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Maraska Slivovitz 10 Year Brandy

Bottle of Maraska Slivovitz with a textured glass design and beige, black, red and blue label, sitting on a wooden table

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Maraska Slivovitz 10 Year Brandy

EMMELINE'S RATING:
4/5

About Maraska Slivovitz 10 Year Brandy

Maraska Slivovitz 10 Year Brandy is produced by Maraska – a Zadar, Croatia based company best known for their flagship maraschino liqueur. Founded in 1945 as a result of the nationalization of the local spirits industry, it currently is majority owned by Stanić Beverages.

If you’re not familiar with Slivovitz, it is a plum-based style of brandy from the balkan region. Although Maraska doesn’t disclose much information about their fermentation and distillation process, we know that this particular bottle of 10 Year Brandy is aged for 10 years in wooden barrels.

Bottle Specs

❖  ABV: 40%

❖ Distillery: Maraska Distillery

❖ Aging: 10 years

❖ Price Point: lower moderate

My Tasting notes

The aroma of this brandy was fresh and fruity, with a wine-like quality to the fermented scent, despite not coming from grapes.

Bottle of Maraska Slivovitz with a textured glass design and beige, black, red and blue label, sitting next a small snifter glass with light golden yellow liquid, both sitting on a wooden table

I took a sip, and it had a very light and delicate flavor. The alcohol was smooth on the tongue, but had a bit of heat in the throat. Over time, I could detect a bit of that classic bitter brandy flavor in the background, but overall felt that the flavor was pretty soft.

Cocktail

For my cocktail, I thought it would be interesting to make a simple Brandy Crusta variation, swapping out Slivovitz for the usual Cognac. I thought it would be especially fitting since maraschino liqueur comes from the same region, and is included in the recipe.

Yield: 1 drink

Slivovitz Crusta

Snifter glass with yellow liquid, a large lemon peel garnish, and a sugar rim, sitting on a wooden table

Ingredients

  • 1.5oz slivovitz plum brandy
  • 1/2oz maraschino liqueur
  • 1/2oz orange liqueur
  • 3/4oz lemon juice
  • 2 dashes angostura bitters
  • garnish: sugar rim, lemon peel

Instructions

  1. Using a lemon wedge for stickiness, carefully rim a small glass with sugar.
  2. Add the ingredients to a shaker with ice, and shake until chilled.
  3. Strain the mixture into your rimmed glass.
  4. Garnish with a large lemon peel.

Inside of a cocktail, this plum brandy was very smooth yet strong. The flavor notes were subtle, but added a bit of delicious plum to the overall fruit blend. I thought that it supported the mixers nicely.

Bottom Line

RATING: 4/5

At the end of the day, I really enjoyed this bottle of Maraska Slivovitz 10 Year Brandy, even more than I thought I would. The plum creates a nice, delicate flavor that is lighter than most styles of brandy. In this way, I found it similar to Pisco, which is similarly light. If you’re a fan of such types of brandies, I would definitely recommend picking up a bottle of Maraska Slivovitz to try for yourself.

Since my official tasting, I’ve also used this in some other cocktail recipes that call for other styles of brandy, and found it to be really tasty as a substitute. And, despite a fairly standard proof and a decent smoothness, I find that it feels much stronger than I expect in most cases. Just something to be aware of, so you can pace yourself accordingly!

As always, drink responsibly.

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