Grapamiel is a traditional Uruguayan liquor made from a mix of grappa and honey. Grappa is distilled from the solid grape residue after it is pressed for making wine. As Grappa is an Italian brandy, it is to figure out how it made it’s way to Uruguay with the huge Italian influence in the country. It is the national drink of Uruguay, although it is severely outnumbered by bottles of whiskey in all the stores.

As you can imagine, it is a fairly sweet liquor with about 25% alcohol. It is not readily available in the states except maybe some speciality liquor stores. Some websites say all one has to do is to mix grappa and honey and it will taste the same. We haven’t tried.

Our favorite brand of grapamiel, El Pirata!

There are a lot of brands of grapamiel. Some are more sweet and others have more grape flavor. Either way, grapamiel is super cheap. The above bottle of Pirata (about 1L) costs $7 US. We think it’s a great after dinner sipper and it should definitely be on everyone’s list to try if given the opportunity (e.g. if you find yourself in Uruguay or we bring some back for you)!