History of Vodka
The way vodka is manufactured is by allowing certain grains, fruits, and sugars to ferment so that they produce an intoxicating drink. Vodka has been around since ancient times. Fermentation is the chemical change of the yeast, bacteria, and mold in animal or vegetable organism. In the production of vodka, yeast enzymes act on the sugars in the mash (usually dextrose and maltose) and convert them to ethyl alcohol.
In the tenth century description of an Arabian alchemist named Albukassen first accounted distillation. Distillation was also mentioned in the writings of the thirteenth century Majorcan mystic Ramon Llull. Distillation is a heating and condensing process that drives gas or vapor from liquids or solids to form a new substance. Distilled spirits are also known as ardent (Latin for burn) spirits.
The meaning of the word Vodka
The most commonly held consensus regarding the origin of the word vodka is a diminutive of the word "voda", meaning water in Russian. The origin of the word vodka, can be found in a number of pharmaceutical lists.Vodka is mentioned in the context of being an alcoholic tincture. Another assumption is that alcohol has long been used for medicinal purposes, this fact might imply that the root of the word vodka, is the verb "vodit" which means "to dilute with water". It is interesting to note that people in areas where vodka is speculated to have originated from, have referred to vodka with different variations of the root "to burn".
Russians and Poles disagree as to which country was the first to distill and manufacture vodka. Most historians give Russia the credit. The drinking of vodka has been documented since the fourth century in eastern and northern Europe. In these regions, it was common to distill and manufacture Vodka to a very high content, eliminating any aroma or flavor. From the very beginning of the history of vodka, the Russian government exercised control over the trading of spirits. In the mid 16th century, the state taxed the selling of all Vodka spirits and created a monopoly over all trading of Vodka. The monopoly remained until 1989. Throughout the 19th and 20th century, liquor tax represented between 26% to 33% of all the Russian states revenue.
The invention of the Vodka Still
For many years the proof of alcohol in different beverages was very low. It was only in the 8th century when the still was invented.
Only in the 13th century we can find written records regarding the processes of distillation.The beverage produced by those early distillers had about 60% of alcohol proof. The distillation process and techniques slowly improved, and in the 18th century the process of rectification was introduced. Rectification is used to remove unpleasant taste caused by the distillation process. It was discovered that charcoal rectification, was a great way to mix and filter different by products created by the vodka distillation process. By 1830 a machine was invented that could work continuously and produce a beverage with 90% alcohol proof. The Dutch were the most prominent promoters of the distillation processes throughout it's early days.
The modern rectification-distillation machines are essentially based on those early inventions. Today it is possible to produce a product that contains 95.6% alcohol and is completely free of any taste or odor.
Vodka remained an eastern and northern European preference for centuries. In the 1930s it began to gain popularity in Western Europe and North America. A 1930 British publication, the Savoy Cocktail Book, was the first to include recipes for vodka drinks. The "Blue Monday" combined vodka with Cointreau and blue vegetable juice. A "Russian Cocktail" called for the addition of creme de cacao and dry gin to the neutral spirit.
Vodka in the 20th Century
The Smirnoff family distillery, one of the primary vodka producers, began business in 1818 in Moscow. A century later the distillery was producing one million bottles daily. However, after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, the family lost control of the business. In 1934, a Russian immigrant named Rudolph Kunitt, bought the American rights to the Smirnoff name. Kunitt opened a distillery in Bethel, Connecticut, and struggled along for five years, at best only producing 20 cases a day. He sold his business to the Heublein Company in 1939.
Heublein executive John C. Martin discovered that vodka was popular in the California film industry and he supplied these customers. In 1946, he met the owner of a Los Angeles restaurant, the Cock 'n' Bull, who was trying to get rid of a large stock of ginger beer. Since one of vodka's attributes is its ability to mix with almost anything, the two men experimented with a vodka and ginger beer concoction. They added a slice of lime, called their invention the "Moscow Mule," which was an instant huge success.
By the 1950s, Vodka was famous in New York as well. From 40,000 cases sold in the United States in 1950, vodka sales jumped to over one million in 1954. The following year, 4.5 million cases were sold. By the mid-1960s, vodka outsold gin; by 1976, it outsold whiskey. By the end of the decade, a martini was more likely to be made with vodka than with its original ingredient, gin. At the close of the twentieth century, vodka accounted for 25% of the distilled spirits produced and marketed.
