The Spirit World

For many of us the name “Bison Grass Vodka” evokes images of grassy, rolling plains in the heartland of the United States. We picture herds of massive beasts grazing their way through the golden fields of grain as it blows in the breeze. While that is a great visual, Bison Grass Vodka or Żubrówka is actually a product of Poland.

Centuries ago the first Polish vodkas had problems with purity, leading to not-so-great flavors. In turn, this led the distillers, who of course wanted to sell their product, to disguise the purity issue by adding various herbs and spices to the process thereby, masking the off-flavors and fragrance. Bison grass was, and still is, a favorite ingredient for these herbal vodkas, even though today Poland’s mastery of triple distillation no longer requires any sort of disguise for the underlying spirit.

Bison Grass is particularly valued as it cannot be cultivated and so is only picked from wild stands whose locations are often kept secret and passed on to family members for harvest. Most grass (maybe all) is harvested from the Bialowieza Forest.

For years the sale of Żubrówka was prohibited in the US due to concerns that Bison Grass Vodka had drug-like qualities, probably due to the fact that bison are drawn to the stuff. Some also believe that bison grass has aphrodisiacal qualities. As with many things both of these claims seem to be based on beliefs more than hard facts. But I was told that the version of Żubrówka that we have here in the US is modified from what is available in Poland.

Since my liquor storage is already full to overflowing, instead of purchasing a bottle to sample I made my way to the Zig Zag Café where I sampled the vodka while talking with the owners Ben and Casey. This is not a heavily requested item at the Zig Zag - all the more reason I love these guys for actually carrying it!

I first tried a little of it straight up. It’s very strong but borders on sweet with almost a minty taste. It burned my lips a bit - served ice cold it is sweet but has a bite.

In Poland, if not consumed straight up, Żubrówka would most often be served with a bit of tart apple juice. Ben was out of apple juice so instead he made me one of their No Name cocktails substituting the Żubrówka for plain vodka. This cocktail combines Chartreuse and Cointreau with the vodka. In this combination the flavor of the Żubrówka was a bit lost but it added a flowery element to the cocktail. It was good!

Now, I actually starting researching this spirit several weeks ago but then got sidetracked with the series of limoncello posts. So a week or so ago I came across a featured drink at Barça that included Żubrówka - the Grass Skirt. The Grass Skirt combined Żubrówka, pineapple juice and Campari and then added an orange twist. I was a bit leery, thinking that the pineapple might make the mixture too sweet but, as I’d hoped, the dry taste of the Campari balanced it all quite nicely! It was a very refreshing cocktail!

I found the background information about this spirit fascinating. It’s one of those stories where history, agriculture and local tradition all come together to shape something. Today there are still elements of the old ways while the process and product have been improved with time. To learn more you can read this article from Waitrose Food Illustrated or check out the Bak’s Bison Grass Vodka website.