Sturm ©oksidor
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If you happen to be passing through Central Europe in the next month and notice a dramatic increase in tipsy behavior, no need for alarm””it’s just Burcak season.
Burcak (or sturm in Austria) is a Central European beverage made by taking a batch of wine, just after the grapes have been crushed, adding sugar and then letting it ferment for awhile. It is a grown-up version of grape juice””with an added bonus. The alcohol content of Burcak is low (about 5%) but after you drink it, it will continue to ferment in your stomach””slowly getting you more and more inebriated.
David Farley for Gadling writes:
The last time I took a trip to the region, it was as if some alien intoxicant had overtaken an entire town. When my Czech friend Libor and I pulled into Mikulov, a small castle-topped town on the Czech-Austrian border, there were guys weaving down the tiny cobbled lanes, women vomiting into rubbish bins on the main square, and couples passionately disrobing each other behind trees. What was going on?
It wasn’t that there was something in the water to make the villagers both ill and amorous. It was the first day of the weekend-long annual burcak festival and the town was already collectively inebriated.
Read more about Burcak on Gadling.