Making honey, fruit vodkas, and delicious family recipes

Hello, my name is Sergey, and I am a joyful person living in a peaceful village of Odzun in the Lori region. People in Lori are known for their specific sense of humor, the folklore says that we are naïve people, but I don’t buy it. We love eating, drinking and getting together with family and friends. Who doesn’t? Like many other people living in a village, I also make my own spirits, and you can be a part of the process, where I demonstrate the technology and tell you about my own way of distillation. Note, this is not a simple vodka you might find in other places. This is a thick fruit extract that has gone through more than four stages of filtration. So, in a way, we can call it a fermented vodka. 

I have been a beekeeper for years and learned the language of these hardworking creatures, I learned to be consistent in my work just like them. If you happen to come to my place during specific months, I can demonstrate how to open the beehives, to decant the honey, and interact with bees without being stung. We can taste the honey, the spirit distilled from it and also enjoy it with the wild herbal teas harvested from our garden. If you have a big appetite, we can have a great time around the fire and make barbeque in Armenian style. We can also organize a Wild Table for you – drive you up to the forests and serve a restaurant-level meal with a set menu. 

Our family likes cooking together. We have a family dish that we learned from my grandma Zibeth, so it is called Odzun Zibeth. It is made with ghavurma – a special fried and canned meat, mixed with steamed vegetables and homemade sauce. This is my all-time favorite dish, connected with my childhood. 

Even though I am specialized in two fields – physics and economics, I am still open to learning new skills. In September 2022, I graduated from culinary academy, I was the oldest (but the youngest in heart) student of the group. That was my dream to become a licensed chef, so I achieved it, and now I am looking for another novelty to enrich my life.