>>Some people make it very very strong (double destillation) and that can indeed turn very bad. It sometimes literally hurts to swallow badly made shot of slivovica, and you can see people violently shaking head (or whole body) right after taking a shot.
>>Conversely when done right, sljivovica is indeed delicacy amongst drinks as it is 100% natural and made from real fruits. You can almost
>>smell and taste plums that it was made from.
>>
>>You were simply unlucky, have nice one next time :))
>
>Sounds like EXACTLY the experience I had. Thanks for the explanation :-\

It's a live process... the bacteria have to ferment the sugar into alcohol. There are about two dozen things that can go wrong, from using bad fruit, dirty vessels, overheating the still, not discarding the first 2% of the condensate (because methanol, if any, goes first), not discarding the last (when it goes below 18% vol), doing it at the wrong time (too early - fermentation still going on; too late - sour) etc etc. Then people have a dozen tricks to cover up what they screwed in the process.

Which is why I'd just repeat... actually, look for 'moonshine' under 'Serbia for beginners' below.