Maraska has been famous for their maraschino cherries and cherry brandy for more than 500 years, and justly so. However, we’re Plum enthusiasts, so we only tested their Slivovitz, ignoring half a millenium’s work for the more important plum. Did you know that archeological evidence indicates that the first fermented fruit was the plum? That’s right, small clay bottles, more than 12,000 years old, with barely detectable traces of plum brandy within.* Anyway, Maraska has been doing this for a long, long time.

Maraska Slivovitz is a pure, natural brandy made by special fermentation and distillation of the finest ripe blue plums grown in the rich soil of the Adriatic Coast, the second largest plum-growing area in the world. “Sljvovica” is the common name for Croatian plum brandy from former Yugoslavia. Traditionally this spirit is double-distilled and has been famous since the Middle Ages. The fruit comes from trees never less than 20 years old and the mash is fermented for three months in large 2,000 gallon tanks. After a second distillation it is matured in specially treated 500-gallon oak casks for a minimum of 2 years.