Professional Chair 2014-2017

1951-2017

From the start of the National Pálinka of Excellence Program, from 2014 a number of experts have contributed to the successful implementation, yet one of them stood out with her professional knowledge and human quality: Gáborné Panyik dr. In 2017 she could not help our work.

She claimed her doctor title by the chemical and biochemical research of the effect of flor in the so called sherry (fino) process. From 1994 she has been working mainly with spirits and fruit-based spirits and started to teach on the field of drink’s technology. She became well-known as a theoretical and practical expert to the pálinka producers domestically and also internationally.
She started to work with pálinka, when it hasn’t been called pálinka yet. Her determination, sense of purpose and sacrificial work played a key role that the „cheap” drinks got pushed back and the Hungarian pálinka took its worthy place. Nothing proves better the fact, that the love of pálinka isn’t originated from her childhood, than an interview, she did few years back, which highlights her first experiences: „I still remember, when my grandfather always brought the home-made pálinka before Sunday´s lunch, and I as a child almost fell down from the chair just from the smell. The scent of the mixed fruit pálinka – for some people rather an ugly smell – I got to know forever.
I avoided pálinka for quite some time, but then I tasted quince pálinka, from that point forward we started to become friends.” She took an important professional role in preparing the protection of origin of pálinka.
From 2004 she was the president of the Pálinka Guild Association and also member of the Pálinka National Council and the Szatmár-Bereg Plum Pálinka Order from the beginning. From 2004 she was the professional leader of the HunDeszt Pálinka Competition.

The books written on pálinka are considered as work of standart in the trade. From 2010 she participated in numerous important researches, mattering pálinka, for instance the protected origin of pálinka and studied aromas related to the origin of pálinka. Her name is closely attached to working on the training theme of domestic pálinka judges.

There is not one pálinka expert in Hungary, who would not know her name and/or her work, as she played a crucial role in the pálinka master university degree, which faculty she also led.