Horilka

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Dan McFeeley

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Came across this one in an old American Mead Association journal: Mix equal parts vodka and honey. Let the stuff sit for a good long time, enough for the colloidal material in the honey to settle out. Siphon off the stuff that should be sitting at the bottom of the jar. Result? A very nice honey liquor.

Funny, I've gotten good results from buckwheat honey in the past, but a more recent effort had clouds of stuff floating in odd spots, impossible to siphon. The taste was much stronger, even though the buckwheat honey was the same source I'd used before. Another example of how honey can vary from year to year.

The name "Horilka" is Polish, a name for honey liquor. I suspect the practice is more widespread than that. Other countries have used honey liquors, Drambuie, I think, is one example. Irish Mist might be another.
 
Hmm.... a question, on your recipe, and a comment, on your word usage...

first, my question: when you say "equal parts", do you mean by weight (one pint of vodka to one pound of honey) or by volume (16 oz each)? thanks!

now, my quibble on terminology:

Actually, I'd suspect that the name "horilka" isn't Polish (in fact, in Polish, it would be "gorilka"). "Horilka", on the other hand, is Ukrainian for "vodka".

I've seen recipes for a drink that contains vodka, fruits, and honey, which is cooked, called "varenukha". However, I've never seen any Slavic drink called "horilka", by which is meant a honey vodka.

On the other hand, there are currently some commercial Polish honey vodkas on the market, including Medos and Krupnik (which seems odd to me, as my Polish dictionary defines krupnik as some sort of "barley soup"... suggesting a beer-like kvas, maybe).

Merry
 
Meriadoc said:
Hmm.... a question, on your recipe, and a comment, on your word usage...

first, my question: when you say "equal parts", do you mean by weight (one pint of vodka to one pound of honey) or by volume (16 oz each)? thanks!

now, my quibble on terminology:

Actually, I'd suspect that the name "horilka" isn't Polish (in fact, in Polish, it would be "gorilka"). "Horilka", on the other hand, is Ukrainian for "vodka".

I've seen recipes for a drink that contains vodka, fruits, and honey, which is cooked, called "varenukha". However, I've never seen any Slavic drink called "horilka", by which is meant a honey vodka.

On the other hand, there are currently some commercial Polish honey vodkas on the market, including Medos and Krupnik (which seems odd to me, as my Polish dictionary defines krupnik as some sort of "barley soup"... suggesting a beer-like kvas, maybe).

I used equal measures by volume and it worked well.

Thanks for the additional info -- according to the Wikipedia, horilka is Ukranian vodka, although often made with "honey, mint or even milk." I got the original recipe from an old AMA journal, which called it horilka.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horilka
 
The Polish name for honey liquor is surel not "horilka", but "krupnik". There is a name "gorzałka", pronaunced something as [goshawka], but it an old, and now a colloquial name for vodka. Krupnik is made of honey, alcohol, water and some herbs - I can send you a recipe if you like. Krupnik is also a name for cereal soup, but krupnik-liquor is much better.