Oghi (beverage)

Oghi (sometimes oghee, Armenian: օղի òġi; colloquially aragh) is an Armenian spirit distilled from fruits or berries. Oghi, a clear fruit vodka, is the generic Armenian word for vodka of all kinds.[1] It is widely produced as moonshine from home-grown garden fruits all across Armenia, where it is served as a popular welcome drink to guests and is routinely drunk during meals.[2] Arguably, Armenian oghi is not "vodka" at all (see Vodka war) and merely became thought of as such during the Soviet regime in Armenia.

Mulberry oghi is commercially produced and exported under the brand name Artsakh by the Artsakh-Alco Brandy Company in Askeran District in Nagorno-Karabakh.[3][4]

Varieties

Oghi in the Armenian Diaspora

In the Armenian Diaspora, oghi refers to the aniseed-flavored distilled alcoholic drink called arak in the Middle East, raki in Turkey, or ouzo in Greece.[5][6] In Armenia, however, aniseed-flavored spirit is virtually unknown.. In the Prohibition-Era United States, Armenians produced bootleg Oghi from raisins and flavored it with anise. In the old country of Western Armenia, the oghi was often made from grape pomace, or from mulberries, and was sometimes flavored with anise, mastic, or even cardamom or orange peel, as well as other herbs or spices. In the region of Kharpert as well as nearby Chnkoosh, oghi was usually made from mulberries.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Aragh, Armenian moonshine
  2. ↑ Oghi, an Armenian fruit vodka
  3. ↑ Artsakh mulberry vodka
  4. ↑ Artsakh-Alco Brandy Company
  5. ↑ Western Armenian Dictionary and Phrasebook, by Nicholas Awde and Vazken-Khatchig Davidian, Hippocrene Books, 2006, p. 131; ISBN 0-7818-1048-5, ISBN 978-0-7818-1048-7
  6. ↑ The Heritage of Armenian Literature, Vol. III, p. 815, by Agop Jack Hacikyan, Gabriel Basmajian, Edward S. Franchuk, Nourhan Ouzounian, Wayne State University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8143-3221-8
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