Vodka began life as medicine, and even cosmetic cleanser, in Poland
The word wódka first shows up in 1405, in court records from Sandomierz in Poland, and it meant chemical preparations such as medicines and cleansers for cosmetics. A 1534 herbal went further, claiming the spirit could boost fertility and awaken lust. Only later did the little water become a drink poured for pleasure.
The name is a diminutive of the Slavic word for water, so it means roughly little water. Many neighbouring languages instead use words rooted in burning: Polish gorzała, Ukrainian horilka, Lithuanian degtinė, Finnish paloviina. Poles and Russians both claim the invention, and surviving evidence is thin. Early versions looked, smelled and tasted different from today's spirit and held perhaps 14 percent alcohol at most.
Polish production grew large by the end of the 16th century. Kraków exported spirits to Silesia before 1550, and Poznań counted 498 working distilleries in 1580, though Gdańsk soon outstripped both. Makers distilled three times, and the final pass, okowita, from the Latin aqua vitae, reached 70 to 80 percent before being watered down. By the late 18th century some producers experimented with odd bases, even carrots. J. A. Baczewski opened the first industrial distillery in Lwów in 1782, and Wyborowa appeared in Poznań in 1823.
In Russia, Genoese envoys presented aqua vitae to Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy in 1386, and monks reportedly adapted the technique. Early names included bread wine and burning wine. Ivan III created a state monopoly in 1474, and by 1505 Russian spirit was being shipped to Sweden. Government taverns called kabaks replaced private ones, and an English ambassador, Giles Fletcher, noted the rent they brought the crown. An imperial decree of 8 June 1751 is the first official Russian use of the word in its modern sense. Spirit taxes at times supplied up to 40 percent of Tsarist state revenue, and when the monopoly was lifted in 1863 prices collapsed.
Standard strength has been 40 percent since the 1890s. The European Union accepts 37.5 percent, the United States demands 40. Across the vodka belt, from Iceland to Ukraine, it is usually drunk neat and freezer cold. Sweden's plain brännvin was rebranded vodka from the 1960s, starting with Explorer, created in 1958 for Americans who never took to it.
Source: Vodka
