While they may never carry the market-dominating weight of tequila, vodka, or whiskey, niche spirits from around the world—such as sotol, baiju, aquavit, or pisco—do have some allure for American drinkers. One that has centuries of tradition and is establishing a path toward greater demand is rakija.
Rakija, alternatively spelled rakia or rakiya, or in some places known as raki, is the Balkan word for fruit brandy. The base fruit tends to vary based on where it’s made; popular varieties include slivovitz (plum), loza (grape), dunjevača (quince), and kajsijevača (apricot)—but rakija can also be made with apples, pears, figs, and more.
For hundreds of years, rakija has thrived in countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
“We all grow up knowing it,” says Mario Coric, a California transplant from Mostar, Herzegovina, and the founder of the Legende Rakija brand. “Rakija is everything in that part of the world.”
Backyard Roots
While there are large commercial producers, home distilling is central to the rakija tradition. Coric’s grandfather made rakija in his backyard—the way most rakija has been produced in the region throughout its existence. “In Herzegovina, 80 to 90 percent of the rakija is sold in plastic bottles, person to person,” he says.
Bill Gould, founder of the Yebiga Rakija brand, first discovered the spirit around 1992 while touring in Europe as the bassist for Faith No More. Fans in Hungary brought bottles of it for the band.
“This is something people made at home, and you could see what it meant to them,” Gould recalls. He became so interested in the spirit that he continued to visit Balkan countries over the years, meeting families with their own rakija traditions and hauling bottles back home to San Francisco. Gould learned what the rakija “industry” had long been: almost entirely homemade. There were a few mass-produced brands in stores, but he says they’d lost much of the quality by skipping past local ingredients and traditional production methods.
“With rakija, the higher the quantity, the lower the quality,” Gould says. “And I wanted to bring the highest quality stuff here to the U.S.”
When he spoke with consultants in the spirits business, he realized they weren’t sure what rakija was—so he knew there would be opportunity. “It was strange to me that there’s this spirit enjoyed by 60 million people, it’s part of their lives, and none of that has made it here,” Gould says. “Anything that has made it is industrially produced, and no one’s really connecting with that.”
So, he set out to build a brand that would introduce American consumers to authentic rakija. Fortuitously, this was around the same time a younger generation in the Balkans was starting to discover the spirit and its heritage. That led to a fresh crop of distillers who began making rakija as a point of pride but also as something commercially viable.
Gould says he sampled 25 to 30 different producers before partnering with Veroljub Urošević, who distills out of a barn atop Goč, a mountain in central Serbia. Urošević and his small team, Gould says, “had the technical expertise to understand how to do things in small stages, growing without changing the recipe and what we were doing. … The demand goes up a little bit each year, and we actually try to keep a lid on that, so it doesn’t get out of control. We just keep making small, gradual upgrades to the distillery.”
Coric says he feels confident that the United States is ready for rakija. He legally established Legende there in 2022, but he spent another year working with his producer in Mostar, recalibrating the rakija’s recipe to taste the same after shipping.
Legende’s rakija is made from grapes, more common in Herzegovina. It stands apart from many homemade grape rakijas, which are often created with wine pomace, seeds, skin, and all—Legende’s team distills only the juice of freshly picked grapes. That results in a spirit that offers a ripe grape character but is clean overall.
Coric says he believes rakija is a viable candidate to become another classic white spirit, alongside vodka or gin. Legende is currently available in California and Australia, with plans for a New York launch in 2026 and one in Canada in the near future.
A Freshly Picked Spirit
Rakija’s flavor depends on the flavor of its fruit, and that fruit is distinctive to the Balkans.
“Rakija is produced without the addition of neutral alcohol, sugar, or flavorings, which means its quality depends directly on the quality of the fruit, the fermentation process, and the skill of the distiller,” says Aleksandar Senić, who represents the fourth generation of the family behind Emperus Distillery, founded in 1935 in Šumadija, Serbia.
That dependence on the fruit and the distiller centers the spirit’s flavor profile on the terroir of whatever fruit is used. “Just as agave defines mezcal or grapes define wine, specific fruit varieties and microclimates define rakija,” Senić says. “In the case of plum rakija, indigenous Serbian plum varieties and local growing conditions shape its aromatic profile, structure, and aging potential.”
Serbian plums, Senić says, yield lower volumes but provide more intense aromas and structural depth. Emperus has a farm of about 150 acres, with about a third of it devoted to growing plums. It’s their character plus that of the Serbian oak used for resting and aging that defines the distillery’s rakija.
Gould estimates that there are six endemic Serbian plum varieties used to make rakija. For Yebiga, they use Čačanka, which offers their desired flavor profile and holds up well in distilling. Harvest runs from August through September; the plums don’t ripen all at once. Gould describes a yearly working period of about six weeks, when plums are regularly gathered to be mashed and fermented immediately—when picked, their sugar content is at the perfect level.
In Herzegovina, Legende’s grape rakija gets the Blatina and Žilavka varieties, grown about 60 miles from the Adriatic Sea, almost 250 feet above sea level, and picked each September. Coric says they bring elements of minerality, a balanced acidity, and a floral aroma.
Tradition Distilled with Modern Methods
For Emperus, Senić says they use only “healthy and aromatically mature plums.”
They also pit the plums to control any unwanted bitterness. “The plums are subsequently crushed into a homogenous mash with oxidation kept to a minimum,” Senić says.
When working to make true rakija of the highest quality, distilleries such as Emperus and those that produce Yebiga and Legende don’t add sugar; fermentation occurs spontaneously. When necessary, Senić says, “selected yeasts and enzymes are used to solely preserve and express the fruit’s natural aromatic potential, not to alter it.”
Courtesy Yebiga
Traditionally, rakija is distilled in copper. For Yebiga, Gould says Urošević insists on using a wood-fired copper pot still to remain true to the spirit’s tradition. At Emperus, Senić says the distillery made updates for improved consistency, stability, and efficiency in 2017, installing German distilling equipment but sticking with copper.
Aging approaches vary. Legende’s grape rakija isn’t aged but rests for at least one year in stainless steel. Yebiga has two products: Bela is unaged, Prva is aged for at least 18 months in barrels made from the Serbian wood, sessile oak (Quercus petraea). Emperus also employs sessile oak, aging different subcategories of its rakija for varying periods—the minimum is at least five years, while the Emperus Reserva Antica reaches 30.
Courtesy Emperus Distillery
The sessile oak provides “a slow and well-balanced transfer of aromas,” Senić says. “Unlike more aggressive oak types, it does not overpower the fruit character of the distillate but gradually builds upon it.”
Over time, the flavor profile develops with notes of dried fruit, nuttiness, subtle spice, balsamic, and even marzipan notes, all rounded and balanced with tannins that provide depth and length but not dryness or harshness.
The Road Ahead for Rakija
Emperus has an annual production capacity of about 80,000 gallons (300,000 liters), much of which feeds the aging program. Urošević’s distillery, meanwhile, can produce about 5,300 gallons (20,000 liters) per year. Yet both practice strategic, controlled growth, prioritizing quality control over volume gains.
“Production is carefully planned and aligned with available fruit supply, controlled fermentation capacity, and long-term aging space,” Senić says. “At this scale, we are able to maintain full control over every step of the process, from orchard management to the final bottled product.”
Like Gould, Senić says he’s seen a renaissance of rakija around the Balkans and even across Europe, as the next generation picks up the torch and takes the spirit from backyards to intentionally built distilleries. For context, there are 1,143 registered distilleries for rakija in Serbia alone, he says, compared to 243 distilleries in France’s Cognac region. Emperus has already expanded distribution footprint into Africa—apparently the first rakija distillery to do so—with plans to grow into Southeast Asia and the United States.
Courtesy Yebiga
Yebiga, meanwhile, is available in 14 states including New York, California, Illinois, and Texas. Legende is also at the start of its growth into the U.S. market. Both Gould and Coric note the crucial resource in the evolution of any spirit that’s new to the United States: bartenders.
While people in the Balkans typically enjoy rakija neat, American bartenders have been building new cocktails around it. While Coric says he sees some indifference to any new spirits in California, New York and some other markets are more eager for what’s next.
The community of bartenders and curious imbibers has led the slow but steady education process in the States, Gould says. In the past year and a half or so, he says, he’s encountered more potential accounts aware of and interested in rakija compared to when he was first launching Yebiga.
“Over the past decade, a noticeable shift has taken place,” Senić says. “As American consumers have become more open to authentic, regionally defined spirits—such as mezcal, agricole rum, and European fruit brandies—rakija has increasingly entered that same frame of reference. Its pronounced fruit character, strong sense of origin, and traditional production approach align well with the values that have shaped the American craft-spirits movement.”