It was fan-freaking-tastic. But I don’t know the name of it. I was told it was mead, and it did indeed start out tasting like a mild, smooth honey wine, but then changed flavors no less than four times, with a spicy hotness in the middle and ending with a warming (but not burning) feeling that spread from my tummy outward.
I was also told it was 80 proof, which is WAY stronger than any mead I know of.
And it’s Polish. That’s all I know about it.
Any idea?
(Gawd, I love me a Viking party!) 
Once at an SF convention I sampled something I was told was, IIRC, “hrolka,” a Polish blend of mead and hard cider. Could that be it?
Which is basically this stuff.
(OP’d an hour and a half later than this thread. I guess great minds drink alike.)
Bingo! Hee-hee. Maybe **BrainGlutton **and I should go out drinkin’ together!
Thanks!
I’m intrigued. I’ve tried googling hrolka but the search turns up nothing. I don’t suppose this is the kind of thing you can pick up at any random liquor store?
Unless you’re a diehard cider fan, you’d be just as happy googling viryta, krupnik or krupnikas.
I sincerely doubt that hrolka would be made from hard cider–(a) all of the versions I’ve tried have been honey/vodka based; and (b) hard cider would be way too weak. I suppose you could hypothetically make it from apple brandy, but that’d be a waste of brandy.
I donno about the laws in your country, but my link above is to an online store, and the product is very similar to hrolka I’ve had. If you’d rather look locally, honey liqueur comes in several different incarnations. Barenjaeger seems to be pretty well known, but I haven’t tasted it in years, so I can’t say how it compares to the Polish stuff.
I’m thinking it could be “Old Krupnik,” a Polish honey liqueur I had once. I’m not sure if that was the general term or the specific brand. 'Twas pretty good but STRONG!
My family is Polish, and krupnik is the general term for the honey-infused vodka that is often drunk around Christmastime. The link Hunter Hawk gave is the most typical krupnik that’s drunk around our household. You can also pretty easily make the stuff yourself. Just google the words “krupnik” and “recipe” and you’ll find it.
It is most definitely NOT honey mead, which the Poles are also known for. All Polish mead I’ve had is 15% alcohol or under by volume and, as far as I know, mead is never distilled so it can’t have a much higher alcohol concentration than this. The Polish name for mead is “Miód pitny” or “drinking honey.”
I’ll go barenjaeger hunting when the sun comes up. Thanks, guys.