Montenegrin National Drinks:

Brandy

Scotland has whiskey, Greece has metaksa, and Montenegro has rakija (BRANDY). Montenegrin vineyards, especially the ones in Zeta valley and Crmnica area are characteristic by the exquisite grapes and even better masters for preparation of this strong alcoholic drink. The brandy is therefore made from the grapes in special boilers where with the fermentation almost during the whole day, a drop by drop, you get a drink similar to Russian vodka, but stronger and with more aromatic.

Beside the grapes, for the production of brandy in Montenegro apple, especially the small and half wild one from the north of Montenegro, plum and pear are being used. The old Montenegrins boiled it even from the figs and cornel, and the special kind is the one which is made from the fruit of juniper tree. Each of these brandies bears the name of the fruit from which it is made of, so in that way we can differ "lozovaca" or "loza" (made of grape), "sljivovica" or "sljiva" (made of plum), "krusku" (made of pear) etc.

The most quality brandy, Prvijenac is obtained by the first boiling in the production and beside the fact that it is extremely aromatic it is the strongest brandy according to the so called grades (degrees). Prvijenac or the first flow of the grape brandy is by far of best quality when we are talking about any kind of the brandy. In some areas the brandy is re - baked with which its aroma, taste, and look are changed and with that we are obtaining "prepecenica" (over baked brandy).

The brandy is served as an aperitif and it goes well with "meze", the famous salty snack. With brandy sometimes slices of some fruit are being served. There almost doesn’t exist a welcoming and a feast in Montenegro which goes without a brandy and a toast which accompanies it. The technique of production of this beverage is known to almost all households in Montenegro, and for every head of the house his brandy is his pride, and something that you must praise no matter the personal taste.

Today the leading regional producer of top notch wines and brandies Agrokombinat "13 jul" and the enterprise Plantaze offer a wide palette of drinks: Kruna, Prvijenac, and Lozova rakija (GRAPE BRANDY) each of them with a specific taste are dominant on the market and if you wish to take a part of Montenegro with you a quality brandy such as Prvijenac in a stylish package will be the right choice.