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I thought some of you may be interested so here it is:
A few days ago I went with some friends to their village house in the Peloponnese, some 200 km SW of Athens.
Just before we reached the house, we passed by this property where they were preparing tsipouro, the product, that is, of distilling grape peeps and stems. When you add water to this copper container and you heat it (this process lasts a few hours and it usually takes place at the end of October when all grape residual products are available after the wine has already been pressed) it gives a transparent vodka-like juice that starts at 70 alcoholic degrees and goes down to around 30 degrees. The more you keep distilling the same batch, the lesser the alcoholic degree level. Usually they stop the process when the overall alcoholic level reaches 35 to 40.
Here you can see the copper container under which burns a gas fire. The tsipouro is distilled out on the rhs in a barely seen inox pot behind the old man. The people are drinking and discussing the process...
You can imagine of course what is being said, proof that all women decided to go inside. It was a cold night too.








The constant provision of cold mountain water through this hose on the "exhaust" tube recondenses the tsipouro which runs into the pot. Cheers everyone !

Thanx Nav.

One more and you're 1000 !

A story better told over a drink....



Call it what you like, it looks like a still and moonshine...just a different recipe.



Kidding aside, thank you for sharing.

Carl

Carl,

Is that a drink specific to the hamburger joint?

Yannis wrote:Is that a drink specific to the hamburger joint?

Moonshine is one of the US slang terms for home distilled whiskey (or bourbon)... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonshine

Very interesting indeed.
Normally these stills are legal. They are sealed by law and are opened for use for a specific period - not more than a few days per season.
What usually happens is that the owner operates it for a certain period, during which the villagers each brings their own batch of raw material and "rents" the still operation time for a fee.
Then, they declare the quantity of tsipouro produced and pay a tax per kilo to the local authorities.
The same is done for example in Austria, where instead of tsipouro they make schnapps, or in France where they make eau de vie etc. The principle of distillation is essentially the same and the legal framework too. What differs is the raw material used. In the alps they use fruit skins to give the special scent or different types of grapes.
Thanks for the explanation.

Yannis please forward samples to my home address!

Ha, Mark ! Listen to this: As a non-connoisseur, I rushed into it and sipped 2-3 shots of 70 proof right from the still...I was feeding on antacids for the rest of the weekend.
Next time I'll save some sample bottles for you and anyone else interested. I hope they'll get past immigration...

In the south our distinct flavors come from whether or not someone put antifreeze in Jeds radiator at the dirt track on the weekend when it was used during the week as a condenser for the still.

Yannis wrote: Normally these stills are legal.

Now that right there is a funny line!

Carl,

You're right, I shouldn't have said "normally", they are just "legal".
You have the right to legally own a still. The trick is that you CANNOT use it whenever you feel like it. You have to declare WHEN you use it and how many liters you produce, so that you can be taxed accordingly.
In the examples I cited, it proves that in many European countries they are indeed legal. You legally produce Schnapps or Eau de Vie or however else you want to call it; I have a friend who is married to an Austrian lady and they bring to me every X-mas a bottle of family made schnapps which is perfectly legally produced by his in laws at their village in Austria. I don't know the exact legal framework in other countries, but this doesn't mean that you produce liquor illegally in any way.

Two more things:

-Of course you can be illegal if you want; for example you can use your still in your basement during periods that are prohibited. But this is true for everything, even speeding is illegal but some people take the risk.

-It is difficult to use your still "off season" as the by-products of grapes, your raw mats, are only available during autumn -when it's legal. I also suspect that the fines for such illegal activity are from important to very important.

Yannis wrote:Carl,

You're right, I shouldn't have said "normally", they are just "legal".
You have the right to legally own a still. The trick is that you CANNOT use it whenever you feel like it. You have to declare WHEN you use it and how many liters you produce, so that you can be taxed accordingly.
In the examples I cited, it proves that in many European countries they are indeed legal. You legally produce Schnapps or Eau de Vie or however else you want to call it; I have a friend who is married to an Austrian lady and they bring to me every X-mas a bottle of family made schnapps which is perfectly legally produced by his in laws at their village in Austria. I don't know the exact legal framework in other countries, but this doesn't mean that you produce liquor illegally in any way.

Yannis- I understood you perfectly fine.
Half a world away...but things are pretty much the same all around the globe, or so it seems.


Its all good...although a taste would go alot further in proving that theory!




It's still a funny line...