Pálinka of the year made from jasmine grapes

The drink made by the Brill Pálinka House in Tolna county won the National Pálinka- and Törkölypálinka Competition, as reported by nlcafe.hu. The winning batch of pálinka was made using jasmine grapes.

During the competition, the Pálinka National Committee awarded 5 special awards, 62 gold qualifications, 107 silver qualifications and 91 bronze qualifications. The Bolyhos bedded plum pálinka was chosen as the best batch of pálinka made with over 10 thousand bottles, while the most efficient distillery category chose 1 Drop Pálinka as the winner.

This year, 48 distillers entered the competition, with a total of 309 proposals. The jury was made up of 25 experts while the prizes were awarded in the Parliament‘s Upper House Hall, following tradition.

Pálinka of the year
Photo: facebook.com/pg/Brill-Pálinkaház

The president of the Pálinka National Committee, László Mihályi, described the winning jasmine grape-pálinka as a wonderful drink that mesmerises its consumer with its elegance from the very first taste. It has a nice, muscatel-like smell that complements the flowery and rose oil-like traits, giving it an enchanting effect. Mihályi said that

“It has a well-rounded taste, with explosively flowery as well as spicy traits and also possesses a fruity freshness and a slight seed-oil quality. It conjures up memories of a spring flower field and a ripe cluster of grapes.”

This is a full, harmonious, truly complex product that definitely has a long-lasting taste.

For the Brill Pálinka House, this is the third year they have won the title of pálinka of the year. In 2011, their winning drink was made from Olivér Irsai grapes while, in 2013, the winning title was awarded to their quince pear pálinka.

Brill Pálinka House drinks
Photo: facebook.com/pg/Brill-Pálinkaház

Edit Krizl, one of the owners of the Brill Pálinka House, said that

“Jasmine grapes are a new speciality of the Pécs Research Institute. We started experimenting with them in 2016.”

As a distillery in Tolna county – meaning it is located in a wine region -, the Brill Pálinka House feels it is their mission to offer as a wide a range of the best grape-based distillations as possible. So, they had to give a chance to this new type of grape, too.

“The results speak for themselves and we are sure there is a bright future in front of jasmine grapes, both when it comes to wines and when it comes to pálinka” – says Krizl.

Another long-held tradition is to award a life-achievement award to three significant persons who contributed to the rise and success of pálinka. This year, the award went to dr. Oroszné dr. Prekop Erzsébet of Prekop Distillery, László Bolyhos of Bolyhos Pálinka and Zoltán Békési of Békési Distillery respectively.

To read more about pálinka, check out this article about tips and tricks to make home-made bedded pálinka.

Featured image: facebook.com/miskolcnews/photos

Source: nlcafe.hu