What is "horilka"

n. Ukrainian distilled spirit, sometimes flavoured with hot peppers.

Horilka (, ) is a Ukrainian alcoholic beverage. The word horilka may also be used in a generic sense in the Ukrainian language to mean vodka or other strong spirits and etymologically is similar to the Ukrainian word for burning - hority. Home-distilled horilka, moonshine, is called samohon (, literally ‘self-distillate’ or ‘self-run’ - almost identical to the ). Horilka is usually distilled from grain (usually wheat or rye), though it can, exceptionally, also be distilled from potatoes, honey, sugar beets etc. One type of horilka, called pertsivka , is horilka with chili peppers. Historically, outside Ukraine, pertsivka is generally referred to when people speak of horilka, although pertsivka itself is just one type of horilka.

It is believed that horilka was not as strong as today with about 20% alcohol by volume (40 proof). However, today nearly all industrially produced horilka is 40% (80 proof).