Vodka

Vodka is one of the world's most popular distilled beverages.

It is typically a colorless liquid containing ethanol purified by distillation from a fermented substance such as grain or molasses. Except for various types of flavorings, vodka consists of water and alcohol (ethanol).

Vodka usually has an alcohol content of 35% to 50% by volume. The classic Russian and Polish vodka is 40% (USA 80 proof). This can be attributed to the Russian standards for vodka production introduced in 1894 by Alexander III from research undertaken by the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. According to the Vodka Museum in Moscow, Mendeleev found the perfect percentage to be 38. However, 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': above this strength, the taste of vodka can have more 'burn'. Some governments set a minimum alcohol content for a spirit to be called "vodka". For example, the European Union sets a minimum of 37.5% alcohol 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 Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, and western Russia. It also has a long tradition in Scandinavia.

The word is a diminutive of "water" (voda, woda, вода) in some Slavic languages (such as Upper Sorbian), although it is not clear whether this is related to vodka.

The word can be found in the court documents from Sandomierz in Poland dating to 1405. 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", which, despite the similarity, doesn't have the same root as voda, but rather of vesti, voditi - "to drive".

Another possible source for the word vodka may have been the name of the medieval alcoholic beverage aqua vitae (Latin, literally, "water of life"), which is reflected in Ukrainian оковита, Belarusian акавіта and also яковита is Southern Russian dialects .

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 (prior purification of lithuanian language belarusian loanword arielka was used); Latvian: degvīns; Finnish: paloviina; Danish; brændevin; Swedish: brännvin; Norwegian: Brennevin (although the Swedish and Norwegian terms refer to any strong alcoholic beverage); 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 14% as only this amount is reachable by means of natural fermentation. The still allowing for distillation – “the burning of wine” – was invented in the 8th century.

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 a university professor in his treatise about wine. To produce beverages containing 60% alcohol with the device, the distillation process had to be repeated several times. The general knowledge about distillation was being slowly developed until 1800, when Edward Adam invented the process of rectification which removed its “bad taste”. Further changes were made in 1817 by Johannes Pistorius, a German brewer, who built the first machine which could produce a beverage containing 85% of alcohol in just one distillation. In Ireland in 1830 an apparatus was designed that could work continuously and allowed for production of beverage containing almost 90% of alcohol. A similar rectification machine, but working periodically, was for the first time used in 1852 in a brewery in Saint Denis by Pierre Savalle. The present-day distillation-rectification machines, designed in the 19th and 20th centuries, are essentially modernized versions of those devices. Currently, such machines can work continuously and produce beverages containing 95.6% alcohol without any taste or smell.

The process of distillation with 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.

Vodka List

• ABSOLUT-Sweden
• ABSOLUT CITRON - Sweden
• ABSOLUT KURANT - Sweden
• ABSOLUT MANDARIN - Sweden
• ABSOLUT PEPPAR - Sweden
• ABSOLUTE VANILIA - Sweden
• BELVEDERE - Poland
• BEYOND - United States
• BLAVOD - England
• BORU - Ireland
• BRILLIANT - Scotland
• CHARBAY BLOOD ORANGE - United States
• CHARBAY KEY LIME - United States
• CHARBAY MEYER LEMON - United States
• CHARBAY RUBY GRAPEFRUIT - United States
• CHOPIN - Poland
• CRATER LAKE - United States
• CRATER LAKE HAZELNUT ESPRESSO - United States
• CRISTALL MOSCOW - Russia
• DENAKA - Denmark 
• EXTREME CHERRY - United States
• FINLANDIA - Finland
• FINLANDIA CRANBERRY - Finland
• FINLANDIA LIME - Finland
• FRIS SKANDIA - Denmark
• GREY GOOSE - France
• GREY GOOSE LE CITRON - France
• GREY GOOSE L�ORANGE - France
• HANGAR ONE - United States
• HANGAR ONE CITRON - United States
• HANGAR ONE KAFFIR LIME - United States
• HANGAR ONE MANDARIN BLOSSOM - United States
• HANGAR ONE RASPBERRY - United States
• INFERNO PEPPER POT - Canada
• JAZZ TRUMPET - Poland
• JEWEL OF RUSSIA ULTRA - Russia
• KETEL ONE - Holland
• KETEL ONE CITROEN - Holland  
• KREMLYOSKAYA CHOCOLATE - Russia
• KROWLESKA - Russia
• KUTSKOVA - Russia
• LANCUT - Poland 
• LEVEL - Sweden
• LIQUID ICE (ORGANIC) - United States
• LUKSUSOWA - Poland
• LUKSUSOWA WILD BERRY - Poland
• MAGADANSKAYA (MAGGIE) - Russia
• MEZZALUNA - Italy
• MONOPOLAWA - Austria
• NORD - Poland
• PEARL - Canada
• PRAVDA - Russia
• PSHENYCHNAYA - Russia 
• RAIN - United States
• RED ARMY - Russia
• SKYY - United States
• SKYY BERRY- United States
• SKYY CITRUS - United States
• SKYY SPICE- United States
• SKYY VANILLA - United States
• SPUDKA - United States
• STOLICHNAYA - Russia
• STOLICHNAYA CITROS - Russia
• STOLICHNAYA GOLD - Russia
• STOLICHNAYA LIMONNAYA - Russia 
• STOLICHNAYA OHRANJ - Russia
• STOLICHNAYA PERSIK - Russia
• STOLICHNAYA RASBERI - Russia
• STOLICHNAYA STRASBERI - Russia
• STOLICHNAYA VANIL - Russia
• SVEDKA - Sweden 
• TANQUERAY STERLING - England
• TETON GLACIER - United States
• THE TALL BLONDE - Estonia
• THOR�S HAMMER - Sweden
• THREE OLIVES - England
• THREE OLIVES CHERRY - England
• THREE OLIVES CHOCOLATE - England
• THREE OLIVES GREEN APPLE - England
• THREE OLIVES ORANGE - England
• THREE OLIVES RASPBERRY - England
• THREE OLIVES VANILLA - England
• TURI - Estonia
• ULTIMAT - Poland
• ULTIMAT CHERRY - Poland
• VAN GOGH - Netherlands
• VAN GOGH CITRON - Netherlands  
• VAN GOGH DUTCH CHOCOLATE - Netherlands
• VAN GOGH ORANGE - Netherlands
• VAN GOGH WILD APPLE - Netherlands
• VIKINGFJORD - Norway
• VOLK KVINT - Russia
• VOX - Holland
• VOX RASPBERRY- Holland
• YOURI DOLGORUKI - Russia
• ZONE BANANA - Italy
• ZONE PEACH - Italy
• ZUBROWKA BISON - Poland