Vodka guides

What is vodka?

What kind of alcohol is vodka and where did it come from? We're here to answer your questions.

Contributed by

Adam O'Connell, writer at Master of Malt

Henry Jeffreys, editor at Master of Malt

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

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.