Kontabas is a Ukrainian alcoholic beverage. In different regions this drink is known as Kantabas (the West of Ukraine), Kantabas and Kontabas (the Center of Ukraine), Kontabas and Konobas (the East of Ukraine). It is also mentioned in the Borys Hrinchenko's Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language, published in Berlin in 1924, according to which Kantabas is a kind of alcoholic beverage. If you drink kantabas, you will become drunk.

The earliest mention of the Kontabas dates back to the early 18th century.

Unlike beverages produced from fruits of blackcurrant, in Kontabas production blackcurrant buds are only used. That is why the recipe and the method of this potion getting cannot be translated into the plane of automation, and very little Kontabas can be made: the buds are collected manually to prevent the loss of essential oils, which makes the drink unique.

Kontabas is made on the basis of special high-proof distilled spirit; both the right way to make such distillate and the way of infusion are important to get true Kontabas. Therefore, due to the breach of distillate production technology and infusion, the Kontabas can not be infused for a long time. According to some recipes, the buds are infused for some time in distillate with following filtration of the drink – and the beverage is ready for consumption only after these manipulations.

Kontabas properties such as color and smell are even mentioned in fiction:

"An amazing potion of blackcurrant buds can only be tasted in April, if you are only not get lazy and make it yourself. With its pure emerald color and non-transferable aroma, this drink would have been the most precious of all the others. But unfortunately after a while its color converts from emerald-green into brown, like cognac; the drink completely loses the aroma of a young currant leaf and smells like god knows" (V. Soloukhin, "The Third Hunt").

In fact, the taste and smell of Kontabas, like any other alcoholic beverage, depend on the production technology. The factors that most influence these parameters are the blackcurrant sort, the time of the buds harvesting, the method of making distillate, the filtration method and the storage conditions of the product. Genuine Ukrainian Kontabas is most often deep brown, in the case of ripening buds it can be green, and under addition of twigs – purely brown.

The recipe for this drink is mentioned on the pages of Zinovia Klinovetska's book "Foods and Drinks in Ukraine" (1913):