Tag Archives: beverage

Fake Slivovitz behind the Low Price

If the Slivovitz is unreal cheap- most probably the alcohol is not of a fruity origin, but it was distilled from some other raw material with aroma of fruit added.

Real or Fake?

Is it possible a bottle of Slivovitz to be priced at 2.5 EUR or 3 EUR? What does the low price reveal? There are more and more cheap alcoholic beverages at Serbian market which might not be called fruit brandy (rakija) and legal producers point out that extremely low prices reveal the forgery.

– If a bottle of fruit brandy (rakija) has a retail price of 300 Serbian Dinars (2.8 EUR), unfortunately it is not so seldom, the alcohol was not distilled out of fruit, but of some other raw material. Fruity aroma is added after distillation in that case. The drink distilled that way is an alcoholic beverage, but it is not fruit brandy as it is very often written on the label-  says the owner of a family distillery that has been distilling fruit brandy for decades.

President of the National Consumers Association of Serbia Goran Papovic claims that alcoholic beverages priced at 300 Dinars should be- avoided. The Association made an analysis and turned out that huge number of the analyzed brandies that are sold in the domestic market are not of fruity origin.

Why cannot brandy be priced at 250 Serbian Dinars (2.1 EUR)? Producers say there are a lot of portions that make up a retail price.

If we deduct the price of the bottle, bolt, label, excise stamp, VAT and retail margin, it turns out that the retail price of 250 Dinars make out the producers price of 24 Dinars per litre. And it is impossible: a litre of double distilled brandy needs around 10 kilos of fruit and the fruit cannot be as cheap as 24 dinars (0.2 EUR). At least 12 times more.  Either it is fake or either the producer does not pay his obligations.

However, officials of the Ministry of Agriculture claim they monitor the market closely and that their inspectors prosecuted 633 controls of the registered producers in 2011. 2,300 controls of the traders were carried out: 164 of the wholesales, 516 of retail merchants, 994 of restaurants and cafes and 634 on the market places. 119,433 litres of alcoholic beverages were deprived as a result of the controls, 218 misdemeanor charges were submitted, as well as 23 charges for business offenses  and 26 criminal charges.

“The most common failures are incorrect labels that do not fulfill technical criteria and the usage of the illegal substances, such as sugar and aromas. All the controls are carried out by the end of the year, when the distillation is done and the brandy is stabilized”, the Ministry officials claim.

Brandy of 249.50 Dinars
Serbian Dinars EUR
VAT 18% cca 48 0.48
Margin 20% 40 0.4
Excise 104.52 1.05
Bottle 28 0.28
Label 5 0.05
Excise stamp 0.8 0.01
All the cost is 226.32 Dinars and it makes the producer price 24 Dinars

Brandying

What did you expect when you saw “Brandy-ing”?

New technology of listening Brandy Norwood? Or New Branding, some complicated marketing method? 

 

No, Brandy Norwood has nothing to do with it. Nor Brandy Melville. Not even Brandy Alexander. Nor the Brandy itself!

Which Brandy of those I mentioned?

Brandy the drink. It is a close cousin of the Brandy I am speaking about: Slivovitz.  Slivovitz from Slavic Sljiva, the Plum. Plum brandy, fruit brandy, strong and tough.

But with pleasant fruity fragrance and “shaking effect” after the first sip.

brandy buyGolden Stream Slivovitz Plum Brandy, Serbia

More and more Americans taste it and drink it. Not regularly at the parties, because still no one serves it. But occasionally, whenever they take their chance.  If it is colourless, crystal clear a lot of Americans feels suspicious about it. Mistrustful. But if it is aged in oak barrel, like the one on the picture above… Well, they know it. And drink it.

Not only the Americans of the Balkan origin, but a lot of others.

Europeans are more familiar with it: Polish, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian immigrants all over Europe are spreading the good voice of their national drink. German- Speaking nations, Austrians and Germans adjoin the Slavic nations and appreciate their national beverage. A lot of youth in Western Europe, travelling throughout Eastern Europe, tasted it. And feel nice remembering the first harsh sip.

Therefore, an invisible process of Brandy-ing is going on all over the world.

Slivovitz is Brandy-ing the world.

 

 

slivovitzPovlenka Plum Brandy Slivovitz
Queen Slivovitz Plum Brandy