Rakia Making Day Arrives in Bulgaria

Every year during the end of October to December the air around Bulgaria is filled with the distinctive smell of rakia. I don't need reminding as I've been waiting patiently for this time of year as I'm part of the enormous Bulgarian gangs of rakia makers responsible for this.

In case you didn't know rakia is a spirit normally of around 43-45% distilled from fermented grapes this time of year. Earlier in the year, rakia is made from other fruits that ripened in late Spring to early Autumn such as cherries, plums, apples, pears, etc.

Rakia made in previous years

The grape version is by far the most popular with the majority of rakia made from this product as it doesn't need too much added sugar to top up the alcohol content on the initial fermentation. It also provided an avenue for grapes that are not fit for wine, no grapes are wasted in Bulgaria.

This year I had to buy my grapes, I had a good source in a local village which supplied me with around 80 kg of mature grapes at a good price. These were put in two big 120 litre barrels, crushed then mixed with 15 kg of sugar diluted with water. this was to get more alcohol content in the final must before distilling.

The barrels were stored in my garage and visited every day for the next 6 weeks to be stirred until fermented out. It actually took 7- 8 weeks for the gravity level on my hydrometer to read no more sugar was left in the must. This now was ready for taking to the village rakia house. There are around 6000 of these in Bulgaria, but being Bulgaria only around 1500-2000 are registered which is a legal requirement now. I booked one up in the village of Kukorevo some 5 kilometers from Yambol. I've been to various other rakia houses but this one was by far the cleanest, most well organised and of course legally registered. They provide transport for the barrels which were an issue for me with such a small car. The service they offer also included making the rakia so you didn't have to be there while the process was being done. This was something I didn't want as one of the reasons I make rakia was being part of the process and a product that is made from my own hands. Without this it was being close to just buying a product, so I just chose the transportation option.

Moving the barrels in pouring rain

Along with the two barrels of grape must, fuel was needed, namely wood for the stove that heats the boiler (kazan). This was kindly given to me as a present from one of Galia's family. It was made up of lots of laminated MDF board offcuts from a renovated apartment. Nothing is wasted in Bulgaria and gratefully received. Added to the must was some old rakia that was leftover from a batch made in 2009. This was the last of the distilled must which read less than 40 percent proof and not good enough for drinking so it is saved for the next round of distilling albeit 8 years later. This was alongside old wine and leftover rakia and liquor from parties form a bygone age. Basically, anything that contained alcohol was mixed with the must, nothing wasted, all recycled. this is another reason I fell in love with the culture here. In addition to this was 1 kilogram of salt, 150 grams of bicarbonate of soda and the optional 100 grams of coriander seeds. These are to be added to the must just prior to heating up in the kazan.

The reservation was made for 7:00 on 28th November and the excited anticipation of that day was very much still there as it was on my first time back in 2006. It was agreed that the barrels and wood would be picked up the day before and be ready for the early morning process.

The kazan house van duly turned up at the garage at 7:30 pm in the pouring rain as we hauled the barrel up into the van leaving me with a wrenched wrist form the efforts(another story). The wood alongside and now in the hands of a Rakia Maestro and on their merry way to the village of Kukoreva to be greeted again early next morning. And in the midst of an injured wrist in the cold night and now soaked through from the rain, the excitement of the occasion to come builds further and overcame any pain and discomfort.

I rose the next morning before the alarm set for 05:00, the day had arrived and I was more than ready for it, despite not being able to use my left hand. Breakfast and bathroom served and I was off. Driving no problem, all the controls are on the right as had mustered the thoughts of managing the day single-handedly so to speak.

Arrived at he rakia house though the now mud laden road with my car that had been cleaned to perfection yesterday morning dead on 07:00, oh that's so English! It is funny how you can't avoid the disciplines of time that had been even more exaggerated by working in the bus industry in London for 6 years!

The kazan being fuelled up

My barrels waiting for a clean kazan

As I entered the house, my barrels were by the kazan which was being cleaned by one of the workers there. The wood was outside so I gathered them up and transferred them into the purposely placed plastic basket in readiness. These kazan had temperature gauges for the must in the kazan and the steam that exits the kazan. This was something I hadn't had before when processing. Also, there was a design on the final exit of the rakia that cools the finished product off by means of extra traveling through a little maze of copper routes. Prior to this have to use jam jars on the final exit so to cool the rakia that frequently comes out hot. Also on this system, after the condensing was a place for the alcohol to be measured, a great design saving having to extract rakia in a jar away from the kazan to be measure as I did on many other occasions. Somehow though, it felt like I this was cheating and the chore of constantly checking of the level of alcohol by taking samples was all part of the hands-on tradition of rakia making. Getting more practically and physically involved rather than passively just watching just adds to the occasion and fulfillment of achievement. Guess most would say just why add to your workload when there is no need to? I can answer that but is would probably turn into a chapter of deep personal historical psychology.

The distilling has started

So, back to the kazan that is now filled with the fermented grape must plus salt, bicarbonate of soda and coriander, then the lid sealed. Again this lid sealing is different from my past experiences. It used to be seal with the rims cemented with flour which seals once heated. Again, this screwed lid is more secure and practical than the old method, but do miss the old fashion process with the flour. Harder work and not foolproof? Yes, but it was at one time the only way and part of the rakia making process culture.

Because I was the first there it meant that the stoves were cold and it took a good hour or so for the temperature to rise to 100 degrees and the steam to travel to be condensed. this takes up a lot of wood. More than I had anticipated and had to use up local wood with an extra 2 leva levy for this. I was asked if buying the wood at this price was a problem. My reply was yes, no wood was a bigger problem.

End of the journey for the Rakia

The first trickle of rakia journeyed into the bucket after 90 minutes. I measured the alcohol from that first batch to be 80% proof. quite happy with that. But then didn't expect anything less as I knew the grape fermentation was made effectively. Throughout the process, the alcohol level was monitored not just with my rakia but four other parties who had it going at the same time. The conversation was solely based on rakia and many tips and tricks in the process. Funny how you can spend hours talking about one subject. There was a big screen TV in the house but that basically got ignored in the main as the focus was on rakia production. Another big plus in my books that!

After another three hours, the alcohol level fell to 40% proof and that was the end of the promised 23 litres of drinkable rakia at just under 70% proof. The distilling continued for another 5 litres weaker rakia put in another container in readiness for recycling in the next visit.

All done, barrels washed out one-handed and put in my car, they just fit horizontally. Then last but not least the results achieved by midday. There was a very happy man driving back in the rain to Yambol stinking of alcohol, must have got a little high by the time I landed home!

Galia who was kept updated on progress greeted me at the front door with the rakia to hand saying we will have a great Christmas and New Year now this is in stock. And of course, it compliments all the other products we have preserved over the last few months to see us through winter. It felt like winter was no just around the corner and were well prepared.

Apples in tights

Apples in tights in rakia

One indoors the rakia was put into a big plastic container and submerged pair of tights stuffed with bitter apples peeled and sliced. I was going to add some mulberry wood to give it a dark colour, but then I've been doing this in the past and wanted something a bit different this time so omitted it this time. I should get a slight colouring as well as a subtle flavouring from the apples anyway. It has to be left open without the lid for two to mature. Then it can be diluted to the required strength for drinking although a longer maturing time would give it time to develop its character. Many store it in wooden casks made especially for maturing rakia, but I don't have that facility much I'd like to.

What did it cost I hear you ask? Besides the fact that it will be ten times better than anything you can buy in the supermarket along with the pride factor which you can't buy. Well, total expenses amount to around 130 leva. This includes everything including my own petrol costs. Once the rakia has been diluted to bring it down to around 43% proof I should end up with around 32 litres of rakia. this equates to just over 4 Lev per litre. Yes, 4 Bulgarian Lev! You can see why millions of Bulgarian do this and have their own kazan built on their property. With homegrown grapes and their own kazan the cost would be next to nothing!

So. another rakia making day drew to an end and Im still buzzing with that day every time I monitor the results and my wrist, well I've suffered for my rakia and that makes it even more memorable and special somehow. Ask the local hospital and they will bear witness to this, (like I said earlier, another story).

Having made rakia on many occasions this was a process I knew about and with this knowledge and experience, I have been running a blog over the years dedicated to Rakia. If you are more curious about rakia please visit my site:The Rakia Site

Keeping Fit in Bulgaria

It has been said that moving to Bulgaria and having loads of free time due to retirement can lead to becoming an alcoholic.  Many expatriates could quite easily fall into that trap with the cheap alcohol widely available here and lots of free time.

CYCLING

So, what can you do day to day to keep yourself occupied being without funds from my small teachers' pension to splash out on regular travelling and holidaying. This is a problem I foresaw prior to settling down here and made provisions for this which are now being practiced. I do not have a farm to manage this time round so spare time is plentiful.

FISHING

Also, how do I to ensure I will still alive to get my UK State Pension in 7 years? (You say that I look after my health out of spite not allowing the UK to reward me with the National Insurance I  have paid into my pension working for over 33 years there.)

My answer involves Jogging, cycling, walking, and to keep mentally healthy fishing and practice the piano, (after laying this dormant of over 20 years.) In addition to this writing, which will increase as the days get shorter. In the winter months which are fast approaching, there is a local Gym where I will work out if the weather prevents outdoor pursuits. I have already done the research on this on times and costs the latter nominal.

So all is now in place. The problem is keeping fit is like a drug; if I miss a day or two I get quite agitated with my mind filled full of regret by not plunging into it. Nice to have a routine to follow and set goals on each activity seeing progress. My heartrate has now fallen to less than 50 beats per minute resting which gives peace of mind on my health as a result.

Fat and Football - Experts? Get Stuffed!

It is a home with everyone in holiday mood with some family here. The women go their way into the kitchen watching Bulgarian TV and the men go their way into the evening room to watch live football. Everything had been prepared for the match; well actually it was one of the best combinations to make an evening a very special one. Why am I going to mention food again? You have to in this country as once again the simplest of foods made the evening memorable and I felt compelled to write about it.

Whist we were cheering teams on , groaning at referring decisions and debating the finer points of the offside rule we were tucking into probably the worse food on earth as far as nutritionists and food health experts consider, but 99% of food gurus who know what is best of you have probably never been to Bulgarian and tried any of the food there. Sometimes, in fact most times here, the food is eaten from the point of taste and not considered whether it would give you a couple of extra poor quality years tagged on to the end of your life. I'd rather die slightly younger and enjoy it rather than spending wasteful years stressing out looking for eternal youth and listening to 'experts' who say what you can and can't eat. (Most of this is commercially geared anyway!) Besides, what is the average life expectancy of food gurus anyway? I digress.

This evening the food was prepared well in advance, 2 Kilos of juicy pig ears hade been boiling in a pot on a bottle gas stove outside all afternoon and then were dried off and barbecued just before the match started. Then there was the drink, consisting of home made grape rakia Yambol red wine and dark beer from our largest neighbouring town, Stara Zagora.

The evening started up as the pieces of barbecued pig's ears that had been cut up into morsels that fitting perfectly into bite sizes. Each piece was to be individually and generously salted, then ready for the mouths of the community of football fans to enjoyed as the whistle not just for the kicking off the match but kicking off with the food an drink. The Rakia, wine and beer freely flowed washing down the food that just complimented the football evening so well.

If you look at what we were actually eating it doesn't paint a good picture at all, pure fat and lots of salt accompanied by alcohol, but by golly, it was something very special this particular evening. Why not indulge in something that you enjoy? Most people here do.

Brilliant evening, brilliant food, brilliant drink the only thing that spoilt it was refereeing decisions. My God, how people are called 'experts' in their field, but really just don't have a clue, not just referees either.

The First Taste of Rakia 2008

It was a special occasion today as I returned to Yambol town, I had just left my Scottish guests on their own at the farmhouse, they had rented it out before so they knew what to expect and the Bulgarian systems in place. But it was not for that reason, but for a very different reason that today was special. The time was nigh to test this season’s Rakia that had been made a month ago.

The Rakia had been sitting in the outhouse for a month now and now all the toxins had been rid of a pale colour that had transformed the Rakia from a crystal clear liquid into liquid gold!

As a jam jar was filled to bring it into the house kitchen, it looked very impressive as it sat on the sideboard. The next step was to check its’ specific gravity for the alcohol content. I had brought the alcoholometer back with me from Skalitsa and was ready to test it.

As the measuring tool settled it was clear that the Rakia was far to strong for everyday drinking, it read 50% proof. The next step was to bring it down to around 42% – 43%. To achieve this mineral water had to be added. It didn’t take too much water to get down and after a little stir, it was re-measured at 43%. Mission accomplished and now the actual tasting comes into the act.

There was already a beautiful cabbage salad and Ayran (buttermilk) waiting on the table, Baba had seen to that knowing that this was needed with the drink. And so it was poured into the small Rakia glasses. The first to try it was Galia, just a sip – it got a shake of the head, which meant yes in Bulgarian body language. That was a relief, but then she doesn’t really like Rakia and never likes to upset me, so there was no evidence to suggest the Rakia was good from this initial critic. Baba had previously been banned from drinking Rakia from her Grandson, who is a doctor, She is allowed rub  it in on her body, but it is not to be taken internally was the instruction. We had saved a little jar of some 70% proof Rakia on the day of distilling to do just that, but not this evening.

And so it came to pass that the maker of the Rakia has now to taste his own product, the little swirl in the glass then a big nose and to scent, the alcohol vapours were very strong from this potent little number. Finally, the sip with a little pause in the mouth before and letting it trickle down the back of my throat and in the basement of my stomach. It had a cutting edge all the way from the tonsils to the stomach, a piercing heat that never gave up as it left a smoking trail all the way down. This was damped with some Ayran and a mouthful of cabbage that followed the imprints left by the Rakia on the lining of my internal organs.

The verdict was clear, not the smoothest Rakia I’ve made, perhaps a little longer in the barrel with the hanging secret ingredients and the mulberry wood to mature a little longer should make it smoother by Christmas. We certainly won’t be short of firewater this winter. Because that’s what it is right now, even with the lower alcohol content.