What is vodka?
What kind of alcohol is vodka and where did it come from? We're here to answer your questions.
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Vodka is alcohol in its purest form. Though it’s usually made from grains or potatoes, vodka can be distilled from anything: honey, molasses, and even milk. The word comes from Slavic languages and literally means ‘little water’ so it's connected to other European terms for distilled spirits like aqua vita, eau-de-vie and uisge beatha (which all mean water of life). Like these spirits, vodka dates back to the 14th century when distillation methods arrived in northern Europe from the Arab world.
The origins of vodka
Its origins probably lie in modern-day Russia or Poland though similar spirits would have been distilled all over the world. Early whisky and early vodka would not have been so different - both would have been pot distilled from cereals. Vodka before the modern age would have been nothing like the high-purity spirit we know today.
Things changed, however, with the invention of continuous stills like the Coffey still, unveiled in 1830, which made it possible to make high-strength alcohol cheaply and efficiently. Gradually vodka became closer to what we know now as vodka. By 1850, the city of Poznan alone had almost 500 distilleries. Archival records from the agricultural society in Warsaw revealed Scotland was seen as a source of farming knowledge. Scottish farmers even migrated to Poland, bringing with them an understanding of distillation and malting practices, and many set up their own agricultural distilleries. The distilling process associated with Scotch whisky and beer making was once at the heart of the Polish vodka tradition.
The big change came in 1895 when Tsar Alexander III of Russia made vodka production a state monopoly and utilised modern production methods to make a much purer spirit. The industry became so vast that by 1914 a third of the state’s income came from the sale of vodka.
Vodka is made all over the world at huge volumes
At the time the Russian empire encompassed much of present-day Poland, Ukraine, and Finland, and this high-strength spirit became the model for vodka. It’s hard to imagine now but until the 1950s, vodka was really only drunk in its East European and Scandinavian heartlands. Vodka was considered quite exotic in the US and Western Europe but by the 1980s it was the one of the bestselling spirits in both markets, and truly global drink with brands such as Smirnoff, originally Russian but made in America and Britain, Absolut from Sweden, and Stolichnaya, a Russian brand that is now made in Latvia.
Nowadays to be labelled as vodka by EU and UK regulations it must be made from ethyl alcohol derived from agricultural produce. That ethyl alcohol must be distilled to a minimum of 96% ABV. The US has similar legislation but the alcohol only needs to be distilled to 95% ABV. This is then diluted for bottling. In the EU and UK, the finished product must not be less 37.5% ABV.
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