A cognac, but for trademark reasons it couldn't be called that. So instead of konjak (which has weird connotations anyway, as konj means horse in serbian et al), vinjak was invented. It was my first stiff drink ever, from a grandkid, i.e. a 1dl or 0,5dl miniature bottle, of the kind that were sold on kiosks. Still sold like that, the bottles being plastic now, back then it was glass and the sheet metal stopper, just like on the liter.
It was a drink in fashon from the sixties into the nineties, don't know about later. It's trecherous, because it is a bit weaker than rakija, and it is smooth, but the wood does its job, as it's a distillate of worse wine, redeemed by sitting in oak barrels, and many have developed a close relationship with it and progressed into chronic alcoholics (notornjak, from notorious). Of one of belgrade bohemes it is known that he forbade any presence of vinjak at the table where he sits, because he's already lost four friends to it, they moved to the tavern in heaven.
Upon return from the US, I bought a liter of Rubin's, for old times' sake. After three years, there was still half of it. After seven, less than half and moved into a smaller bottle. After eleven, same.
Actually, she needed the bottle for something so she just dumped it. So we thought until november of 2024 when we found she poured it into an unmarked half liter bottle. Didn't try it, just put it into the next batch to distill.
20-XI-2019 - 15-IV-2026