Pălincă — double-distilled plum brandy — is the spirit of Maramureș in every sense. Almost every village family with an orchard makes it, and many have small licensed distilleries (called cazane) where the autumn's plum harvest is processed in October. The result ranges from rough and immediate to something that, with a few years of resting in oak, develops real complexity and warmth.
The easiest way to try good pălincă is simply to stay in a village guesthouse, where the hosts will produce their own at the beginning of meals, sometimes from labelled bottles, sometimes from unlabelled ones that are better. Some families also sell bottles to visitors; ask your host, or look for hand-lettered signs on farmhouse gates.
In October, when the distilleries are running, the smell of plum mash drifts through the valleys and you may be able to watch the distillation process. The tradition is deeply local — recipes and techniques are passed between generations and treated as family knowledge. If someone offers you their homemade pălincă, accept it. It is the proper introduction to the place.