MIÓD PITNY = MEAD / dwojniak - trojniak

The Vikings appreciated the honey wines they learn to make from the Slavonic Pomeranians, forerunners of today's Poles, and the name itslef betrays its slavonic roots (Polish miód, Muscovite myod).

Have any of you ever tried it? It ranges from a syrupy herbal-flavoured półtorak, similar in taste to a sweet vermouth, to czwórniak and even piątak (one part honey to five parts water) which can be on the dry side.

yes I was given a bottle from zakopane. Very nice. At the time I looked up what "miód pitny' meant and was just as confused when I saw 'mead' as I had never heard of mead before...

Oh, yes. It’s my favorite drink. Heated with some cloves and in addition to piernik (type of cake) … just heaven. I like trójniak the most. When my polish family is coming to visit me that is the only gift I want.

sheet heaven!... that's too sweet!....

;)

I've tried English mead, but not Polish. It is very sweet. Maybe with the right accompaniment it would be very nice.

Półtorak is too sweet, I agree. But trójniak is perfection.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medovukha

Polonius, perhaps you meant "medovuha". Depending on distillation it can be from 5% to 30-40% of alcohol. I've tried the one that was about 10%... interesting taste and I wouldn't say it was alcoholic if I hadn't been told before. It's not really popular because it's more expensive than beer and only few small companies make it.

If you're interested we also have alcoholic beverage based on chren (horseradish). Called "chrenovuha". I bet Poles have something similar... :)

I never heard (or tasted) anything like that, but I live in central Poland, so it may exist in some other regions.

Anyway, the most interesting alcoholic beverages were those used during the 80's:
- denaturat (denatured alcohol) with skulls and crossbones on the label, some people used to filter it through bread and drink.
- woda brzozowa (an extract of birch and acorus leaves on rectified spirit) used in theory against dandruff, but also a substitute, cheap alcohol for heavy drinkers.

I know that in Russia they sometimes add to vodka extract of birch juice to make it "softer". :)

Yeah, I think it's more domestic drink that's mostly done by villagers. :) I've never seen it in shops here either.

Merged: What's the difference between dwojniak and trojniak

Any ideas? They are types of miod pitny. Is it to do with the strength?

dwojniak: one part of water, one part of honey
trojniak: one part of honey, two parts of water

Also, the more honey you add (półtorak is the best one, 2 parts of honey and one of water) the longer the barrells / bottles need to mature, up to 8-10 years. The strength is rather similar to all of them - around 10%.

thanks guys!