# Most Obscure Distilled Liquors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309 "2012-09-10T17:49:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309/41 "2012-09-13T13:30:26Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The clear ones are _anís_ in Spain; it can be sweet or dry. Blueberry anise (made by macerating blueberries in anise) is called _pacharán_ or _patxaran_, the Basque name for blueberries: until c. 1990 it was very difficult to find outside Euskal Herria but now it can be found abroad (as it often seems to happen, the brand that’s easiest to find outside EH doesn’t have a very good reputation locally). I thought pacharán was made from blackthorn? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309/42 "2012-09-13T13:58:13Z")
> [@auRa](#): > > I thought pacharán was made from blackthorn? I had to look up “blackthorn” and apparently that’s the same thing as “sloe.” It looks like patxaran is similar to sloe gin, except with an anisette base instead of gin. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309/43 "2012-09-13T14:16:38Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > I once got nearly legless (really, that stuff creeps up on you) with the Chargé d’affaires of Bosnia and Herzegovina on pear brandy from his home-town. > > That was an intersting way to start a work day. 🙂 😃 There is a special term for being drunk from moonshine pear brandy - drunk like a carpet. It comes from the fact that if you lay a drunk over a fence like you would lay a wet carpet to dry, you can go about your day and come back, he will still be there folded over a fence. I was actually telling this joke the other night with some friends who brought pear brandy from back home. Another rare one is rakia made from peach. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309/44 "2012-09-13T14:56:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > _Körtepálinka\*\*törkölypálinka_ is grape stems (essentially, grappa), etc. I should correct this. It’s “grape pomace,” the stuff leftover from wine making, which includes stems, seeds, and skin. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309/45 "2012-09-13T16:16:20Z")
> [@auRa](#): > > I thought pacharán was made from blackthorn? Sorry, I hadn’t encountered the term “blackthorn” before, and I can’t tell the difference between them and blueberries from google images. In reality it’s made from _endrinas_ or _pacharanes_… what you furriners call those, I dunnow. And _patxaran_ isn’t made from anisette, at least not from what’s called _anisete_ in Spain. _Anisete_ is sweeter than _anís dulce_ (sweet anise) and is viewed as a “girly drink”; people using sweet anise rather than dry already get ribbed for it… someone using _anisete_ might be required to hand in his man card right there. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309/46 "2012-09-13T17:09:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I had to look up “blackthorn” and apparently that’s the same thing as “sloe.” It looks like patxaran is similar to sloe gin, except with an anisette base instead of gin. Yeah, I was going to come back and edit myself since I found out that “blackthorn” is the plant and “sloe” is the berry, but 5 minutes had gone by and then I got distracted by something shiny… Wikipedia says “Patxaran is made by soaking sloe berries, collected from the blackthorn shrub, along with a few coffee beans and a vanilla pod in anisette.” Maybe there are different methods too? And **ralph124c** , there are three or four different types of cranberry liquor on sale in the Alkos here, for example [this](http://www.drinkkiklubi.com/tuotekuva/657/). Don’t know how “wild” the ingredients are, but cranberries nonetheless. It’s pretty easy to make at home as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309/47 "2012-09-13T17:52:40Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, and kefir is slightly alcoholic, too, (around 1% I believe.) That said, it does appear that kumis is drunk for its intoxicating properties, at least according to that Wikipedia article. I shudder to think how much of it I would need to drink to get a buzz. I’d rather try to get a buzz from O’Doul’s - and since it’s got 0.5% alcohol by volume, that’s probably more-or-less as practical. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309/48 "2012-09-13T19:01:22Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Sorry, I hadn’t encountered the term “blackthorn” before, and I can’t tell the difference between them and blueberries from google images. In reality it’s made from _endrinas_ or _pacharanes_… what you furriners call those, I dunnow. > > And _patxaran_ isn’t made from anisette, at least not from what’s called _anisete_ in Spain. _Anisete_ is sweeter than _anís dulce_ (sweet anise) and is viewed as a “girly drink”; people using sweet anise rather than dry already get ribbed for it… someone using _anisete_ might be required to hand in his man card right there. Fun tip: look up the word in Wikipedia in one language. Use the language links on the left and hopefully if will relocate you to the other language. It tells me that “endrinas” is the fruit of Prunus spinosa, or sloe/blackthorn. Can’t find a synonym for “pacharanes” except that the liquor is Patxaran in English, from the Basque. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309/49 "2012-09-13T23:04:02Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > S > And _patxaran_ isn’t made from anisette, at least not from what’s called _anisete_ in Spain. That was a slip on my part. I thought “anisette” referred to any anise-based liqueur, but apparently it’s specifically a sweetened type of anise drink. My mistake. Blueberries and sloe are completely different fruits (not even in the same order), but they do look similar. Sloe is quite a sour and mouth-puckering dry fruit. Blueberries are sweet and delicious to eat out of hand. The closest thing you have to blueberries in Europe, as far as I know, are bilberries, which appears to be “arándano” in Spanish. My Spanish dictionary translates “blueberry” the same. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309/50 "2012-09-14T02:44:58Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Are you sure that’s distilled? 10% ABV seems rather low for a distilled product, unless it’s aggressively cut with water or something else non-alcoholic. The [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhaang) article suggests that it’s brewed and not distilled. It looks like _raksi_ is the distilled drink of Tibet, if that article is to be believed. Raksi looks to be about 40-50 proof, from what info I could find. Ya, well, Chang isn’t distilled. I spent a fascinating afternoon watching villagers distill Chang into something stronger. Raksi doesn’t seem to be the Tibetan word for it, but I would have to find my journal from 25 years ago to tell you what the local villagers called it. It was from barley. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-distilled-liquors/634309.md?page=2)