Czechs turn to legally distilled slivovice after fake spirits scandal

Описание: (21 Sep 2012) With spirit sales banned nationwide, Czechs are resorting to a much-loved tradition to ensure they can still get their tipple.
For the first time ever, the Czech Republic banned the sale of spirits at home last week after 23 people died from drinking bootleg booze tainted with methanol.
The government also banned the export to EU countries of spirits with more than 20 percent alcohol content.
But traditional local distilleries producing a drink called slivovice - or damson brandy - are not affected by the ban.
Since medieval times, locals have taken homegrown damsons to small distilleries in homes and garages where they can request the exact strength of alcohol they want.
Stanislava Chalupova operates a one-room distillery in the town of Breznice in the east of the country.
Her customers were watching closely as she tested the alcohol content of latest batch on Thursday.
"You can find illegal distilleries here, we don't know where, but anyway people would rather come here and say 'we know we'll get honestly distilled alcohol here'. So we don't have to fear. There's no methanol here, " said Chalupova.
Small distilleries like Chalupova's might be expected to be cashing in on the ban, but bad weather this year has reduced their output.
Drought combined with a sudden frost in May did the damage, causing the plum harvest, especially in the east, to plummet dramatically.
Chalupova said she expected to make only about a third of the amount of slivovice that she produced last year.
She said she was very disappointed by the tainting scandal, saying it "ultimately harms us honest people."
One of her customers, Oldrich Chmela was waiting to collect his slivovice, made from his own damsons.
The alcohol content of slivovice is usually about 50 percent, but it can be diluted with water to suit individual tastes.
Chmela said he had been worried the authorities would ban locally-distilled slivovice too.
"That would be tragedy, it would cause a rebellion in the villages," he said.
For many in the region, slivovice is not just a drink, but an important part of family celebrations.
Chmela kept bottles from the years his two sons were born hidden until their own children were born.
Other families bury slivovice in the ground at the birth of their daughters and don't open it until their weddings.
Chmela's 50 litres will last him and his wife one year until next years' batch.
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