Kizlyarka vodka has been known in Russia since the XNUMXth century, its name is not a modified derivative of the adjective “sour”, but a direct reference to the place of production – the Dagestan city of Kizlyar. According to legend, Peter the Great himself admired the products of local winemakers.
Kizlyarka – an alcoholic drink with a strength of 40-45 degrees, made by distillation of fermented wine materials (juice, pomace, peel), less often other fruits. After 7-18 months of aging in oak barrels, a pleasant light yellow color and a slight grape aftertaste appear.
Connoisseurs note that kizlyarka is easy to drink and intoxication from it is not as heavy and “cloudy” as after the usual vodka. Sometimes kizlyarka is even referred to as women’s alcohol – not least because of the elegant bottle and the unusual sweetish taste that appears after adding sugar.
Critics consider kizlyarka to be an amateur drink, since flower bouquets are not typical for strong alcohol. Many tasters prefer calm solid alcohol, like aged brandy or whiskey, kizlyarka does not fit into their worldview.
Types
In addition to handicraft drinks of local residents, which are not supplied for sale, modern kizlyarka is produced at the Kizlyar Cognac Factory. The manufacturer claims that the raw material is natural white wine, and neither preservatives nor dyes are added to the finished product.
In addition to the classic grape variety, there are also mulberry, dogwood, apple, apricot and plum varieties. All fruit vodkas have a soft floral-vanilla aftertaste and delicate color.
Grape kizlyarka is produced in three varieties:
- Original – vodka of light straw color (due to the addition of caramel), not aged in barrels, 40% alcohol, sugar content 10 g/dm3;
- Traditional – aging for 7 months, 40% strength, sugar – 15 g / dm3;
- Aged – spends 18 months in a barrel, the fortress is 45%, the sugar content is 10 g / dm3.
The latter variety is slightly stronger than the first two and has a richer taste and aroma.
How to drink kizlyarka
Kizlyarka should be drunk chilled to a temperature of 8-10°C. It is not recommended to eat sweetish vodka with traditional “Russian” snacks like pickles and jelly with horseradish. More refined dishes are much better suited to it: nuts, dried fruits, grapes, olives, caviar. In extreme cases, cold cuts will do. Due to the addition of sugar, kizlyarka contains 260 kcal per 1000 cm³.
Kizlyarka is drunk very easily – and this is its main deceit. The fortress is not felt at all, so you can quietly “sort out”. Intoxication comes gently, if you drink correctly, without abusing, a hangover usually does not happen.
Kizlyarka can successfully replace rum or grappa in alcoholic cocktails, this product is cheaper than the original analogues (although much more expensive than ordinary vodka), and therefore it is often kept in home bars.
Kizlyarka: vodka or cognac?
Strictly speaking, kizlyarka is not vodka. It is closest to cognac alcohol – grape moonshine. A drink from Kizlyar cannot be considered a real cognac either, since it is not made from wine, but from wine materials (sometimes of rather low quality, for example, pressing) and is not subjected to any technological processes after distillation.
Kizlyarka is often compared to grappa or chacha, but the Russian drink is somewhat different from its foreign counterparts. Chacha is made from substandard wine materials – immature and heavily crushed bunches, pressing directly with twigs, leaves and ridges. Raw materials can be distilled both once and twice, resulting in grape alcohol of 80-degree strength. Chacha is not customary to dilute, most often they drink it right.
Grappa is made from the same pressings, but of a different variety – if Rkatsiteli or Isabella grapes are used for Georgian chacha, then Moscato and Prosecco are used for the Italian counterpart. Grappa is often insisted on berries and herbs, the finished drink can be diluted with fruit syrup.
History of Kizlyarka
According to one version, the deterioration in the quality of wine was the prerequisite for the emergence of a new alcoholic drink. In the Kizlyar region, scarlet Terek grapes grow, the wine from it turns out to be low-grade, it was unprofitable to store and sell it, a new solution was required.
Fruit vodka was known in Russia even earlier, before the grape specification was singled out, but it was in the XNUMXth century that the recipe was “ennobled” by French winemakers who came to Russia to exchange experience. Foreign experts themselves claimed that the drink was almost no different from the famous cognac.
However, there is a more romantic legend. According to one version, grape kizlyarka appeared by chance: someone once noticed that unused grape alcohol remaining in barrels changes color and taste. Just at that time, the foreign policy situation worsened, due to which the import of French wines to Russia was limited, the appearance of a new fragrant strong drink came in handy.
The local population immediately appreciated kizlyarka at its true worth: great taste, complete absence of a hangover and a price several times lower than foreign analogues contributed to the growth in popularity. Thus, soon half of all the grapes grown in Kizlyar went to the production of vodka, and not wine, new vodka factories appeared.
The newspapers wrote that, despite the artisanal method of production, kizlyarka quite successfully competed with French cognacs. The drink was so good that even grain alcohol was diluted with it to drown out the smell of “fusel oil”, although the law strictly forbade such falsification.