In 2003 the Russians celebrated 500 years of vodka being part of their lives. They regard their vodka culture as beginning the 15th century when monks began to distil a spirit using the grain that was abundant in the country. Since then, vodka has become at the heart of Russian life with glasses of lifted at weddings, births and funerals and the other moments of celebration and sorrow. So what exactly is vodka?
Vodka is an alcoholic beverage traditionally distilled from potatoes, grain or sugar beet molasses. Today's vodka may be made from other ingredients such as corn, wheat or rye. The actual drink is colourless but it can be flavoured with lemon, berry and pepper, for example. However under U.S. and European law, vodka must not have any distinctive aroma or flavour.
The word 'vodka' has been used to describe this type of spirit for centuries and most pundits agree it's derived from the diminutive of the word for water (voda). Over the centuries it's also been known as bread wine, korchma, burning wine, and bitter wine among others
Vodka is considered the best base liquor due to its lack of colour, taste or aroma. This makes it the perfect cocktail base for such famous tipples as the Vodka Tonic, Screwdriver, Cosmopolitan, and of course the celebrated Vodka Martini.
One of the attractions of vodka is the lack of after effects. This is due to the rigorous filtration process removing most oils and congeners. Vodka is a rectified spirit. This means it's distilled a minimum of three times and then filtered through charcoal. However its high spirit level means it packs a punch equal to Scotch whiskey or rum.
Though vodka is as quintessentially Russian as caviar, Faberge eggs and nestling dolls, other countries especially Poland claim credit for its creation.
Vodka is an alcoholic beverage traditionally distilled from potatoes, grain or sugar beet molasses. Today's vodka may be made from other ingredients such as corn, wheat or rye. The actual drink is colourless but it can be flavoured with lemon, berry and pepper, for example. However under U.S. and European law, vodka must not have any distinctive aroma or flavour.
The word 'vodka' has been used to describe this type of spirit for centuries and most pundits agree it's derived from the diminutive of the word for water (voda). Over the centuries it's also been known as bread wine, korchma, burning wine, and bitter wine among others
Vodka is considered the best base liquor due to its lack of colour, taste or aroma. This makes it the perfect cocktail base for such famous tipples as the Vodka Tonic, Screwdriver, Cosmopolitan, and of course the celebrated Vodka Martini.
One of the attractions of vodka is the lack of after effects. This is due to the rigorous filtration process removing most oils and congeners. Vodka is a rectified spirit. This means it's distilled a minimum of three times and then filtered through charcoal. However its high spirit level means it packs a punch equal to Scotch whiskey or rum.
Though vodka is as quintessentially Russian as caviar, Faberge eggs and nestling dolls, other countries especially Poland claim credit for its creation.