National Vodka Day has been celebrated in the United States since 2009. national day dedicated to the cereal or potato distillate originating from Eastern Europe. We have explored its history, production and use in mixing.
History
We still don't know today whether it is of Russian or Polish origin - we still speak of vodka in Russian or wódka in Polish - but what is certain when we talk about vodka is that the first products were based on cereals and not potatoes. The reason is easy to say: potatoes, as Fulvio Piccinino writes, became a common food on European tables only in the eighteenth century, since they arrived following the discovery of America, dated 1492.
The first written evidence of this distillate, with the term wódka, was in 1405 – in a register from Sandomierz, at the time the seat of the Government of the voivodeship of the same name. Here, vodka was called “acquetta” (little water) for its crystalline appearance and, ironically, for its rather high alcohol content.
The first written recipe dates back to just 25 years later, by the monk Isidoro. The raw material was bread and the alcohol content did not exceed 40% ABV. Production was already flourishing a century later, in 1520, when in Danzig, a region now German, there were about 60 registered vodka distilleries. The production of this distillate grew even more in the following century, thanks to the code of Tsar Alexis which authorized noble landowners to small private productions.
If at the end of the 19th century vodka became what we drink today, if we know this distillate all over the world, we owe it mainly to two factors.
The first is the Russian Revolution of 1917, which saw the Bolsheviks rise to power. The communist regime imposed a mass purge, which would also involve important distillers, who emigrated and made the drink known throughout Europe. This is the case of Smirnoff, which moved production to Poland, but also of Keglevich or Eristoff.
The second is the worldwide success of Casino Royale, a novel by Ian Fleming that started the trend of the Vesper Martini, a Martini prepared with vermouth and vodka instead of gin. A few years later, again according to Piccinino, cocktails like the strawberry Caipiroska will decree the success of this distillate.
Production
The production of vodka is quite simple and fast. The starch present in potatoes or cereals must be split into monosaccharides, or simple sugars, from which fermentation can arise. To activate the splitting it is necessary to malt the cereals, as for beer, or for whiskey.
After that, you can proceed to the distillation of the simple sugars. The result must be a liquid with a maximum of 96.4% ABV.
There are no real laws about distillation. Each producer is free to choose the still he wants. However, column stills are always preferred, effective for obtaining a pure and alcoholic result, such as vodka.
There are two more steps before bottling. The first is filtration, which is commonly done on paper or activated carbon. The goal is to eliminate any unwanted aromatic notes. The second and final step is dilution with distilled water, until reaching an alcohol content between 37.5% and 60%.
Use in mixing
Although it can also be consumed pure, cold but not too cold, in flared glasses specifically designed for the distillate, vodka is commonly consumed in the form of cocktails.
In addition to the cocktails already mentioned, the success of vodka has been and still is determined by the Bloody Mary, with vodka, tomato and lemon juice, Tabasco, Worcester sauce, celery salt and pepper, the Cosmopolitan, with lemon vodka, Cointreau, lime and cranberry juice, the Moscow Mule, with Smirnoff vodka, ginger beer and lime juice, the Black Russian and the White Russian, respectively with vodka, coffee liqueur and the addition of cream, the Screwdriver, with vodka and orange juice, and the Sex On The Beach, with vodka, Peach Schnapps (peach liqueur), orange juice and cranberry.