DID YOU KNOW...

...THAT VODKA WAS INITIALLY USED AS A MEDICINE?

Vodka, you would think, is vodka. It has made its name by being the perfect partner for any mixer, flavourless, but with an alcoholic kick. When you look at the subject however, you find that true vodka is anything but tasteless. The best of the vodkas make you look differently at spirits. To get to grips with quality vodka requires you to open your mind to whispers of aroma, nuances of flavour.

Origins

Poland is the best place to start when looking at vodka's history. It may not please Russians or Swedes, but there is convincing evidence that the secret of distilling (wine initially) filtered into Poland from the West and spread from there into Russia and the Baltic States. Peasants in the eighth century were making a crude alcoholic spirit bv freezing wine, though the first written record of a spirit made from grain comes in 1405.

 

These early spirits were initially used as medicines. Their usage was limited either to cures or: "for cleansing the chin after shaving [or] rubbed on after washing in the bath". Even in its earliest incarnation, vodka was being used as something rather stylish - an aftershave or Cologne. It was claimed that not only did vodka make people smell nicer, but it also could be used "to increase fertility and awaken lust". These early vodkas wouldn't have been the clear, neat spirit we know today. They would have been spiced up with infusions of herbs, roots, spices and exotica like marzipan, almonds and sugar. The Polish pharmacies of their time were more like cafes, where people came to take their medicine and have a chat.

Ingredients

Neutral spirit can be made from anything that contains starch - vodka can be made from molasses, sugar beet, potatoes, rye, wheat, millet, maize, whey and even rectified wood alcohol. Most basic commercial brands these days will use molasses, but premium vodkas, however, need to retain the finer qualities of their raw material - and the best are made from either grain or potato. Vodka seems to be the simplest liquor. In reality a host of factors influence the quality of vodka - proper raw material and technology for producing raw spirit, the effectiveness of spirit purification and water quality."

 

Of the widely available premium vodkas today, Absolut and Altai are made from winter wheat, Moskovskaya is a classic Moscow rye (although Stolichnaya also uses wheat), while Luksusowa and Chopin are potato spirits. Rye gives bite and weight, wheat a delicacy, while potato gives a distinctive creaminess to the spirit.

 

Distillation and rectification are so efficient that they have also removed the trace elements that give premium vodka its character. Absolut at this stage is indeed absolutely pure-so pure, in fact, that it tastes of nothing. What they have to do is put flavor back in by blending a spirit that's been distilled at a low strength, along with some vodka that has been aged in wood.

 

Wyborowa Polish Vodka

Very clean and crisp. Light lime with good weight behind. Soft and

full on the nose, with some creamy weight. Fine grip and a hot finish.

A cracking vodka.

 

price: $15.37

 

 (information taken from Spirits & Cocktails

by Dave Broom)

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