Vodka
By: Anonymous

About

A clear, colorless spirit that can be made from a variety of grains and plants which include beets, molasses, potatoes, and grains. Vodka is made in a similar fashion to whiskey, by fermenting and then distilling the simple sugars from grain or vegetal mash in a pot or column still. 
Vodka is generally tasteless and difficult to detect in drinks. It is used to fortify other beverages and is easily blended. There are types of flavored vodkas that originate from Russia and Poland - they include Kubanskaya, Limonnaya, Okhotnichya, Pertsovka and Zubrovka. 
Vodka is produced many regions around the world which include, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Russia, Sweden, the United States and Australia. Different regions use different ingredients to make vodka.

Information
Translations: Degvīns, Βότκα, Degtinė, فودكا, Vodcă, Votka, Wodka, Rượu vodka, Wódka, Вотка, Wodka, 보드카, ウォッカ, वोद्का, וודקה, Горілка, 伏特加酒, Bodka, Водка, Водка


Physical Description
Vodka, one of the world's most popular liquors, is composed solely of water and ethanol with possible traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made from any one of these fermented substances: grain, rye, wheat, potatoes, rice, or sugar beet molasses.Vodka’s alcoholic content usually ranges between 35 to 50 percent by volume; the standard Russian, Lithuanian, and Polish vodkas are 40 percent alcohol by volume (80 proof).



Selecting and Buying
Procuring: Vodka may be distilled from any starch/sugar-rich plant matter; most vodka today is produced from grains such as sorghum, corn, rye or wheat. Among grain vodkas, rye and wheat vodkas are generally considered superior. Some vodka is made from potatoes, molasses, soybeans, grapes, rice, sugar beets and sometimes even byproducts of oil refining or wood pulp processing. 


Preparation and Use
While most vodkas are unflavored, many flavored vodkas have been produced in traditional vodka-drinking areas, often as home-made recipes to improve vodka's taste or for medicinal purposes. Flavorings include red pepper, ginger, fruit flavors, vanilla, chocolate (without sweetener), and cinnamon. In Russia and Ukraine, vodka flavored with honey and pepper (Pertsovka, in Russian, Z pertsem, in Ukrainian) is also very popular.


Social/Political
Historically, this alcoholic-proof standard derives from the Russian vodka quality standards established by Tsar Alexander III in 1894.The Muscovite Vodka Museum reports that chemist Dmitri Mendeleev determined the ideal alcohol content as 38 percent; however, because in that time distilled spirits were taxed per their alcoholic strength, that percentage was rounded upwards to 40 percent for simplified taxation calculations.For such a liquor to be denominated “vodka,” governments establish a minimal alcohol content; the European Union established 37.5 percent alcohol by volume as the minimal alcohol content for European vodka