The good, the bad, the ugly – Booze roundup months one and two

So two months of traveling and drinking are over. I had a lot of different types of drinks. Some were good, some were bad, some were just disgusting. So here is a round up of my drinking experience so far.

The Balkans love the booze

I am from Germany, a country with a big drinking culture. But what I experienced in the Balkans and especially Serbia topped it by far. Breakfast? Rakia. Lunch? Rakia. Dinner? Two Rakia. And this stuff is kicking in your face compared to a beer. Funny enough, everybody we were drinking with told us that two shots are enough. If you drink more, you go crazy and that is not good. But everyone we were drinking with had at least four shots with us. Is it calculated going crazy or is it just the usual talk when you meet a new person and don’t want to look like an alcoholic?

The good

Homemade Rakia/Palinka/Rakije/Whatever you want to call it

Not just a particular drink but a whole type. I just love this stuff too much to pick out the best I had. If they call it palinka, rakija or whatever. The basic is the same. You grow some fruit trees in your garden. You have too many fruits in the summer. You make alcohol out of it. And the end product is amazing.

Porodicna Vinarija Antonijevic Riesling

I don’t like white wine that much. That’s at least what I thought. But after trying this Riesling, I changed my mind. I only like good white wine. And it’s out there.

The bad

Rubin Rose wine

Lesson learned. Never buy a bottle of rose wine from the local mass cognac producer. It tasted bad. And by bad, I mean bad. It was only a small bottle to drink but it felt like eternity to get the whole content down my throat. And as a surprise gift, I got an immediate headache from it!

Kayserkaya Nar Sarabi

It was a good idea but a bad result. We though the pomegranate wine would at least be as good as the Serbian blueberry wine. But it was horrible. More of an alcoholic syrup than a wine and just too chemically sweet to be good. It is not often that we don’t finish a bottle of wine, but half the bottle survived us this time.

The ugly

Zwack Unicum

Who invented that bitter piece of shit? I had a lot of drinks in my life but never such a bitter drink that started my gag reflex in record time. We actually talked to people from Switzerland and they told us it’s their favorite drink! Sorry guys, but you are disgusting.

Mastika

I guess mastika stands here representing all aniseed liquors. But it was especially bad. Why? With 50% it is stronger than your usual raki or ouzo and besides that, it has mastic in it that gives the whole shit another disgusting twist. I also had it pure without any water or ice. My own fault I guess.