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Horilka (Ukrainian: горілка) is Ukrainian vodka. Horilka is usually distilled from grain or potatoes,^[1] or their peelings. The word horilka may also be used in a generic sense in the Ukrainian language to mean whisky, or other strong spirits. Home-distilled horilka, moonshine, is called samohon (Ukrainian: самогон, literally ‘self-distillate’).

Horilka is claimed to be stronger and spicier than typical Russian vodka.^[1][2] However, today nigh all industrially produced horilka is 80 proof.

Ukrainian tradition has also produced various derivatives of horilka. Some of these are available as commercial products, but most are typically home-made. This includes various kinds of fruit infusion, nalyvka and spiced spotykach: malynivka made with raspberries, tertukha (strawberries), agrusivka (gooseberries), ternivka (blackthorn berries), kalynivka (cranberrybush), shypshynnyk (rose hips), horobynivka (ashberries), zubrivka (bison grass), vyshnyak or vyshnivka from cherries, slyv”yanka (plums), morelivka (apricots), tsytrynivka (lemons), mokrukha (oranges and cloves), mochena (citrus rind), kontabas (blackcurrant buds). Horikhivka is flavoured with nuts. Horilka is also made with honey, mint, or even milk. In some cases whole fruits of red peppers (capsicum) are put into the bottle, turning horilka into a sort of bitters; it is then named horilka z pertsem, or pertsivka. (One should be mindful of the usage: horilka z pertsem refers to horilka bottled with hot chilli peppers, whereas pertsivka typically refers to horilka spiced with the essence of pepper. Horilka z pertsem always refers to a Ukrainian spirit. Pertsivka or Pertsovka may refer to Russian vodka.)

Most of these preparations are aged with fruit for several weeks or months, then strained or decanted. Some recipes call for the jars to be placed on the rooftop, for maximum bleaching by the sun. Many include the addition of home-made syrup for a strong liqueur, others yield very dry, clear spirit. Some involve the fermentation of fruit as well as addition of horilka. Preparations which are baked in an oven, in a pot sealed with bread dough, are called zapikanka, varenukha or palenka.

Horlika plays a role in traditional weddings in Ukraine and in eastern Slovakia and southern Poland.^[3]

And bring us a lot of horilka, but not of that fancy kind with raisins, or with any other such things — bring us horilka of the purest kind, give us that demon drink that makes us merry, playful and wild!

—Taras Bulba, by Nikolai Gogol^[1]

The word horilka is attested in 1562 (горилка) and 1678 (горѣлка). Dialectic variants are harilka, horilash, horilytsya, horilets’, horilukha, z·horivka, zorivka, orilka, as well as Western Ukrainian horivka, horychka.

The word comes from the same root as the verb hority, ‘to burn’, similarly to Belarusian harelka, south Russian gorelka, Czech kořalka, and Slovak goralka, goržolka. It is considered to have come about following the Polish example gorzałka, possibly as an abbreviation of a compound word like horile vyno (‘burning wine’; compare the older word horěloe vyno, горѣлое вино, attested in 1511) or horila(ya) voda (‘burning water’; compare early Czech palena voda → palenka or Hungarian/Transylvanian palinka). It may be an adaptation of the early Old High German der brannte Wein → Branntwein.^[4][5] Also compare English brandy, short for brandywine, from Dutch brandewijn, ‘burning wine’.

• Horilka: Vodka of Ukraine—includes a gallery of labels
• Ukrainian Alcoholic Beverages