Cheers to boilo, a homemade Yuletide brew that’s part of coal region history
Making boilo, a holiday tradition for many families, is an integral part of coal region culture and heritage.
Ron Devlin | Pottsville Republican Herald
When an old family recipe for boilo recently surfaced, it wasn’t long before cousins Ryan Twardzik and Paul Domalakes whipped up a batch of the potent holiday drink.
“We made it for the first time the week before Thanksgiving,” said Domalakes, “and served it at a family gathering.”
The rediscovery of the recipe, a rare 100-year-old formula that includes the aromatic spice cardamom, reestablished a link to the northern Schuylkill County family’s past.
“It was a connection we didn’t even know existed,” said Domalakes, 31, a production supervisor at a seed company in Pottsville.
Making boilo, a holiday tradition for many families, is an integral part of coal region culture and heritage. Immigrant miners from Lithuania and Poland are credited with developing the brew in the late 1800s and early 1900s. While it is a derivative of the Polish honey liqueur krupnik — krupnikas in Lithuanian — boilo has a character all its own.
In her book “No Wrong Way to Boilo,” Amy Dougherty, of Orwigsburg, who writes as Amy Dee, says immigrant miners lacked the ability to distill krupnik, so they boiled a similar brew, thus the name “boilo.”
Though it draws a snicker when people say they take it for medicinal purposes only, Dougherty argues that boilo began as folk medicine, at least in part.
“Hard day in the mines? Boilo,” she writes. “Got a cold, the flu, coal dust got you down? Boilo.”
Michael Chaklos, 69, a retired Cartech worker who lives in Frackville, couldn’t agree more. It’s always been a staple in the family medicine cabinet, and his 92-year-old father, Francis, still enjoys an occasional shot.
“Boilo is the poor man’s Nyquil,” Chaklos said. “Put a shot of boilo in a cup of hot tea, crawl into bed under an extra blanket, and you’ll feel a lot better in the morning.”
Whose boilo is best?
Few in the crowd of more than 100 at the annual boilo contest in Friendship Fire Company No. 1, Frackville, it’s fair to assume, came to sample boilo for medicinal purposes.
An outsider might have thought it was bingo night at the firehouse on the evening of the day after Thanksgiving.
But it was boilo, not bingo, that had people lining up on both sides of long tables in the firehouse’s social quarters.
Friendship has sponsored a boilo making contest, a holiday tradition in northern Schuylkill County, for about 20 years.
Contestants in two categories, traditional and flavored, pay a $5 entry fee to have their boilo taste-tested by a panel of six judges. A winner is selected in each category, and there’s also a People’s Choice Award.
In repurposed whiskey bottles and large Mason jars, 13 traditional and 12 flavored boilos were entered this year.
Jason Witmier, a judge for about 10 years, said he looks for taste, color and aroma in deciding whose boilo’s best.
“The most important thing, though, is that it’s got to have some kick to it,” said Witmier, 50, a New Ringgold truck parts salesman.
At home, Witmier makes a traditional style boilo, using fruit, peppercorns and cinnamon sticks.
“You have to take your time making it,” he said, “and get the spices to cook really well.”
Brian Rose’s peach boilo won the contest about eight years back, but these days, he makes a pear-flavored brew.
Coal region boilo recipe
Boilo is a special Yuletide drink enjoyed by residents of the coal region for more than a century. There are many individual recipes for the drink, but here’s a basic formula for Coal Region Boilo.
Ingredients:
4 cups water
4½ pounds of clover honey
4 oranges quartered
3 lemons quartered
1 cup raisins
6 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon whole allspice berries
½ teaspoon whole cloves
Directions: Pour water and honey into a large pot over medium heat, stir to combine. Stir in orange and lemon quarters, raisins, cinnamon sticks, caraway seeds, allspice berries and cloves and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, and strain liquid into a large pot. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Slowly pour in the alcohol of your choice and stir to combine. Serve gently warmed in shot glasses.