Vodka
Vodka is typically a colourless liquor, usually distilled from fermented grain. The word is a diminutive of the Slavic word ``voda`` (woda, вода) for ``water.``
Except for various types of flavourings, vodka consists of water and alcohol (ethanol). Vodka usually has an alcohol content ranging from 35% to 50% by volume. The classic Russian vodka is 40% (80 proof). This can be attributed to the Russian standards for vodka production introduced in 1894 by Alexander III from research undertaken by the famous Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. According to the Vodka Museum in Moscow, Russia (moved from St. Petersburg), Mendeleev found the perfect percentage to be 38, but since spirits in his time were taxed on their strength the percentage was rounded up to 40 to simplify the tax computation. At strengths less than this vodka drunk neat (not mixed with other liquids) can taste `watery` and above this strength the taste of vodka can have more `burn`. Under US Federal law, the minimum alcohol strength of vodka is also 40% by volume, whilst in Europe the minimum is 37.5% by volume.
Although vodka is generally drunk neat in its Eastern European and Scandinavian homeland, its growth in popularity elsewhere owes much to its usefulness in cocktails and other mixed drinks, such as the Bloody Mary, the Screwdriver, the Vodka Tonic, and the Vodka Martini.
Etymology
The origins of vodka (and of its name) cannot be traced definitively, but it is believed to have originated in the grain-growing region that now embraces Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, and western Russia. It also has a long tradition in Scandinavia.
The word can be found in the Novgorod chronicle in records dated 1533, where the term vodka is used in the context of herbal alcoholic tinctures. A number of pharmaceutical lists contain the terms ``vodka of bread wine`` (водка хлебного вина) and ``vodka in half of bread wine`` (водка полу хлебного вина). As alcohol had long been used as a basis for medicines, this implies that the term vodka is a noun derived from the verb vodit’, razvodit’ (водить, разводить), ``to dilute with water``. Bread wine was a spirit distilled from alcohol made from grain (as opposed to grape wine) and hence ``vodka of bread wine`` would be a water dilution of a distilled grain spirit.
While the word could be found in manuscripts and in lubok (лубок, pictures with text explaining the plot, a Russian predecessor of the comic), it began to appear in Russian dictionaries in the mid-19th century.
Interestingly, peoples in the area of vodka`s probable origin have names for vodka with roots meaning ``to burn``: (Polish: gorzałka; Ukrainian: горілка, horilka; Belarusian: гарэлка, harelka; Lithuanian: degtinė; Latvian: degvīns, šņabis; Swedish: brännvin; in Russian during 17th and 18th century горящее вино (goryashchee vino, ``burning wine``) was widely used).
History
For many centuries beverages contained little alcohol. It is estimated that the maximum amount was about 16%, as only this amount is reachable by means of natural fermentation. The alembic still allowing for distillation – “the burning of wine” – was invented in the 8th century. The fluid produced by this method was used for the preparation of elixirs, widely valued in medicine.
The process of distillation was kept secret for a long time. The first description of a distilling apparatus comes from the 13th century. The device was later described by Arnold de Villeneuve, a university professor in Montpellier, in his treatise about wine. To produce beverages containing 60% alcohol with the device, the distillation process had to be repeated several times.
The process of distillation with alembic still was widely promoted throughout Europe by Dutch traders. In the 17th century they also played a great role in exchanging the various types of alcohols such as mead, wine, beer, and also the stronger ones such as rum, cognac, whisky and vodka, between the countries of their origin.
Poland
In Poland, vodka has been produced since the early Middle Ages. As early as the 8th century, peasants were making a crude alcoholic spirit by freezing wine. It is likely that the secret was brought to Poland by Italian monks. The first written record of vodka in Poland dates from 1405 in the Sandomierz Court Registry.
These early spirits were initially used as medicines. Stefan Falimierz devoted a chapter in his herbal, published at Kraków in 1534, to the distilling of vodkas, which were limited to use as medicines or cosmetics (aftershave or cologne). Falimierz asserted that vodka could serve ``to increase fertility and awaken lust.`` Wódka lub gorzałka (1614), by Jerzy Potański, contains valuable information on the production of vodka. Jakub Kazimierz Hawra, in his book Skład albo skarbiec znakomitych sekretów (A Treasury of Excellent Secrets, Kraków, 1693), gave detailed recipes for making vodka from rye.
Some Polish vodka blends go back centuries. Most notable are Żubrówka, from about the 16th century; Goldwasser, from the early 17th; and aged Starka vodka, from the 16th. In the mid-17th century, the szlachta (nobility) were granted a monopoly on producing and selling vodka in their territories. This privilege was a source of substantial profits. One of the most famous distilleries of the aristocracy was established by Princess Lubomirska and later operated by her grandson, Count Alfred Wojciech Potocki. The Vodka Industry Museum, now housed at the headquarters of Count Potocki`s distillery, has an original document attesting that the distillery already existed in 1784. Today it operates as ``Polmos Łańcut.``
Large-scale vodka production began in Poland at the end of the 16th century, initially at Kraków, whence spirits were exported to Silesia before 1550. Silesian cities also bought vodka from Poznań, a city that in 1580 had 498 working spirits distilleries. Soon, however, Gdańsk outpaced both these cities. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Polish vodka was known in the Netherlands, Denmark, England, Russia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Moldavia, Ukraine and the Black Sea basin.
Early production methods were primitive. The beverage was usually low-proof, and the distillation process had to be repeated several times (a three-stage distillation process was common). The first distillate was called ``brantówka,`` the second — ``szumówka,`` the third — ``okowita`` (from ``aqua vitae``), which generally contained 70–80% alcohol by volume. Then the beverage was watered down, yielding a simple vodka (30–35%), or a stronger one if the watering was done using an alembic. The exact production methods were described in 1768 by Jan Paweł Biretowski and in 1774 by Jan Chryzostom Simon. The beginning of the 19th century inaugurated the production of potato vodka, which immediately revolutionized the market.
The end of the 18th century marked the start of the vodka industry in Poland. Vodkas produced by szlachta and clergy became a mass product. The first industrial distillery was opened in 1782 in Lwów by Jan Baczewski. He was soon followed by Jakób Haberfeld, who in 1804 established a factory at Oświęcim, and by Hartwig Kantorowicz (1823) at Poznań. The implementation of new technologies in the second half of the 19th century, which allowed the production of clear vodkas, contributed to their success. The first rectification distillery was established in 1871. In 1925 the production of clear vodkas was made a Polish government monopoly.
After World War II, all vodka distilleries were taken over by Poland`s communist government. During the 1980s, the sale of vodka was rationed. After the victory of the Solidarity movement, all distilleries were privatized, leading to an explosion of brands.
Russia
The `vodka belt` countries of central and eastern Europe and Scandinavia are the historic home of vodka, and also have the highest vodka consumption in the world
A drink similar to modern vodka probably first appeared sometime in 15th–16th century. It was not originally called vodka — instead, the term bread wine was used. Until mid-18th century, it remained relatively low on alcohol content, not exceeding 20% by volume. It was mostly sold in taverns and was quite expensive: in 17th century, a keg (12 liters) of bread wine was estimated to cost as much as one and a half or two cows. At the same time, the word vodka was already in use, but it described herbal tinctures (similar to absinthe), containing up to 75% of alcohol, and made for medicinal purposes.
The first written usage of the word vodka in an official Russian document in its modern meaning is dated by the decree of Empress Elizabeth of June 8, 1751, which regulated the ownership of vodka distilleries. The taxes on vodka became a key element of government finances in Tsarist Russia, providing at times up to 40% of state revenue ([1]). By the 1860s, due to the government policy of promoting consumption of state-manufactured vodka, it became the drink of choice for many Russians. In 1863, the government monopoly on vodka production was repealed, causing prices to plummet and making vodka available even to low-income citizens. By 1911, vodka comprised 89% of all alcohol consumed in Russia. This level has fluctuated somewhat during the 20th century, but remained quite high at all times. The most recent estimates put it at 70% (2001).
Today
Vodka is now one of the world`s most popular spirits. It was rarely drunk outside Europe before the 1950s, but its popularity spread to the New World by way of post-war France. Pablo Picasso once said ``The three most astonishing things in the past half-century were the blues, cubism, and Polish vodka.`` By 1975 vodka sales in the United States overtook those of bourbon, previously the most popular hard liquor, and the native spirit of that country. In the second half of the 20th century, vodka owed its popularity in part to its reputation as an alcoholic beverage that ``leaves you breathless,`` as one ad put it — no smell of liquor remaining detectable on the breath.
According to The Penguin Book of Spirits and Liqueurs, ``Its low level of fusel oils and congenerics — impurities that flavour spirits but that can contribute to the after-effects of heavy consumption — led to its being considered among the `safer` spirits, though not in terms of its powers of intoxication, which, depending on strength, may be considerable.`` (Pamela Vandyke Price, [Harmondsworth & New York: Penguin Books, 1980], pp. 196ff.)
Russian culinary author William Pokhlebkin compiled a history of the production of vodka in Russia during the late 1970s as part of the Soviet case in a trade dispute; this was later published as A History of Vodka. Pokhlebkin claimed that while there was a wealth of publications about the history of consumption and distribution of vodka, virtually nothing had been written about vodka production. Among his assertions were that the word ``vodka`` was used in popular speech in Russia considerably earlier than the middle of the 18th century, but its meaning both before and during that century differed from the present use, and for this reason the word did not appear in print until the 1860s.
This article is based entirely or in part on the
Vodka wikipedia article
and is licenced under the terms of the
GNU Free Documentation Licence.
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Rose and Crown Vodka
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