Vodka, the dominant spirit of Eastern Europe, is becoming more and more popular among bars and its guests around the globe. One does experience a clear ‘hype’ regarding this spirit, which encouraged us to explain the spirit, providing our readers with some interesting sites and also promoting the over 40 vodka brands at our bar ‘Drings’ at ‘The Ring, Vienna’s Casual Luxury Hotel’.

Vodka is made by fermenting and then distilling the sugars from a mash of pale grain or vegetal matter. Vodka is produced from grain, potatoes, molasses, beets and a variety of other plants. Rye and wheat are the classic grains for vodka, with most of the Russian vodkas being made from wheat although in Poland they are mostly made from a rye mash. Swedish and Baltic distillers are partial to wheat mashes.

Since vodka tends to be a neutral spirit, it lends itself to blending with flavors and fortifying other beverages. In the 19th century, high-proof ‘russian spirit’ was held in high esteem by sherry producers in Spain, who imported it to fortify their wines.

Flavored vodkas have been produced from the start, originally to mask the flavour of the first primitive vodkas, but later as a mark of the distillers skill. The Russian and Poles in particular still market dozens of flavors, some of the better known types are:

Kubanskaya, vodka flavoured with an infusion of dried lemon and orange peels. Zubrovka, vodka flavoured with buffalo grass, an aromatic grass favored by the herds of the rare European bison. Starka, also called ‘old vodka’, which can be infused with everything from fruit tree leaves to brandy, port, Malaga wine and dried fruit. Some brands are aged in oak casks. Pertsovka, pepper-flavored vodka, made with black peppercorns and red chilli peppers.

Where is vodka produced? Although the countries in Eastern Europe are famous for their vodkas, you also see an upcoming trend in countries like United Kingdom (Eristoff), the Netherlands (Ketel One, Effen, P.I.N.K., Van Gogh Vodka), Germany (Magic Crystal), in winemaking regions in France (Ciroc, Citadelle) and Italy (Roberto Cavalli), the US (Glacier, Purus, SKYY, Savvy, Square One – organic vodka) and Canada (Crystal Head, Pearl, Iceberg) produce non-flavored vodka, countries in the Caribbean and South America produce an amazing amount of vodkas (Amazon vodka from Brazil, Espiritu de Cana Vodka from El Salvador, Grandmaster Vodka from Trinidad and Tobago), all of it from molasses and Asia has a smattering of local vodkas, with the best coming from Japan (Kissui, Wokka Saki).

The history and significance of vodka…..the story is told that in A.D. 988 the Grand Prince of Kiev in what is now Ukraine decided that it was time for his people to convert from their pagan ways to one of the monotheistic religions that held sway in the civilized countries to the south. First came the Jewish rabbis. He listened to their arguments, was impressed, but ultimately sent them away after remarking that the followers of Judaism did not control any land. Next came the Moslem mullahs. Again he was impressed, both with their intellectual arguments and the success of Islam as a political and military force, but when he was told that Islam proscribed alcohol he was dismayed and sent them away. Finally the Christian priests came who informed him that not only could good Christians drink alcohol, but that wine was actually required for church rituals such as communion. That was good enough for the Grand Prince, and on his command his subjects converted en masse to Christianity.
The point of this historical anecdote is that the Slavic peoples of the north and their Scandinavian neighbours took alcoholic drinks very seriously. The extreme cold temperatures of winter inhibited the shipment of wines and beers, as these relatively low- proof beverages could freeze during transit. Until the introduction of distilling into Eastern Europe in the 1400s, strong drink was made by fermenting strong wines, meads, and beers, freezing them, and then drawing off the alcoholic slush from the frozen water.

The earliest distilled spirit in Eastern Europe was distilled from mead (honey wine) or beer and was called ‘perevara’. Vodka (from the Russian word ‘voda’, meaning water) was originally used to describe grain distillates that were used for medicinal purposes. As distilling techniques improved Vodka (Wodka in Polish) gradually came to be the accepted term for beverage spirit, regardless of its origin.

The worldwide web shows, besides numerous websites of the different vodka brands and vodka suppliers, some interesting and nice sites on vodka. Some examples are:

www.ivodka.com
the largest and most visited vodka information site. Here you find the diverse vodkas per country and per supplier. Keeps you really updated with regards to the ‘world of vodkas’.

www.vodka.com
a new website where one can become part of the first vodka community on the web.

www.vodkacocktailrecipes.com
a very nice site where one may find a large variety of vodka cocktails and corresponding recipes.

www.vodka-drinks.com
a site that features some nice vodka cocktails
and drinks but also explains how one can
produce its own vodka.

www.luxist.com
shows a nice posting on 7 of the craziest luxury vodkas.

www.drinkunique.com
shows a few nice and interesting postings on vodka.

At The Ring, Vienna’s Casual Luxury Hotel we operate a unique vodka bar called Drings, one of Vienna’s hottest day- and nightspots and since the opening in November 2007, Vienna’s most favourite vodka bar. Drings really comes ‘alive’ at night when guests do experience the unique selection of vodkas, at the moment more than 40. Take the brand ‘DIVA’, the first vodka that is filtered with bort, the brand ‘Kaufmann Privat Collection’ from Russia, ‘Absolut Level’ from Sweden, produced with the special ‘batch distillation’ and therefore ‘Absolut Perfection’, ‘Xellent’ from Switzerland, ‘Puriste’ from Austria or the ‘Roberto Cavalli Luxury’, the first vodka produced in Italy by the famous designer Roberto Cavalli. Experience ‘Heavy Water’ from Norway, where the ingredient water comes from a down-earth see…pure as it is. Taste ‘Siwucha’ from Poland, a very unique vodka and not that easy to get, ‘Siriously’ from Sweden where the design of the bottle is pure art, the unique brand ‘Monopolowa’ from Austria made from Austrian potatoes or ‘Mernaya’ from Ukraine which is produced out of bread.

Of course ‘Drings’ serves more than just only vodkas…..come and see what else we have, from usual to unusual drinks and cocktails…welcome to the world of vodka…welcome to ‘Drings’.

www.drings-bar.com
www.theringhotel.com