on its own, so it’s mixed with everything and the kitchen sink.
A corn liquor. It tastes like corn? It tastes wonderful 1:2 with bourbon.
Jeppson’s malort. It tastes like grapefruit and diesel fuel. It’s passable watered down with as much Squirt as you have.
The fellas and I have a gaming weekend once a year. Someone always has Jeppson’s on hand for punishment. Last year you could earn points for drawings every few hours and drinking a FULL shot of Jeppson’s would always get you a bonus entry. The bottle never emptied after 3 days of 20+ lads, it’s that bad.
What if I have a lot of Squirt?
Then you’re in for a very passable Jeppson’s malort.
Malort! Ill have another…
I keep this as well, almost exclusivly to torment friends and family. I feel like it tastes like a used wodden clog that somehow got turned into a drink. I dont think its that bad, but I do enjoy playing up its legend.
I have that - Nixta? My sister outlaw gave it to us for Thanksgiving. It smells like caramel corn. I tried it with bourbon, Tuaca, and lemon but the corn flavor was lost in there.
Malort starts off horrible and gets worse. I’m convinced that it’s somehow undergoing chemical processes and decaying into more awful chemicals once it interacts with the inside of your mouth.
I bought it on my honeymoon and now I’ve got the absolute worst flavor I’ve ever willingly put in my mouth sense-associated with one of the best times on my life, so that’s lots of fun.
I had a bottle of Arak from Palestine, that a previous boss had imported, and then gifted to me. It’s anise flavored, clear when warm, looks like a snow globe if you refrigerate it, and turns white when poured over ice. So neat, but it tasted like anise :-P
There’s a liquor from south/southeast Asia also called arak but it’s totally different (not anise flavored, made from coconut or palm sap). Wonder if the etymologies are the same.
That sounds good, too! Interesting read, thanks!
I love that stuff! Helps that I like anise. It’s a lot like Ouzo, of course… I first ran into arak at a college bar in Lansing, MI. It’s cool how it turns milky when you add water. A similar spirit is aguardiente, the national liquor of Columbia. Arak is hard to find but I located it in a couple stores in Denver.
Man, I don’t know if it was as potent as it felt, or if it was just the anise flavor making it feel more so, but it seems like a good fit for college town bars 😄
I was so happy to hear that it’s not unusual to serve it on the rocks and/or watered down. He referred to it as some kind of “milk”… “Lion’s milk” maybe? (I maybe should have paid closer attention, but he was kind of a creeper)
I for sure wouldn’t trust some weird dude serving me “lion’s milk”, ha ha. And yeah, in Lansing they served it in a small tumbler on the rocks. It is very strong, I think the bottle I got (which was very ME style and looked awesome) was 90 proof.
I love Arak. Every country in that region has its local anise booze, and Israeli Arak is my favorite. I basically make my own by infusing vodka with anise.
That’s basically what I tasted when I drank it - anise and intense alcohol is what I remember. It smelled/felt really strong, but I couldn’t read the label at all so I have no idea what the proof actually was. At least making your own with a base like vodka you get to know that :-P
Sounds similar to absinthe
Absinthe would be closest but this is essentially the anise and then a sweet grape flavor to it. A bit less complexity in ingredients yet it still has quite a lot of depth depending on the bottle.
42 year old schnapps, made by my grandfather in the year I was born.
A bottle of North Korean soju I got while visiting the DMZ.
You guys have homes?
Home is where the heart is
Or in this case, the bar.
They tend to be pretty common
Less so, lately.
Depends on the location, but yeah, they have gone up in price…
The most unusual spirit I have in my collection is a raspberry liquer, made from distilled raspberries.
It is called RoslagsHallon and is made a few scandinavian miles borth of where I live by Nortälje Brenneri:
https://www.norrtaljebranneri.se/destillat/roslagshallon/
(Just click “JAG HAR FYLLT 20 ÅR” to get in)
It makes a fantasticly dangerous summer drink when mixed with sprite, you hardly feel the alcohol, but the taste is amazing, with a fairly standard sprite tast first, that explodes into a full raspberry taste with the aftertaste.
I seldom drink, and drink little when I do, but this is brilliant.
Sounds great!
Similar to kirchwasser, I’d guess? I love fruit brandies. At various times I’ve drank raspberry, pear, cherry and more common ones like grappa.
I have never tried Kirchwasser, so I don’t know myself, but from the description it is peobably similar
Yeah, I used to get this one. I guess it’s called Himbeergeist?
I have that as well, I have yet to try that one though, and I also have the pear one on one of my lists in Systembolaget and will order it later.
From what I read here, raspberries don’t have enough sugar to be distilled by themselves. I didn’t realize it but apparently the himbeergeist is an infusion.
The way I read it, they add water to crushed raspberries and let it ferment, they then distilled that, and later let it “ripen” for 10 years.
They only made 600 bottles, and I bought three of them…
I have an unopened bottle of Seagrams from 1946, and a bottle of Old Forester from 1953, where time + the VERY heavy glass stopper cracked the plastic seal and broke the cork. Both belonged to my better half’s grandfather
Oh shit. That stuff is probably delicious.
I once tasted some regular Cuervo gold my buddy brought to a cabin weekend. He was going to make margaritas (with HFCS mix) and I nabbed a pour to sip on. It was one of the best tequilas I’ve ever tasted. I couldn’t believe it was Cuervo, and then he told me that it was a bottle his Dad brought back from Mexico in the 80’s. Apparently that stuff was really good back in the day.
Hucked - A Huckleberry Bourbon that is as good as it sounds. It’s by Lolo Creek Distillery out of Lolo, Montana.
Milk & honey gin. Doesn’t taste like milk, but once the dregs have evaporated, there’s a lingering smell of sweetened condensed milk.
Double Double Oaked bourbon, you could only find it for sale on site at the distiller in Kentucky. It tastes like sweet charcoal.
Ooh, that sounds amazing. What distillery???
Woodford Reserve. They make a Double Oaked you can find in most liquor stores. I’d try that first, but I don’t think they taste all that similar. The double double is much oakier in flavor, but the nose is similarly pleasant.
