{"id":3651,"date":"2016-06-17T14:51:49","date_gmt":"2016-06-17T20:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayharvey.org\/?p=3651"},"modified":"2016-10-24T20:40:20","modified_gmt":"2016-10-25T02:40:20","slug":"wodka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayharvey.org\/index.php\/2016\/06\/wodka\/","title":{"rendered":"Wodka!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article first appeared, in slightly altered form, in the Coloradoan newspaper<\/i><\/a>.
\n<\/br><\/p>\n

\"Screen
\n<\/br><\/p>\n

The Polish call it wodka.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Russians call it vodka.<\/i> <\/p>\n

The word itself comes from the slavic voda<\/i> — meaning “little water” — and, like water, vodka is colorless, odorless, and often enjoyed ice-cold. <\/p>\n

Distilled from fermented potatoes, or fermented grains (like rye or wheat), or sometimes even grapes, vodka is a deceptively simple spirit that consists primarily of ethanol and water. <\/p>\n

Here’s a little known fact about vodka: <\/p>\n

Grain vodka because<\/i> it’s distilled from grain is actually whiskey. <\/p>\n

It is, to be sure, underaged and heavily filtered whiskey, but it’s whiskey, nevertheless. One of the chief differences is that vodka is usually filtered through charcoal, whereas whiskey is usually filtered through wood. <\/p>\n

Both the Polish and the Russians lay claim to the invention of vodka. <\/p>\n

To the Polish people in particular, this subject is significant and contentious — a question of national pride — and on this subject, the historical record is unclear. Certain sources do say the first distillation of vodka took place in what is now a part of Russia, in the 9th century, but there are other historians, just as venerable, who date it in 8th century Poland. <\/p>\n

Neither of these prototypical vodkas, however, were anything like the vodka we know and love today — nor, incidentally, were they particularly strong, weighing in at a preposterous 30 proof. Like gin, most of these early vodkas were medicinal rather than recreational. Today, we know better. <\/p>\n

Prior to the 1940’s, vodka was virtually unknown in the United States.<\/p>\n

The vodka martini — also known as the Kangaroo Cocktail or the Vodkatini — isn’t generally accepted by so-called purists (i.e. snobs and classicists with whom I stridently disagree) as a true martini, but in fact the vodka martini has a more legitimate claim to this title than most people realize. That, though, is another story for another time. <\/p>\n

One thing is certain: <\/p>\n

In Casino Royale<\/a>,<\/i> when James Bond ordered his now famous Vesper cocktail, he did much to popularize the vodka martini. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the passage appears in Ian Fleming\u2019s famous novel, published in 1953: <\/p>\n

“A dry martini,” Bond said. “One. In a deep champagne goblet.”<\/p>\n

“Oui, Monsieur.”<\/p>\n

“Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Got it.
\n<\/br>
\n<\/br>
\n<\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article first appeared, in slightly altered form, in the Coloradoan newspaper. The Polish call it wodka. The Russians call it vodka. The word itself comes from the slavic voda — meaning “little water” — and, like water, vodka is colorless, odorless, and often enjoyed ice-cold. Distilled from fermented potatoes, or fermented grains (like rye … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Wodka!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1279],"tags":[2644,666,2792,2793,2794,2795,2796,2797,2798,2799,2606,2696,2800,2801,2802,2803,2599,2804,2274,2805],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayharvey.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayharvey.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayharvey.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayharvey.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayharvey.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayharvey.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayharvey.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayharvey.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayharvey.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}