Egg Liquor's for Girls, Palinka for Men

Had quite an evening Tuesday night with a few colleagues. I visited Cafe Déryné (1st district, Krisztina tér 3) on the Buda side of the river. In addition to an excellent meal I had a chance to try some new varieties of Palinka. The restaurant is trendy eatery located near the tunnel and chain bridge below the castle.

I started off the evening with Torkoly Palinka, which is made with grapes as noted in an earlier post, rather than the more traditional plum and pear varieties. I also learned a lesson in Hungarian drinking etiquette when I was advised to ensure good eye contact when toasting someone. Never a good idea to annoy your hosts, especially after a few rounds of high proof fruit brandies.

After the Torkoly, and after a eating a little food, I tried the Szila Palinka, made with plums. An interesting taste, and entirely in a good way. By the end of the evening and the bottles of wine, there was no room left for dessert. Fortunately, that didn't mean I couldn't try the Barack Palinka, made with peaches. Not bad, but I think the palinka made with grapes was still my favorite.

And what about the egg liquor, you ask? Well, the restaurant provided a small glass of Toja's Likor, which is a bit like Bailey's Irish Creme and, I'm told, made with eggs. One of my Hungarian companion's dismissed the drink without even trying it, commenting that it was a drink for girls. Not wanting to offend my hosts, and being several glasses into my experiments at this point, I downed the Likor. It was creamy, and Bailey's like as expected. Not sure I would say it was a drink for girls, but not really a drink for me either.

What's Hungarian for Hangover?

I will arrive in Hungary Sunday, the first leg of a multi-country trip to Budapest, Brussels and London. I figured finding the perfect spirit in Hungary and the UK would be easy since I am already familar with Palinka from Hungary and everybody knows that the UK is associated with gin.

However, I was having a bit of trouble finding the right spirit for Belgium. The spirit that seemed most appropriate to track down in Brussels was a Belgium-style gin called genever. But what I also learned in my research was that the UK was far from having the best claim to gin.

The only thing to do then is to wait until I arrive and ask some local bartenders for their recommendation for the spirit of Belgium and the UK.

(By the way, the answer to the question about Hungarian for hangover is: másnaposságtól.)

Krupnik - Better than Cough Syrup

I was introduced to Krupnik last year at the home of a Polish farmer about an hour outside Warsaw where we sat around his dining room table pouring shots. This is no doubt the best way to be introduced to any drink. I didn't know at the time that Krupnik was a honey-flavored vodka-based liqueur, traditionally made from honey and herbs. The variety we were drinking was cherry flavored with a spicy aroma. I couldn't tell much about the drink we were having though since it was the farmers homemade stash from an unlabeled bottle. What I did know was that it was sweet with a strong taste of cherries and a sour after taste. After finishing our toasts the farmer, a former member of parliament, handed me a full bottle of the unlabeled cherry flavored krupnik. I have the bottle at home and only take it out on special occasions, sharing it sparingly with friends and family. Of course, I did pour a dram to sip as I write this to create the atmosphere and revive the memories.

There are generally two reactions among my guests to their first taste of the cherry krupnik. Either they love it or they cringe at the taste, which is a little too close to cherry flavored cough syrup for some.

According to wikipedia, krupnik is a Lithuanian name which means that it is not the sole possession of Poland, unlike Becherovka in the Czech Republic or Palinka in Hungary. Nevertheless this is a common drink in Poland and presents a more interesting picture of the country than purchasing a common bottle of vodka. Next time I travel to Poland I will definitely be trying the honey variety without the cherry flavor to taste the true spirit of Polish krupnik (unless I break down and buy a bottle in the U.S. first).

You can pick up a wide selection of krupniks at http://www4.dealtime.com/-krupnik+liquor, which range in price from $15-20.

What to buy when you get there

I like to travel... and I do it a lot. Sometimes more than is good for me, at least according to my would like. But how can I say no. I enjoy the food, the culture, the experiences and the feeling of being in some exotic locale, especially when it's for the first time.

There is nothing quite like sitting at the Long Bar of Raffles Hotel in Singapore and sipping your first true Singapore Sling. The challenge for me is always what to bring back from my adventures abroad to refresh the memory and transport the spirit back to that distant land.

Several years ago I began collecting beer, wine and, especially, spirits from my travels. Over the years I've found that there are limitations to collecting beer and wine (I will return to this in a future post) and I have now focused my attention, and my searches, on spirits.

This blog is devoted to the quest for the perfect spirit to bring back from each of your adventures abroad. What should grab if you only have space for one bottle when traveling to China or Vietnam, for example? The answers, respectively, are Wuliangye and Hanoi Vokda. Why? Well that's another thing I hope to cover in these posts.

I hope that others share a love for travel as well as the occasional shot of a strange new liquor. Whether you love the new spirit it or hate, you will never regret buying it because a bottle of spirits will provide countless stories as you imbibe with friends. It will also provide the opportunity to make some new ones.