Happy saturday and heavy new year's eve sense for a lot of folks me, Receive is a native revelry and fun and spirits we're bringing our february eighteen, twenty nineteen episode of the history of vodka as today, saturday classic also we end this episode by talking about some household uses for vodka that do not involve drinking it and after it came out, we got a note from listener, megan, adding one more to the list. That is substituting vodka for half the water that goes into a pike restful make the crust flake ear totally mean to try that still happy new year. Everybody. I thank you so much for being with us over this past year. If you're headed out,

I to ring in the new year with some cocktails or beer or champagne or other alcohol. Please make sure to plan ahead for how to get home safely. So we can all have a safe start to the new year and enjoy this episode happy new year. welcome to stuff you missed in history class of production. Of I heart radio, hello and one under the contest. I probably find- and I'm tracy me with it cited and self serving, because today we're going to talk about my spirit of choice, as he as told me what you are researching I bought. This is gonna, be Holly's favorite episode ever sort of agreement. Would he give it some of the bleak step thick? I was with argos, so it's not all fun and games eyes.

I certainly enjoy cocktail, but obviously we are not advocating over imbibing drink responsibly. We just want to talk about the history of this drink and the store vodka is one that is really closely tied to cultural identity for several countries, but morgan, I examined wear it generated in how it evolved over time and how those identity sort of formed. I bet when I say vodka and country people automatically make a connection we'll talk about. Why that's the Ass were going to talk a little bit also about how vodka is made and then we'll get into the part about where it came from and how it has expanded to become really a global market focusing on those countries where it remains and has become most popular. And then we have to talk about some of the problematic aspects of vodka place in the world. But I promise

and in a fairly fun place. Yeah vodka is a little unusual in that it can be made from a lot of different things while still being considered vodka, which isn't so much the case with a number of other spirits. There are, of course, a lot of opinions and disagreements about just how far afield you can go in selecting the base ingredient, while still calling the resulting spirit, vodka yeah. This start some heated debates I discover we might be separate. It requires a sugar or starch element to begin with so most popular in russia and pull and as well as other countries, kind of in northern belt, our greens, potatoes or sugar beet molasses as the starting ingredient, There is actually an area, that's colloquially called the vodka belt which stretches from sweden to poland and that produce the majority of the vodka that is consumed in the european union and other places

there is a greater variability, including using things like corn and fruit and whether those things should be considered. Vodka was the matter of debate for some time, european, ruled on the matter in two thousand seven giving a. Why. a range of options for distillers all falling under this vodka umbrella, defining vodka as a spirit drink produced from ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin. Yes, you can, then, if you're feeling very, very ambitious and want to do some some juggling in baby sitting, you could even start a vodka from just sugar, although it's not really the recommended for general making is my understanding. I have never despair. Vodka myself. So I'm going by what I have read that ruling that we just talked about was basically not entirely popular for vodka purists. It really sick degradation to the spirit and the finnish

politician. Alexander stub made the case that vodka should be more specifically define. He said at that time quote: we have made vodka out of potato and grain for over five hundred years, when we became EU members in ninety ninety five, we were told that vodka would have a tight definition, just like rum, just like whisky, just like grandpa, we don't want vodka to be some kind of alcoholic wastebasket. I really like idea that, like it sounds almost like bear their becoming part of the EU. who was in some ways contingent on the definition of vodka. Yes, it's definitely part of what they were, they were agreeing to is that vodka would have this, this rigorous, fairly rigorous standard applied to it and that didn't really pan out now the reason that the rules of what could be used to

the use of were relaxed was that vodka was already being made from a variety of ingredients distilleries all over europe and excluding the producers that used alternates to grain and potatoes could have led to a trade war. Countries outside of the EU were making vodka out of all kinds of things, and so had the ruling had taken a more strict stance that would have opened a huge and of worms in terms of the global spirits market. Yes, sir, if you would imagine that trying to put this in sort of real terms. Instead of just theoretical, if you went into Your local liquor store today to buy vodka and you see all of the offerings and then something like this had happened, and some people in the world said no. No. That thing you ve been buying as well care for x number of years is no longer vodka like it would just be a little bit of chaos in terms of how manufacturers labelled things. I imagine there would be pushed back, because people wouldn't want to change the identities of the products they had been making for.

On time, it really just would have been an absolute chaotic mess. Incident, in the. U s: vodka is legally defined and in all to a broad terms, as quote neutral spirits, so does build or so treated after distillation, with charcoal or other materials as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color. As per its broad. It is yeah, regardless of whether The primary ingredient is an old school traditional take or women falls under the wider rules after the fermenting ingredient is selected, it goes through fermentation. The base material is crushed blended with water and heated, which turns the start into sugar. That result is combined with east and then the

It is distilled from the combined mixture, so alcohol of course boils more quickly than water, so the alcohol component, in that mixture vaporizes more quickly than the water in the mix and that vapor is captured, excluding the very first and last vapors of the batch and next. That vapor is then condensed into a very potent alcohol and then that alcohol is combined again with water to produce the final product. Vodka, that's the very basic process if you've completed those steps, You have what could technically be called vodka, but it can be, and usually is, further refined and process to alter the taste and the purity filtering it through charcoal lava, linen or a number of other substances or performing multiple distillation, will make this spirit cleaner and purer than so remove, virtually all of the taste

Have you go on an online spelunkers expedition to see what people have used to filter vodka? You will find everything from like diamond dust, two pieces of clause and for sound that becomes part their brand identity or, if they're doing lake small batch artisanal stuff. It's part of their thing that their their creating new ways to do it and, of course flavoured vodka is very popular and the flavor to be added. After all of these other steps, this is often done at the production. I have all, but there are also plenty of consumers who like to add their own flavor infusions, to plain vodka for custom flavors. So I'm sure, if you have friends who drink you know somebody who has been like I infused my vodka with jolene ensures or with apples or with any number of other I've had friends. You have done it with jelly beans. The result was delicious. It just depends on what you like

there are consumers than connoisseurs who desire of vodka that still tastes at least a little bit like its original ingredients rather than having a post distillation added flavour, some artisanal vodka producers, do you, small, copper, moonshine stills, instead of the stills that are used in larger protection set ups, because the resulting spirit retains some of those component tastes. Yet if you want your vodka tastes like a little like the wheat or the potato or whatever was you seriously, then the that is probably a better way to achieve it. Quality stand It's for vodka are actually a really tricky topic, because there are any that are universally recognised. Some countries, such as poland, define quality by period. There are other municipalities that categorize simply by alcohol content like what percentage of the the resulting spirit is alcohol. Others also.

giving in the max playing apart with some distillers touting the purity of the water that they use as the ultimate determinant of quality whereabouts, I've been so we're all of this vodka production started or at least where people think it started. But first we will take a break to hear from one of the sponsors that keeps the show going. Why identity of vodka today is one of an intoxicate, initially with believed that it was developed for medicinal use, but its exact point of origin is lost to time and is consequently argued by various countries wishing to claim ownership of the world popular spirit. Russia and poland remain locked in their ongoing argument over the matter, both using languages evidence. So the russian we're,

for water is voter with a v. The polish word for water is vodka with w it's very subtle difference, I'm probably not an unseating it in a way that makes that that difference apparent to native speakers. but they do some very similar, pretty ellida western ears and proponents. the polish origins of vodka, say that the word vodka, double. You spoke of the w, instead of a v, appeared in print before vodka with a v, and thus it must be polish in origin, there are some additional elements. In this whole russia, vs Poland, debates on where vodka came from a polish drink called gore's yaka has existed since the eleventh century, and there have been some assertions that that is the original proto vodka, but the counter argument. The historic drink of georgia is a more general undefined alcohol, its spirit and not anything that can be definitively linked to vodka, ukraine,

Also has a claim to vodkas birthplace, because that area produce the most greens in the region in the fifteenth century. So it would make sense that green bay alcohol originated there and there is even the possibility truly that vodka actually first entered the region from somewhere else and locals than figured out how to make their own. We know that vibe, As we know it originated somewhere in eastern europe, but whether that's in modern ukraine, russia, poland or belarus, we don't really know the whole region is in hospitable to grapes as a crop. So inventive folks came up with new ways to make alcohol. The prevailing theory is that we have monks for it is true that the number of other alcohols they needed a spirit to use as a sedative and disinfectant and the communities where they worked. Then they turned two weeks to get it just so. That's why it kind of has those origins as a medicinal in the fourteen hundreds vodka production became more refined and it also

and now to use other greens early vodka. where most likely quite sharp having a very unpleasant flavour. They were doing all of that refining in and filtering that we would do today so slavery. started to be added in order to help make it more palatable. Fruit, honey and spices came into the picture buds in me. King vodka, more tasty distillers helped to shifted away from. simply medicinal use to recreational, because then it started to be yummy. Shift in identity to a beverage from a medicine lead to more experimentation and innovation. Vodka stayed large We in northern europe for a while, but eventually it began to spread like other products we ve talked about. As shipping and industry grew vodka was the travel farther and farther away from its point of origin, but even so, there is still a lot of cool stuff going on in that sort of cradle where it first came about. In poland in particular,

Google vodkas were developed to treat all manner of ailments and concerns in the sixteenth century, and it was also in poland that potatoes were first used in fermentation decree. Vodka and polish distillers continued to drive the exploration of flavour rings and tweaks to distilling methods well into the nineteenth century, but vodka is often linked with russia and russian cultural identity, and that's due in part to how quickly the third of russia, also known as even the great established vodka as a key revenue source in the country and fourteen seventy four. He started taxing vodka and set up a government. monopoly on the beverage that set the stage for his successor Ivan the fourth known as I'm in the tariff to continue manipulating the flow of vodka to suit his own desires. Even the fourth went so far as to exclude me, most of his people from having access to vodka he's a new social class of loyal favorites, and only they could have vodka, and in this move he read

distributed land to them and also turned his back on the nobility that had existed before this restructure. He also used vodka to keep people loyal to him because cross the are, and you would lose your drinking privileges. Other russian leaders similarly used vodka as a means to reward their favorite, send to intoxicate guests so that they would tell state secrets and, in the case of peter the great force enemies to drink until they collapsed. But it was Catherine. The second, also known as catherine, the great who instituted changes that one again put vodka in the glasses in the cups of common people. Under her rule, the vodka monopoly ended and more distillers were licence to produce the spirit, the costs of vodka, where also regulated to keep prices reasonable, but this often led to the dilution of the product. I'm a part of the producers yeah the cause, we're gonna, be capped at a pretty low amount. They were like will work in a stretch, our product them

This also lead to vodka quality being seen as a shorthand way to identify one status. So even though they had taken away the that access through the hierarchy it sort of built itself again in a new way. The wealthiest households began distilling their own vodkas with an array of expensive flavorings and spices, and this was to maintain their distance from peasants in the eyes of guests. Even the potency of the perfect vodka was scientifically measured by the russian scientist. Dmitri mendeleev, if you believe that myth that name sounds familiar, it's because it's published work, tentative it's system of elements is the foundation of the periodic table of the elements but before that has dissertation a discourse on the combination of alcohol and water is said to have established thirty eight percent alcohol by volume, as the best proportion for vodka. In fact he was working with theoretical, now calls and much higher concentrations than that

not a bit had anything to do with setting a gold standard for vodka is. Connections of vodka has mythology eyes a lot over the years. It's easy to find assertions that he invented vodka. Obviously he did not do that or that he served on the states regulatory commission and was tasked with implementing rules for the perfect vodka They did serve on a government weights and measures agency, but he wasn't given any kind of mandates are codified vodka production just the same. His story used in various advertisements and spread throughout the internet has added to this perception that russia is the epicenter of all things: vodka, bad guy. Yet a trick There is the least I could not find in english translation of that dissertation that he rode. So it's very easy for people to claim what in it ass. It really really does spread like wildfire. I'd read that dissertation, though I would do

in the eighteen sixties, pewter a smirnoff founded a vodka company in Moscow, which became the favoured source of the spirit for the country's royals, and it is now one of the most common brands in the world, and it continues that link between russia and vodka in the minds of consumers everywhere under the bolsheviks. In the nineteen teams, alcohol was outlawed when we are a union was established and nineteen twenty two mild alcoholic drinks are once again allowed to be sold and nineteen twenty five vodka was again legalised at normal proof when Joseph Stalin game power in the nineteen thirty he had state run distilleries increase production to generate revenue, even though he knew there was a real problem with alcoholism and the country. You are going to talk about that again in just a little while, but though some temperance f started after stolen died, drinking, remained a problem and it wasn't until then

Nineteen eighties under Gorbachev that temperance efforts got a real boost and the government made a concerted effort to get the entire country on board and while the programmes that were initiated during this time did curtail drinking to some degree and improve overall health statistics of the population, eventually public sentiment turned against it. Next stop or going to talk about how vodka became one of the most popular liquors than the united states. But first we will have a quick sponsor break the Surprise, the! U s is the world's second greatest consumer of vodka after russia. That may or may not surprise you. I found it a little surprising. Vodka didn't really get a serious place in drinking stateside, though, until after pro bishop in prior to that there was just a smattering of mediocre vodka options available and it really didn't catch on in any sort of significant way and then

team. Thirty, the russian emigrant named rudolf. Could it who had purchased the rights to use the smeared off name started, selling better vodka and the united states than had been available previously has Medikit distilleries struggled until the end of the decade. When it was purchased on behalf of cubans liquor company by John G, Martin, it was absorbed by a larger company, but Martin had wisely made sure that he retained the rights to the smirnoff name yeah. He had been an executive with he blends and that he had had written that in smartly, where he got some rights for distribution but Martin didn't figure out a way to capitalize on his rights to the smirnoff name until nineteen. Forty one when he and his friend and tavern owner came up with the combination of ginger beer and vodka with lemon or lime juice in a copper mug. This has its own

ology around its where it happened in a way which is where his friends tavern was verses. It happened in new york and it only took off in a way and that one of them had much ginger beer and one of them had too much vodka, and it was almost a reese's cup situation. and we don't really know but heat they. He is completely recognised. He and his friend as originating the Moscow mule and once that drink was born, it finally made drinkers in the united states embrace vodka at least until world war. Two after the war for awhile vodka became sort of speed. Non grata in the? U s, as the cold war began and all things associated with the soviet union were viewed through that lends it didn't go away completely and Martin was still concocting other cocktails with vodka, but it really it kind of had a big spike in in popularity and then a big drop off vodkas

mutation perked up once sean connery ordered a vodka martini and doctor no in nineteen sixty two, but then it really got a boost when president richard Nixon after visiting the soviet union approved business between pepsi cola and the ussr in exchange for assistance and setting up a pepsi factory in the soviet union, the- u s, business was paid installation. I a vodka which made the soda giant the stolen distributor in the. U s, with the backing of a massive cola, brand vodka became the most popular spirit and U s a nineteen! Seventy five vodka remains one of the most popular liquors and the united states and smeared off as the most popular brand You look it like year to year top ten spirits in the? U s.

Vodka is almost always in the top two, and usually it is and smirnoff it. It shifts a little bit, but I think whiskey kind of stays at the top or has for the last several years anyway, but that's all fun and games, but we have to acknowledge that tat has a pretty dark side to its history as well. There have certainly been plenty of issues that stemmed from over indulgence in and addiction to alcohol, in the world's ongoing story, for example, in a late night, tenth century russia was in the middle of a real crisis of alcoholism. It was so bad that it threatens the labour pool and caused outcry from activist groups and churches and medical care nationals eventually tsar alexander. The third couldn't ignore the problem any longer and limited the production of vodka put regulations in place to mandate, quality and formed a temperance society that touted the idea of drink

in moderation, despite the fact that the name of the society, which was the guardianship of public sobriety, might suggest that it would be against the drink altogether. three clear though alexander. The third himself was a drinker yeah. He was definitely bonding to outside pressures. He was not like hey, we should cut back on drinking in the country because he loved to drink the state. Also started a programme to boost non alcoholic entertainments as a means to curtail drinking free thea and concerts, as well as adult education offerings and other leisure incentives were offered. But none of this really worked at all regular. sure did not stop illicit liquor sales and the production of inferior product in this problem with alcohol on persisted into the region, japanese war and actually cost russia battles, backing them into a corner and putting them in a really weak position for brokering a treaty

Additionally, the tsars decision to ban alcohol in an effort to help the troop stay on task for that conflict meant that a huge source of tax revenue was lost in the process and well. That was before the twentieth century efforts to sober up the country that we mentioned earlier in two thousand and fourteen a study, titled alcohol and mortality was conducted at the university of toronto and it featured some really grim data. The authors of the paper juergen Rehm and Kevin. The shield outline the fact that more than two hundred different diseases are linked to alcohol, but their research focuses on cancer, liver cirrhosis and injury, and their research indicated that in twenty ten four point, one percent of all deaths globally those diseases were attributable to alcohol consumption that same year, alcohol consumption resulted in an average percentage of years lost of four point three percent, as numbers increased as compared to similar data from ninety. Ninety,

This is not in your outline, but I was reading a thing recently. That was a hypothesis that one of the reasons that breast cancer rates are lower in utah is because of utah's more stringent alcohol laws, and I I cannot speak to that because I have not read it yeah, I mean it's one of those things right. We definitely have to kind of acknowledge that's consuming alcohol comes with inherent danger. There was a recent study. I didn't put it in my notes either, so I am quoting a kind of out of the air the basically I think it was from twenty sixteen or twenty seventeen that was lake, really the safest way to consume alcohol is too not consume alcohol, because, even though there are and its outlined in the ram paper, there are some specific health issues that alcohol in moderation can actually help, but for the most part

the dangers are far worse than any of the movies, so just things to consider we're not telling people to go out and drink a ton of vodka and that's all be grown We and we don't want to minimize, also or downplay the issue of over indulgence or addiction, but that would be a really downer place to end this episode. So instead I thought it might be fun to close with a few anecdotes. In fact, about vodka.

we're just sort of fascinating on their own. We mentioned earlier that vodka was probably originally concocted for medicinal use, but there is still plenty of sort of old wives remedies that make use of it. Alcohol infused with saint John work and sage is believed to have had curative powers as a liniment vodka served with black pepper is an old russian cold remedy and vodka fumes from infused fabrics are believed by some to cure everything from muscle aches to ear problems. It's also used as an a stringent cleansers to clean out pours and as a disinfectant for wounds and can be used for cleaning surfaces well as humans as a polish for mirrors, chrome tile and the like yeah definitely will kill all your stuff. My favorite use for vodka, which I didn't put in here, but it is here's the trick,

give to you that I learned from working in costume shops forever. If you get cheap, cheap vodka and you put it in a spritzer bottle, if you can't make it to a dry cleaner, that will freshen up your clothes, kill any bacteria that are causing odor and help you get through to your next thing yeah. This is why I have in my bathroom under the sink. There are two spray bottles both clearly marked, so I don't confuse them. contains peroxide. The other contains vodka yeah. I at one point I was helping out as well a really low level mouse in a costume shops. It was served. No ballet company and their their costume director was always walking around with a bottle of vodka sprinting things to make sure that they did not smell bad, especially if you were doing like a matinee performance in an evening, and there was no way to really do serious cleaning between the two. In terms of time, especially when you're trying to prep things for a full court ballet of a little vodka spirits will help

things up and make it not smell bad. There is also another little household hint, which is that adding vodka and sugar? to water. At the base of christmas trees or to vases of flowers is thought to prolong the life of the plants. I have never tried that one meaning there just don't make here, don't make your christmas tree water, accidently, flammable before in eighteen, sixty is the smirnoff distillery added an us, an egg whites to combine the vodka to make it more delicious. I would like to disagree smeared off about whether that would be more delicious. Is it the licorice it's the lawyer S or the egg waiting to nautical Hannah licorice. I love licorice. So this sounds delay You can have all lined if you ve, never had leg egg white foam in an alcoholic drink and that may sound. Where do you? I courage you if you are of legal drinking aged try. It is quite interesting. There's a there's! Some good tiki drinks, a feature it as well:

This is another one that I love in twenty eleven, the bolshoi theatre in moscow, which was originally built in seventeen. Seventy six went through a major, spruce, and renovation. It actually started far before twenty eleven, but that's when it finished after it had been neglected for several decades. But when it came to the finishing touches performed by guilders, they turned to a medieval recipe. It turns out to make perfect gold guilt Egg. Whites have to be first kept in a warm room for forty days and then his leg. Whites are mixed with a clay and then the magic ingredient. Vodka is added to that mixture, which is then used to apply gold leaf and according to mikhail suitor of who works for the company that handled this refurbishment project, This method keeps gold from being over used and helps retain its lustre for fifty to seventy years. So in essence, the same kind of thing that may baked brad. Look shining in the wishes will also make your gold gleam and glee

the lights due to an uptake in specific diet. There are now vodkas marketed that fit within various eating restrictions, so domestic domestically made non flavoured grain or potato based vodka. In the? U s is considered kosher. Some brands made finally, you s shoes to seek kosher certification from the orthodox union, including storage, nea and crystal head. Somebody cause include messaging on a label about their gluten free status. Yeah, you have dietary restrictions. There is probably a company out there making vodka that wants to make sure you know you can drink whatever they're making and because I love of talking about art, we're gonna end with innovative norwegian artists. Zeb your sound and went on,

visiting antarctica and was inspired to paint using the water colours that he had brought with him. He ran into a little bit of a problem which is it has paid were freezing before he could get anything done in his rushing guide suggested vodka and he found success when he makes that with his pigments and he called the resulting technique. Vodka color, I love a little innovation. I feel in vodka sort of one of those universal solvent substances because it does get you still medicinal really still for cleaning and stringent needs and also in art, and also to make things beautiful in gilt, edged with gold womb fabulous again down over indulge. Please be careful with Iraq, a consumption or don't drink at all. If that is the choice that you would rather make yet totally fine. Without

it works for you and is best for your health. I feel a little like steve rule, but back up off of that thanks so much for joining us on this saturday, since this episode is out of the archive, if you heard an email address or a facebook, you rl or something similar over the course of the show that could be obsolete. Now our current email address is history. Podcast at I heart, radio, dot, com, r old, how stuff works, email address no longer works, and you can find us all over social media at missed in history, and you can. subscribe to our shadow on apple podcast, google podcast, the iheart radio app and wherever else he listened, the fog casts stuffy miss than history classes of production, of iheart radio for more money,

for my part, radio method, but I her radio haven't mancha or wherever you listen to your favorite joe. a will wrap up with three things. You should know about plan, be one step, one and be as emergency contraception, a back up for regular birth control. You take. If you have unprotected sex to it, helps prevent pregnancy before starts no egg, no fertilisation, no pregnancy, three, it's ok mobile at major retailers from target to walmart walgreens to see find it yourself, in the family, planning I'll or by it online and pick up install same day no prescription or idee required plan b. You ve got this visit plan b, he went stepped out come uses directed.