Fruit liqueurs (in Polish, nalewki), are considered a Polish speciality. It was King Henry III of France, the monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, that brought the recipe and taste for fruit alcohols to Poland. Every noble and bourgeois household produced its fruit liqueurs and precious recipes would be handed down from generation to generation, sometimes only revealed in one's last will. And the tradition withstood all wars and occupations and lives on today.
Fruit liqueurs are easy to make at home. But that variety will never reach the level of sophistication of some fruit liqueurs prepared by a handful of Polish producers whose beverages are served in the finest Polish restaurants. The best fruit liqueurs are those made through traditional methods. Fruits are picked from forest meadows, ecological plantations or countryside orchards. The finest of fruits are wild, often forgotten varieties of fruits such as the Ałycza (cherry plum), paradise apples, chaenomeles from Tuchola Forest, blackthorn from the Bieszczady and Gorce Mountains, plums from Łącko and wild blackberries from Białowieża Forest. Fruit liqueurs are left to mature for up to a couple of years.
Zbigniew Sierszuła is one of the makers of fruit liqueur who has earned himself a reputation. The art historian turned fruit liqueur producer makes alcohols in his estate near Warsaw. "The easiest to make are classical fruit liqueurs made of quince, cherry or blackcurrant. They are royal fruits because they contain as much sugar as acidity. When it comes to liqueurs made of flowers, what's very important is picking the flower on the day it blossoms, because without pollen, the flower has no taste" says the expert. The production of exquisite fruit liqueurs is a fine art that "cannot be precisely quantified, for the ideal fruit liqueur begins with the fruit and how nature made it – how much sun and rain and what temperature it was exposed to."
Another renowned name in the industry is Karol Majewski, whose business is located in his home in Łomianki in the vicinity of the Kampinos Forest. His company, Nalewki Staropolskie (Old Polish Fruit Liqueurs) is well known and his produce is exported to the U.S. under the name Prince Pułaski's Fruit Liqueurs. Finally, there's Hieronim Błażejak, a small scale fruit liqueur and cider manufacturer from Lesser Poland who has composed over 160 varieties of liqueurs. His alcohols have been praised at numerous industry competitions.
Fruit liqueurs by Majewski, Sierszuła and Błażejak are on the menus of high-end restaurants and industry festivals around Poland, and can also be found online.
In Poland, mead (honey wine) has a very long tradition. In recent years, its production has continued to grow. The honey alcohol is the result of the fermentation process of a mixture of honey and water (a liquid called "must"). There can be different kinds of mead: natural, with fruits, herbs, spices or hops. They mature anywhere between a couple of months and a couple of years. There are four main kinds of Polish mead: póltoraki, dwójniaki, trójniaki and czwórniaki. The differences between them concern the ratio of honey to water. Póltoraki and dwójniaki are sweeter than trójniaki and czwórniaki. The former two are served with deserts (yeast cakes, gingerbread cakes) and patés, while the latter are dry alcohols and make a fine apéritif or an accompaniment to fish or meat. A couple of years ago, all of them received the traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG) label from the European Union.
One of the best Polish meads is made in the village of Łaziska near the city of Tomaszów Mazowiecki, in an apiary owned by Maciej Jaros. He produces eight different kinds of mead through an entirely ecological manufacturing process, using spring water and no colouring agents or preservatives. On top of a selection of Polish awards he has received for his alcohol, Mr Jaros won an award in Turin, Italy at the Salone del Gusto 2004. Another big name for Polish meads is the APIS apiarian cooperative in Lublin. It's one of the biggest Polish mead producers and has existed since 1932. The cooperative brings out a dozen or so meads, their most famous one being Trójniak Staropolski Tradycyjny. In 2010, a mead created by Michał Saks called the Sambuci Flos (black elderflower) won the Mazer Cup international festival in Boulder, Colorado.
Under communism, beer wasn't very popular and the low-quality alcoholic beverage was consumed in so-called kioski piwne (beer kiosks). Thankfully, the infamous stalls quickly disappeared, and instead we have witnessed a revival in Polish brewing. A long time ago, beer was one of the most popular alcohols in Poland. In one of his books, the well-known chronicler Jan Długosz wrote that in "the northern cold there is no wine and olive oil; instead, there is beer made of rye, wheat, barley or spelt". Beer remained the most common alcoholic beverage in modern times. Until the 17th century it was mainly made of wheat, later on, the primary ingredient was barley. With time, beer began to be seen as a beverage for the lower classes and it competed with and lost against vodka. It wasn't until the early 20th century that Polish breweries began to compete with foreign producers. Sadly, only half of them survived the bombings of WW2.
Interest in craft beers has been growing over the last couple of years. They come in all sorts and sizes: blond or dark, unpasteurised, honey or otherwise flavoured beer, porter, stout, Kozlak Bock beer, wheat beer. A well-known and large brewery, Browar Amber, brews a series of specialist beers: the unpasteurised and additive-free Piwo Żywe from pale barley malt, with bitter and aromatic hops from the Lublin region, as well as their Grand Imperial Porter. Another company, Mazurski Browar Kormoran, produces a wide selection of regional beers. Other noteworthy brands are: Browar Zamkowy in Radom, Browar Zamkowy in Raciborz and Browar Haust – a microbrewery in Zielona Góra. On top of the better-known brands, there are dozens of small breweries which sell their products in bars, restaurants, grocery shops and over the internet.