A Short History of the people's drink, Vodka
What is the George Washington story behind the word Cocktail?
MOREAccording to About.com Washington and his men frequented a tavern where the drink glass was decorated with a cock's feather (a tail feather from a cock). Ironically Washington wore feathers in his hat and the cocktail originated when a fellow officer toasted to the "Cock's tail."
Vodka is the go to drink for all, from the rich elite to the soldier, from the pub hopper to the farmer, Vodka is the most common poison of all.
Let's check out a few interesting facts and have a knowledge of it's history for posterity.
Vodka is a distilled liquor, clear, colourless, having no particular aroma or test.
Vodka ranges in alcohol content from 40% to 55%
Since flavouring substances are mostly eliminated during the process of distillation, it is highly neutral and has recently been the most preferred liquor for Cocktail drinks.
Traditionally, Vodka can be made from a mash of the cheapest, most readily available raw materials that are suitable for fermentation. While cereal grains are usually employed in Russia and Poland, potatoes have been used later on in other vodka producing countries.
The most accepted origin of the name Vodka is its root in the Russian word for water, which is ?Voda?, although it is still a matter of debate. Some claim it originated in Poland or Russia in around 8th or 9th century, regardless of its origin, a liquor named Vodka has been evidently present in Russia during the 14th century.
Origin Myth or History of Origin?
Vodka was popular mainly in Russia and Poland and the Balkan States,until after the World War Ii, when consumption began to rise rapidly in the United States and the rest of Europe.
Common Use
Most producers of Vodka purchase previously distilled and purified neutral spirits that are extremely high in alcoholic content with almost no flavouring substances remaining, and then they are additionally purified by a filtration process, usually using charcoal and then are reduced in strength with distilled water and bottled without ageing.
Regional Variance
Vodka in Russia is usually 40% by volume (80 proof in US standard) while 45% is more common in Poland.
?Traditionally, Vodka is usually consumed unmixed and chilled in small glasses and accompanied by appetizers. ?
outside Russia and Poland, in other countries, it is popular for use in mixed drinks. the world?s bartenders and inn keepers favour Vodka over other liquors in preparing mixed drinks because it can be combined with other beverages without imparting flavour to the mix, and it can substitute any other liquor in a Cocktail where the particular flavour of the liquor is not important to the mix, a good example is, that, Vodka regularly replaces Gin in a Martini.
Vodka Trivia
Vodka is traditionally Medicinal
Vodka drinking in moderations, helps in keeping your arteries healthy, this spirit can also prevent heart disease by stimulating free flow of blood in the arteries. Vodka can control high fevers, stress and it is also known to help in hair growth.
It doesn?t last forever.
Unlike whisky, Vodka does not last forever. An usual bottle of vodka should be consumed within twelve months of opening. Of course you can still drink it after a year, but the Vodka will be weaker and different in taste.
Vodka is incredibly pure.
It is true, Vodka is absolutely pure. Vodka has no sodium, yeast, carbohydrates, fasts or cholesterols, it simply is a pure mixture of water and ethanol. Vodka is one of the purest man-made drink in existence, so, if you want to have a drink and stay healthy Vodka is your poison.
It is a super cleaner
Yes, Vodka can eliminate odor, can be used in restoration of chrome, to clean glasses and windows.
It is a good disinfectant too, pour some Vodka into a spray bottle and you?ll have a natural cleaner for all surfaces without the residual soap scum, our stains from other cleaners. It can be used to remove stains, soap scum, grease and oil residue.
Trending Recipes
Please Note All Recipes and Articles on this site are for entertainment and general information only. None of it is to be considered final or absolutely correct or medical in nature.
However, we have embarked on a journey of manually updating the relative strength of cocktails, their flavour profile and in the future aim at providing approximate calories per drink too.
Blue Tick Project:We aim at manually validating and verifying each cocktail in their current context and mark them as valid, where, a blue tick would mean that the recipe has been verified and is 100% accurate while an orange tick would mean the recipe has low confidence.
Where as a grey tick would mean that the recipe has not yet been manually validated or verified recently.
Note: The Cocktail photos used are graphical representations of the glass and colour of a drink, these are generated using information from the recipe and we personally strive at providing real photographs of cocktails and we hope we can replace all representational photos with real photos soon.
Contact Us using the Email Contact on the Sidebar if you think any Copyrighted photo has been unintentionally used on this site, and we'll take remedial action.
Some of the Photos are sourced from Royalty Free Photo Platforms like FreePik, Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons
About Us
Neel B and Mani, we are a team of two, from Calcutta, India. We are professional software engineers and passionate cocktail enthusiasts. We built this app because we saw a need for a more comprehensive and user-friendly way to find cocktails and bartending recipes. We hope you enjoy using our app as much as we enjoyed making it!We decided to use our technology skills to help others who were in the same position as us and wanted to experiment with making cocktails at home but didn\u2019t know where to start. We have been working together for more than two years and has managed to collect an extensive library of recipes as well as tips and tricks for making the perfect cocktail.
Neel B is an Electronics and Telecommunications Engineer and martial arts and fitness enthusiast. He is an avid reader, compulsive doodler, and painter. His love for cocktails arises from the art in it and the history that traces the ups and downs of modern civilisation over centuries.
Maniis an ERP and SaaS developer and architect by day and a cocktail enthusiast in her leisure. She holds a Masters in Computer Application and Programming. In addition to writing stories on the history of cocktails and alcohol, she has a special interest in cocktails in literature. She believes that the perfect cocktail can make any moment special.