Dragić Gajović’s brandy from Guberevac was named the best out of 76 evaluated at the Best Serbian Plum Brandy Review, held for the 13th time at the Fruit Institute in Čačak. Only the brandies that had proven their top quality in the previous year at numerous regional events throughout Serbia and had been awarded with large golden medals for quality were eligible to participate. The now famous event is organized by the leading Serbian institution for creating new plum varieties and studying the quality of the national alcoholic beverage, in collaboration with the city of Čačak. Among the plum brandies whose quality was evaluated in the previous year throughout Serbia – in Gornja Trepča, Osečina, Užice, Blace, Topola, Baljevac, Aranđelovac, Sočanica, Rača, Gračac, Pranjani, Kragujevac, Apatin, Gornja Trnava, Ljutovo, Vojvoda Step, and on Avala, 76 samples were qualified for the final showcase in Čačak.
According to senior scientific associate at the Fruit Institute, Dr. Branko Popović, this event completes the story that connects the plum growing region of Čačak and the entire plum growing Serbia. Besides the 18 plum varieties created at the institute in Čačak, many of which are widely used in our country and around the world, this scientific institution continuously works on preserving old varieties of this fruit, which are the foundation of the recognizable quality of the national strong alcoholic beverage.
The expert commission determined that, in the previous year, the best plum brandy in Serbia was produced and aged for 15 years by Dragić Gajović from Guberevac. Following him are brandies from the granddaughter and grandmother – Jovana Bojović from Čačak and Gordana Minić from Trepča, who won second and third place. Among the top ten are also brandies from the „Želja“ Cellar in Nanomir, as well as brandies from Nikola Tasić and his father Stojan Tasić, brandy producers from Aranđelovac. „Minićeva Kuća Rakije“ from Trepča and Ilija Rudić from Borča share 7th and 8th place, while Batica Stefanović from Vlasotince is in 9th. Additionally, another plum brandy from Ilija Rudić is among the top ten. Serbian plum brandy has been inscribed on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity thanks to this Čačak event.
