Raki

A spirit of many fruits

Raki belongs to the family of fruit brandies known across the Balkans as rakia, which is also the Albanian definite form of the word. Wikipedia’s article on rakia lists an Albanian name for each fruit: raki rrushi from grapes, raki bërsi from the skins and pips left after winemaking, raki kumbulle from plums and raki mëni from mulberries, with further versions from figs, apricots, pears, quinces, cherries and juniper.

Wikipedia’s article on Albanian cuisine names grape, plum and blackberry as the most common types. It adds that in the south of the country raki rigoni, made with white oregano grown in the region, is very popular.

Albania’s National Tourism Agency describes raki as a drink with a special place in the culture of Korça and of Albania, made from fermented and distilled grapes, figs or plums. Mulberry raki, it notes, is one of the most distinctive raki styles of the Korça region and is offered on special holidays.

Made at home, in copper

In 2023 the Albanian daily Shqiptarja profiled Myftar Oboni, a 73-year-old retired agronomist from the village of Tapi, near Kuçovë, who distils grape raki in a tin-lined copper kettle inherited from his grandfather. The grapes are fermented first. He heats the kettle with wood because it lets him control the flame, warming it slowly over about three hours, while the vapour runs through a pipe in the lid cooled by well water and condenses and collects drop by drop in a clean vessel. One kettle gives about 50 litres, which rest for 40 days in glass before drinking. Muscat grapes, in his experience, make the most aromatic raki.

Writing for VinePair in 2017, the writer Dave Hazzan found home-made raki all over Albania, in bottles with handwritten labels naming the type. A hotel manager in Berat kept 13 kinds and insisted that shop-bought raki could not match what families make themselves.

Regions and festivals

Skrapar, a municipality in Berat County in southern Albania, is known for its raki. Wikipedia describes the region as known for its folklore and raki production, and the National Tourism Agency counts its grape brandy among the best in the country, a symbol of local hospitality and identity.

Near Berat, the municipality of Dimal holds a traditional Festival of Raki, Wine and Grapes. Shqiptarja reported in August 2024 that producers from across the municipality set up stalls on its pedestrian street with grapes, raki and wine, alongside traditional music and a demonstration of an old way of pressing grapes. Raki-making, the paper noted, has passed down through Dimal’s families for generations.

At the table and for guests

Raki is closely tied to hospitality. Hazzan described one host serving raki made from his own grapes, on his front lawn, with strawberries and walnuts, and recalled that in Albanian tradition, failing to offer a guest food, drink and a bed is unthinkable.

Wikipedia’s article on Albanian cuisine lists raki among the drinks that may accompany breakfast, and notes that for older people it is often heated and sweetened with honey or sugar, with spices added. In Emblem World, raki sits in the Albania drink collection, where people discover and rate local food, drink and music.