Nalewka is a traditional Polish liqueur made by infusing alcohol with various ingredients such as fruits, spices, and herbs. Each variety has its own name based on its ingredients. The liqueur is typically made at home and can be flavored with other ingredients. It is sipped slowly and has cultural significance in Poland.
Nalewka is a traditional Polish liqueur. Typically between 40% and 45% alcohol, it is made by combining a form of alcohol with other ingredients, often spices, fruits or herbs. Each variety of nalewka has its own name based on its ingredients. In Russia, it is known as nalivka.
Commercially and privately produced, commercial nalewka usually has a lower alcohol content than home-produced bottles. The process is quite simple. Alcohol, usually vodka, is poured over the ingredients it is to be infused with and allowed to settle. After about six weeks, the flavor of the ingredients has been transferred into the alcohol and the resulting liquid is added to a sugar solution. This mixture is left to sit for several weeks to allow the flavors to mingle.
After preparing the base mixture, the resulting liquid will often be flavored with other ingredients such as lemon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, allspice, cinnamon or vanilla. While the basic procedure is the same between different types of nalewka, there is no typical recipe. Craft beers can change every time they are brewed.
Nalewka is the name of the liqueur, but different types have different names. These names often refer to the ingredient that is mixed with the alcohol or can refer to where the drink was made. Tarninowka is a variety infused with cranberries and first produced in the town of Tarnow near Kraków, after which it takes its name. Nalewka named for its ingredients includes Smorodina, made with blackcurrant, Apricot-flavored Morelówka, Ginger-flavored Imbirówka, and Absinthe-flavored Piolunówka.
There is almost no limit to the ingredients with which the alcohol can be soaked. While the alcohol is typically vodka, other ingredients can range from coffee and honey to juniper and aniseed. Many Eastern European families had their own traditional recipes which were kept as family secrets. The father of the family would have been responsible for the production of the beer and only after his death would the recipe have been passed on to the older children of the family.
To be drunk properly, the liqueur must be sipped slowly and savored. There are a number of traditions that revolve around the liquor, and while many have fallen out of favor, they remain an important part of nalewka’s history. Families once brewed and bottled a batch of nalewka for a child’s christening, and then opened the bottles at their wedding. Young, unmarried girls would make a nalewka out of rose hips, and when offered to a suitor, it was a sign of their approval.
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