History of Polish tinctures
Polish traditions - Meads, Cordials, Vodka, Beer
Meads – “Czwórniak, Trójniak, Dwójniak and Półtorak”
Hundreds of years ago, mead was one of the main alcoholic beverages in Poland. Production of this drink is distinguished by tradition of over a thousand years and a huge variety; as a result of development and perfecting the method of production over the centuries, many of its types have been shaped. As a popular drink in Poland, the mentioned drink is in sources from the Middle Ages – the first notes of meads come from the year 966. In the country of the Piast dynasty, there was no wine, that is why they were replaced by more easily available tinctures: beer and mead. Satiated honey enjoyed great prestige, but it was rarely drunk, most often at important celebrations such as weddings. It was a luxurious and expensive alcohol. Various juices were added to mead, improving its taste, as well as herbs and spices. Lipiec was especially valued, that is mead made from pure lime honey.
Meads are natural products, obtained without stabilisers, preservatives, artificial flavours and aromas. The quality of honey influences their quality and properties, and it exists in uncounted forms. Other factors influencing the quality of the tincture are: quality of water, length of brewing the honey fermentation broth, amount and moment of adding potential spices, hops or fruit juice. The specific character of old Polish meads results from applying and keeping to strictly established water and honey proportions in the honey fermentation broth. The most noble – Półtorak contains 1 unit of honey and 0.5 a unit of water in the ready product. According to the traditional old Polish recipe, the character of the product requires to strictly observe the period of treatment and maturation. In the case of the old Polish Półtorak, this means at least 18 months.
Cordials – Polish speciality
Although the first cordial was apparently a work of art of the father of medicine, Hippocrates, and many nations can take pride in the excellent distillates on the basis of herbs and fruits, the cordial was and shall remain a typical Polish specialty. In the old times of the Republic, during which poorer people drank pure vodka, in Poland known as “okowita” [lat. aqua vitae, meaning “water of life”], in richer homes, cordials were made. Already since the times of Henry Walezy, on Polish lands in noble manors, excellent cordials were made from fruit and pure alcohol, which were treated in dark cellars, until full maturity was achieved. In one cellar of a Sarmatian nobleman, one could find demijohns and bottles of walnut, apricot, cherry, wormwood, ratafee, Cornus alba, Rowan, plum cordial or the well-known Krupnik.
In the past, Poles regarded native cordials with great charisma. They kept their recipes top secret, and sometimes they even passed them onto their descendents in their testament. Every town home, noble or magnate had its own well-kept recipes for the best cordial. Numerous recipes for herbal tinctures on honey or honey strips were also kept, with the addition of herbs and fresh or dried fruit. These cordials had from 30% to 75% of pure alcohol. The time from pouring okowita onto the fruits and corking the barrel from the first mix varied between three months and three years. The fruits were often hung over the spirit. Barrels were kept in cellars, set in the sun or buried in the ground. In later times, cordials were placed in glass demijohns. The approach to cordials was similar to the French to their brandies or Scotch to whisky. They were mixed according to recipes known only to those in the know. After pouring the cordials into bottles, the first tasting would take place half a year later. In this way, delicious tinctures would be made, which pleasure of drinking was not smaller than indulging in excellent wine. What would old Polish revelry be worth without cordials.
Old Polish cordials, similarly to wines, came in various forms: sweet, dry, semi-dry, weak and very strong (up to 75% of alcohol), but the range of flavours was much richer. Our ancestors even composed special revelry menus with particular inclusion of cordials – each of them were at a different position in the menu and a different dish, to which it would be suited. For example a dry apricot cordial was served to poultry, cherry cordial to venison, Tarniówka (made of sloe berries) to rabbit, sweet and semi-sweet cordials to cakes and desserts, and a glass of wormwood cordial for a better appetite. Numerous Polish traditions were connected with making cordials, e.g. a cordial was prepared during a child’s christening and opened during its wedding. It played another role in customs – so-called żenicha kresowa, which had a completely opposite meaning to czernina (soup made of duck blood) – if a bachelor won the hearts of the family, he would be served with żenicha.
Reserving the name “nalewka” for traditional tinctures is more and more discussed, similarly to what happened with the name “champagne” in France.
Beer – the national drink of Poles
Beer connects Poles from the beginning of time. It appertained to all states and classes, and the tradition of consuming beer on Polish lands goes back to pagan times. The kings Bolesław Chrobry, Leszek Biały, Władysław Jagiełło and Jan III Sobieski were great connoisseurs of beer, and own beer was brewed in every richer noble manor. Like the oldest chronicles write, beer was a common, liked and healthy drink. The popularity of beer in Slavs came from the belief that beer is healthier than water. The oldest document, which contains a mention of a brewery with an inn dates back to the year 1272. Similarly to the west, Poland’s first breweries were seated in monasteries. Monks made it for their own needs, because the laws concerning fasting did not include beer, which comprised a supplement rich in vitamins and minerals to a poor diet. Together with the development of technology, monasteries began perfecting their recipes and producing beer on a wider scale. In monastery breweries three types of beer were brewed: Prima Melior from barley malt, Cervisia with an addition of oat malt and Tertio, which was served to pilgrims as it was the weakest. In Poland, very good beer was brewed at the monastery brewery of Fatebenefratelli in Zebrzydowice, in Tyniec, and one can try the Cistercian beer from Szczyrzyca until today. As of XIII century, only the king gave rights to brew beer, only cities were granted this honour. The laws of brewing beer were very strict, and quality and honesty in trade were placed first in line. The first beer characteristics were established in Wielkopolska region (Kościan, Wągrowiec), characteristics were known in Gdańsk and Warsaw. Firlej’s decree was also published at the break of the XVI century, which wrote on the ban for brewing beer from barley. At the same time it ordered the use of wheat exclusively; not observing these decrees threatened the loss of rights to brew beer. The number of beer inns continued to grow, and so, for example on the Land of Łęczyca, there were 232 of them. Due to the fact, that the brewing industry was a profitable profession, in Galicia alone there were 350 breweries before the year 1914. Like various sources say, the average nobleman drank 700 litres of beer annually. Noble beers had strength of approx. 5%, they had thick foam and a beautiful colour, that is why they were definitely better than village beers of only 2-3% alcohol content.
In the XIV century, 86 breweries operated on the territory of the Republic. The most popular beers then were: grodzkie, końskowolskie, krakowskie and wareckie. A special supervisory body for the quality of beer also operated; for falsifying the drink there was a threat of death penalty. At the turn of XV and XVI centuries, beer was offered by numerous village inns – what is interesting is that one fell on every 10 peasant farms. In the year 1629, the brewery in Tychy was created, established by the barons of Promnitz from Pszczyna, later taking the name Książęcy from it been taken over by the duke Von Pless from the Hochberg family. The beer was also produced in Gdańsk, Żywiec, Grodzisk Wielkopolski and Warka. However, in XVII century such beers were already known: leszczyńskie, brzezińskie, łowickie, wareckie, ujskie, wielickie, żółkiewskie, jezuickie, biłgorajskie, międzyrzeckie, kolne, tylżyńskie, jeżewskie, białobrzeskie, wągrowickie, końskowolskie, sierpickie, kościerskie, lidzbarskie and gdański dubelbir.
The golden age of Polish brewing was XIX century, in the first half of which, brewing on Polish lands took up the character of industrial production – small breweries were liquidated, and larger, more modern breweries took their place. During this time, e.g. the brewery in Okocim was established by an industrialist Johann Götz in 1845, or Browar Żywiec famous for the high quality of produced beer and honesty towards the client, established in 1856 by Archduke Karol Stefan Habsburg. In the years 1890 – 1900, over 500 breweries operated in Poland, producing a total of 6 million hectolitres of beer per annum. Consumption amounted to over 34 litres per citizen. The golden drink went to markets in The Czech Republic, Morawa, Germany, Austria (Żywiec, Okocim, Cieszyn breweries). Warsaw breweries exported their beers to Russia, where they had their strong representatives. The fame of Polish beers also reached overseas, where beers from the breweries Żywiec and Okocim were exported via ships. It should be mentioned that Poland was the leading exporter of hops to Germany, Belgium, France, The Czech Republic, England and Holland.
During the I World War, there was a lack of raw materials, therefore, production of beer significantly dropped. In concern for the growing advantage of large breweries, such as Tychy, Okocim and Żywiec, medium-sized ones began merging into companies. During the Great Depression in the years 1931-35, the fall in production was so significant, that large breweries produced 3 times less than in 1929. Poland was a valued producer of barley in the European scale. During the war period, on the territory of the so-called General Government, there were 36 breweries operating.
After the II World War, the Polish brewing industry was seriously ruined. To add to this, the governments of the People’s Republic of Poland deepened the crisis in the business liquidating many breweries. Beer, with many years of tradition, was pushed back, and the few large breweries left maintained production and a good label with hardship. There was also a lack of good ingredients and raw materials for the production of beer. The situation changed after the year 1990, when the privatisation of breweries, new shareholders, new technologies, numerous investments, the entry of breweries onto the stock exchange market, as well as advertising and marketing, improved the quality of Polish beer.
Currently, Polish beers are strong, clear in taste and very original. They are characterised by high quality and unique taste. They differ greatly from all foreign beers. Polish beers are characterised by good water, old tested recipes and technologies, good staff at breweries and the fact that crowned heads, the great of this world together with Pope John Paul II – a connoisseur of Żywiec beers – do not scorn Polish beers. The distinguishing feature is taste – it contains more bitterness, and in combination with greater concentration of alcohol, it takes up a strong and individual character. Over 60 breweries operate in Poland. It should also be mentioned, that Polish beers are gaining numerous awards and medals at professional exhibitions and European trade fairs.
Polish booze
Poland is famous in the world for its vodkas. What’s more, it is considered as the cradle of vodka, which historical and ethnographic studies show. Over so many years, the production of Polish vodka has grown into a legend – it has become a part of history, national tradition, literature, customs and social life. The method of distillation of alcohol was known to Poles already in the early Middle Ages, although at the beginning it only served medicine. At the beginning it was “distilled” in primitive alembics, thrice distilling the mash of fermented rye. The first distillate was called brantówka, the second szumówka, and the third okowita. Okowita (lat. aqua vitae) was a spirit of a 70-80% strength, which was diluted by water, resulting in “szynkowa” vodka of an average strength of 40%. Only in the fifteenth century, when vodka was begun to be distilled from rye, its consumption increased significantly and became a tincture in the full meaning of that word. The earliest documented information concerning vodka on Polish lands date back to XV century, when the first entry containing the word “vodka” was found in the court entries of the Sandomierski region. At the turn of XVI and XVII centuries, the products were exported to Western Europe (to Holland, Denmark, England, Germany, Austria), to Silesia, Hungary, the coast of the Black Sea and Moldavia, where even a ban on importing Polish vodka was introduced for a while.
Wherever it went, it found itself a mass of consumers
The sixteenth century was a time of sudden economic development. In these times, an increase in the production of cereal occurred, which was exported through Gdańsk to the countries of Western Europe, or used for won purposes, like for the production of vodka. Vodka became commonly know, and the first treaties were written about it. Three centuries later, the real vodka industry was established. In Lvov, the first factory of vodka was opened by Jan Baczewski, who was also the initiator of its mass export. From XVI century, within the scope of many trading unions, it was distributed to Russia, Germany, Holland and France.
Polish booze had its real popularity in the seventies and eighties of XX centuries. Poland had the task to produce vodka for the entire communist bloc. For many imported things, Poles paid through bottles at that time. Wyborowa Vodka in the seventies was served by stewardesses on board of Concorde aircrafts going from Europe to the USA. Until today, those export hits – Wyborowa, Żubrówka, Polonez, Soplica and Krupnik – enjoy the acknowledgement among connoisseurs of vodka around the whole world.
Polish vodka, produced today from selected cereals and potatoes, and according to traditional recipes, has no equals. Proofs of this are various medals and awards, which it receives every year at all acknowledged international competitions. Large and well-known world events have also contributed to the promotion of Polish vodka – in recent years, at the Oscar gala, participants could enjoy Belvedere and Wyborowa Exquisite. Connoisseurs of vodka around the world have known the most famous Polish labels for generations: Baczewski, Luksusowa, Żytnia, Belvedere, Wyborowa, Żubrówka and many, many others. Currently, Poland is fourth in terms of the market size of vodka in the world, behind Russia, USA and Ukraine.
“Rzeczpospolita” – one of the leaders of Polish daily newspapers – last year it conducted a survey, which concerned the choice of the most known symbol of Poland. Among the products pointed out, only vodka could be found, which was among such known Polish national symbols as: Pope John Paul II, President of Poland Lech Walesa, the Polish Eagle, Battle at Grunwald, Nicolaus Copernicus, Frederic Chopin, and a famous Polish painter - Matejko.
Tomasz Masal
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