I am starting a new project to produce plum brandy which is a popular drink from the slavic regions of europe (and costs too bloody much at bottle shops here in Oz).
Depending on country, could also be called (from Wikipedia):
Slivovitz, Slivovitsa, Serbian: шљивовица, Bulgarian: сливовица, Czech: slivovice, German: Sliwowitz, Bosnian: šljivovica, Croatian: šljivovica, Hungarian: sligovica, Italian: slivovitz, Macedonian: сливова, Polish: śliwowica, Romanian: şliboviţă, Slovak: slivovica, Slovene: slivovka, Yiddish: שליוואָוויץ, Ukrainian: слив'янка
I was introduced to this by my father and it is now one of my preferred spirits, 2nd to a good aged scotch.
My 2nd cousin overseas runs one of the village stills (hidden in the back woods near a creek old-school style) and he produces about 1000 litres each harvest so I have a good source of info (via translation) on how the traditional product is made.
I think I will have to adapt it and develop a recipe for Aussie conditions though. For starters, we probably dont even have the same plum variety (plums are in season from December to April here depending on location and variety). Then they don't add yeast or anything so I am worried about the type of wild yeasts (and poisons) we may have lingering on our local plum varieties + I would not be surprised if our plums are treated to kill wild yeasts for longer shelf life and would not naturally ferment on their own readily anyway.
Before I get too invloved experimenting with recipes, can I ask if has anyone here has successfully made this brandy (or similar) before ? ...or am I the guinea pig / mad scientist?