The Spirit World

The history of vodka is both very old, as well as very new. All around the world, the art of distilling was becoming somewhat common in the late 1400’s and early 1500’s. In Ireland and Scotland this took the form of “whiskey”, in Europe it took the form of “brandy”, in the Slavic countries it took the form of “vodka”. It is interesting to note that the term whiskey comes from the Gaelic “uisgebeatha”, which translates to “water of life”, brandy is often referred to as “eau de vie”, which also translates to “water of life”, and vodka in Russian means “little water”. Little water doesn’t quite seem to follow the same concept as “Water of Life” does, until you look closer at the overall origins of vodka production in Poland, where it was traditionally made by three separate distillations in a pot still. The first pass was called “brantówka,” the second pass was “szumówka,” and the third was “okowita” which is derived from the Latin “aqua vitae” which means… you guessed it “water of life”.

Today, virtually all vodka is made using what is known as a “column still”, which is far more efficient than the older style “pot still”. It is only through a column still that you can effectively obtain the purity of spirit that is the hallmark of modern vodka. There are some vodkas which say they are produced with a pot still, but in all cases I know, the bulk of their product comes from a column still, with only a small portion being distilled (and in some cases only re-distilled) via a pot still.

In the old days however, vodka was not as pure as it is today. In fact, the term vodka was once a fairly generic term that referred to any distilled spirit, thus you could distill from fruits, grains, or even milk, and would end up with vodka. These older products, since they were distilled using a pot still, couldn’t easily attain the virtually neutral state that we associate with vodka today. They might distill as high as 165 proof or so, thus rendering them indistinguishable from brandy if they were made from fruit, or whiskey if they were made from grain. The craftsmanship in vodka came about when distilling to higher and higher proofs became possible, thus eliminating more and more of the flavors of the original product. While vodka would still be the generic term, “white vodka” would be used to describe the product that had been distilled to almost pure alcohol. In Europe, it is still possible to find vodkas that haven’t been distilled to oblivion and thus retain some of the flavors of their original fermented mash. Here in America, our laws dictate that all vodkas are essentially odorless, colorless, and tasteless, thus making it extremely difficult (impossible) to find the European versions which still retain some of the flavor of the base product.

So what then exactly “is” Vodka? If vodka and whiskey can both be made from grains, what makes one product a vodka, while the other is a whiskey? It all boils down (no pun intended) to distillation purity. Whiskey, as well as other non-vodka spirits, are typically distilled to upward of 80% alcohol (160 proof), which is high enough to strip away most of the unwanted congeners, but still leave in some of the flavor characteristics of the original fermented product. Vodka on the other hand has to be distilled to at least 95% alcohol (190 proof), although most of the better vodkas are distilled to at closer to 97% alcohol (194 proof) which will strip away virtually all of both the congeners as well as the flavor components of the base product. If that Whiskey had been distilled above 160 proof, as it gets higher and higher in proof, it will lose its flavor characters, and the moment it crosses over to 190 proof it can no longer be called whiskey, but would have to be called vodka instead.

Today, vodka is the most popular of all of the spirits. This appeal is coming mostly from the fact that there is hardly any noticeable flavor in it, which makes it easy to blend into almost anything without having to worry about clashing flavors. This makes vodka a great product to get your introductions to cocktails and mixed drinks with. While gin, whiskey, tequila, rum, and brandy will bring in flavors that an inexperienced palate would find unfamiliar, vodka will only bring in the sharp bite of the alcohol, and thus make it easier to adjust to. I often refer to vodka as the “training wheels” of spirits, which will then allow people to bring in the other spirits gradually as they grow more accustomed to the various flavor profiles they provide.

Before we leave off with this topic, let’s deal with the potato versus grain issue of vodka. The bulk of vodka is made from grain, and while historically vodka has been made from virtually anything fermentable, grain has always been the most common. It was once even referred to as “bread wine”. It really doesn’t matter what you make vodka from flavor wise, since virtually all of the original flavor is going to be stripped out. What determines the flavor of a vodka is what happens to it after distillation and filtration. Because vodka has to be distilled to at least 95% alcohol, and since all spirits are bottled at about 40% alcohol (80 proof), that means that vodka consists of nearly 60% added water. It is also a common practice to add glycerins, sugars, and various other components in very slight amounts to bring some character to the otherwise neutral flavor. If a vodka wants to be perceived as being a potato vodka, they will add components that lend that character. This is not to say that all vodkas are essentially the same, the more premium vodkas are by far better than the lesser brands, this is because more craftsmanship is applied to the distillation process, which specifically focuses on obtaining pure ethyl alcohol (ethanol) while separating out the other undesired alcohols which are similar enough in structure to boil out at pretty much the same temperature (which is what distilling is all about). So while a cocktail can easily be made with any premium vodka without much difference, a “rot-gut” vodka will clearly make itself known with its rather unpleasant taste.