Which country warrants the accolade of first producing vodka is unclear, however, the general consensus is that knowledge of distillation travelled north and then east from Salerno and thus perhaps Poland has the strongest claim. Russia can, however, lay claim as the first to export vodka with records showing a shipment to Sweden in 1505 and Poland’s first exports a century later.

In 1546 Polish King Jan Olbracht, exhibiting a remarkable degree of egalitarianism for the time, permitted all his subjects to produce vodka. Sadly, by 1572 the landed gentry revoked this, thus acquiring sole rights to both production and sale. The 18th and 19th centuries saw two big improvements: the discovery of charcoal filtration and the invention of the continuous still. The remarkable young Swede, Lars Olson Smith, emerged at this time. A prodigy, a distilling obsessive and a perfectionist, he had, before he was 20, successfully taken on the Stockholm establishment with his Absolut Rent Brannvin. Sweden’s first vodka from a continuous still was such a triumph that Smith had to invest in more distilleries and wheat fields in order to meet demand.

The 20th century was the era of state monopolies in Eastern Europe. In 1917 Russia, the Bolsheviks took everything into state ownership. This included the distillery which had previously held the Royal Warrant. Its owner, Piotr Smirnov—who later changed his name to Smirnoff—barely escaped with his life, and after exile in both Paris and America, two distinct styles of vodka emerged.

Eastern European vodkas always had some character; a taste of the raw material from which they were distilled. Smirnoff’s new set up in America produced completely neutral vodka which ultimately found huge success as a mixer—leaping to fame with the post-war Moscow Mule.

Over the last twenty years, and especially since the re-privatisation of distilleries in Russia and Poland, the global market has expanded. One has also seen the birth of premium and super premium vodkas from traditional countries and others, most notably France and the USA.

Vodka is a diminutive of the slavic word voda meaning water. Straight vodka is a pure spirit, distilled from anything containing starch or sugars to produce ethyl alcohol. With few exceptions it will be reduced, filtered and sometimes flavoured.

WHAT CAN BE ON THE LABEL?
Unlike many other famous spirits where quality is indicated by industry standard terms such as VSOP, branded quality names such as Paradis or simply age statements, the vodka drinker must look for different quality indicators on the label.

The most meaningful are:

• BRAND NAME: certain vodka’s have a residual taste from their original base-rye is the most distinctive.

• COUNTRY OF ORIGIN/DISTILATION: the country of origin will also influence the flavour, Polish producers favour rye, Russians wheat and so on.

• FLAVOURS: no two pepper or lemon vodkas are the same, again the brand influence and the flavouring ingredients will be different-get to know favourites by tasting.

• WHAT IS VODKA MADE FROM?
  What vodka is made from was initially determined by what was grown in the various producing regions which in turn gave rise to regional styles. Economics also often played a part in the decision-making process. Wheat, for example, has more starch than the others, thus producing more alcohol and resulting in lower production costs.

• WINTER WHEAT: prevailed in Sweden and some parts of Russia giving vodkas of delicacy with undertones of aniseed and a subtle, layered, almost textured, creaminess.

• RYE: the grain of choice in Poland and other parts of Russia giving more pungent vodkas with a distinct peppery kick on the finish; they have a subtle nutty middle palate with good body.

• BARLEY & OATS: impart a smooth, nutty character to the vodka.

• CORN: used in the USA and other countries, often when the distillery also produces whiskies.

• MIXED GRAIN: a blend of different grains whose sum is, in the opinion of the producer, greater than the total of the parts.

• POTATOES: new to Europe at the time that these traditions were springing up; however, by the 19th century special high-starch varieties were grown near the Baltic Coast for the purpose of making vodkas; they have a rich, oily creaminess and are full-bodied.

• MOLASSES: obtained from sugar cane or sugar beet and used in neutral and inexpensive vodkas.

• GRAPES: wine rectified through distillation until almost all of the initial character has been lost.

FLAVOURED VODKA
Flavoured vodkas are often thought of as a modern trend. However, it was the way in which vodka was originally drunk. Centuries ago the understanding of distillation was not what it is today-nor was the quality of raw materials-which resulted in a virtually undrinkable spirit full of toxic elements and excessive fusels. Flavouring was one way of making it palatable and more pleasing aromatically. Nowadays, in order to flavour vodka a producer can either choose the cheaper option of adding extracts or the quality route of macerating the flavouring ingredients in the vodka at an ambient temperature. Some ingredients yield unique flavours, others labelled simply with one flavour may be totally different from another. In some instances the flavourings, such as honey or fortified wines, are added in a blending process just before bottling, in others the flavoured vodka is aged in cask.

The most popular are:

• LEMON , LIMMONAYA OR CYTRYNOWKA: traditionally made from lemon peel, leaves or a combination of both.

• PEPPER, PERTSOVKA , OR PIEPRZÓWKA: made with anything from black pepper to chillies.
  BLACKCURANT, KURANT: made with blackcurrants.

• Others from Russia and Poland include:
  ŽUBRÓWKA: flavoured with bison grass and then bottled with a single glass blade in each bottle.

• JARZEBIAK: flavoured with rowanberries.

• KRUPNIK: flavoured with honey and spice.

• STARKA: flavoured with sweet wine, brandy, port and sometimes the leaves of apple and pear trees.

• ŽYTNIA: flavoured with apple and plum spirits.

HOW IS IT MADE?
The first requirement is to convert the starch to sugar in order to effect an alcoholic fermentation. Grains are milled and potatoes shredded thus releasing the starch. Whatever the raw material, it is then cooked in hot water thereby breaking up the starch, which enzymes then convert to sugar. Yeast is then added, converting the sugar to alcohol, resulting in a wash of normally below 10 % abv. Primarily this wash contains ethyl alcohol; however aldehydes, fusels, esters and acids are also found; these combine to give nose and palate and are known as congeners.

Today, the vast majority of vodkas are produced in column stills. Alcoholic distillation works on the basis that alcohol, with a boiling point of 78.3 ˚C, is more volatile than water and thus when an alcoholic wash is heated, the alcohol vapourises first. In this simple diagram, the wash is introduced into the rectifier and heats up as it flows downwards, it then enters the analyser where it meets the hot steam and begins to vapourise. The vapours then flow back into the rectifier where the distiller collects the portion he wants at the un-perforated spirit plate.

It is worth noting that the congeners have different boiling points too and as the vapours rise through the rectifier the congeners are separated; therefore, the higher the number of rectifications, the purer the spirit may be.

Filtration is vodkas equivalent of cask maturation; it tames the spirit’s power, ideally replacing it with mellowness and balance. Generations of experience have shown that charcoal from either silver birch or alder, which has been steamed or treated chemically, is one of the best mediums. This activated charcoal is extremely absorbent. Limousin charcoal, however, has recently been used to very good effect in France and quartz sand is also used in many countries.

Filtration is usually effected by pumping through columns containing the filtering medium; however, cheaper vodkas may simply gravity feed through a tank of it. Although it is less expensive, channels start to form with this latter method, reducing the filtration’s effectiveness. The vodka can also be reduced in many stages during the filtration process to help marry the demineralised water and the spirit.