Starka

Starka is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented rye mash. Traditionally Starka is made from natural (up to 2 distillations, no rectification) rye spirit and aged in oak barrels with small additions of linden-tree and apple-tree leaves. The methods of production are similar to those used in making rye whisky. Sold in various grades, the most notable difference between them is the length of the aging period, varying from 3 to over 50 years, and the natural colour which is obtained from the reaction between the alcohol and the oak barrel, not from the additives.

== History == Starka was known in Poland and Lithuania at least since the 15th century, later in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and by the 17th century became one of the favourite drinks of the nobility of the Commonwealth and Sarmatist culture. Tradition had it that at a child's birth, the father of the house poured large amounts of home-made spirits (approximately 75 proof) into an empty oak barrel, previously used to store wine (usually imported from Hungary at that time and hence called Węgrzyn, or Hungarian). The barrel was then sealed with beeswax and buried, only to be dug out at the child's wedding. The name itself stems from this process of aging and in 15th century Polish meant both the vodka type and an old woman. Alternatively the name is derived from the Lithuanian word "Starkus", as production of Starka is associated with birth.