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Archive: the Bokobsa distillery

200 years of savoir-faire

Bokobsa: the legend

  1. 1815 — How it started
    1815

    How it started

    Yaakov Bokobsa had once lived in the Bokob village, which was part of the Russian Empire. He was a distiller of vodka (an “eau-de-vie”), but due to his poor health he had to move south towards a warmer climate. He left the village with his only possession, a mobile distillery, and relocated to Tunisia, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire.

  2. 1819 — Tunisia
    1819

    Tunisia

    Yaakov settled in Tunisia. As figs were growing very largely at the time in Tunisia, he tried to produce an eau-de-vie made out of them. Luckily, it came out very well.

  3. 1820–1860 — The heritage
    1820–1860

    The heritage

    Yaakov had two sons, Leon and Shalom. He taught them how to produce a very good eau-de-vie made out of figs, and passed on all his savoir-faire.

  4. 1870 — The secret
    1870

    The secret

    Abraham Bokobsa made the distillation of figs an industry. He invented a new process of distillation, which led to the recipe that is secret and still the same today. Boukha Bokobsa became Tunisia’s national drink: a legend was born.

  5. 1890 — The iconic bottle
    1890

    The iconic bottle

    Jacques was sent to France to study modern methods of distillation. He brought back a square bottle that became the reference for the Boukha category.

Boukha

Why the name Boukha?

There have been many stories regarding the origin of the name Boukha. Many have said that it stems from “steam of alcohol” in Arabic, although the explanation is much simpler.

Once Yaakov Bokobsa managed to produce his eau-de-vie from figs, he naturally called it vodka. In Russian, vodka is spelled водка. As Tunisians could not read Russian, the word was soon pronounced “Bouka”, then “Boukha”.

водкаBoukaBoukha

Bottle of Boukha Bokobsa on a mosaic

A unique taste

Boukha is an eau-de-vie. Eau de vie, or aqua vitae, was discovered in the Middle Ages by alchemists who wanted to create an elixir of long life. It was long credited with medicinal virtues — with some reason, as the strength of most eaux-de-vie made them excellent antiseptics.

An eau-de-vie is an alcoholic drink obtained by the fermentation and distillation of fruit. Almost every country has its own: Schnaps in Germany, Raki in Turkey, Tequila in Mexico, Vodka in Russia — and Boukha in Tunisia.

100% natural, Boukha Bokobsa is an eau-de-vie made from figs and distilled water.