Cocktails with Quince rakija
Quince rakija is a fruit brandy from Southeastern Europe, distilled from fermented quince, unflavored.
ABV40%
Substitutes for Quince rakija
A dry fruit distillate, and the dryness is the point — anything sweetened turns a balanced drink cloying. Another unsweetened stone or pome fruit eau-de-vie pours in the same measure at the same dryness and changes only the fruit.
Often confused with
Other fruit rakija (plum, grape, apricot)
Rakia is the Balkan family of fruit distillates, each named for its fruit: šljivovica from plum, lozovača from grape, kajsijevača from apricot. They are interchangeable in strength and not in aroma, so the fruit line of a drink changes with the bottle.
Description
Quince is barely edible raw — hard, astringent and sour — and that is exactly why it distils well: the aromatics that the flesh hides behind its tannin come through cleanly once the tannin is left behind in the pot. What arrives in the glass is a floral, honeyed apple-pear note with none of the sweetness those words suggest, because nothing is added after distillation. It is a Balkan house spirit before it is a cocktail ingredient, and it behaves in a drink like any unsweetened fruit eau-de-vie.
