Apart from sake (as some of you know), I have naturally checked other wonderful drinks, like Polish pear distillate-a bit young and crispy, several beers from round the world, and finally the only modern piołunówka that seems to be the closest to the vintage ones I am still searching for.

It is a small batch, sold only in one shop in warsaw, so no limits on quality have been set, and with other products from that company I have been always fully satisfied.

The recipe was made by Grzegorz Russak, famous for Polish nalewka revival and coming back to golden times of Polish spirits industry of the heyday. Looks like it depicts Falimierz' s recipe from 1534 with some modifications in.

The price is reasonable if obviously it twice the price of regular very good vodka. The strength is 40%, could be a bit higher, but it is their choice.

The colour-all natural, slightly yellowish with beautiful green tinge. Upon pouring piołunówka into the glass, the well-known wormwood scent is evident and very pleasant, the alcohol not.

Although piołunówka is supposed to be sugared, in the taste, at first sugar becomes too dominant and starts to prevent wormwood notes from blossoming and reigning.

Fortunately, the finish is perfectly wormwoody, floral and bitter. (I do not detect stems in the aftertaste, so probablement only flowers were used, maybe some leaves-there is little spiciness with minty aura while swallowing).

All in all, it is piołunówka, probably a bit different than J.A.Baczewski's but very close.

Anyone willing to come back to the very beginning, should give it a try-natural, reasonably priced and 100% of Polish soul hidden in every drop.

It is advisable to add very little water to help the wormwood move more to the front as sugaring can be annoying and heavy to some and is the only drawback of that versatile and exquisite nalewka in any sense.

Is this the stuff where if you stand down-wind you can smell the Chernobyl?

Yup, popular misconception.

What?

That piołunówka is made with mugwort
or that Polish wormwood glows in the dark?

Mugwort in Russian is Chernobyl, wormwood is not. That piołunówka is made with wormwood, spirit, sugar and water, nothing else.

No glowing, sorry. Polish wormwood is one of the healthiest in the world, and as you have seen at FV, it is bigger than Pontarlier's.

Bigger is not always better.

I like the word 'mugwort'; sounds like a Harry Potter surname.

It also sounds less devastating, and slightly cute, if a mugwort reactor exploded rather than a chernobyl.

Sheeeit, the
local ABC Liquours
don't have
PoleLuneWhacka.

Is that some sort of consolation?

As long as you're
gettin' morer, who
gives a xit?

True 'nuff

Mugwort is bigger, too. Recent harvest was around 2 m tall.



These are the best in their class (one of them might be vintage and no longer produced), I am searching for any since 1996.

http://video.funknetz.at/monopolowa_proj/piolunowka.htm

http://www.67wine.com/146116

Otherwise, buddy, if you want the recipe, you may make your own or let someone do it.

At the very moment I possess three recipes: from 1534, from the 80's and my own-anyone interested-please, PM.

Finished it today. Basic ingredients: water, spirit, wormwood leaves, nothing more, nothing else.

So far, I have omitted adding sugar because it seems that one will not be needing it.

Racked two batches today. Not that I am goin' CO, but several bots have been ordered by various people so I had to keep the promise. Slightly more floral profile than in the previous batch.

I thought it was
the chewy bits that
make you trip balz.

Oh, and
Gak!

Technology of Czeckerlandia is not what is pursued, ya mean yer gallon of KOS is gone and there is nuthin' left to chew on?

Yer just a dirty
filterater, you are.

Filtration is bad, fer everythin' I wood concur.

1782-J.A.Baczewski kaiserlich und königlich Distillerie is founded in Lwów (Lemberg). Its portfolio is vast and amongst others includes: Winiak ***, Konjak, Polska Żytniówka 42, Wiśniowa 40, Pomarańczowa 40, Pomarańczowa niesłodzona 40, Souverain vodka, Żytnia Perła 45, Starka Podolska 40, Kontuszówka 56, Kminkówka 30, Monopolowa 40, Piołunówka 50 or Bernardine Imperiale. Soon, it becomes the biggest and most popular producer of various spirits and liqueurs that are known in France, Great Britain or Germany or the USA. Of all the spirits offered by the company particularly preferred are Piołunówka and Wiśniowa 40. At the time, "baczewski" became the synonym of exquisite, traditional spirit.

Products of J.A.Baczewski have won medals on the following exhibitions: 1866 - Vienna, 1867 - Paris, 1868 - Havre, 1869 -Rudolfheim, Amsterdam, Wittenberg, Altona, 1872 - Moscow, London, 1873 - London, Vienna, 1878 - Paris, 1882 - Przemyśl, 1888 - Lwów, Grand-Prix in 1900 - Paris, or 1904- Vienna. In 1918, the company was using the most modern equipment, like 3 rectification apparatus of Barbet-Pompe and Saval system-330 hectoliters/day or 5 apparatus for the sole distillation of herbs. In 1925 during the Spirits Competition held in London J.A.Baczewski won all the possible awards!

Unfortunately, the distillery was bombed in 1939 by Germans and further destroyed by Soviets.

Nowadays the price for an empty bottle of Baczewski is about 50 Euro and if the bottle is full, it may be around 5000 Euro AFAIK.

J.A.Baczewski Piołunówka recipe is believed to differ from Piołunówka of the Medieval times-apart from wormwood it should contain other valuable herbs and as most of Baczewski products it is aged prior to bottling.

The license for reviving J.A.Baczewski products was acquired by Polmos Starogard Gdański in the early 70's and that company released some of these spirits using also the same bottle shape. These were available till the early 90's when the production of these was discontinued.

After many years of searching, I have finally found J.A.Baczewski, although it is not the real deal from years 1782-1939, it happens to be the no-longer produced Piołunówka from Polmos Starogard Gdański. Together with that bottle, I can get also "Krambambuli" which traditional spirit from Gdańsk (then Danzig)-one of the most expensive vodkas of the heyday which was discontinued in the early years of the 20th century as well as "Silberwasser"-the younger, less common, hence rarer, sister of the famous "Danziger Goldwasser."

Below is the original J.A.Baczewski bottle so it can compared with the more modern bottle shape of Piołunówka by Polmos Starogard Gdański. The rest of the pics show the latter. Together with my Father we presume it might be from the years 1970-1980. First of all, that bottle shape as such was not available anymore in the 90's, moreover the label is bilingual (German-Polish). As it can be clearly seen, there is "Danziger Abs" (Wormwood from Gdańsk) as well as "Jaszczurówka Piołunowa" (Jaszczurka-lizard was an emblem of Polmos Starogard Gdański (previously the company was known under the name of H.A. Winkelhausen Wytwórnia Wódek, Likierów i Koniaków, est. 1846)), together with "Gallen Likör" meaning herbal spirit. Noteworthy is the orange colour of the label, typical of the original J.A.Baczewski Piołunówka.

Moreover, the last pics show young piołunówka and the vintage one which thanks to aging has achieved very nice and natural tint.

For further information, etc, PM. I haven't opened it yet :evill:

I have finally cracked it and I must admit I am very surprised. The colour has retained some of its initial nuances if definitely the time has taken its toll.

The aroma is crisp, slightly herbal, I am at the position of saying it is 70% of spiciness, but not obtrusive and 30% of herbacousness, married well with alcohol. Actually, it is very smooth on the palate, though when swallowed gets a bit heavy and harsh. The culprit of the harshness in the finish seems to be… cinnamon shock.gif what might confirm my belief that "piołunkowy likwor" recipe of A.Piątkowski from 1808 (that calls for an abundance of ingredients) would reflect what was later known as "J.A.Baczewski Piołunówka".

The taste reveals very nice, complex balance of herbs and spices, where the most prominent are the notes of wormwood, cinnamon, cloves, some earthy and cognac-like nuances that travel from back to the front, and since it is a liqueur, caramel'y boldness from added sugar.

In comparison with piołunówka from Nalewki-i-inne and numerous other I have tried, it is very tasty, good, pleasant and wormwoody, even the sugar is not the obstacle. Now on the controversy of its bitterness-almost non-existent after so much time. Addition of some waer™ might help diminish the heaviness of the drink which still doesn't lose its complexity and exquisite style.